Opinion
BRUCE LOCKE, Moss & Locke, Sacramento, California, Attorneys for TAMARA TIKAL
Philip Ferrari, Attorney for the United States.
STIPULATION AND ORDER AMENDING THE SCHEDULE FOR SELF-SURRENDER
CAROLYN K. DELANEY, Magistrate Judge.
The defendant, Tamara Tikel, by and through her attorney, and the United States, by and through its attorney, hereby stipulate that the Court should amend the Order for Ms. Tikal's self-surrender from October 27, 2015 to January 15, 2016. The new date is necessary because Ms. Tikal is in the process of divorcing her husband, Alan Tikal, and she finally obtained service on him on October 16, 2015 and she has a hearing set to finalize the divorce on January 11, 2016.
Ms. Tikal's husband, Alan Tikal, involved her in his fraudulent scheme to obtain money from people who were behind on their mortgages. Mr. Tikal represented himself at trial, waived a jury, and went to trial with his sole defense that venue was improper. He was convicted by Judge Nunley and he received a sentence of 288 months in prison. He is currently incarcerated in FCI Victorville.
The government allowed Ms. Tikal to plead to a charge that carried a 60 month maximum sentence. On July 16, 2015, Ms. Tikal received a sentence of 45 months and she has been designated to FCI Dublin. Ms. Tikal was examined by a psychologist prior to her sentencing and the psychologist determined that as a result of her abuse as a teenager, Ms. Tikal has a poor self-image and, as a result, has always deferred to the man in her life; she has always had difficulty in saying "No" to her husband. Ms. Tikal's difficulty in standing up for herself has led her to where she is today - facing 45 months in prison - because she could not say "No" to Alan Tikal.
Ms. Tikal was originally ordered to self-surrender on September 27, 2015. This date was chosen to allow Ms. Tikal time to finalize her divorce. Ms. Tikal began the divorce proceeding before she was sentenced, although it was delayed by her need to establish residency in Yuba County. As soon as she established residency, she filed her petition for divorce and she sent the Summons to the Sheriff's Court Services in Victorville. Ms. Tikal had a court day set for finalizing the divorce on August 31, 2015. The Sheriff's Office sent the papers back to her a few days before her court date because she had not included the $40 fee with the papers. Ms. Tikal resubmitted the papers with the $40 fee on September 10, 2015 after the government agreed to extend her date for self-surrender from September 27, 2015 to October 27, 2015. At that time, the government agreed that it was important for Ms. Tikal to terminate her relationship with Mr. Tikal before she started to serve her sentence.
The Sheriff's office did not serve Mr. Tikal until October 16, 2015. Each time that Ms. Tikal called to check on when service would be performed, the Sheriff's office told her that FCI Victorville was on lock-down and, therefore, they could not serve the papers. Ms. Tikal eventually checked with FCI Victorville and learned that it had not been on lockdown. Evidently, the Sheriff's office was using the lockdown story to explain their failure to serve the papers.
Ms. Tikal has now obtained service on her husband and she has a court date of January 11, 2016 to finalize the divorce. (A copy of the Proof of Service is attached as Exhibit 1.) Ms. Tikal will not be able to obtain the divorce while she is in prison. It is very important that Ms. Tikal obtain the divorce before she starts to serve her time because Ms. Tikal has issues that she needs to work on while she is in prison and her ability to work on those issues will be complicated and made more difficult if she has to work on those issues knowing that she is still married to the man who used her and caused her to participate in criminal activity. Extending the date for her self-surrender will not change the amount of time that Ms. Tikal will have to serve; all that it will do is allow her to terminate her relationship with Mr. Tikal so that she can continue to work on the issues that put her in this situation.
IT IS SO ORDERED. Ms. Tikal is ordered to self-surrender to the location designated by the Bureau of Prisons by 2:00 p.m., on January 15, 2016. The clerk will serve a copy of this Order on the U.S. Marshal.