Navy Veteran and family need help

To start, this campaign is for my cousin and his family. He is one of the most honorable men I know. A veteran (US Navy, submariner), who has spent the last few years as a deputy in a small county in California. I've watched over the years as things in this small town got politically dirtier and nastier. I'm now genuinely concerned for his safety and for my nieces/nephew. Today, I received the letter included below. My wife and I are going to do what we can to help, but we don't have a lot of help. I'm hoping there are those out there who understand his situation and are willing to kick in a few dollars. We need to resolve the current situation with his house, but more importantly in my opinion, we need to get him and his family out of this town before things get more dangerous. Honestly, the letter below doesn't describe even half of the scary things I've heard; it's no exaggeration. I'm praying anyone who is moved to help will, and it will add up and be enough:

"Firstly, this is one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I don't like to ask for help in any way; I am more of a giver by nature. However, circumstances in my family and my life have shifted so fast that my needs outweigh my ability to provide. Below I will tell a true story of what we have been facing over the last several years to paint a picture of why I am asking for help. The story is accurate, and though I will hold back some names and details for legal reasons, I would happily answer questions through other means of communication.

After serving over eight years in the US Navy (1999-2007) as a Submariner and Honorable Discharge, I used my GI Bill and worked multiple jobs to get my degree. My hope was to one day go to law school. After several years and several children, it became necessary to put that dream aside for the time being and pursue a career path that paid the bills and offered better benefits.

Fourteen years ago, I found a job in a small county in Northern California, where I am today. Ten years ago, my wife joined me in the same department she still serves. Over the years, I gained rank in my organization and greater responsibility. As this happened, I began to recognize many issues outside our department's oath to the community or our policies.

My military training told me that if we continued down this road, we would inevitably cause our own downfall. I decided to fix what I knew to be a broken system. The further I dug into the issues, I realized that policy wasn't the only thing that was being broken; the law itself was being manipulated. What is worse, some of the people I worked with were using the department to cover up these issues for themselves and others.

As the years went by, I attempted to create awareness by writing reports and having meetings within my department to generate change. Not only was I rebuffed multiple times, but the situation became worse and more toxic to the point we began to lose the very best employees and retain the very people who were benefiting from the corruption. To try and prevent what I believed to be a disaster, I looked to the county, union, and outside agencies for help. I even went to several trainings at the state level to see if I was wrong somehow, but everything came back as confirmation of my fears.

It was then that my wife and I started to be retaliated against. It began as simple things like not being invited to Christmas parties or department get-togethers held at people's houses and escalated into rumors about our marriage, kids, and ethics. At this point, I started gathering information for a grievance encompassing everything wrong and the proof of the issues. By the time I was done collecting notes, it was over one hundred and thirty pages long.

After several months of prayer and soul searching, I submitted the document to my human resources director. I discussed it with my local and department unions (I was the president of our union). HR then guaranteed, along with the county, that I would be placed in whistle-blower status as we moved forward. Several more months passed, and I found out that the HR director had been asked to resign, and my case was handled by the county attorney acting as our new HR. At a meeting with the latest HR, I was offered a meeting with the head of my department to go over my concerns. After this, I went on a scheduled vacation. Upon returning, I discovered that an anonymous letter had been sent to the county stating that I had made "Suicidal Statements." I was being stripped of my rank and all associated privileges. I was further told in the meeting, attended by a department member, that my complaint had nothing to do with my leave and that the department member would escort me to my house to gather any and all county-associated property. When I stopped them and asked what I could possibly have said to make someone believe I was suicidal, they simply stated that they were unable to discuss that information with me.

I was then subjected to several psychological tests (which, of course, I passed), and I was told that if I wanted to return to work, the VA (Veterans Administration) would have to disclose any medications I was on to service my PTSD. The county further stated that the VA would be provided county paperwork to complete on my behalf. As if this wasn't bad enough, a local union member on the same day stated that she had randomly discovered that I had failed to pay a bill for the union and had placed the entire unit in jeopardy (This employee was on an unspecified leave at the time making the circumstances quite questionable). Suddenly, several union members who were identified in my complaint to the County jumped on the bandwagon. Then a peculiar order went out that I was not to be contacted by anyone in the department under threat of discipline.

As one could imagine, I was quite shocked by this sudden turn of events. I was disgraced and cut off the same week, with only my closest friends daring to keep me informed at risk to themselves. For months, I continuously asked the union what to do and asked for the paperwork I would give the VA to get cleared and return to work. No one would speak to me or communicate in any way. I wasn't being disciplined because I hadn't done anything wrong; I was trying to fix issues growing and becoming more severe by the day.

Then they started harassing my wife at work. Suddenly, she was cut out of meetings, and her subordinates were given tasks around her back. Friends stopped talking to her, and she found herself stuck in a hostile office that seemed to be offended by her very presence. My kids also became targets as some of the same people in my department sat on the school board. One of my daughters was severely bullied by the board members' daughter and her friends, so she finally complained like any child. When the bullies were brought in, they wove a fantastic story in which my daughter had spread despicable rumors about them and that they were the real victims. The school detained my daughter for six hours without calling my wife or me and even called the local sheriff's department to investigate. The investigation found that my daughter had not been involved and that the girl accusing her had spread the rumor herself. There was no apology to my daughter or to us. However, the damage to my daughter's reputation was done, and she has had issues with bullying ever since. My wife also was working at the school as the volleyball coach and had several problems with parents, who, not knowing the whole story, assumed that we were horrible people.

Being on leave for the last six months has been detrimental to me physically and mentally. I have pressed on, hoping the ship would right itself. That was until the other day, I discovered that my department had failed to write me an eval and give me the raise associated; since I am not disciplined and not on probation, I asked them to correct this. They refused to do so, attempting to block it through various means. I found it confusing as they argued for others in my department to receive the same thing I was asking for at other times. I then pushed the issue with the union, and they have just recently reversed their previous decision.

What happened next was flabbergasting. Employees from a separate county department with very close ties to mine came to my home and opened a complaint against me for an issue with my house. We knew about it and were trying to get it fixed; nonetheless, they threatened to red-tag our home and remove us from the property. There is a lot more to this, but for legal reasons, I won't give the particulars. It is sufficient to say that the County Office making threats is presenting a unique and extraordinary requirement in the repair process that will cost us many thousands of dollars. The licensed professional contractor I am working with has expressed he has never seen or experience anything like this.

It is this last situation for which I am asking for help. The requirements being mandated by the County require “replacement” rather than repair of a major system. We simply cannot afford it. I also need help to hire an attorney, and to extract my family from this situation before it becomes even more dangerous. I hate asking, but there is nothing I won't do for my family, including swallowing my pride. If you can't help by giving, I invite you to pray or give good vibes or anything you feel will help. If you have a church prayer group please consider sharing my request for prayer with them as well.

Thank You,

RJL"

From what I know, the County department requiring the sysem replacement run by an individual who is a friend of the department. The total cost of the system replacement (to meet the demand by the County) is $12k. Add to that, at this point they really need a lawyer (who even knows how much that will cost), and I'd estimate about $15k to get them out (relocation out of state). These are my numbers, not his. At this point, I don't know where else to turn.