The Hen House

A Truthful First-Person Account From Inside Cuyahoga County’s Domestic Relations Court (as I lived it, as I saw it, as it swallowed me).

Don’t wonder for a second how I am able to post what you’re about to read. It’s because everything here is true and all documented. The FBI, Assistant U.S. Attorney, The Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice and Court transcripts. I didn’t leave a stone unturned and this is my story…..

I didn’t realize my marriage had already ended years before she ever said the words.

When she finally told me she wanted a divorce, it didn’t feel like a blow. I felt so relieved, I often felt guilty about it. I don’t give up easily and the mistake I made was staying in it too long. Five years of therapy, counseling, begging, bargaining, time together and time apart.

My ex-wife was addicted—to chaos, to drama, to the storm she inherited from a family riddled with divorce. Generational trauma masquerading as identity. Everything had to be blamed on someone else, and she took 40 years of her family dysfunction and blamed me for it. After she stormed out of a marriage counseling session a half dozen times and never came back, the therapist looked at me with the exhaustion of someone delivering a terminal diagnosis. “You can’t work with that,” he said. “You need a divorce.” I believed him. I believed the system would help me. That was my last truly naïve moment.

THE FIRST THREAT

More than a year before I filed for divorce, my ex and her first attorney Liz Goodwin said something to me and my then attorney—something ridiculous, something manipulative something I laughed off at the time,“If you file for divorce, we’ll get the judge to bring in Mark Dottore, aka “Little Man” as a court appointed receiver. He’ll take control of your business and sell it all off.”

This was over a year before he actually appeared in my case! ie. I didn’t know it at the time, but my case was being manipulated long before I filed – with several legal professionals reaching out to those in the courts ensuring my wife would have the odds stacked in her favor. It was not a random assignment as guaranteed by the legal system, but rather a well orchestrated team was assembled. One that I paid dearly for.

A “receiver” is similar to a guardian ad litem for children in a divorce process. Instead of looking out for the best interest of children, “Receivers” Act as an independent, court-appointed managers for specific assets or in my case the entire marital estate or at least their supposed to. The important part is ‘independent’ – having no involvement or interest in either side. However, my wife and her attorney had successfully orchestrated the assignment of Receiver Mark Dottore.

Crystal, my ex wife, had the business card of a feared divorce attorney sitting on her desk at home for over a year while we worked with mediation attorneys. A little relic of control and intimidation she kept close like a talisman. I didn’t know then that the Cuyahoga County DR Court had ears everywhere. Whispers meant more than facts. Drama carried farther than truth. I didn’t know how fast those walls absorbed a story and regurgitated it as their law. When I finally filed—after she took our entire marital savings, kids college fund for herself and chaos became our native tongue—I went for the business card on her desk and hired the attorney she’d been threatening me with for over a year. All it did was announce to the Court: Fresh meat.

THE HEN HOUSE

People think corruption looks like a backroom bribe or a manila envelope sliding across a desk under dim light. No! Corruption, the way I experienced it in the Cuyahoga County DR court, looks like incompetence stacked so high it crushes the truth beneath it.

Corruption in this DR court was laziness weaponized. This corruption included people in black robes who never read filings but keep signing orders anyway: All without formal hearings. Corruption looks like silence—because silence means no one has to be accountable.

Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court wasn’t a courthouse. It was a Hen House where chaos and corruption conquered.

Five female judges, ruling through “broad discretion,” never having to explain themselves appear as hens who didn’t care—that the countryside around them had grown infested. Wolves, coyotes, weasels, snakes—the “lawyers” and other “professionals” circling the domestic relations court for an easy meal. And the hens? They just sit there. Laying orders like eggs and never guarding them. Never judging. Never making a damn decision. Never stopping the carnage.

Inside The Hen House, the rules were simple:

• The more dramatic the lie, the more credible it became.
• The more unethical the attorney, the more power they held.
• The more broken the family, the fatter the predators grew.
• And the truth? The truth was the quietest animal in the barnyard. Easily smothered. The truth always becomes part of your past, and lies, they always become part of your future and that’s why these divorces take so damn long in The Hen House. Lies, and no one gets in trouble for lying in there. I witnessed the court appointed receiver, Mark Dottore, under “oath” completely lie. The Judge paused, I smiled big and I thought for sure he was in trouble, yet nothing happened. That was only day one of the trial.

When I walked into this DR court, they had already decided who I was: A thief, an abuser, a cheater, a bad father and whatever else they were told to discredit me. Not because there was proof. Not because there were facts. But because someone whispered it. Because it made for a better story. Because it made it easier to villainize. I never even met either of my first two Judges, not once, just whispers. To this day we’ve never met. I wasn’t a person, especially that one! I was a narrative in their court, and a profitable one.

THE EXPLOSION

Things escalated fast—faster than anyone believed when I tried to explain it. Every attempt to settle was ignored, blocked, twisted, or used against me. Every olive branch became a weapon. Every act of cooperation became an admission of guilt. My rights were treated like suggestions. And the lies…The lies grew fangs. Sound familiar? Because if you’re in there you already know.

My ex’s first attorney, Liz Goodwin, handed the case off to a new lawyer Richard Rabb. Amazingly he arrived with the same “court appointed receiver” Mark Dottore my ex had been threatening me with. In the trial, we uncovered emails from Richard Rabb to Mark Dottore and Judge Celebrezze planning before the trial was even set. These crooks knew exactly how this DR court liked its prey prepared. It was a shake down team that knew the terrain. Trust me, “conflict of interest” doesn’t mean a thing in The Hen House because they were all buddies and worked together for years.

It blew up so fast it felt supernatural. Accusations I’d never imagined flew like arrows. They stuck before they were even checked. The court appointed receiver went to my banks, my competitors, my accountants, my employees and even my kids waiving court papers and telling them all how terrible I was, my business and life were rearranged. The Receiver (Mark Dottore) submitted impossible bills ($30,000 per mo.) for his work performed each month and his close friend Judge approved them within hours month after month totaling over $650,000. While objections we submitted to the court took months before receiving an answer or never for them to acknowledge my motions. This went on for 2 years without anyone doing anything for me. The Court instigated and believed everything that was spoken loudly and nothing that was proven quietly. My story went from absurd to unbelievable when the court receiver put my ex-wife in charge of my business’s company payroll and she stopped my paycheck for two years and continued to pay herself yet, never showed up for work. The worst part wasn’t the lies. It was how eagerly the system swallowed them and used them against me.

How hungry the system was for them; it was my ex’s playground. She didn’t care that she was also being taken advantage of by the court appointed receiver Mark Dottore and her own attorney Richard Rabb if it meant they were going to destroy me.

The Receiver, my Judge and my ex’s attorney Richard Rabb conspired, colluded, met together outside of court (video # 1) and made a plan to sell my investment property. Without me or my attorney ever knowing about it. Proper procedure is a hearing to discuss, debate, hear the facts and evidence involved to consider if it would be in the best interest to sell or, buy one another out of such a significant asset. Instead I saw the receiver at the investment property colluding with my ex-wife, preparing the property for sale and they sold the property. When the transfer papers hit the court docket it was only hours for the Judge to approve the actual sale and far too late for me to formally object to it in any way. I couldn’t help thinking they were going to sell it all and that’s exactly how they were going to get away with the rest of it. Adding to my frustration, they all paid themselves out of the proceeds, even my own attorney got paid from the sale. He claimed we would file something for the court to reverse the sale OR you can just demand the money, none of which ever occurred and things only got worse. I could not believe what a Judges signature could do, she was a loose cannon with an ego.

To this day not even an explanation as to how this happened, it was never mentioned again. They sold it so fast at half of its market value. I still wonder if he sold it to a friend of his. When you try to explain what’s happening and people look at you like you’re speaking in riddles. When attorneys just shrug. When friends doubt. When the Court treats you not as a citizen but as a character in its own grotesque drama. There comes a point in madness when you realize you don’t have a choice. I remember the moment the panic turned into something far worse – clarity.

I set up an emergency meeting with my attorney Joe, and the look on his face that day completely convinced me that I was on my own: Fear. Not an annoyance. Not frustration. Actual fear. A seasoned veteran, he succumbed. That is when I knew this wasn’t incompetence anymore. This was intent and the court wasn’t just “mishandling” my case, someone wanted it this way. It didn’t help that my Judge and the Receiver hated my attorney either. This put me at another huge disadvantage.

The word was out. Whatever “they” were whispering about me inside The Hen House had grown legs—beyond what an attorney could help with—there was nothing lawful about it and there was certainly nothing my attorney could do but his bill kept climbing. The worst part wasn’t the danger, it was the realization that this court system I trusted to get me out of my situation, the one I thought existed to protect assets, families, children and fairness never existed. It was a machine, an ecosystem, a food chain fueled by manipulation and they were looting my life with a judge’s signature.

I wasn’t just being screwed IN The Hen House. I was being screwed BY it. Frauded by the court. In ways so blatant, so aggressive, so upside-down that no sane person should have believed it was possible. And no one did! Procedures ignored, violations so bold my reactions to them were only part of their plan. There was so much broken law you couldn’t tell where to begin to object to or fix it. People looked at me like I’d become unhinged as though I’d lost grip on reality. There must be more to the story. Some even asked if I was the problem—and honestly, who could blame them? Who would believe that something like this could happen in a court of
law today? By all visible measures… I was f@#$%d. Left for dead in the Hen House and there was no doubt I was bleeding out. My business was being dismantled and taken away by the court just like my ex’s first mediation attorney Liz Goodwin predicted, threatened over a year prior. Gloves were off, I was fighting it, then the receiver and his attorneys made a ridiculous attempt to evict me out of my own business in a different court. It was so absurd I didn’t even bring an attorney with me because at this point I wanted to see if it would be allowed. I represented myself and I countered everything the receiver’s attorney Liz Collins tried with one word, corruption. Despite not having a legal background, I won. In a different court where real law is governed outside The Hen House you have a chance to be heard. But corruption has a smell. And when it leaks out, it doesn’t just reach the predators—it reaches the hunters too.

I got a tip. A quiet message from an extremely reliable source I trusted fully. Just a few words—but enough. Enough to realize I wasn’t imagining it. Enough to understand the danger. Enough to know I had nothing left to lose. There is an undisclosed romantic relationship between your Judge Celebrezze (girlfriend) and the court appointed receiver Mark Dottore (boyfriend) she appointed in your case, it’s a usual thing for them. It hit me hard, I immediately knew how the rest of this was going to end if I did nothing and I was really, really mad! I asked him what the hell do I do? and he replied with something I will never forget, “ya got to catch them “! This
tip gave me the green light to do things my way. I knew I had to meet these crooks where they were at, stoop to their level and speak their language. So, I hired a private investigator: Mike Lewis—Lewis Investigations (Investigationohio.com). A straight-up beast of a PI, absolute old school expert, my kind of guy. Four other PI’s had already turned me down and wanted nothing to do with the corrupt situation inside The Hen House.

But Mike?
He didn’t flinch. We struck an agreement where he agreed to let me help, I wasn’t taking no for
an answer. I had their play book.

The hunt was on; we moved fast, I learned a lot in the dark, and within a shockingly short time, we caught them—caught them—not “metaphorically”, not “maybe”, not suspiciously but, in ways that erased any doubt about what was really happening behind those courthouse walls. We got video footage of my Judge, her boyfriend Receiver she appointed and my ex’s attorney Richard Rabb at dinner together colluding over my case. Where we later learned the Receiver even billed me for their dinner meeting that night. We got a video of the Judge going into and leaving the Receiver’s personal residence on multiple days when she was supposed to be at the courthouse. And my silver bullet video was the one where we got them “kissing” outside a restaurant after having dinner together during my case, none of which was disclosed at any time and they had been hiding this for years together. They were lovers! The PI evidence undeniably connected with the officials controlling my case. Real corruption and the evidence we had was radioactive, I had these crooks. Joe, my attorney was reborn! But, when we tried to figure out what to do with the evidence, the advice we got was even more bone chilling:

“Don’t take this to the local authorities in this County. This kind of thing has a way of getting buried, covered up.” The disgusting reality is there is already a procedure in place on what to do with exposing corruption around here and it has already been learned you can’t trust the authorities to know what’s right about it. WTF? So we went to the media (Marshall Project Cleveland / Judge Celebrezze) where investigative reporters were extremely careful to verify everything, it took forever. We lit the match. During the wait an assistant in Judge Celebrezze’s office released a public document to the reporter and was demoted, shamed and intimidated by the entire leadership in the rotting courthouse. Turns out the Judge and the assistant were “besties” and it turned into a cat fight. Ms. Semary was being treated so terribly on a daily basis she finally left her job which sparked another lawsuit regarding the corruption. I now had an insider eyewitness to the corruption on my side. Semary further confirmed Judge Celebrezze’s romantic relationship with the Receiver Mark Dottore and more. Between my situation and the wrongful termination Semary lawsuit Cuyahoga County has already spent over $250,000 defending Judge Celbrezze and the corruption. (Chandra Law.com/Georgia Semary).

And then—

The FBI knocked.
Once. Then again. Then again. Nearly a dozen interviews. It worked in a big way. The court was retaliating against me for exposing them and their energy started to fade, it was my turn. Judge Celebrezze was removed from my case by the Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice and Celebrezze didn’t go quietly. She went kicking and screaming, it was ugly. Her true colors only reinforced who she actually was under that robe. She tried repeatedly to “explain” her way out of it, i.e. lying bigtime. One of the Supreme Court investigators said “she just doesn’t get it and most likely never will”. Her lover court appointed receiver Mark Dottore, was also removed from my case. It was later reported by the other Judges in this courthouse that Celebrezze told them “they were in love”. Thanks for doing something about it ladies. Dottore is a parasite that will latch onto any easy money and has the worst case of little man syndrome I’ve ever seen, aka “Little Man”. A U.S. District Attorney was assigned to the situation. A federal grand jury subpoena landed on The Hen House like a thunderclap and there were feathers flying everywhere! Judges scrambling, sheer panic. Judges Tonya Jones, Leslie Celebrezze and Court appointed receiver Mark Dottore had left the Hen House door open and I got in ! The Hen House shook. So much corruption was properly exposed, I had even heard of a meeting where the entire building, every employee had to report to a mandatory meeting where the county prosecutor addressed the situation and informed everyone what to do. And for the first time in this entire nightmare the worst realization hit me. This wasn’t unusual, it wasn’t even rare. This was just Standard Operating Procedure in that place, I just exposed it. The trial went on and we uncovered even more fraud. Mark Dottore allowed my ex-wife not only a salary she defined for herself but he gave her another $443,000 off the company books in personal expenses as hush money. A Louis Vuitton purse was a listed expense. All while my paycheck had been stopped, I couldn’t afford my attorney anymore and the court was buying her luxury handbags to
keep her in the game.

THE AFTERMATH

The Receiver was ordered to pay me back approximately $380,000 hardly justice because this entire thing was a set up, shake down from the very start. Many of us are just waiting for federal indictments to be issued on Mark Dottore and Judge Celebrezze. Turns out they have gotten away with doing this to many divorcing couples in the past who have contacted me and I’m sure that’s why the FBI is involved in the first place

My case has dragged on for more than six years. Still no real decisions. Still no accountability. Still no justice and how could there be SIX YEARS later? Just delays. Deflections. Transfers. Because the actions and inactions of this Domestic Relations court have brought all the other courts to a grinding halt. Again, everyone is too afraid to act due to all the collusion and potential consequences involved which only continues to cause more harm to me and the other victims of The Hen House.

More hens passing more eggs to more predators, much more carefully. The system was so well honed, it was like a run away freight train – hard to stop as the lines had become too blurred to know what is right and wrong anymore. My ex loves it. This system feeds the chaos she’s addicted to. And me?

I became something else inside those walls. Harder, colder. I couldn’t believe what I had to do just to level the playing field and get divorced from her. That’s what a broken system does. Just like prison, just like war. It transforms people into versions of themselves they never would’ve met in a fair world. I was on beast mode for so long defending retaliation by a court it cost me more than just money. Girlfriends, the good kind, employee’s, friends and years of my life left out of intimidation and retaliation from a court of law. If you’re reading this because you’re living it… If your attorney won’t fight… If no one believes you… If your money, property, dignity, or children have been taken wrongfully without a hearing…Then you already know:

The Hen House is real. The corruption—whether born of laziness, incompetence, ego, or something darker—is real. Judges Jones and Celebrezze are bad! Judge Jones’ husband was arrested by the FBI five years ago for bribery. The other four “Judges” knew about all of this years ago and never did anything about it. They already admitted this and more to the Supreme Court and I’m sure to the FBI as well. That = corruption. You don’t use corrupt standards as your benchmark because that is the epitome of what corruption is. If your case and future are in the hands of one of the other hens, figure it out before they figure you out.

Our county and city of Cleveland has had such bad leadership that corruption thrives and the FBI is busy here. Our county officials went to federal prison in the recent past and some of them are actually not bad guys! They just used the same corrupt standards the hens did because when you see it live long enough it just is Cleveland. Why else would The Marshall Project (a national respected government corruption publication) open a satellite office in Cleveland Ohio? The Hen House has seen the worst leadership. Tearing families apart and destroying couples that even though it’s sitting aside on a level lake, its moral compass is stuck on tilt. Beware, if you’re in
there, I hope this helps you in some way trust your gut because there is no legalese that truly supports most of what happens in there. “Broad Discretion” is a legal term in Judging and these hens have managed to reinvent it into their own Hen House law = Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court, change your ways, you are broken.