FULL VIDEO AT THE END OF THE POST
Family Conflict in Court
Police officer Jarvis Duncan sued his stepdaughter, Jessica Thomas.
He accused her of stealing belongings from his home.
The case was heard by Judge Judy.
Mr. Duncan had been Ms. Thomas's stepfather for 19 years.
Ms. Thomas's mother was also present in court.
Mr. Duncan and Ms. Thomas's mother had two other children together.
These children were twins, aged nine.
Previous Legal Troubles
This was not the first legal issue involving Ms. Thomas.
Earlier, Ms. Thomas fraudulently cashed a check belonging to Mr. Duncan.
The amount of the check was in the hundreds of dollars.
Mr. Duncan decided to prosecute her for this act.
As a result, Ms. Thomas spent 10 days in jail.
She had children of her own at the time.
Missing Items Discovered
After the check incident, Mr. Duncan discovered more problems.
He learned that items were missing from his house.
He believed Ms. Thomas had taken these items.
He claimed he could prove she took them and pawned them.
The items started going missing in January 2013.
Ms. Thomas was not living with Mr. Duncan at that time.
However, she had access to the home.
She was invited over for family dinners, functions, and holidays.
Evidence of Pawning
Mr. Duncan presented pawn receipts as evidence.
These receipts showed items pawned by Ms. Thomas.
The receipts included her name and fingerprint.
Mr. Duncan, as a police officer, compared the fingerprint.
He matched it to Ms. Thomas's fingerprint from a previous arrest.
This confirmed the fingerprint on the pawn receipt was hers.
The pawn receipts listed several items.
These included a 14-carat gold link bracelet.
A woman's Boulevard watch was also listed.
Other items were a gold necklace and a gold bracelet.
A camcorder was also among the pawned items.
Stepdaughter's Denial
Ms. Thomas denied stealing the items.
She admitted to pawning items of her own.
She also stated she had pawned items for friends in the past.
She acknowledged apologizing for taking money from Mr. Duncan's checking account.
However, she did not explicitly admit to stealing the pawned items in court.
The Boulevard Watch
Judge Judy questioned Ms. Thomas about a specific item.
She asked if Ms. Thomas had a woman's Boulevard watch.
Ms. Thomas confirmed she did.
Judge Judy then asked if it was missing.
Ms. Thomas replied, "Yes."
Judge Judy asked her to account for pawning a woman's Boulevard watch.
Ms. Thomas responded that she had pawned things for other people in the past.
Judge Judy found this too coincidental.
She stated there are no coincidences in life.
Financial Hardship
Ms. Thomas admitted she had needed money in the past.
Her parents had helped her during these times.
She was a single mother.
She sometimes had problems paying bills or getting necessities.
She had been unemployed for over a year.
Her parents would give her money to help her out.
Judge Judy asked if she had helped herself to their property when they didn't give her money.
Ms. Thomas denied this.
Contradictory Statements
Judge Judy pointed out the pawn receipt suggested otherwise.
Ms. Thomas said she was not sure.
Judge Judy noted that Ms. Thomas did not claim she had her own lady's Boulevard watch.
She asked Ms. Thomas if her mother would tell an untruth.
Ms. Thomas said no.
Ms. Thomas reiterated that she had pawned items for friends in the past.
She claimed she was not exactly sure about the specific items.
Judge Judy dismissed the past pawning for friends.
She emphasized the current situation.
She questioned why friends would need her to pawn items if they didn't steal them.