Series: Tortured for child support arrears – 1,2
While pundits around the country discuss the United States’ torture of suspected terrorists, one U.S. torture victim has gone unnoticed. United States child support collection problems are common, and in David A. Bardes’ case, almost deadly.
Bardes, who lost 126 friends in the World Trade Center attack on September 11, wanted nothing more than to be a good dad and equal parent to his son and daughter. He didn’t ask his wife to have an affair with the nanny’s husband. And when his ex-wife moved their children to another state after the divorce, Bardes followed, twice.
Due to the children living in three states over a short period of time (PA, NC, SC) Bardes had all three states charging him child support, resulting in mistaken arrears. Bardes says he never willfully withheld child support, and documents related to his Federal court case (#02:08-487-PMD-RSC) support his claim.
Bardes developed severe depression after being treated like a criminal. He says they “seized assets, destroyed my credit ratings, destroyed my business and income, and my mental health.” He lost so much weight he was “skin and bones.” This man who once made $180,000 a year now had a hard time finding employment.
One judge dismissed the arrears. Which makes one wonder why the next one, South Carolina Judge Garfinkel knowingly filed paperwork stating that Bardes was in serious arrears, charging him with immediate arrest and six months in jail.
Bardes alledges that the State Attorney for South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) John Magera sent him a death threat earlier through a friend. Judge Garfinkel’s decision, the arrest of Bardes, and the torture that followed almost left two children without a father.
“On the ride to jail, I looked out the back window and stared at the drivers that were tailgating and passing the jail truck. I was forlorn and the situation was surreal.
I was going to my death, and I accepted it fully. I was not sure how they were going to kill me, but I was soon going to find out.”
Bardes was now under the control of Al Cannon, Jr. Esq, Sheriff of Charleston County. On April 3, 2006 at 6:20 pm Bardes was left in a small jail cell that had forced cold air coming through two large vents. (see photo)
The air was 55 degrees. After a short time Bardes realized this was a hypothermic chamber. That fact would be confirmed in the reply to his inmate grievance form which states the cell is used to “subdue” prisoners, so they are “less likely to riot.” (see document)
David A. Bardes left his job on the 101st. floor of the World Trade center and moved to Charleston, South Carolina so his children would have their father in their lives. Once there he was falsely accused of being in “gross” child support arrears.
He says he proved to the state attorney that he was not in arrears, and that he had actually overpaid his child support. Bardes was left in arrears anyway and says the “destroy deadbeat mechanisms” went into full force.
“I met with judge #1, who agreed to put me on trial so I could clean up my good name and reputation. Judge #1 told me in court, three times, that I have no Constitutional rights. Then came my trial, which I was found innocent by judge #2.
Then the state attorney, issued a death threat and typed up a fake court order stating that I was “guilty”. He scheduled a snap hearing and judge #3 tossed me into jail for six months without even as much as hearing.”
Bardes was charged with civil contempt of court and taken to the Charleston County jail. He was shackled and chained before a female sheriff deputy shoved his head into the wall, knocking his glasses to the floor and causing a lense to pop out. Jailers threw his medication in the trash, including his asthma inhaler.
Bardes admits that he refused to sign forms put before him, and that he ignored orders to stop smiling for his mug shot. Taken aside and placed in a cell that is used as a hypothermic chamber, Bardes began to shiver. He asked for his jacket multiple times but was refused. Then he began to shiver violently.
“As my body temperature reduced one degree at a time, wave after wave of excruciating pain enveloped my body. I knew I was going hypothermic.”
After six hours, Bardes says, the shivering stopped.
“I had passed through the first and second stages of hypothermic shock, and was now at the third and final stage. I could not move my arms or legs. The pain was horrific.
A guard came into the cell and I told him to tell the nurse that I had just gone into hypothermic shock as my body was no longer able to shiver to keep itself with heat. The guard, said, “I will do no such thing until you comply.”
“Comply with what?,” I thought. My head was in such a cloudy state and the guard’s words fell onto my brain in slow motion. Before I could assemble more words the guard left and the door lock clunked closed.
There was nothing left but to die from hypothermia. It was a matter of hours. I had to keep my mind alert because if I lost consciousness, it would then lead to bodily death. With hypothermia, conscious death occurs before bodily death. Eventually you die from either heart failure or brain death.
I had to keep my brain active at all cost. I had lost the use of my limbs and my head was back against the wall. I was unable to move and all I felt was the thousands of daggers stabbing my body all over. I was slowly and painfully dying from hypothermia. My eyes were closed and I could feel my body heat being sucked away by the blowing cold air. My body felt like cold meat; like a corpse.”
This is an ongoing series. Follow me on twitter to get notified of updates on this and other stories of parental injustice.
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September 11th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
This may be completely true. I don’t know.
This Canadian male would never follow his ex wife around for any reason.
He should have consulted a lawyer before taking any action.
There is no justice in the family courts; they are kangaroo courts. They were set up to harass men. This iniquity must be handled through education. Like slavery or a war between different sects of religion it could last for centuries. Women can be fickle. They breed with men for one reason but live with them for another.
The state’s only interest is in the fertility numbers.
The number of men that would have to rise up to change things would have to be in the tens of millions.
You want to have children?
Handle it like you would handle a lot of money?
Go off shore and have them there, and visit every few months.
My younger brother and his generation call these women – gene thieves. They want your money and your DNA, and nothing more.
Donate to a sperm bank, and then find someone else’s ex and raise her kids while he pays. He is doing the same thing as is the third man and so on and so on.
dwc
September 11th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Fabrication of charges; continual harassment by public officials; torturous treatment by more public officials; and all to a man who has seemingly done no wrong at all.
These public officials did not profess Love at any point for this man, unlike the mother of his children. Where is she? What is it about so many women that enables them to so disregard the man they professed to love; a man that they vowed to go through life with, for better for worse? They ‘move on’; ‘put it behind them’. There is no doubt in my mind that if they felt a twang of conscience and felt guilty for causing such pain to be inflicted, they would then blame the man for emotional abuse.
Let us know the next parts soon, Teri.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Amfortas,
In this case the woman figured it out, years later. Even though Bardes’ torture gets even worse than what you’ve read so far, an upcoming part gives this story a bittersweet component.
teri
September 12th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Great story Teri, just like the Rodney King beating was a great story.
Most Americans had no idea that the police beat black men into submission with unbelievable brutality until it was caught on tape. This was no surprise to most black people, because they all knew that this brutality, (and much worse) had been going on since blacks were first brought here on slave ships. The only ones confused by this brutality were lilywhite people from Semi Valley.
What’s even more lost on the majority of lilywhite Americans is the fact that White, Hispanic and Asian men also get beaten like this. The key word here is *MEN* get beaten into submission, even when they are not resisting. They get beaten into submission for trying to block the repeated blows to their heads.
The point I want to make is that this is not an isolated case of abuse, and I personally don’t care if the guy worked at the World Trade Center and paid his child support religiously. The message you’re giving people Terri is that if men are anything short of what you consider an exemplary citizen, then they deserve to be tortured by the criminals running our jails.
No one deserves to be put in a fifty degree cell under any circumstances. That’s torture Teri, and we shouldn’t do that to anyone, even those who do it to others.
I never worked at the Trade Center and I was never an eagle scout. I wasn’t a pilot in the Air Force, and I admit to refusing to pay so-called child support to these extortionist criminals running our Family Courts, and I’m not ashamed to admit any of it.
Is it still wrong to torture me Teri?
September 12th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hi Kevin,
I don’t know why you think I am only against the torture of perfect people. I’m writing about the most horrific cases that I know of personally. I’ve been communicating with David for years.
Thank you for adding your comments. I need the readers to share their experiences. That educates people even more.
Since it was 9/11 I felt I should add David’s connection to the World Trade Center. If I had more time I would have written about him volunteering to help the widows. Some people don’t get it like you do. It helps to touch their hearts.
How sad that no TV media is picking up this story. Guess they’re too busy criticizing the President. The lack of respect being shown for the office disgusts me. I wonder what that legislator would say to his child’s teacher if the kid yelled out like that at him or her.
September 12th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Teri, RE: #5:
Maybe if one of our presidents were worthy of respect, we’d see some more respect for the office.
This is from a card-carrying Republican who voted Republican prior to 2008 simply to try for the lesser fo two evils.
I’m still waiting for something/someone decent to run, instead of Corzine, Biden, Obama, Clinton, “W”, Bush, Pelosi, Reid, et al.
Last good one was Reagan; before that was… Eisenhower, maybe? That’s going back a LONG time, especially to the modern generation(s) just getting to mature and vote now. After 30 seconds, you’ve lost them…
As for our President? Since I could vote, he hasn’t really had me… Just a tacit admission from me that there wasn’t someone seen as “viable” and placed on the ballot. These people are too busy trying to buy votes, which is why we originally had a Republic, not a Representative Democracy. If there is no check on the personal power of a pig, it consumes whatever it can and sh!ts where it wants. When reduced to a lowest-common denominator system where people can vote themselves “largesse from the public trough”, there is no democracy, there is really only a mob, even if it is semi-organized.
Aristotle wrote of this – it’s NOT a new thing. It’s part of the feudalistic contract: when one party breaks the contract, the other party is freed from the obligations. (Compare that with divorce law, as an example of “voting one’s self largesse from the public [PRIVATE, even!] trough.)
That brings one other thing up, the emotional connections of 9/11 in your article, when compared to, oh, Duke Lacrosse and emotional situation of rape; date rape vis-a-vis false accusations; murder – B.N. Mary Winkler….
Emotional connections (I.E., soft heart with soft brains) broke down our logical, non-animal side over a period of decades. It’s at the point we don’t even teach true critical thinking any more. Perhaps, while it is good for literary arts, emotional content should be less a focus of an informative piece. We’ve got the cr@ppy MSM for that sort of jingoistic yellow journalism.
September 12th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Amfortas Says: “There is no doubt in my mind that if they felt a twang of conscience and felt guilty for causing such pain to be inflicted, they would then blame the man for emotional abuse.”
right on.
I my case she blamed the criminal behavior for which she was formally charged, on years of abuse by me against her and aganst my kids.
It was a pack of lies; it was a disaster for me.
September 12th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Hi Teri,
Glad you took that criticism so well, I meant it to be constructive.
The only other person I’ve personally known you to be an active supporter of is John Mutari, and if my memory is correct, he’s a former Air Force pilot.
My guess is you understand my criticism perfectly.
The person’s background is not important. You seem to want to champion people with impressive backgrounds and ignore the millions of regular guys out there who aren’t top guns in your book. I know you aren’t in favor of torturing anyone and to pretend that’s what I meant isn’t being honest. I said the message you’re sending is that the Air Force pilot, and the former WTC employee who was making $180,000 a year is more important than the guy at Jiffy Lube who only made $20,000.
The simple truth of the matter is that millions of men from all walks of life are being persecuted and tortured by the Family Courts. That’s the story I want the media to pick up on, not just an isolated case.
I hope you can see my comment in a positive light. Keep up the good work.
September 12th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Kevin,
My background is not important in regards to my being tortured almost to death in the Charleston County jail’s hypothermic chamber. I was deadbroke and disabled when the hunted me down and tortured me. The real point of my story is that we have 800 cases of claimed torture by men from all walks of life. Only 3 of us were able to get our medical records from the jails to start our cases. Getting my medcial records led to discovery ,where the rest of the evidence was able to be garnered. Jails are exempt from HIPPA and don’t have to give out medical records. That has to end.
It does not matter where you work, how much you make, in arrears or out of arrears, these people will continue to do their best to murder us. What happens inside of a jail, stays in jail, because there are no witnesses. Guards beat and kill inmates. I was just going to be another mysterious death in Sheriff Cannon’s jail – one of many. I should now, they beat me *then took me to the jail’s hospital.
The rest of the story will come out, on how I actually lived to tell the story. My best to you.
David A. Bardes
September 13th, 2009 at 4:23 am
Hello David,
I’m glad you made it out of there to tell your story.
The way you described it in your comment is the way it needs to be told. That’s why I drew the analogy between the King beating and what’s happening in our jails. Rodney King was just one man caught on tape, when the truth is it happens every single day in this country to all races of men.
The Family Courts are persecuting and torturing millions of men across the nation. Not all have suffered the same circumstances you have, but everyone handles this systematic discrimination differently, large numbers of them commit suicide every year.
The courts are depriving men of the most basic Constitutional protections under color of law leading to the deaths of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of victims over the last thirty or forty years. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the death penalty is warranted in ever Family Court from coast to coast. This is the biggest human rights violation since slavery and it needs to be recognized as such, not presented as isolated incidents of brutality and torture.
The media won’t pick up on this because of the money involved in this extortion racket. If you guys really want to seek justice you’ll have to take it to another level. There’s a huge tax revolt going on in this country that we all need to get involved in. There are close to 70,000,000 people refusing to pay their federal income tax and we all need to join in. Check out “America Freedom to Fascism” if you already haven’t.
Most people don’t know the extent to which our Family Courts have overstepped their authority. We need to join forces with people who are fighting to restore the Constitution and our Republic. Stop paying income tax (which is legal) and urge everyone you know to do the same.
I just want to share this email I got yesterday. This is just one of many who didn’t make it out.
Best wishes to you David.
NCPForce! told the world over four years ago that Fred Kieser of Middlesex County was a bad judge. In fact, he made it to our Worst Judge’s Page for his role in the abuse, harassment, and death of a wheelchair bound non-custodial parent, Wilbur Streett (see our Avenger Project page).
Now our readers in New Jersey inform us that Fred Kieser was removed from the bench a little over a year ago, in March 2008. While we’d like to celebrate, we in the father’s rights/ncp rights movement are left disappointed over the way Keiser was dismissed from the bench.
We’d love to say that Fred Kieser was finally called to account for his abuse of Wilbur Streett, but this isn’t the case. Apparently, what brought Kieser down was a supposed anti-Asian slur uttered to a non-Asian woman (!).
According to news reports, Kieser’s slur occurred when a custodial parent came before him seeking additional money from an ex-spouse. When she couldn’t produce a receipt for her expenses, Kieser told her: “No tickee, no shirtee” (an old-time riff on Chinese laundry personnel).
After an investigation by the State Senate Judiciary Committee, New Jersey governor John Corzine withdrew Kieser’s appoint to underscore a zero-tolerance policy against racism.
Certainly, our judges should not be racist. But in Fred Kieser, we are talking about a person who years earlier deprived a man of his human and civil rights, and eventually brought about his death. Where was the state of New Jersey’s zero tolerance policy when Fred Kieser sent wheelchair bound Wilbur Streett to jail for his medical-related inability to pay child support? Where was the zero tolerance policy when Middlesex County police brutally beat Wilbur Streett?
September 13th, 2009 at 7:36 am
@ kevin
@ teri
You need to hit up some film makers for a made for tv film.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:38 am
heck
just make one yourself and put it on youtube, ForaTV, or liveleak
September 13th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Gents,
the fate that befell this man was unnecessary. He was ignorant of the law, as was I, and “ignorance of the law is no excuse”. This man was only incarcerated because he gave his consent and does not know how to gain remedy.
True, he was most likely deceived into giving consent to be incarcerated by engaging a lawyer. The act of engaging a lawyer in a FC case waives all rights. Most people do not know that. Men who have engaged a lawyer have no human rights in your FCs. That should be obvious by how they are treated. They have consented to be abused.
The purpose of FL/FC is to abuse men so much that they lose the will or desire to be fathers so that the state can replace the real father. Period. The Illuminati did not do this in Russia and now in the west by accident. Haven’t any of you read Stephen Baskervilles book where he references that Lennin said ‘Destroy the Family and you destroy society’?
We will keep hearing stories like this until men who are in FC know how to invoke Common Law and stand up for their rights and refuse the Jurisdiction of your corrupted courts. A man has every right to say ‘No, you do not have my consent to incarcerate me’ and if he is then incarcerated the judge is guilty of kidnapping under Common Law and can be jailed for that offence. In every case, a man must give his consent to be incarcerated.
So…rather than feel sorry for this man….what men here might choose to do is to learn common law, and then assist this man gain remedy under common law for those who incarcerated him by deceit. It is unlawful to incarcerate someone by deciet and there is no ’statute of limitations’ for unlawful acts under common law. As long as this man lives, he has a right to remedy. But he has to be able to point out the deceit on an affidavit and know how to gain remedy.
I am going to spend a great deal of the remainder of my life assisting other men like David Bardes avoid this situation at the beginning…not at the end..We have men today refusing to pay child support lawfully and they cannot be incarcerated lawfully.
But I am only one man. Other men might like to join in.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:56 am
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=360_1252854219
September 13th, 2009 at 10:42 am
@globalman
You are living in a dream world if you believe that a knowledge of Common Law is going to stop a judge sticking you inside a jail.
September 13th, 2009 at 11:59 am
james
“You are living in a dream world if you believe that a knowledge of Common Law is going to stop a judge sticking you inside a jail.”
James, so can you please share with the readers here the research you did to come to this conclusion?
We are now having cases with judges fleeing the courtroom when their fraud is properly exposed. We are having judges dismiss cases for lack of ability to establish jurisdiction. Sure, some men, who do this incorrectly, are being thrown in jail. Just because it is not lawful does not stop the criminals acting as judges throwing people in jail. Is this any reason to cower at their feet and allow them to do that?
Simply making statements with no evidence does not help anyone. What helps people is knowledge.
September 13th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Dwc/All,
yes, all around the world we are seeing massive increases in police brutality. No more so than what we are seeing in the UK. In the UK it is now routine for police to bash women. (Where did all the feminists think police brutality against men would end? The feminists are up in arms about the police bashing women and the police are about as worried about it as they were when they were bashing men.)
I have been the victim of being abused by police at my wifes behest many years ago. I hired a lawyer who told me the police were perfectly inside their rights to beat me up and jail me….that came as something of a surprise to me. They officers involved offered me an apology. I spoke with the station commander so I did no more about it.
Some people are taking a very different approach. Charlie Veitch and his mate Danny have designated themselves the ‘Love Police’ and one thing they do is go around offering police officers hugs…LOL!!! http://www.youtube.com/user/cveitch
They are also going around London with megaphones and telling people about Common Law. At Canary Warf, the center of the finanical district, they got 20 security guys and about 8 coppers coming out to talk to them. Their humour and comedy in heavily populated public places is making people stop and think. So if you would like to know one way to combat the police brutality you see…..one effective way so far is to be ‘Love Police’ and organise people to go around giving police officers hugs and tell them about how police brutality is not really what we like from them.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:22 am
My father made it clear to me that the “law enforcement experience” was supposed to be a bad experience. He said it was meant to keep us law abiding citizens.
Civil disobedience is a martyrdom experience. Martyrdom is always horrific.
My daughter is 24 and has a child, yet I will not approach her. The last order of the court made it clear that only she could do the approaching – that was 12 years ago.
It is reminiscent of the story Waiting For Godot.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Hi David,
I see you have commented on this blog. Great to hear from you! I have not been tortured by Police, just roughed up. I know plenty of guys who have been beaten up by police. And we all know men who have been abused by the Family Law System. I am in that group too. We are doing something about this.
The trouble many of us men, me included, have had is ignorance of the law. Though I fully accept that when 3-4 police officers beat the crap out of you that’s hardly ignorance. Something that is very important for men to realise is this. Police officers are subject to Common Law and there is remedy. They brainwash us into thinking that the only remedy is THEIR court. It is not. It is possible to convene a de jour jury and present affidavits under full penalty of perjury and commercial liability to the jury and let the jury judge the respondent.
If you wish, I would be willing to assist you go through the process of requesting remedy under Common Law for the crimes committed against you. Should the police officers involved perjure themselves by denying these crimes and this perjury can be proved the penalty (as I understand it) is up to 10 years in jail for the perjury. It will not be until we start putting some of these criminals in jail that we will see results.
Each man in jail for so called ‘non payment of child support’ can be freed if we only do it properly. The costs are minimal. The real cost is the education it takes to learn this stuff. Perhaps you can also put your story over here? http://thinkfreeforums.org/index.php
One idea we should get out of our heads is that anyone in guvment or the legal system wants to help us. They don’t. They want to make us think they want to help us. They know full well what is going on and they do NOT want to stop it. ‘We the people’ are the only ones who are going to stop this type of abuse.
September 19th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Globalman, have you had any success yet? I see a lot of talk like this, but no results. We need to use the tools that work. teri
September 20th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Author: teri stoddard
“Globalman, have you had any success yet? I see a lot of talk like this, but no results. We need to use the tools that work. teri”
Yes, we (and I am only very loosely in that ‘we’, mostly it is Rob and the guys) have had thousands and thousands of cases of refusing Jurisdiction of the courts for all those little things like speeding fines, parking tickets, income taxes and the like.
I seem to be one of the very early cross overs to ‘Mens Rights’. In Mens Rights we have had reported three clear cases of refusing the Jurisdiction of the Family Court. One in Canada and two in the UK. The technique used is exactly the same no matter it is a speeding ticket or child support. The same rules apply.
September 20th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
This is going to be one hell of a fight.
They don’t throw us in jail in Canada.
There is not enough room.
The difference down there in the US is that it is a republic. The Rule of law is everything. Law is your secular faith.
Breaking the law makes you a heretic.
Being right and breaking the law, is martyrdom or civil disobedience.
Cops are the enforcers.
They are free to be brutal with heretics.
Now that the economy is weak, there will be legions of men in default with child support.
Document, document, document.
September 20th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
“I seem to be one of the very early cross overs to ‘Mens Rights’. In Mens Rights we have had reported three clear cases of refusing the Jurisdiction of the Family Court. One in Canada and two in the UK. The technique used is exactly the same no matter it is a speeding ticket or child support. The same rules apply.”
I didn’t read everything before I posted, congratulations.
This is very good news.