This story is not from the media, it is out of my own back yard. As it is not verified or vetted beyond what I have been able to learn from the parties who are involved, I am going to take liberty to change the names and leave out some details in an effort to protect the innocent. And to cover my ass should this get back to the parties involved.

Here is the story... It is about "Jack and Jill."

Jack and Jill have been married for about ten years and they have a kid, named Tim, who is only six years old. Jack is a good ol-boy who works for a local super market, and about two years ago, Jill took a job with the sheriffs office.

Now Jack and Jill's marriage was not the best on the block, but it wasn't the worst either. Unfortunately, shortly after Jill started to work for the state, the marriage took a drastic turn for the worse. Jill became increasingly angry towards Jack. She even told him that she wanted a divorce and that he needs to move out.

Well, Jack did not want a divorce. Nor did he want to leave his home and family. He wanted to work it out. To seek marital counseling, anything to save his marriage.

This did not bode well with Jill. She became verbally and mentally hostile towards Jack. Fortunately, Jack is a pretty easy going guy and just dealt with the 'abuse' without loosing his temper or becoming violent.

After heaping down tons of attitude and angst on Jack, and seeing that no matter what she did, he wasn't going to leave, Jill decided to take the law and bring it down upon him.

She loaded up the car and swung it towards the courthouse downtown. Once there she filled out a little bit of paper work. This paper work wasn't for a divorce, it was for a restraining order against Jack.

Jack came home from work later that same day, only to find that his wife wasn't home. But, two police cars and three cops were. They informed him that a restraining order has been made against him and that he was no longer aloud within half a mile of the premises. He wasn't even able to go in to get his stuff. He had to leave the area immediately or face arrest.

About a month later, Jill gets fired from her job with the state. It seems that the sheriff of the town found out that one of his inmates, who was on a work release program, (this is when an inmate can leave the jail to go to work, and then go straight back to jail at the end of his work day) had been leaving work and going over to Jill's house, instead of back to the jail house. The sheriff could not have one of his employees sneaking around with an inmate who was only to be at work or jail. Not at Jill's. So, he fired her.

A few weeks pass, and this inmate comes up for parole, and he gets it. The next thing you know, he moves in with Jill and her kid. Unfortunately for Jill, this con is no Martha Stewart. He had no stash of cash or a million dollar job to return to.

It didn't take long for funds to become tight for Jill and the con, so instead of earning what they needed, they took to selling Jack's things. Lawnmowers, tools, and the like.

Apparently, one of the 'in the know' neighbors saw them doing this and called Jack to let him know what was going on. Well, Jack wanted his stuff, so he called the police to ask for a police escort over to Jill's so that he could put a stop to them selling his stuff and pick up what hadn't been sold or taken away.

The police told him to park at a 7/Eleven down the street from the house, and when the officer came by, to follow him over to the house.

While sitting at the 7/Eleven, Jack saw a police car go by, and it looked to be going towards Jill's place, so he took-off after it. But, when it drove past Jill's place, Jack pulled in, thinking that the police officer over shot the address and would return. That was not the case though. That officer was on another call.

Jack, not being a total fool, stayed in his car until a police officer showed up. That only took about five minutes. Unfortunately for Jack, the law had been broken, and Jill wanted it enforced.

Jack had accidentally broken the restraining order. He had shown up at her residence without a police escort. Even though he had called for one, thought that he was following one, and the one that was to be his escort showed up minutes later, it didn't matter. Technically, Jack disobeyed the restraining order and Jill pressed the issue of Jack showing up without an escort, for which he was arrested.

It is like a bad Jerry Springer show. Cheating wife files a restraining order against husband so that she can move her convict boyfriend in. Then sells the husbands stuff to pay the bills. Husband calls the police for help, and gets arrested.

Poor Jack has lost his home, had his reputation drug through the mud, been kept from his son, and lost pretty much everything he ever owned, just because his cheating wife wanted him out of the way.

Restraining orders can be filed against just about anyone, for just about any reason. In this case, false accusations were made against the husband, by the wife, just so the wife can have the power of the state remove the husband that would not leave.

Most restraining orders are filed for good reason or just cause, but what checks and balances are in place to keep a person from filing a false or fictitious claim against another in an effort to complicate their life, possibly get them arrested, slander their name, or to gain the power of the state to have them removed?

What is to keep this from happening to you?