"THEY TRIED TO STEAL MY LIFE. NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO STEAL MY SON."
-Told by Joshua Stough

On or around February 13, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. I (Joshua Stough) received a phone call from a man saying he was a Michigan State Police Officer. He identified himself as Trooper Arcienega. The way that the man spoke to me he did not sound like a police officer at all, in fact he sounded specifically like he was about fifteen years old. I was told by him that it was reported that I was involved in a hit and run and I needed to come down to the police post. I knew for a fact that I had not been in an accident and that no one would have reported it. (I had a VERY unique truck at the time.) At this point I told him that I did not believe that he was a police officer and that I was not going to talk to him until he told me the truth. When I said this the Trooper became very upset with me. We ended up exchanging some words that were not very appropriate for me to say, and especially not for a police officer to say.

After this exchange he informed me that he wanted to talk to me about when I lived with a certain woman (editor's note: name must be kept confidential, will refer to her as "the mother"). The moment he said her first name, I had an idea of what this was about. (When I rented a room from her, her daughter also lived at the house, the reason why I had moved out was that I had found written in the daughter's diary an entry that said “I had sex with Josh.” When I found the diary I immediately took it to her mother. The daughter was questioned by her mother about it and by counselors about it. A few days later I moved.) At this point the conversation was over. The Officer said that he would call me in a day or two to set up a meeting; we hung up at this point. After I got off the phone with the Trooper I drove to the police post to see if in fact he was a real officer. When I arrived at the post it was closed, I saw two officers outside in the back talking. I asked them if Trooper Arcienega was inside. They said “no”. The moment they said no, a short Mexican looking officer came running out of the post. This was Arcienega. He asked who I was. I replied and told him my name. He started yelling at me and said “you better get to stepping before I beat your ass”. I tried apologizing to him and he continued to threaten me and telling me to leave. Two days later I met with Trooper Arcienega at the police post in Traverse City , Mi. This was for my “voluntary interview”. Together the officer and I went into a room and after a few questions about me, he proceeded to tell me that the daughter had told him that I had molested her. Over the next hour he interrogated me and tried time after time to get me to confess to the crime in which I was accused. He kept telling me that I was nothing but a liar. He would not listen to anything I had to say. He became VERY angry with me and left to let me think about clearing my mind. About a half hour later a different officer came in. I do not remember his name just that he tried to play like he was my friend. At this point I was very sick of dealing with these people and informed them that I had nothing more to say. The officer said “that is ok we’re done anyways”. At this point we set up a polygraph examination for February 22nd I believe. When I walked out to the lobby Trooper Arcienega told me that if I go anywhere near Christina that he has “3,000 people on his squad and that they would hunt me down”. I told him not to worry I wouldn’t.

My son’s mother went with me to the police post and was in the lobby when I was being interrogated.

My stepfather Drew Anderson drove me to see a lawyer a few days after the interrogation. The lawyer advised me not to take the polygraph test. He told me that even if I passed it that it would not help me at all.

The day before the scheduled polygraph I called Arcienega and cancelled. He was not very nice with me again and when I told him I had a lawyer I believe he said that he was not going to play nice and that if I was innocent I did not need a lawyer.

At 9:00 a.m. on August 29, 2007 I was officially arrested and charged with four counts of CSC in the first degree. I knew that the police were coming at about 3:00 a.m. I woke up to go to the bathroom and heard my phone beeping to let me know I had a voicemail. When I listened to the voicemail it was my mom, she said that Arcienega had went to her house to arrest me at 468 George Street . I thought this was funny since I told him during my interrogation that the address 468 George Street was just my mailing address for the fact that I moved around a lot. This to me showed that he did not really listen to a thing I had to say. When I was arrested I figured I would be out within a few days since I had no prior record. The last thing I said to Lena was to call Drew he will know what to do. It was not Trooper Arcienega that had arrested me, the trooper who arrested me was named Bloom. While we were pulling into the garage at the jail I heard the name Andrew Lee Anderson come across the radio as be being arrested for driving with out a license. I knew that this was my stepfather. Panic immediately set in although I kept quiet. Trooper Bloom took me in the jail and set me on a bench. About fifteen minutes later Drew was sat down right next to me. We chatted quietly for a while. When I went to see the Magistrate, she set my bond at $500,000 cash or surety I believe. I was in complete shock when I sat back down on the bench next to Drew. Immediately after Drew was released he and my mom went to my arraignment which was done with me watching on a live monitor. I do not really remember what happened during this except that Judge Foresman and Drew were arguing. Drew was trying to tell him I was innocent. About three days later a lawyer by the name of Gerald Chefalo came to see me. He was sent by my family. We talked a little bit, but the only thing he really had to say was that I would have to take a plea deal. I was actually prepared to hear this since I had never heard of anyone proving their innocence against these charges. (There is an extraordinary amount of people that get arrested for this in this town). Seeing the lawyer was depressing for what he said but I was able to communicate with my family through his office. I had not talked to them since being arrested. Two days later was when I was called to the conference room to see my lawyer. When I got there it was a different man. He told me his name, Dan Ambrose. Ambrose is a name that I have known since I was a little kid; my family has known Chris Ambrose for about twelve years. We talked some and it was never about me having to take a plea deal. I found out later that the first lawyer had not even reviewed my case and told my parents that I would have to plea out. This was a bad mistake; he was fired the next day. From here on out, my job was to stay strong and timeline the period in my life that this supposedly took place. Everyone on the outside handled everything else. While I was thinking about when I lived with the mother I realized that her son lived there during this period and slept in the living room. He was removed from the house after the daughter, his sister, accused him of molesting her. When we went to my preliminary exam Dan put all of the states witnesses at that time on the stand and got all of their testimony. The daughter changed her story approximately five times during the prelim and kept backtracking on her story. For some reason the Judge Foresman thought that she was credible even with this conflicting information and bound me over to circuit court, also he added three more charges of CSC first degree to what I was already facing. Making the total seven. (We found out after trial, that Judge Forseman who handled Preliminary Exam, signed the warrants for arrest). My bond was left at $500,000; the prosecutor argued that I was an extreme danger to the community and requested there be no bond.

Two weeks later we held a bond reduction motion hearing. This was the first hearing in front of Judge Rodgers in the 13th Circuit Court. The judge stated that he did not know why Dan held a Bond Reduction hearing since my bond had already been “magically” reduced to $50,000 over the two week period without us being notified. The prosecutor lied to judge and stated my bond never was $500,000.00. During this hearing the Judge informed the Prosecutor that she “should go over her notes good because a jury will acquit Mr. Stough.” The next day ( Oct. 6, 2007 ) I got out of jail on bond. Over the next seven months I remained out of jail on bond. My trial was delayed twice, once in December 2007 and again in February 2008, due to the police not getting the police reports done. My lawyer had to force the police and Prosecutor to do the little bit of investigation that was done. When they finally did get the other witness police reports and the daughter's diary, everything showed that I had not done these crimes. Whenever the daughter talked to someone about this case she always changed her story. At the various court dates I had after getting out of jail my attorney would present evidence that the police would uncover and would disprove the allegations yet this still went forward. At one of the Final Conference Hearing’s before the sitting judge, Judge Powers asked if Dan and the prosecutor had reached any agreements, Dan said close, but no-she could or should dismiss these charges, and Judge Powers said to the prosecutor-“you can’t do that or you will lose your job, or get fired, right? The Prosecutor chuckled and said yes.

On April 22, 2008 my trial started. After the first day of trial I was offered five months in county jail as a plea deal. I told them not to even offer me any more deals as I was not taking any. On the second day of trial the “victim” took the stand, and yes she came up with another story. While on the stand she was laughing and giggling at her stepmother in the audience. One of my seven charges was that I had sex with her at 468 George St . The daughter specified at my prelim that I took her to my white apartment at 468 George St . The Prosecutor also used this address in her opening statement. While the daughter was on the stand Dan asked her about the allegations at my apartment. The daughter said that it was white. Dan then showed her a picture with the house at this address in it. She stated that it was “Josh’s mom’s house”. When she said this, the investigating officer’s mouth dropped open. He chose not investigate this. The daughter's grandfather has always said that he was the first one that she told about these allegations. The story has always been that “we were getting clothes from her mom’s trailer and out of the clear blue sky” that she had told him this about this. At trial he added that before telling him Christina was “dancing around, then she started playing with her breasts and pulled her underwear up in a wedgy and was pulling them back and forth, then she got down on the floor and was moving around, Dan asked, “What?” Grandpa stated that “She was coming on to him.” We had never heard this before. Grandpa testified that he had never disclosed this information before. The Grandmother admitted that she did not tell anyone that there were more people living at the house than just the mother, the son., and the daughter. She left out the son and two other names. After these testimonies Judge Rodgers had the Prosecutor and Mr. Ambrose in his chambers where he criticized the Prosecutor for her bringing this case to trial, when asked what she was doing here the Prosecutor replied “I have to march to the beat of the drum”. I take this as meaning her boss (Alan Schneider) forced her to go to trial. The Prosecutor did not call the police or Protective Services, as witnesses. The defense called them. Child Protective Services, Dave Reneau, Wexford County was also present with Trooper Arcienega, while conducting the original interview with Christina, He admitted to total disregard of protocol, admitted to allowing the grandmother to sit in on the interview with the daughter, (she was trying to obtain custody of the daughter) He admitted to no investigation. He also admitted to Christina asking prior to making any allegations, what would happen if she did so.

Trooper Arcienega admitted that he lied to me to get me to the station, that I did not lie to him at all. He also admitted to completely disregarding the protocol for interviewing the “victim”. He also admitted that he did not see any need for further investigation. He admitted to “shotty” police work, incompetence and negligence.

Trooper Bloom admitted that he reviewed the police reports but failed to see the inconsistencies in the daughter's statements, and that he disregarded protocol. He also admitted that he never checked out the addresses where this supposedly happened, as he felt it not relevant. There was a witness named Ken Hazelton who Trooper Bloom did a police report with in February 2008, that said that he did not remember a name or any thing. I had a private investigator also talk to Ken and he said the same thing. When Ken arrived at trial to testify Trooper Bloom was overheard discussing with him that he gets a dollar per mile that he drove to testify and since he made two trips he should get around $200. The Trooper realized that my father and my son’s mother  were in the hallway listening to them so he took the witness to a conference room to talk in private. When Trooper Bloom was on the witness stand Dan asked him about talking to Ken and taking him into a room. The Trooper lied and said that he did not take Ken into a room. Lena testified that she witnessed this. I was found not guilty on all seven counts. One of the jurors after trial told me that I should have never been arrested for these crimes. Another juror came out of the deliberation room and after trial was overheard asking the prosecutor if there was any corroborating evidence, she replied NO. In the end, all of the evidence that was uncovered during the police “investigation”, had it been looked at unbiased, was what my defense used to clear me. There was nothing that could be used against me.

In May of 2008 my son’s mother left me. She could not handle the stress from the financial burdens from this case. When she moved she left my four year old son living with me. I petitioned the Friend of the court for custody of my son, and for child support from his mother, twice before she moved 125 miles away. The Friend of the Court gave my sons mother custody by holding the charges against me, even though I was acquitted. I am now, having to fight these charges all over again, and I am starting to realize, that I will have to fight them for the rest of my life.