When the judge said, “Mr. Whitfield, your rights are fully restored,” Grandpa stood up from the table without his cane.
“Thank you, Your Honor,” he said. “Can I go home now?”
The judge smiled. “You can go anywhere you like, sir.”
The attorney general’s investigation took longer. Almost a year. In the end, the Stone Family Foundation was shut down. My parents were ordered to pay back as much as they could. They sold the big white colonial. They sold the cars. My father sold his share in his business.
They got back about six million of the nine. The rest was gone. Paris. Weddings. Bracelets.
My father pleaded guilty to charges of misusing charitable funds and financial exploitation of an elderly person. He got two years of probation and a fine and a thousand hours of community service. His lawyer said he was lucky. My father didn’t seem to feel lucky. The last time I saw him, at the courthouse, he walked right past me like I was a stranger.
