Using what vehicle?
Did "Chiefy" condone this?
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Divorce case involving Williams' ex-driver back in court
6:14 PM Mon, Nov 02, 2009 |
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal staff writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The former driver for ex-Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams returned to court on Monday to seek payments from her estranged husband to help pay expenses for their 6-year-old daughter.
During a two-hour hearing in Family Court, lawyer Keven A. McKenna peppered Pamela J. DosReis, the driver and deputy sheriff, with pointed questions about her finances and what financial role, if any, Williams has played in her life.
On Monday, McKenna repeatedly made references to Williams, whom he sometimes called "the third party."
In September, Pamela DosReis filed for divorce from her husband, Frank J. DosReis, a state corrections officer, and she obtained a restraining order that barred him from having contact with their daughter. Since then, the order has been modified to allow him visitation with his daughter, while Williams has been banned from having contact with the girl. In 2003, the DosReises named Williams the child's godfather.
Last month, testimony surfaced that Williams paid more than $6,000 in tuition for the girl to attend St. Mary Academy-Bay View in East Providence and he had deposited about $6,000 in a money-market account for her. Williams also had a room in the DosReis home in Johnston, had bought the family a $1,000 TV and had bought Frank DosReis new tires for his truck.
Williams did not dispute the testimony, saying through a spokesman that he was a family friend who cared deeply about the girl's well-being.
Frank DosReis also testified that Williams, who whom he claimed slept at their Johnston home as many as five nights a week, was responsible for the dissolution of his marriage.
In 2008, the DosReis family made a combined income of about $198,000, state records show, but they are saddled with heavy debts including a mortgage of more than $300,000 and credit card debts of $45,000.
At one point on Monday, McKenna asked Pamela DosReis about a $13,381 credit card debt at BJ's Wholesale, the retailing giant. He suggested that she was the sole holder of the credit card, a suggestion that she said was incorrect.
DosReis said that she shared the credit card "with Frank."
"Which Frank?" McKenna shot back.
"My husband Frank," DosReis said.
Frank DosReis, who was seated at the defense table, smiled and lowered his head.
McKenna also pressed Pamela DosReis about various gifts and financial support that Williams had provided for her. She denied that there was any quid pro quo although she admitted that she shopped for him and his wife, Virginia, at BJ's Wholesale in Johnston, and bought him goods such as lemons and coffee. She insisted that she did it on her own time and would travel to Williams's house in Richmond to deliver the groceries and watch television.
"We were friends," she said. "We helped each other."
In response to McKenna's questions, Pamela DosReis said other judges, including retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger, also had bought her gifts.
McKenna also asked DosReis whether Williams advised her to file for divorce or had anything to do with hiring her divorce lawyer, John D. Lynch. She denied that Williams, who whom her daughter calls "Chiefy," had anything to do with either decision.
At the hearing's close, Lynch asked Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. to consider having Frank DosReis pay his estranged wife's monthly mortgage payments of $2,200 and provide her with $105 -a week in child-support payments.
Jeremiah did not issue a ruling. Instead, he continued the hearing to Wednesday at 11 a.m. In the meantime, the lawyers for the Pamela and Frank DosReis will try to reach an agreement before they return to court.
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