My Roommate Used A Fake Lawyer To Evict Me And Got Me Fired. He Didn’t Realize I Found Proof His Girlfriend Had A Secret Apartment. Now They Owe Me $45,000.

The Evidence Hunt

I thank him and leave. At least I have something to work with now. I spend the rest of that day calling my phone carrier. The first customer service person transfers me to technical support. Technical support transfers me to the legal department. The legal department tells me I need to submit a written request.

I submit the written request through their website. 2 days later, I get an email saying they can provide a call and text log showing the numbers I contacted and the dates and times, but the actual message content requires a subpoena from a court or law enforcement.

I call back and explain I need to prove I didn’t send certain messages. The representative sounds sympathetic but says there’s nothing they can do without a subpoena. I ask how to get a subpoena. She says I need a lawyer to request one from a judge. I don’t have a lawyer.

I spend another whole day on the phone trying different approaches. I talk to five different representatives. I get transferred to supervisors twice. Everyone tells me the same thing: Message content needs a subpoena. I can get the basic log showing I sent texts to Brock’s number on certain dates, but I can’t prove what those texts actually said. The screenshots Brock has could show anything. My basic phone log won’t definitively prove they’re fake. I print out the log anyway because it’s all I have.

3 days before the hearing, I’m working an overnight stocking shift at a grocery store. I get off at 6:00 a.m. and drive back to the apartment. I sit in my car in the parking lot because I can’t deal with going inside yet. I pull out all the documents I’ve been carrying around. The eviction notice, the restraining order petition, the utility bills I originally gathered to show Brock the cost increases, my phone records.

Everything is spread across my passenger seat and dashboard. I pick up one of the utility bills and stare at it. Something looks off but I can’t figure out what. Then I see it. The bill is addressed to Sienna, but the address isn’t our apartment. It’s a completely different street across town on the south side.

I grab my phone and Google the address. It’s a real place, an apartment complex called Riverside Gardens. I look through more papers scattered around my car. There’s a credit card statement that must have gotten mixed in with my stuff somehow. It’s also addressed to Sienna at that same Southside address.

My hands start shaking as I pull up the county property records website on my phone. I type in Sienna’s full name. The results show her registered residence for tax purposes at the Riverside Gardens address, not our apartment. The address where she’s supposedly been living for 3 months and established legal tenancy.

I sit there staring at my phone screen as everything starts making sense. I open a new browser tab and start searching tenant law websites again. Every single legal site says the same thing: Tenancy isn’t just about staying somewhere for 60 days. It’s about establishing that place as your primary residence, your main home where you live and receive mail and pay bills. If someone maintains and pays rent at a different apartment the whole time, they never actually establish tenancy at the second place. They’re just a guest.

Harrison’s whole legal argument about Sienna being a legal tenant was based on a lie. She never lived at our apartment as her primary residence. She was staying over while keeping her real apartment across town. I spend the entire rest of that day and night researching everything I can find about primary residence requirements. I’m still sitting in my car at noon reading legal websites on my phone.

I drive to the library and use their computers to print out relevant state statutes about tenant rights and primary residence definitions. By 3:00 a.m., I have a folder full of documentation and I finally understand what happened. Harrison wasn’t just wrong about the law. He deliberately lied knowing Sienna maintained another residence.

The Turning Point

The hearing is at 9:00 a.m. I haven’t slept but I feel more focused than I have in weeks. I put on the one decent shirt I own that isn’t wrinkled. I drive to the courthouse and go through security. The courtroom is small with maybe 20 seats. Brock is already there with a different man in a suit, not Harrison this time. A real attorney.

I sit on the opposite side of the room. When the judge calls our case, we both stand. Brock’s attorney presents the fabricated text messages first. He shows the judge printed screenshots of me supposedly threatening Brock and Sienna. Then Brock takes the stand and testifies about my threatening behavior and how scared he and Sienna are. He’s good at looking sincere. The judge listens and takes notes.

When it’s my turn, I walk up with my folder. My voice shakes at first but I force myself to speak clearly. I present the utility bill addressed to Sienna at the different address, then the credit card statement, then the property records showing that address as her registered residence.

The judge actually looks up from his notes with interest. He asks Brock’s attorney to explain why Sienna has active accounts at a different address if she’s been living at our apartment. The attorney wasn’t expecting this. He shuffles through his papers and starts talking about how Sienna was transitioning between residences during that time period.

I interrupt and point out that the dates on the utility bill show she was paying electricity and gas at the other address during the exact same months Harrison claimed she established tenancy at our place. You can’t establish tenancy somewhere while actively maintaining and paying for a completely different residence as your primary home.

The judge looks at Brock’s attorney and asks if he has documentation proving Sienna actually lived at our apartment as her primary residence during those 3 months. The attorney admits he doesn’t have that documentation with him today. The judge doesn’t dismiss the restraining order petition but he doesn’t grant it either. He says he’s continuing the hearing for 2 weeks and ordering both parties to provide additional documentation about Sienna’s actual residence during the relevant time period. He wants utility records, lease agreements, mail receipts, anything proving where she actually lived.

I walk out of that courthouse feeling hope for the first time in weeks. I drive straight to the address on Sienna’s utility bill. Riverside Gardens is a decent apartment complex with a pool and parking garage. I walk around until I find the building number from her mail. There’s a mailbox directory in the lobby. Sienna’s name is clearly printed next to apartment 2847.

I take photos of everything with my phone: the building exterior, the mailbox directory, the apartment number on the door. Then I wait outside near the parking garage. Around 6 p.m., a woman in her 50s comes out walking a dog. I approach her carefully and ask if she lives in the building. She says she’s been here 5 years. I show her a photo of Sienna on my phone and ask if she knows her.

The woman nods immediately and says:

“That’s the girl in 2847 who works from home. She’s seen her coming and going for months.”

I ask if she knows anything else. The woman mentions that Sienna complained a few weeks ago about her boyfriend’s annoying roommate who wouldn’t leave them alone. My stomach twists but I thank her and take down her apartment number in case I need a witness statement later.

I spend the next two days going back to that complex at different times. I see Sienna’s car in the parking garage twice. I photograph it with the apartment building visible in the background showing the date and time stamp. I talk to two more neighbors who confirm she lives there. One mentions seeing her almost every evening.

On the fourth day, I go to the utility company offices in person. I fill out formal request forms for records showing Sienna’s account activity at the Riverside Gardens address. It costs $50 for expedited processing that I can barely afford, but I pay it with my credit card.

Within a week, I received thick envelopes from the electric company, gas company, and internet provider. Every single one shows Sienna maintained active accounts at Riverside Gardens throughout the entire 3-month period Brock claimed she was establishing tenancy at our apartment. The bills show regular usage patterns. Someone was definitely living there and using utilities the whole time. She was paying for electricity, gas, and internet at her real apartment while supposedly living at ours.

I gather every single piece of evidence I’ve collected over the past week and drive straight to Craig Monahan’s office. My hands shake as I carry the folder stuffed with utility bills, neighbor statements, photographs, and mail receipts. The secretary recognizes me and waves me back without making me wait.

Craig looks up from his desk as I walk in, probably expecting bad news based on my expression. I drop the folder on his desk and just say:

“I found something big.”

He opens it and starts going through the documents one by one. His whole attitude changes as he reads. He looks at the utility bills showing Sienna’s active accounts at Riverside Gardens during the exact months Harrison claimed she lived at our apartment. He studies the photographs of her name on the mailbox. He reads through the neighbor statements confirming she lives there and works from home at that address.

Craig leans back in his chair and lets out a low whistle. He tells me:

“This isn’t just a failed attempt to kick me out anymore. This is fraud.”

Harrison stood in my kitchen presenting himself as a lawyer when he had no license to practice law. He made false claims about Sienna’s tenant status. He used made-up evidence to threaten me with illegal removal from my home. Craig says this could be criminal. I feel my chest get tight with something that might actually be hope for the first time in weeks.

Craig keeps flipping through the documents and shaking his head. He points out that Harrison gave me a business card claiming to be an attorney. He presented legal documents with official-looking seals. He made specific claims about tenant law that were completely wrong. Craig explains that pretending to be a lawyer is a serious crime in our state.

Add in the fraud aspect, the false evidence, the threats to illegally remove me from my home, and we’re looking at potential criminal charges. He asks if I still have Harrison’s business card. I pull it out of my wallet where I’ve been keeping it like some kind of terrible reminder. Craig makes a copy of it right there in his office.