Hi everybody,

I never expected that asking for money from strangers was ever going to be necessary, but I'm stuck in an extremely difficult legal position and I don't have the funds or the proper knowledge to defend myself in court. This is going to be a long read but, please, read my story in full. This is a story about how this year, 2025, I've been unlawfully institutionalized in a mental health hospital for being a combat veteran, and how the mother of our child is retaliating for me having intrusive thoughts about her, which I never shared with her. My goal is to raise enough money to at least retain a lawyer within family law to defend me from a domestic violence injunction, and to modify child custody in my favor; I'm convinced his mother is using him as a tool for her own personal gain.

My name is Ricardo J. Perez Rivera (I just go by Ricky) and I'm a father of one awesome little boy who just turned 7, and I'm currently 36. I'm also a VA disabled former infantry Marine, honorably discharged in 2012 (Operations: OEF & the tail end of OIF). His mother and I (met in 2015) have been separated since July 2020, and officially divorced in August 2021 in Hillsborough County, Florida, with 50/50 custody. She said that she was unhappy in the relationship and that she was leaving me to benefit her mental health after just 2 years of marriage. Like always, I did my best to support her decision, even though I lost my job due to the pandemic in June 2020, and we were still fighting for my disability benefits at the time. I received my 100% VA benefits during the last quarter of 2020, about a month or two after she left me. I have many physical issues (pain & other problems with both feet, right ankle, right knee, lower back, pelvis, and right wrist) as well as PTSD and MDD.

Since then, we've been having trouble co-parenting, and general trouble getting along; as if she doesn't want me in our son's life. I've also been diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease around 2021. That diagnosis wouldn't be a big deal if most of my father's side of the family didn't die from some sort of liver failure at the ages 45-50 years old, and they started having issues with their livers, just like me, at ages 30-35.

At that time, I created a 15-year financial plan to make sure our son doesn't get screwed over by my debts if something were to happen to me at the age of 45. This involved selling my first house from a 30-year mortgage, and purchasing a new less expensive house with a 15-year mortgage; opening a tiny rental car business with 5-year loans for each, so the cars would pay for themselves on a rideshare platform over time. After the car loans are paid, there will be a chance to grow and expand the business, and our son would be old enough to start becoming more involved in decision-making, as if he were my employer. After he turns 18, he will be given the option to do whatever he wants with all the property, and it will all be paid for. (Teach a man to fish...)

When the first house was sold, my son and I lived with a mutual friend of his mother's and mine, until the right house was found to purchase for this plan. Out of nowhere, his mother claimed I was homeless and threatened me with a lawsuit. I also had my pick-up truck packed with our stuff from moving, so our son had to ride in the front seat; she threatened me with the police and another lawsuit for that as well. Final threat during that time, our son didn't have his own room, so she threatened me with yet another lawsuit. I never entertained these threats and insults since my reasoning to her was, "I'm doing everything I can possibly do and it's not going to change." I still don't know exactly what her goals were, but she took away our son's room from him in her own apartment within the same year so a long-term roommate could move in. The irony of it has been laughable, and I left it alone by never mentioning the double standards of her actions.

That dynamic continued after the purchase of the second house months later on Branchville Rd, Spring Hill, FL 34609. At the time, our son was 3, going on 4, and she wanted to get him in preschool a year early. She said that our son is extremely autistic and needs a special school for special kids. Coincidentally, there was an expensive charter school right next to her parents' house, and her parents would cover the expense. I insisted on having him evaluated by professionals before calling him autistic. Together, we found a free service through the county, but she went to the evaluation without me. Fast forward, she lied about the evaluation and claimed that he was more than qualified for their services due to his autistic needs. Turns out, he was only qualified because they thought she was having trouble with his behavior and raising him without a father, but he tested normal and wasn't even a little on the spectrum. Again, he was only 3 years old, going on 4.

My mind went racing, and I ended up yelling and cursing at her over the phone for the first time in our relationship. Nothing happened after that, except her family has been calling me a narcissist since that moment.

She ended up unemployed, and living off of her parents for almost an entire year in 2023-2024, and we agreed to have our son go to VPK in my district to see how it goes. That school year was the best co-parenting we ever experienced. I would go pick him up from Tampa the mornings when he was with his mom, and bring him to school in Spring Hill. That trip, there and back, is about 1.5 hours. After school, we would wait for his grandmother to pick him up from our home. His mother was rarely involved in this and it turns out that he IS slightly on the spectrum for specific social situations with others his own age.

The following school year, 2024-2025, we registered him in her district for kindergarten. The problems we were having during that year were how she tried to keep me out of our son's life as much as possible, such as: parent-teacher conferences, volunteer work, picking him up from school when she can't, etc... it was an absolute mess and she took no accountability whatsoever. She wouldn't even tell me his location during her time with him, but she was out of town without him.

That school year I made a huge mistake in my personal life; I started dating for the first time since I met the mother of my child. I only met one girl, and she was at least 70% of what I used to look for in a woman, which was great! But, my mind and body refused to even try to start a new relationship with this woman. Speaking with a VA therapist, getting "closure" from my former wife seemed to be the only option to allow someone new to come into our lives.

So, I called my kid's mother, explained the situation, and she seemed to understand and was willing to talk to me. Turns out, she divorced me because I was financially too poor for her, and she was hiding a small fortune from me the entire time we were together. To me, this meant that she never really cared that I was in constant physical pain, and she didn't care if I received VA disability benefits the entire time we were together. As if I was her slave and not her husband.

This information quite literally broke me, and I started having intrusive thoughts about revenge against her. As a former infantry Marine diagnosed with PTSD & MDD, I knew how to identify a mental health crisis, and immediately called my therapist for an appointment. Since I moved, my medical records were still at my old hospital, Bay Pines VA. I called the VA hospital closest to me in an attempt to transfer the records and start fresh with a new doctor. The appointment was made for a week later in mid-March, 2025. The 14th, if I remember correctly.

March 12th, 2025, tears wouldn't stop pouring out of my resting face. After dropping off our son at school, I called the VA again to see if I could talk to someone at that very moment. The nurse was very kind and patient on the phone and offered a wellness check while we waited for a VA therapist to call me back. I accepted the offer and the local brothers in blue came to talk to me for a wellness check. We talked casually for some time about my problems and random common interests, like Star Wars and other TV programs. They said that they have to get back on patrol but if I need any immediate help that there was a mental health hospital right next to the local VA clinic, Springbrook Hospital, and that I don't have to wait for a call back.

I took their advice and went to that hospital, assuming it was for combat veterans or veterans in general; I was horribly mistaken. There was no therapist or any help for me at this hospital. As soon as the admissions found out about my VA benefits, they Baker Acted me for an involuntary mental health assessment. I was scheduled to remain there for 5-7 days. They told me that I'm not allowed to have the symptoms of PTSD & MDD just because I was in war in Afghanistan and experienced serious traumatic consequences due to deaths and dismemberments. They said that I wasn't normal and citizens of Florida shouldn't think like I do.

Then they overdosed me on their medications, like Haldol, for days at a time. Because of the medications, all the muscles in my body retracted, and I was placed in a wheelchair without the capability of any movement, including my own jaw (I was never restrained). Turns out, they accidentally mixed another patient's medical record with mine, so the staff assumed I was an addict for coke, meth, and amphetamines. When I was finally released 9 days later on March 21st, I was served with a domestic violence injunction from my kid's mother. Apparently, the case manager from Springbrook called her and said that I was having suicidal and homicidal ideations and that she was involved in the ideas.

Since then, I've been defending myself in court against her lawyers, and I'm still unwilling to use the money invested for my son and his future. It has already been accepted in the court that I shouldn't have been in that situation, and that I show no threat of any imminent danger. The VA also has refused Springbrook's hospital bills since there wasn't enough information to do what they did to me. Nothing was asked of me from the DV court case, except the continuation of my mental health at the VA and to stay away from the mother of my son.

She was not awarded any extra custody, and a mutual third party is allowed to be registered through the court for the exchange of the child, so his time with his parents is not interrupted by our petty problems. The mother refuses to discuss any exchange until she sees the outcome of my therapy, which does not have an ending in sight (Only symptoms get better, but the disorders always remain).

I found a good lawyer that actually cares about doing the right thing, but it's impossible for me to pay her without ruining the 15-year financial plan for our son. I will be fighting for at least 60% of custody of our son, since I believe I'm the only one that can make fair decisions for our son and for us as his parents.

Please donate what you can and thank you for reading this.