Man Who Faked Signs of Abuse to Win Custody of Son Gets Jail Term

A former Simi Valley chiropractor who admitted painting “injuries” on his son’s body as evidence of child abuse in a thwarted attempt to win the boy’s custody was sentenced Tuesday to serve six months in Ventura County Jail.

Thomas Michael Haggerty, 37, of Carlsbad, pleaded guilty Nov. 2 to one count of presenting false evidence in court. In a July 28 court hearing, he had submitted to a Ventura County judge a sworn statement that his 9-year-old son’s stepfather had beaten the boy.

Haggerty had also submitted color photographs that allegedly showed bruises on the boy, according to court records. The boy, Micah Haggerty Graves, who is now 10, lives with his mother and stepfather in Orrington, Maine, but was visiting his father during the summer.

At a subsequent custody hearing Aug. 18, one of Haggerty’s co-workers testified in court that he bragged to her that he had drugged his son, had a friend apply the makeup and then took photographs in an effort to gain custody of the boy from his ex-wife, Jeanette P. Graves. Haggerty had shared custody of the boy with Graves since the couple’s 1983 divorce.

The co-worker, Avis Stahl, who testified she was upset by Haggerty’s story, secretly tape-recorded a conversation during which he disclosed his scheme. Stahl then took the recording to the district attorney.

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

Haggerty, who has been in jail since his arrest after the August custody hearing, faced a maximum penalty of four years in state prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson said.

No Record

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath, in granting the lighter sentence, said a state prison sentence was not appropriate because Haggerty had no criminal record. In exchange for Haggerty’s guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a second charge of perjury against him.

Haggerty’s defense attorney, Richard Hanawalt, told the judge that Haggerty had failed in court to win full custody of his son and saw the boy infrequently since his ex-wife moved to Maine. “Here was a father whose protective impulses took over his rational thinking,” Hanawalt said.

In a letter submitted to the judge, Haggerty denied giving drugs to the boy but admitted applying the makeup while his son was sleeping.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward F. Brodie told the judge that Haggerty had intended to take Micah to the island of Dominica, in the West Indies, immediately after last summer’s custody hearing, regardless of the outcome. Haggerty had obtained a passport for the boy and had planned to begin medical school there, court records said.

Micah is now living with his mother and stepfather, who were granted full custody of the boy during last summer’s hearing.