Michael Volpe Investigates Special Report: the systemic bias against women in Orange County, California

I speak with Robert Hansen, whose series of articles in the last year paint a picture of a county which doesn't like women.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer

I sat down today with journalist Robert Hansen.

Robert writes for the Sacrament Observer, Newsbreak, and the Davis Vanguard.

In the last year, he has written a series of articles which exposes widespread bias against women at all levels of Orange County, California government.

His most recent article tells Tawny Grossman’s story. Tawny’s daughter disclosed to several people that her father was molesting her, but the family court system in Orange County called Tawny delusional and paranoid.

Robert found that the final custody decision was influenced by a custody evaluator.

These rulings appear to be influenced by an evaluation by Dr. David J. Sheffner, the court appointed 730 evaluator, conducted on April 11, 2023.

His evaluation found that Tawny over-identified as a victim and was paranoid about the abuse it appears her children had suffered.

Yet a peer review of Dr. Sheffner’s findings by Dr. Catherine Barrett concluded that Dr. Sheffner does not demonstrate the competence necessary to be commenting on risk factors of sex offenders.

Barrett found Sheffner’s assessments were not sophisticated enough to assess for domestic violence as psychological instruments are not designed to assess for emotional violence.

“He clearly believed that there was a lack of intimate partner violence as he put Ms. Grossman in the same room as her alleged abuser to assess their dynamic. The oversimplified and trash can conclusion of parental alienation is often used when something cannot be explained,” Barrett wrote.

Tawny’s ex-husband Frank was given sole custody last December. Tawny fled to Canada.

Robert told me she made a fatal error, lying about her marriage status. She was picked up by Canadian authorities, and, in the meantime, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer’s office charged her with parental interference.

Tawny Grossman fled to Canada from Orange County in January with her two young children out of fear for their safety from her ex-husband Frank Grossman.

In doing so, the Orange County District Attorney’s office has issued a warrant for her arrest on felony charges of deprivation of custody of a child or right to visitation, according to records.

However, the crime Tawny has been charged with does not apply to a person with a right to custody of a child who takes, withholds or conceals that child with reasonable belief that the child, if left with the other person, will suffer immediate bodily injury or emotional harm, according to California law.

Though the law states that the person withholding the child shall contact the local district attorney’s office, Tawny claims she was being harassed by that same office and felt she had nowhere to go.

After living in safe housing for several weeks, Tawny was taken into custody by Canadian authorities last week.

Tawny’s ex-husband has denied the charges.

Frank Grossman asserted that Tawny's claims were never substantiated and were proven to be untrue.

“To claim otherwise is to defy logic, reason and state law,” Grossman said.

Tawny’s case differs greatly from the way another Orange County mother, Julie Holburn, was treated. Holburn went to her local police department, the Newport Beach Police Department, to report her ex-husband’s repeated violations of a protective order, and she was told that Spitzer’s office will not prosecute those violations.

Here is Robert’s reporting on that story.

Julie Holburn had a protective restraining order against her ex-husband, Mr. Holburn who had violated those orders over a dozen times between 2014 and 2021, according to court records.

Mr. Holburn has withheld their two children several times and records show a history of child abuse.

Their children have told their court-appointed counsel that their father has abused them.

A March 2021 incident began when Mr. Holburn withheld the two children for days after they should have been returned to their mother.

When Julie came for her kids, without a car, she waited outside Mr. Holburn’s apartment until she saw the kids.

The kids ran for their mother when they made eye contact.

Mr. Holburn chased after grabbing at and trying to restrain the children and started to chase after them when they broke free. He chased them down a city block while trying to grab and restrain the kids and his ex-wife.

The kids were still screaming while their dad grabbed ahold of their mom, then Julie’s adult older son beat Mr. Holburn to get him off of his mom.

The Orange County DA never filed charges against Mr. Holburn for allegedly violating restraining orders, withholding the children or for any of the reported assaults.

The DA’s office cited a lack of sufficient evidence to charge Mr. Holburn.

That’s not all that Robert found about the Orange County DA’s office. He found widespread sexual harassment which was ignored.

Spitzer, the elected DA, forced Tracy Miller from her senior position by purposefully and intentionally retaliating against her after she reported sexual misconduct by former Senior Assistant District Attorney Gary LoGalbo, according to the lawsuit.

LoGalbo, who was Spitzer’s best man at his wedding, allegedly blocked the doorway in front of a female employee who was taking off her jacket.

LoGalbo then asked, “How much for the show?”

Miller reported that Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Nelson, in the presence of OCDA Spitzer, repeatedly said that LoGalbo did not have “real victims of sexual harassment.”

Not only was this information false, but the statement by Nelson and acceptance by Spitzer created a hostile working environment intended to silence reporters of harassment. The statements also made clear that reporting harassment in the OCDA’s office would not be told

Miller suffered and will continue to suffer, emotional distress, loss of past and future earnings, including loss of pension, and loss of reputation

This environment was created by gender-based harassment, intimidating, offensive, oppressive, or abusive, which was continual and calculated to undermine Miller’s effectiveness and authority.

The courts in Orange County have a systemic bias toward women, Robert found. He interviewed members of Protective Makua, an organization which advocates for protective parents.

Jack Xian, with Protective Makua, has been advocating for Tawny {Grossman} and her children and several other mothers across the nation. Protective Makua is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for protective parents’ right to due process and equal protection, to put an end to the legal promotion of "toxic fatherhood" and to reform policy to be truly in the best interest of the child.

“Judges who have gone off the rails to criminalize motherhood are trying to create common law establishing parental alienation as a legal standard. This is legislating from the bench. They also have no authority to order psych exams,” Xian said.

It is not within a judge’s authority to opine that an individual is psychologically capable or not of taking care of their children.

“Good moms who choose to protect their children from a bad father’s abuse are faced with the unfair catch-22 of fulfilling their legal duty to protect their children from harm or allowing a flawed court to force their children into more abuse from their perpetrators. To keep safe from their exes and the corruption of judges who have gone off the rails, all moms go broke and suffer criminalization without just cause.” Xian told this reporter.

In his last article, Robert cited a story I did on the death of Ethan Cook, another Orange County case where a protective mom wasn’t believed. That led to Ethan Cook’s suicide.

Robert says he has spoken to over twenty women in Orange County, who have had their allegations of abuse ignored.

Besides Julie Holburn and the Cook case, I have previously interviewed Donna McCracken, who has not seen her daughter in nearly a decade after her daughter reported abuse.

I’ve also done several stories on Christie Black’s case; her divorce will soon hit ten nears with no end in sight. Both Christie and Donna had Mariam Galindo as their custody evaluator. Galindo was also involved in the Cook case.

{Listen to the explosive audio of Galindo speaking with Ethan Cook’s dad.}

Robert said he’s spoken with over twenty women in Orange County, who say that abuse allegations were covered up by Orange County courts.

Finally, check out the last ten minutes of the interview for a discussion on gender bias in family courts.

Postscript:

Check out the previous articles on the series on Orange County. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25. Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39, Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45, and Part 46.

Please consider contributing to the Orange County fundraiser so I can continue this investigation.