My Son Kicked Me Out at My Grandson’s Birth: “She Only Wants Family.” They Never Imagined…
The House of Lies
David’s silence on the phone stretched so long I thought the call had dropped.
“David, are you still there?”
“Criminal record?”
his voice was barely a whisper.
“Mom, what are you talking about?”
“Jessica served eighteen months in prison in Oregon for identity theft and fraud before she moved to Colorado and met you.”
“That’s impossible. I would have known.”
“She changed her name and created a new identity, David. Her attorney told me this afternoon she’s not who you think she is.”
I heard Nathan crying in the background, and David’s voice became muffled as he tried to comfort his son while processing the information that his wife was a stranger.
“Mom, how do you know this? How can this be true?”
“Her attorney told me. She’s been blackmailed by her ex-husband, a man named Marcus Webb, who’s also a professional criminal. She’s been stealing from our family and sending half the money to him to keep him quiet about her past.”
The crying in the background stopped, and I could hear David moving around, probably going somewhere private to continue the conversation.
“Jesus Christ, Mom. Are you sure about this?”
“David, I need you to listen to me very carefully. Jessica has been lying to you about everything since the day you met her: her background, her family situation, her reasons for moving to Colorado—all of it.”
“But I met her parents! I’ve talked to her sister!”
“Did you? Or did you meet people she introduced as her parents and sister?”
Another long pause. I could practically hear David’s world crashing down around him.
“Mom, what am I supposed to do with this information?”
“You need to protect yourself and Nathan. If Jessica has been living under a false identity, there could be financial implications, legal problems, immigration issues…”
“Immigration issues?”
“David, you don’t know who she really is. You have no idea what other secrets she’s hiding.”
“I need to confront her.”
“She’s in federal custody, David. You can’t just show up and demand answers.”
“Then I need to hire my own attorney. I need to find out what else she’s lied about.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“Mom, if this is all true… if she’s been lying about everything… then Nathan and I are both victims of her fraud.”
“Yes, you are.”
“She made me complicit in excluding you from Nathan’s birth. She made me choose sides between my wife and my mother when I should have been protecting both of you from her lies.”
“David, you couldn’t have known.”
“But I should have questioned it! When she insisted you couldn’t be at the hospital… when she kept making excuses for why you couldn’t visit… I should have realized something was wrong.”
I heard the pain in his voice and wished I could take it away, but David needed to understand the full scope of what Jessica had done to their family.
“There’s something else, David.”
“What?”
“According to her attorney, Jessica is more afraid of you discovering her past than she is of going to prison. She’d rather serve twenty years than have you know who she really is.”
“Well, it’s too late for that now.”
“David, I want you to think about something. If Jessica has been stealing from family members and sending money to her ex-husband, what else has she been lying about? Your finances? Your legal status as a married couple? Nathan’s paternity?”
“Mom, don’t! I can’t even think about that right now.”
“I know it’s horrible, but you need to consider all possibilities. You need to protect yourself and Nathan.”
After hanging up with David, I sat in my quiet house thinking about how many lives Jessica had destroyed with her lies. Not just the six family members she’d stolen from, but David, who’d married a stranger; Nathan, who’d been born into a web of deception; and even Jessica’s “fake” family, who’d been playing roles in her elaborate fiction.
My phone rang again. Agent Chen.
“Mrs. Martinez, I just got some interesting information from Jessica’s attorney. Apparently, she’s been cooperative about providing details on her accomplice, Marcus Webb, her ex-husband.”
“According to Jessica, Webb has been running similar blackmail schemes against other women across the Western States. She’s agreed to provide evidence against him in exchange for consideration at sentencing.”
“What kind of evidence?”
“Financial records, communication logs, details about his other victims. If Jessica’s information leads to Webb’s arrest, it could significantly impact her own sentence.”
“Agent Chen, can I ask you something? Did you know about Jessica’s criminal record in Oregon?”
“We discovered that during our background investigation, yes. Jessica Martinez isn’t her real name.”
“What is her real name?”
“Jennifer Webb. She was married to Marcus Webb when she committed her first series of identity theft crimes in Oregon. Their divorce was part of a plea agreement where she testified against him, but he was acquitted on a technicality.”
Jennifer Webb. My daughter-in-law’s real name was Jennifer Webb, and she’d been lying about her identity for the entire five years she’d been married to David.
“Agent Chen, what happens to my son legally if his wife has been living under a false identity? Is their marriage even legal?”
“That’s a complicated question that would depend on Colorado state law and the specific circumstances of their marriage. Your son should definitely consult with a family law attorney.”
“And what about my grandson? Birth certificate issues can usually be resolved through the courts, but again, your son needs legal representation.”
After ending the call, I realized that Jessica’s crimes had created a legal nightmare that would take years to untangle. David’s marriage might not be legal; Nathan’s birth certificate might be fraudulent; their finances could be compromised. Their entire life together had been built on lies.
My doorbell rang at 8:00 p.m. Through the peephole, I could see David standing on my front porch, holding Nathan and a large duffel bag.
“David, what are you doing here?”
“Mom, can Nathan and I stay here tonight? I can’t be in that house right now. Everything in it reminds me of lies she told me.”
I opened the door and wrapped my son and grandson in the biggest hug I’d given in months.
“Of course you can stay, for as long as you need.”
As I helped David settle Nathan in my guest room, I realized that Jessica’s attempt to destroy our family had actually brought David and me closer together. Her lies and manipulation had backfired completely, but I also knew that the worst was yet to come.
Because if Jennifer Webb had been living under a false identity for five years, there were probably other secrets waiting to be discovered. And some of those secrets might be dangerous enough to threaten the safety of my son and grandson.
The Trial of Jennifer Webb
The trial of Jennifer Webb, aka Jessica Martinez, began on a cold Monday morning in February. The federal courthouse in Phoenix was busier than I’d expected, with news vans parked outside and reporters interviewing anyone willing to talk about the case.
Agent Chen had warned me that Jessica’s case had attracted media attention because of the sophisticated nature of her identity fraud and the fact that she’d victimized her own family members.
“Family fraud cases always get coverage,”
she’d explained.
“People want to understand how someone can betray the people who trust them most.”
David and I arrived together, leaving Nathan with my neighbor, Mrs. Patterson. David had been staying with me for three weeks now, and we’d developed a comfortable routine: he’d wake up early to feed Nathan while I made coffee; we’d share breakfast and discuss the day’s courtroom strategy, then drive downtown together.
“You ready for this?”
David asked as we walked up the courthouse steps.
“Are you?”
“I still can’t believe I was married to someone whose real name I didn’t even know.”
David’s attorney had confirmed that his marriage to Jennifer Webb was legally valid despite her false identity, but the emotional betrayal was devastating. He’d also learned that Jennifer had been lying about her job, her education, and even her relationship with her supposed family in Seattle.
“Mom, I keep thinking about all the times she talked about her childhood, her parents, her college experience… all of it was lies. Every single story.”
“David, you couldn’t have known. She was a professional deceiver.”
Inside the courtroom, I was surprised by how crowded it was. Besides the six victim families, there were reporters, law enforcement officials, and what looked like other potential victims who’d come forward since Jennifer’s arrest.
Jennifer sat at the defendant’s table wearing a conservative blue dress, her hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. She looked nothing like the confident woman who’d manipulated our family for years; she looked small, defeated, and much older than her thirty-two years.
“All rise for the Honorable Judge Patricia Morrison.”
As the trial began, prosecutor Sarah Williams painted a picture of Jennifer Webb that was even more disturbing than I’d imagined.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant is not who she claims to be. Jennifer Webb has spent the last eight years living under a false identity, committing identity theft across multiple states and destroying the lives of people who trusted her most.”
Williams explained that Jennifer had been arrested in Oregon in 2016 for identity theft and fraud, served eighteen months in prison, then disappeared after her release. She’d created the identity of Jessica Martinez using stolen documents and had moved to Colorado specifically to find new victims.
“The defendant didn’t just steal money from her victims; she stole their sense of security, their trust in family relationships, and their belief that the people closest to them were who they claimed to be.”
Jennifer’s attorney, Michael Stevens, attempted to portray his client as a victim of circumstance.
“Jennifer Webb made mistakes—serious mistakes—but she was driven to these actions by fear and desperation. Her ex-husband, Marcus Webb, is a dangerous criminal who threatened her safety and forced her into criminal activity through blackmail and intimidation.”
But when Williams cross-examined Jennifer the next day, the victim narrative fell apart completely.
“Miss Webb, you testified that Marcus Webb forced you to steal from your husband’s family, is that correct?”
“Yes. He threatened to tell David about my past if I didn’t send him money.”
“But you were already stealing from family members before Marcus Webb contacted you, weren’t you?”
Jennifer hesitated.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I’m referring to the credit card fraud you committed against David’s sister, Emma Martinez, in March 2022. Marcus Webb didn’t contact you until June 2022, according to your own testimony.”
Jennifer’s face went pale.
“I… that was different. That was… that was a mistake.”
“A mistake? You opened four credit cards in Emma Martinez’s name, spent $8,000, and made no payments for six months. That was a mistake?”
“I was going to pay it back. Just like you were going to pay back the $2,300 hospital bill you fraudulently assigned to Carol Martinez.”
“I was in labor! I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Williams pulled out a document.
“Miss Webb, this is a transcript of your phone call with Carol Martinez three days before you gave birth, inviting her to drive from Arizona to Colorado for the delivery. Did Marcus Webb force you to make that call?”
“No, but…”
“Did Marcus Webb force you to exclude Carol Martinez from the hospital after she drove fifteen hours to be there?”
“No.”
“Did Marcus Webb force you to forge Carol Martinez’s signature on financial documents while she was traveling to see her grandson?”
“No, but you don’t understand the pressure I was under!”
Williams walked closer to the witness stand.
“Miss Webb, isn’t it true that you invited Carol Martinez to Colorado specifically so you could manipulate her into being financially responsible for your delivery?”
“That’s not… I didn’t plan it that way.”
“Isn’t it true that you researched Carol Martinez’s financial status before inviting her to the birth?”
Jennifer didn’t answer.
“Ms. Webb, we have evidence that you accessed Carol Martinez’s credit reports and bank statements two weeks before your son was born. Did Marcus Webb force you to do that financial research?”
The courtroom was completely silent. David grabbed my hand, his face white with shock.
“Ms. Webb, answer the question.”
“No,”
Jennifer whispered.
“No, he didn’t force me to research her finances.”
“So you planned to defraud Carol Martinez before you ever invited her to Colorado, didn’t you?”
“I… I thought she could afford it. She has money.”
“Ms. Webb, you planned to humiliate and defraud your husband’s mother because you thought she could afford to be victimized.”
Jennifer started crying, but her tears looked calculated.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to be scared all the time!”
“Scared of what, Ms. Webb? Being honest with your husband about who you really are?”
“Yes!”
“Scared of getting a job to pay your own bills?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Ms. Webb, you stole from six family members over three years. You lived under a false identity. You excluded your mother-in-law from her grandson’s birth after making her travel across two states. And you did all of this because you were scared of being honest? Is that your testimony?”
“Yes.”
Williams turned to the jury.
“Ladies and gentlemen, fear of honesty is not a defense for federal crimes.”
