Jay Joyce is risking jail to speak with me.
He told me that last week an investigator with the Family Protection Detail of the Orange County, Ca. Sheriff’s Office called him.
He asked Jay about me, and a phone call I placed to McKenna Treister, Jay’s ex-wife.
He told them, “There is a reporter that is trying to obtain my side of my story of my ongoing case.”
That reporter is me.
Jay is the subject of a five-year domestic violence restraining order (DVRO). It forbids him from contacting his ex-wife and their four kids in any way.
It also bars him from using a third party to contact them on his behalf. McKenna didn’t respond to my voicemail for comment; instead, she ran to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) to try and get a DVRO violation, claiming I was Jay’s agent.
It’s not the first time this happened to Jay, a veteran.
He told me this was the sixth or seventh time he’s been investigated for a crime since his divorce started in January 2024.
Over Labor Day 2025, he ran into his daughter on a bike path. She began screaming at him, Jay told me, and he quickly left, but OCSO was called again.
OCSO told me they had no record of this incident when I reached them through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office.
Another time, he was investigated for carrying a gun in violation of the DVRO.
None of the allegations have led to criminal charges, and I don’t expect McKenna leveraging me to be any more successful, but Jay’s life has been turned upside down regardless.
In January 2024, McKenna first filed for a DVRO. That DVRO included their four kids.
Jay filed for divorce shortly thereafter. He told me that a hearing for the DVRO was initially scheduled for later in January 2024.
It was postponed when McKenna showed up with an army of witnesses. The original judge was removed and replaced by Judge Mary Kreber Varipapa.
Judge Varipapa has quickly earned a terrible reputation in her short time on the bench.
She previously granted custody to grandparents- by passing both parents. She’s closed the courtroom haphazardly, and turned an evaluation report into an emergency, while removing Karlton Weiskopf from his children’s lives.
Judge Varipapa failed to hold a DVRO hearing for well over a year. Instead, she renewed and amended the temporary DVRO which McKenna was granted originally.
The person requesting a DVRO typically goes into court ex-parte, or without the target of the DVRO present, and presents their case.
This one-sided presentation often leads to a temporary DVRO, but since an ex-parte hearing violates the other person’s due process, courts should hold a hearing a few weeks later where both sides present their case.
After that hearing, a final DVRO is either granted or dismissed.
That didn’t happen in Jay’s case. Instead, he remained under a revolving door of temporary DVRO’s from January 2024 until May 2025, when Judge Varipapa finally held a hearing.
In the interim, Judge Varipapa made Jay move out of his house and sell it. She also used the delay to appoint a series of court appointees.
One of those appointed was Miriam Galindo. Galindo is a notorious figure, having been involved in Ethan Cook’s case, where a boy killed himself after being forced to live exclusively with his abusive father based on Galindo’s recommendation.
I also documented her involvement in Christie Black’s, Julie Holburn’s, and Dan Greenberg’s cases.
By dragging out the DVRO hearing, Judge Varipapa forced Jay to go months without seeing his kids.
She used this as an excuse to appoint several people- all of whom charged Jay tens of thousands of dollars- whose job it was ostensibly to reintegrate him with his kids.
That reintegration never happened, instead, when the hearing finally occurred on May 8, 2025, she threw the book at him and granted McKenna a five-year restraining order.
She called it, “the most dangerous case in the entire courtroom,” Jay told me.
That five-year order started the day of the hearing, meaning Jay will have spent approximately six and a half years away from his four kids if it’s followed in full.
To add insult to injury, earlier this week, Judge Varipapa ordered Jay to pay McKenna’s legal bill for the process- just over $140,000.
Post-script
Check out the fundraiser for Orange County.
Here are the previous articles in the series. 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, Part 46, Part 47, Part 48, Part 49, Part 50, Part 51, Part 52, Part 53, Part 54, Part 55, Part 56, Part 57, Part 58, Part 59, and Part 60.
