Josh Roberts was a fairly ordinary guy, living a fairly ordinary life. The one day in June it was all taken away from him. He went to visit his girlfriend, Andrea Ferguson age 37, in the nursing home where she was temporarily under care and found she had been moved. He was not permitted to know where she had been taken. He returned home to their two children, Anna and Noah, ages 2 and 1. Two days later Andrea's adoptive mother arrived with five Worthington police officers and took his children. There was no police report and the police showed him no paperwork. He was given a choice of losing his children or going to jail and losing his children.
The frightened children were spirited away to the care of Andrea Ferguson's adoptive mother, Dorothy “Dottie” Cocola who had been named her legal guardian. He has not seen Andrea or their children since. Cocola was awarded guardianship of Andrea in a probate court hearing that Roberts was not informed of and did not attend. Court transcripts suggest a clear pattern of the court being misled as to the facts of his relationship with Andrea. These misleading presentations continue in Cocola's objections to Roberts' continued attempts to get a court hearing. In two months he has not seen his partner, their children, the inside of a courtroom or a scrap of justice.
In March, Andrea Ferguson was diagnosed with NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis, an auto-immune brain disorder caused by antibody reaction to an encapsulated tumor in one of her ovaries. The tumor was removed and her prognosis under a regime of steroids and immunotherapy was good. Nearly 80% of patients with the disease recover fully within 24 months of having the tumor removed with proper treatment.
Cocola used her adoptive daughter's condition to take control of her life and her children and isolate her from her partner, friends and community. Her friends have founded a support and advocacy group called ReuniteRFamily, which is working desperately to find Andrea and her children and support Roberts' quest for a legal reckoning. The group includes long-time friends and experienced health care professionals, one of whom expressed outrage at the situation when interviewed on the phone. “I have worked for years with developmentally disabled adults and this goes against everything I know,” said Micki Pike, one of ReuniteRFamily's coordinators. “There are people with [much more serious conditions] than Andrea who live independently and are not under guardianship,” She added.
On June 12, Dorothy Cocola filed for guardianship of Andrea. The case was assigned to Judge Montgomery and a hearing was scheduled. Court records show that no attempt was made to inform Josh Roberts of the filing or the pending hearing. No service of summons or notice was recorded in the records of all fees paid and filings in the case. According to the court transcript, the magistrate never asked for proof of service to Roberts. Cocola asked how service should be carried out for future hearings during the proceedings. Roberts says he was never notified of the hearing as to the legal status of his life partner and his own biological children.
The hearing was held on June 19 with Magistrate Susan Sugar presiding. The court transcripts clearly show a discussion had happened with the Magistrate prior to the proceedings on record. Cocola's attorney, Valerie Carson states at the beginning of the hearing: “As we have already discussed a little bit, custody of the minor children who are not being properly cared for.” There is also opening banter between the Magistrate and Sugar: “Cocola and Sugar, we should get together.”
The magistrate further reminds Cocola that the hearing is merely a formality. Moments later, a discussion and possible decisions had happened off the record “Okay. And I will say on the record, we discussed this before I turned on my tape recorder, that this application is for guardianship of your daughter and your daughter only.”
Later on that same page the apparently misleading statements to the court begin (Cocola's answers in italics):
“…and they were never married?”
“No. He's married to someone else in another state.”
“Okay, so he has never had any visitation or companionship time with the children?”
“Yes he has.”
“Not court ordered.”
“Not court ordered.”
“Has he ever paid child support?”
“No he doesn't work. He has been unemployed for six months.”
“Has – has he ever been put under an order to pay child support?”
“No”
“And you're sure about all those answers.”
“I'm absolutely positively sure.”
At face value, the testimony is designed to make it appear as though Roberts is an unemployed absentee father who does not support his children. Josh Roberts and Andrea Ferguson have cohabitated for five years. Roberts has filed an affidavit claiming he is the children's father and his name is listed on their birth certificates. There is no court order of visitation because Roberts does not need to visit his children, he lived with them until they were taken. Roberts is employed and is a union carpenter at good wages.
There is ample proof that Roberts had physical custody of his children together with Andrea Ferguson for their entire lives and that all four lived together as a family. Medical bills are addressed “to the parents of.” The children's insurance records list the same address.
Cocola and Andrea's adoptive father, Richard Ferguson, know well that Roberts and Andrea Ferguson cohabitate with their children. Birthday and Christmas cards addressed from the former two to the latter four prove this.
There were ample opportunities to tell the court the whole truth. Cocola appears to have not availed herself of them:
“And when did they go – when did they go to live with him?”
“Well, when Andrea first got sick, we shared taking them and, you know being at the hospital. And then he got angry on several occasions and then stopped letting me take the children. Then he gets okay again and has some place to go on the weekend so he lets me see them. But we had an incident and then I was told by the sheriff that I should file a paper to get guardian of the children because we felt they weren't safe.”
Magistrate Sugar clearly asked a misleading question, as the children did not go to live with Roberts, they always had lived with Roberts. The incident involving the sheriff occurred, according to Roberts, when Cocola attempted to take the children out of Ohio and he contacted law enforcement to assist him in recovering his children.
Robert's paternal rights were terminated in a seemingly scripted hearing of which he was not given notice. It appears that there was some discussion prior to that hearing. His children were taken from him by armed officers in his home and he was not given documentation. Had the children been a television, Roberts would have been given a receipt. Neither he, nor his lawyer have been able to get the Worthington Police department to issue a copy of the police report.
Roberts has filed for visitation and no hearing has been scheduled. Cocola's attorneys have filing and been granted several extensions. In these extensions, the misleading statements have grown into what appear to be outright lies. In motion to extend the judgment dated July 17, Cocola's new attorney Danielle Skestos claims, “Andrea is the sole residential parent and legal custodian of the children.” The exact claim was repeated word-for-word in a second motion on August 16.
Andrea Ferguson's whereabouts are known only to her adoptive mother and father. The quality of her treatment, whether she has had contact with her children, and the progress of her recovery are unknown. A cellphone smuggled to her at her last known location has been confiscated and she has since been moved.
Roberts, together with Andrea's friends, continue to pursue all legal avenues to gain her release and the release of her children. The conditions of her treatment have every appearance of secret incarceration. The children are not currently residing with Dorothy Cocola and their whereabouts cannot be independently verified. Andrea's adoptive father has responded to her friends' efforts with belittling and threatening text messages. A message to Roberts stated “Andrea and the children are clearly not your real issue, are they. You have a very different agenda that has become very clear to all. If you really want to get it together, let me know, but the villagers will have to stop.”
The “villagers,” presumably the group ReuniteRFamily, have no intention of stopping, despite whatever adversity Andrea's apparently well-connected family and a court system, that seems to support secret incarceration, dream up next. The Free Press will continue to follow this story as it develops.
