Man Charged With Simulating Injuries to Son in Custody Bid

A Carlsbad man was arrested this week in a Ventura County courtroom during a child custody hearing for allegedly using realistic makeup to simulate injuries to his 9-year-old son in an effort to win permanent custody of the boy from the his ex-wife.

The man, Thomas Michael Haggerty, 37, bragged to a former girlfriend that he had drugged the boy, had the makeup applied and then took photographs of his son as evidence of child abuse by the boy’s stepfather, according to court testimony.

Micah Haggerty Graves had come to stay with his father on July 1 for summer vacation, records said. The boy lives with his mother and stepfather in Orrington, Me.

Haggerty’s former girlfriend, Avis Stahl, also of Carlsbad, secretly tape-recorded a conversation on Monday in which Haggerty boasted of his scheme, Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna K. Walters said.

Stahl phoned the Ventura County district attorney’s office early Tuesday to report the scheme and the tape was played in court during the custody hearing before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren the following day, she said. The hearing was held in Ventura because the divorce was finalized there.

“It was a big surprise to Haggerty,” Walters said. “He had no idea that we knew any of this.”

Walters said the makeup was extremely realistic, noting that she showed colleagues the photographs Haggerty had taken and “they wanted to know if the child had died of the injuries.”

“You should see these pictures,” Walters said. “It probably would have worked if not for Ms. Stahl. She’s the hero of all this.”

The boy told district attorney’s investigators that on the day his father picked him from the airport, he had complained of an upset stomach, Walters said. “He said his dad gave him two pills and the next thing he remembers is waking up the next day,” Walters said.

Haggerty, a one-time Thousand Oaks chiropractor, said on the tape-recording that he had given the boy two tranquilizers and while the boy was sleeping a friend used putty, grease pencils and makeup to create the fake bruises, Walters said.

The district attorney’s office is still seeking the identity of the makeup man.

On July 2 Haggerty presented color photographs of the boy’s body in court, as well as a sworn declaration that the boy had told him the injuries were inflicted by his stepfather. Haggerty was given temporary custody of the boy pending a final decision at Tuesday’s hearing.

The boy told district attorney’s investigators that his father had promised to take him to a Caribbean island if he told the judge that he had been beaten by his stepfather, Walters said.

Prior to his arrest, Haggerty said in court that he wanted to have permanent custody of his son prior to leaving the country on Friday to attend medical school on the island of Dominica, Walters said.

“He had airline tickets, passports and all the shots,” Walters said. “Once they had left the country, we wouldn’t have had jurisdiction at all.”

Haggerty, who is being held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, was arrested on suspicion of perjury and submitting false evidence in court. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison on the charges.

Canoga Park attorney Ronald Supancic, who represented the boy’s mother, Jeanette P. Graves, said that because the injuries in the photographs appear so authentic, “he probably would have gotten away with it.”

The boy is now with his mother and staying with relatives in Simi Valley, Walters said.

Haggerty’s arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 26.

Times staff writer Eric Bailey contributed to this story from Carlsbad.