Help for Cindy Ertell

Sixteen years ago, my mother met and married a wonderful, kind, sweet and generous man. He was a devout Christian and would do anything for anybody.

Several months ago he started using marijuana for his chronic pain. He quickly became addicted and started down a dark path. He became the complete opposite of whom my mother married. He is mean, manipulative, vulgar and inconsiderate. He has also become delusional and has manic episodes. 

Between vehicle purchases, electronics, expensive clothing, expensive meals and drugs, my stepfather has spent over $100K in the last 3 months (most of it in the last month). He has used joint credit cards, new credit cards, financed vehicle purchases, pulled money from the retirement account and maxed the home equity line of credit on the home that I grew up in.

My mother is unable to keep up with the bills due to being nearly wiped out financially.

My mother is the owner of a small coffee roasting company who takes a very small salary and works very hard to keep her business afloat and her four workers employed. About a month ago, that too was threatened. Due to an unfortunate accident, a small fire started at her business after hours. Although there was not a lot of damage to the structure, the smoke damage was extensive. Nearly the entire inventory had to be discarded. While insurance will cover the cost of the cleanup and the lost product, insurance cannot cover the loss in business due to unfulfilled/delayed orders.

It is unknown at this point what impact this fire will have on the ability of my mother to keep her business going.

On top of dealing with a drug addicted husband and a fire at her business, my mother was recently notified that the federal government has decided she needs to give up a portion of her retirement. The CEO of the company that manages her IRA account misappropriated approximately $25 million dollars in 2009. This information was unknown to my mother when she hired the company in 2011. The court has determined that this shortfall will be covered by all of the current clients, not the clients from 2009. It makes no difference that she had nothing to do with this company until 2011.

All of this has happened to a woman that continues to handle everything with grace. She is a wonderful person who puts others ahead of herself. She would do anything for anyone who asks for help.

I am asking for any help that will enable her to keep her home and business running.

Thank you and God bless.