My Sister Drugged Our Healthy Father To Steal Our $5 Million Vineyard. I Caught Her On Tape And Called The Cops Three Days Before Christmas. Am I The Jerk For Sending My Own Sister To Prison?

Marcus arrived at 8:00. He’d driven through the night from San Jose where he’d been working a case.

Behind him came two cars: Adult Protective Services and a Sheriff’s Deputy. The social worker was a woman named Patricia Lopez, in her 50s, with kind eyes, but I could tell she’d seen some terrible things in her career.

“Mr. Chen?” She said to Dad.

“I’m here to ask you some questions about your well-being. Is that all right?” She asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” Dad replied.

They sat in the living room. I stayed in the kitchen with Marcus and the Deputy, but I could hear everything.

Patricia went through a series of questions. Dad answered each one clearly and precisely.

He named the current president, the date, and the year. He described his daily routine and explained the business of running a vineyard in perfect detail.

Then, she asked about Catherine. Dad told her everything: the mysterious sleepiness, the new doctor, and the medical tests that didn’t make sense.

He spoke of Catherine’s increasing insistence that he was forgetting things and doing dangerous things.

“Did you ever sign a power of attorney document?” Patricia asked.

“No, ma’am. I never did.” Dad stated.

“Your daughter submitted one to the County Clerk’s office six months ago.” Patricia noted.

“Then it’s fake. I want to see it.” Dad demanded.

Marcus handed over a copy. Dad looked at it for less than five seconds.

“That’s not my signature.” He said.

“Are you certain?” Patricia asked.

“Completely. Look at the ‘J’ in James. I’ve signed my name the same way for 60 years. Long tail on the ‘J’ curving under the rest of the letters. This one stops short. And the ‘C’ in Chen is wrong. I always make it bold, heavy. This is thin.” Dad explained.

Patricia made notes.

“We’ll have it analyzed. Mr. Chen, are you aware your daughter was planning to sell your property?” She asked.

“My son told me last night. She can’t. This land is in a family trust. I set it up years ago. Neither of my children can sell it without both of them agreeing and me being declared legally incompetent by a real court, not just by fake documents.” Dad revealed.

Marcus smiled.

“Grandpa, you sneaky old man. You never told us about a trust.” Marcus said.

“Your grandmother insisted back in the ’90s. She said, ‘James, we need to protect this for the kids. Make sure they can’t fight over it or lose it to bad decisions.’ We set it up so the vineyard passes to both Robert and Catherine when I die. They have to work together or neither gets anything.” Dad explained.

“And while I’m alive, nobody can touch it without a judge’s order.” Dad added.

“Catherine didn’t know about the trust?” Patricia asked.

“I don’t think so. She never paid attention to the business side. Never asked questions.” Dad replied.

Which meant her whole plan had been doomed from the start. Even if she’d successfully had Dad declared incompetent, even if she drugged him into a stupor and locked him away, she couldn’t have sold the vineyard.

The trust prevented it. All that scheming, all that cruelty, for nothing.

The Deputy spoke up.

“Mr. Chen, based on what I’m hearing, I think we have grounds for charges: elder abuse, fraud, forgery, maybe attempted theft. Are you willing to press charges against your daughter?” The Deputy asked.

Dad was quiet for a long moment.

“Yes.” He said finally.

“I am.” He confirmed.