Getting to know Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres)

This article is part of our Pro Se Litigant series, case: Torres v. Torres – The People

Getting to know Mary C. TorresMary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres) is the adopted daughter of the Defendant Sophie J. Torres, a daughter who had been specifically excluded as an heir in her parents’ Will. This appears to have been central to the case of Torres v. Torres. Torres v. Torres references phone calls where Mary repeatedly told her brother, Jesse E. Torres III, that she did not like to care for her father, who had Alzheimers, and that her brother had to move back East, or bring his father back to live with him in Mexico. It is alleged that it was the late father, Jesse E. Torres Jr., who insisted on removing Mary from his and his wife’s, Sophie J. Torres’, Will.

In Summary: We have no reason to doubt Jesse E. Torres III’s statement that his father, Jesse E. Torres Jr., was in above-average physical health but suffering mentally from Alzheimers, fell down the stairs in his home, (carpeted stairs with a strong railing), broke his neck and died. Jesse Jr.’s wife, Sophie J. Torres, is reported to have been in the home at the time. It is unclear when Mary came into the home that day. Right after Jesse Torres Jr.’s funeral, Mary Torres, in a draft of the new Will, was added to the Will and, according to appraisals, this would have benefited her by $800,000. Mary Torres has been a bookkeeper at Soft As A Grape for many years, and reportedly does, or assists with, her Mother’s accounting as well. Did she at least know of, and/or assisted in, the transfer of an account originally containing $150,000 held for her brother, by her father, into an account exclusive to Sophie J. Torres? Discovery should uncover these facts.

Text from an email sent by Mary to her mother’s attorney, and the attorney’s reply (we received a copy when apparently the reply-all button was clicked):

Mary has called regarding this e-mail. It did not play out this way. Mary is concerned about her mother. Stuff was left behind. Drew took everything.

Can they put a sign up regarding selling the property? 

Please call Mary to discuss. 508-295-9900 x 103.” – Available here.

The Details

$850,000, not a penny for Dad: Jesse Jr. had spent 5 months with his son and Jenny Adams at their home in Mexico. The Verified Complaint is very clear, that Jenny and Jesse spent over $30,000on the care and medical expenses of Jesse Jr., and did so right after the dot com crash. Jesse Jr. needed more medical care, care he was responding well to, as well as additional personnel to help with his care. Jesse and Jenny’s few remaining funds had been exhausted by these costs.

Note #1:  Jennifer and Jesse were in the software industry and were originally invited to Mexico by the Baja North Economic Development Division. They where exploring the possibilities of opening an office in Mexico.

Note #2: When Sophie J. Torres sent her husband, who was in stage 5 Alzheimers to her son, she never disclosed that he was suffering from this dreadful disease. Anyone can imagine the devastation when discovering this about their father. Jesse said in his weekly calls home, his dad and he just used to laugh and tease. Anyone that has a parent that has inflicted with Alzheimers will understand how its victims can hide their symptoms when you are unaware they exist.

Jesse Torres Jr’s wife, the Defendant Sophie J. Torres, had just received an offer for property that was a gift to Jesse Jr. from Fred Rose, Jessed Jr’s uncle. When Jesse III called his mother, the Defendant Sophie J. Torres and asked that she sell Dad’s property and help with his care, she refused and said send him home.  That was the only time in 5 months she asked that her husband be returned, stating that he could stay with him (Jesse III) as long as he assumed all financial responsibility. The cost of Jesse Jr.’s first class care in Mexico would have been less than $800 per month. She had available $850,000 from property that was a gift specific to her husband. Was Mary C. Torres part of that decision? While we cannot state it as fact, we believe the email above speaks volumes to answer that question.

Dad and the adopted daughter: Phone records verify numerous calls from the Home of Defendant Sophie J. Torres to her son’s phone in Mexico on Tuesday evenings. These calls match up exactly to when the Defendant Sophie J. Torres went to her Tops Diet Club meetings, where she is listed as the Club Treasurer for the past 15+ years. We specifically asked Mr. Torres III what these phone calls were about. He stated that, his adopted sister, Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres) stayed with her adopted father, Jesse E. Torres, Jr. when the Defendant Sophie J. Torres went to the Tops Diet Club. She told Jesse III that she was not happy with having to take care of Jesse Jr.; telling Jesse III that he either had to come home or take his father back to Mexico. Jesse said she repeatedly said that she couldn’t take it anymore. She also claimed that Jesse Jr. was still very strong and physically fit, and she was hesitant about making him any madder at her than he already was.

The Death of Dad: The local newspaper’s police log states that on January 7, 2008, Jesse E. Torres Jr. fell down the stairs in his home and broke his neck, dying from that injury. It states that Sophie J. Torres was at home with him at the time of the accident. It is believed that the adopted daughter Mary C. Torres showed up later . We are requesting a copy of the full Police Report from the Falmouth Police to see if any other parties were in the home at the time of death, and the timelines of their arrivals and departures.

Of Note: Before Jesse Jr. was returned home, both Sophie and Mary were advised many times by Jesse III, that, for Jesse Jr.’s safety, they would have to lock up any harmful chemicals as well as lock the kitchen and put in a gate at the top of the stairs. Jesse Jr. was extremely healthy and very active. Jesse III explained repeatedly what precautions he and Jenny took at their home to protect Dad from wandering off, injuring himself or eating something harmful. On each phone call home prior to his ordered return, Jesse III asked if the preparations had been made. Jenny even sent a book on care-giving for Alzheimer’s patients to Sophie and Mary. None of the simple precautions were ever implemented. Jesse III stated that he believes that if a gate had been placed on the stairs, as he repeatedly requested, his father may possibly be alive today.

A Coincidence?  Within a couple of weeks after the funeral of Jesse E. Torres Jr., after the Plaintiffs had left Cape Cod and returned to California, Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres) drove the Defendant Sophie J. Torres to an estate attorney, Kathryn Wilson (Kathryn Foster) of Mackey & Foster, P.A. Mackey & Foster was paid for by the Defendant Jesse E. Torres IV (aka Jesse Stockwell, Jesse E. Stockwell) [and] or Debtmerica LLC. It was Jesse IV who sent them to this specific law firm. The original Will of Jesse Jr. and Sophie Torres specifically excluded the Adopted Daughter and left all assets to the sole natural child, Jesse E. Torres III.

It’s about Character: Documents attached to the Verified Complaint specifically show that Attorney Kathryn Wilson agreed to accept service of the Verified Complaint on behalf of her client, Sophie J. Torres. According to the process server, when he came to her office to serve the Verified Complaint, Attorney Wilson refused service. We mention this not just to show you the actions of this attorney, and letting you decide on the ethics of her actions, but also because our story uncovered a pattern of similar actions by other attorneys selected and paid for by the Defendant Jesse E. Torres IV (aka Jesse Stockwell, Jesse E. Stockwell). This pattern even extended to Jesse IV, who avoided service three times, and apparently hid from the process servers in order to avoid being served his copy of the Verified Complaint. According to Jesse IV’s father, who hired the process servers, they reportedly joked that Jesse IV had been hiding under his desk. Another Attorney, Jeremy M. Carter of Wilkins DeYoung & Carter, who is also a former Mashpee Cop and current Mashpee Town Moderator, was accused of using political connections against the Pro Se Plaintiffs, as well as wrongfully adding himself personally to his client’s motion. He Lost. The story is available here.

Changed Will: Who, Why? Was it solely the Defendant Sophie J. Torres’ idea to write a new Will? What was the adopted daughter’s, Mary Carmen Torres’ (Mary C. Torres), part in changing the Will? While it is impossible to know a person’s reasoning, we again show a copy of an email between Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres) and Janice Grenier of the Defendant’s Attorney’s Law firm of Wilkins, DeYoung & Carter. Apparently Ms. Grenier hit the reply-all button instead of the reply button when she forwarded a copy of the following email to Jesse III. It states:

Mary has called regarding this e-mail. It did not play out this way. Mary is concerned about her mother. Stuff was left behind. Drew took everything.

Can they put a sign up regarding selling the property? 

Please call Mary to discuss. 508-295-9900 x 103.” – Available here.

Just Got Lucky: While they stayed with the Defendant Sophie J. Torres, Jesse E. Torres III was looking through his father’s personal belongings, reminiscing, and inadvertently discovered a draft of a new Last Will and Testament. He stated that the Defendant Sophie J. Torres at first denied making the new Will, then claimed it was only a draft, then finally admitted that she wanted to leave a large segment of her husband’s estate to her adopted daughter Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres) and her twin grandchildren of whom Jesse E. Torres IV (aka Jesse Stockwell, Jesse E. Stockwell) is one.
Above suspicion?  We want to say that the following is purely speculation on our part. While we attempt to stay neutral, and only give our opinion on a limited basis, we can’t seem to get these red flags out of our mind:
  1. Jesse E. Torres Jr. was in Mary’s own words, too strong: “[Jesse Jr.] was still very strong and physically fit, that she was hesitant in making him any madder toward her”. Jesse Jr., while staying with his son in Mexico the year before Mary made those comments, is reported, as part of his treatment, to have taken 3 mile walks on the beach almost daily, and swam in the Sea of Cortez with Jesse III and Jennifer. And yet, he is reported to have fallen down carpeted stairs in a home he lived in for many years. And all this happened, according to the Police Log, while his wife was in the next room? To be fair, we want to review the official Falmouth Police Report. We will keep searching for all of the facts in this matter.
  2. It is clear from the Torres’ original Will, that Jesse E. Torres Jr. had specifically left all of the properties and assets to his natural son, Jesse III. Their adopted daughter, Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres) was specifically eliminated from his and Defendant Sophie J. Torres’ Will. It appears from the Verified Complaint that two factors were at the root of his decision. 1) that he owed his son a significant amount of money loaned to him by his son after his life changing accident, and 2) that all of the Real Estate defined in his Will was owned by members of the Torres family for many generations, and it was very important to him that it stayed in the Torres Family. Jesse III words we believe express his fathers and his deep feelings, “it was my turn to be entrusted with the families farm, until it was the next generations turn”.
  3. While the Torres Family was not rich, it owned considerable properties, mainly from the family farm. Sophie J. Torres came from an impoverished family. Her parents spoke little English, living in the three decker apartments in the Slums of Southern New Bedford. This is not criticism, but simply recognition that the properties came from Jesse Jr’s side of the family and that it may have impacted his [Jesse Jr.’s] decision in how he wrote his Will.
  4. Within a few weeks after the funeral of Jesse Jr., Mary C. Torres took her adopted mother to an attorney retained by Jesse E. Torres IV (aka Jesse Stockwell, Jesse E. Stockwell), to create a new Will. In the Will stamped with “DRAFT”, that resulted from those meetings, it was specified that she would now be given half of all properties. The Real Estate was appraised by licensed appraisers at $1.6 million dollars at that time. That would have made Mary C. Torres $800,000 richer.
  5. The Verified Complaint states that Jesse E. Torres III came back to Massachusetts to get the $150,000 he entrusted to his father and deposited at Cape Cod Bank and Trust. That money was also gone and the account closed by Defendant Sophie J. Torres. Mary Carmen Torres (Mary C. Torres), works at Soft As A Grape as a bookkeeper and also, as stated by Jesse III, did her adopted mother’s bookkeeping.
  6. Our investigation into the matter of Torres v. Torres has shown evidence that Jesse IV’s father’s allegations appear to be overwhelmingly accurate. There certainly appears to us that there was a conspiracy by Sophie J. Torres, Mary C. Torres and the now Jesse Stockwell  (aka Jesse E. Torres IV, Jesse E. Stockwell), to prevent the repayment of funds owed to Jesse E. Torres III by the estate of the late Jesse E. Torres Jr. Their apparent goal was to transfer ownership of the property to Mary C. Torres and/or Jesse E. Torres IV. The Massachusetts Court of Appeals agreed that Jesse was owed monies:
It is undisputed that Jesse has available to him now a viable action in quantum meruit. Because the contract specifies that Jesse’s damages will be the very monies and interest he loaned to his parents…
  • More signs of guilt? Right after Sophie J. Torres lost her appeal, she reduced the price of properties that her construction mortgage showed would be worth $545,000 (it does need to be completed, estimate cost $40,000) for $235,000. This is not a normal action. It also is becoming apparent in our review of the case that the now Jesse Stockwell (aka Jesse E. Torres IV, Jesse E. Stockwell) and Mary C. Torres are also involved in these actions.
  • Not even a Grave Stone: Jesse E. Torres III closed his interview with what appeared to us a big factor for him filing the lawsuit against his family; “My mother, Sophie, and so called sister, Mary, with $1.6 million available to them of my my father’s money, and a grandson who is a self-proclaimed millionaire, would not shell out a couple of grand for a grave stone for my father. This was only rectified when we [Jesse & Jenny] returned to Falmouth”.
  • Google: Jesse E. Torres IV | Sophie J. Torres

We believe these questions, while not all verified, will certainly make the eyebrow of the average person rise. You, our readers will have to arrive at your own conclusion. Stay tuned to see how the Plaintiffs handled these and other actionable items, Pro Se.

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