AFCC's Scheme to Keep Ex-MLB Player Away from His Kids

 

(David Segui from his playing days)

I recently received a short video which shows former Major League Baseball player Mark Grudzielanek shortly after he apparently attacked a minor, not his son according to the video.  

 "He wants to play, we'll play," Grudzielanek says at the end 

 "You just sprayed what in his-vinegar- vinegar in his eyes," one youth says of his brother. 

It appears the youth initially sprayed Grudzielanek with this vinegar, though not in his eyes but on his back. Grudzielanek, in retaliation, sprayed him six times in his eyes.

This TMZ like altercation is part of a larger scheme to keep another former Major Leaguer, David Segui, away from his two sons: the two in the video. 

Segui's story was previously featured twice in Celeb Magazine: Article 1 and Article 2. 

All those involved in his custody case were gagged shortly after the first Celeb Magazine article was released; I have been able to piece together what happened using publicly available documents, along with speaking to others close to the case.  

Grudzielanek played in the majors from 1995-2010 while Segui played in the MLB from 1990-2004; they were teammates with the Montreal Expos from 1995-1997. 

Grudzielanek spoke to me briefly about this incident. That conversation is below.  

Don't believe everything you read and hear Grudzielanek told me when I asked him about the video. 

But I have uncovered a much deeper web involving several entities I have previously investigated. 

Namely it is the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC); Find my article Making Divorce Pay, about AFCC, here. 

There are at least fifteen people who are either members of AFCC or have participated in their events who have worked on Segui's divorce from his second wife, Donna.

They are as follows: Raymond Branton {the boy's third therapists}, Kolette Butler {2nd Therapist Interventionist}, Joel Covert {boy's 4th therapist}, Robert DiCarlo {advised mother's lawyer}, Christina Hamilton {father's second attorney}, Carlos Jones {older boy's 2nd therapist}, Mary Ann Lanzilotta {mother's court appointed therapist}, Carol Mellen {father's court appointed therapist}, Kathleen Miholich {did home study}, John Moran {1st therapist interventionist}, Dr. Shanna Sadeh {did trauma assessment for the two minors}, Steven Serrano {did divorce mediation}, Julie Skakoon {boys 1st therapist}, Stephanie Stromfors {current best interest attorney for the minors}, and Diana Vigil {3rd therapist interventionist}.

I reached out to everyone on this list along with Donna and her attorneys. Dicarlo said he didn't comment on cases; Vigil's office said they don't speak to the media and the rest did not respond. 

I reached out to David Segui, who said the gag order barred him from comment. 

Grudzielanek is not a party to the case, so not bound by a gag order; we didn't discuss the custody case in the interview anyway. 

The judge on this case is Brad Astrowsky, who is not a member of AFCC but did attend their annual conference in 2019, according to his disclosures. 

AFCC did something which they have perfected; downplay abuse allegations, while dubiously claiming parental alienation, and having many of their members appointed to the case to run up fees.

There was, as shown above, multiple therapists, several more therapist interventionist {separate from a traditional therapist}, several lawyers, a mediation and more featured in this case. 

On December 28, 2020, Judge Astrowsky issued an emergency order- which he stated was done in secret and on the recommendation of the BIA Stromfors- changing custody temporarily, granting Donna sole custody and barring David Segui from any contact with his children. 

The reason for the emergency was parental alienation. 

"Based upon the findings enumerated in the January 16, 2020, Order this is a case of severe parental alienation by the Father against the Mother." Judge Astrowsky states in his order. 

Aaron Nash is the communications specialist for the Arizona Judiciary. He could not comment on the case directly but stated in general, "Family court matters are among the most emotionally difficult cases that families face, even under the best circumstances. Custody matters, like other disputes, can result in a situation where a judge has to make a determination based on the evidence and legal arguments presented."

But this decision seems especially bizarre because just in November 2020, Judge Astrowsky ruled there was no parental alienation, after Donna's attorneys filed another motion. 

Judge Astrowsky's order from December 28, 2020, does not list any way in which David Segui was in contempt, since the order above from November; even so, the December 28, 2020, was done in an emergency fashion and "Without Notice". 

That Stromfors was advising Judge Astrowsky is important because, according to an audio recording I received, Stromfors and Astrowsky have in the past carried on an affair.  

 "It's well known in the court that Stromfors and Astrowsky have not only worked together but have carried on a personal relationship outside the courtroom," the anonymous person states, "This was going on while he was married. He was very flirtatious with all the women in the courthouse." 

To pull off this parental alienation scam, these numerous court appointees have ignored repeated disclosures of abuse by the children. 

This incident with Grudzielanek is not the first they have reported against him, along with several disclosures against the mother. 

In September 2020, Grudzielanek was accused of threatening his step-children. 

1-2 Mark Grudzielanek PR 9-... by mikekvolpe

His own violent history also extends back. CBS reported on an incident from 2000 involving a drunken bar fight. 

Los Angeles shortstop Mark Grudzielanek faces an assault charge for allegedly punching a bar bouncer earlier this week.

The 29-year-old Grudzielanek, a former All-Star, was in Moose McGillycuddy's on Front Street late Tuesday night when a bouncer asked him to leave, Sgt. Donald Simpson said Thursday.

For some reason, Grudzielanek then allegedly punched the bouncer several times in the face, opening a 2-inch cut over his left eye.

In 2008, he was the subject of a police report for allegedly pushing the mother of his children to the ground. 

Segui's ex-wife was also the subject of reports. 

The trauma assessment done by Dr. Sadeh stated, "In this case, both children reported Mother abused and neglected them throughout their childhood. Dr. Sadeh reported these allegations to the Arizona Department of Child Safety as mandated by state laws and regulations. Dr. Sadeh did not investigate the allegations and did not attempt to determine the truth about what happened. Nothing in this report should be construed as a finding by Dr. Sadeh of abuse or neglect."

A police report stated that on January 28, 2021, one of the boys ran from his mother's house, after she punched him. 

"I contacted the male subject in the kitchen and asked him what was going on. He stated he ran away from home after his mom punched him in the face. I then identified him as $%$% Segui. I asked him what he and his mom were arguing about and he stated they were arguing about not being able to see his father and how abusive she was to him and his brother." The police report stated. "{The boy} then stated she got mad at him for saying those things and punched him in the face. {The boy} then went on to say his mother had recent put a court order on his dad keeping him from being able to see {the boy} and his brother. I asked {the boy} if his mom knew he left the house and he replied she didn`t because he waited until she went to sleep before he left the house. I asked {the boy} where he lived, and he stated he did not know the address. I asked him what his moms phone number was, and he again stated he did not know. I advised him we were going to need to talk with his mother and he stated he understood."

On top of this, deposition testimony suggests that Donna was not a very involved mom. 

Thus far, none of this matters. David Segui is considered a parent alienator and for now he must be kept away from his kids entirely. 

"It is in both children's best interest to have no 'contact' with Father or other family members, relatives, friends, or other associates of Father and parents of the children's friends who are likely to interfere with the children's progress in effectively repairing their relationship with Mother." Judge Astrowsky's order states. 

Judge Astrowsky further ordered that the boys immediately begin reunification therapy with Family Bridges. 

Reunification camps are supposed to be a place where children transition from the parent the court deemed to be alienating to the alienated parent, but their effectiveness is dubious; in most cases children are coerced into saying things like that the targeted parent loves them and they only are afraid of that parent because of the things the alienating parent says.

Though the order appointing Family Bridges didn't get signed until December, 28, 2020,  a deposit was paid apparently by Donna for Family Bridges days prior to the order being signed; according to a receipt. Unless the judge revealed his decision before publishing it, no one should have known what camp was being chosen before the order was signed. 

Since 2018, in particular, I and other investigative journalists have continued to expose Family Bridges. It is run by Randy Rand, who has not renewed his license in years because of a disciplinary action. Family Bridges is out of California, not Arizona, so it's bizarre that Judge Astrowsky thought to send these two boys out of state to an unlicensed reunification camp. 

The investigations included NBC Bay Area, NBC New York, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and NBC in Charleston, South Carolina.

The investigations found that the camp was coercive, often traumatizing to the children, and showed little if any long term effectiveness in fixing the parent child relationship which they claim are broken. 

Furthermore, in this case, Diana Vigil was the driving force in recommending Family Bridges. Vigil is the ex-wife of John Moran, who was also on the case. 

"Additionally, on December 1, 2020, Diana Vigil, the court appointed therapeutic interventionist, advised the Court of the need for a more intensive therapeutic intervention process: Family Bridges Workshop." Judge Astrowsky's order stated. 

Moran is also on the board of Overcoming Barriers, another reunification camp similar to Family Bridges. 

Also on the board of Overcoming Barriers, is former Connecticut Judge, Lynda Munro, who presided over Sunny Kelley's case, which had a similar set of facts and twelve AFCC affiliated people. Munro left the bench shortly after the details of Kelley's case came out. 

Family Bridges camp proved to be a disaster for Segui's kids; at least if you believe Segui's son, who left a desperate comment on Celeb Magazine. It's below. 

They Didn’t listen to a single thing I said Dr. Rand said that I’m a liar and none of the abuse happened and got pissed off any time I brought it up. I went outside and was talking with the Therapeutic Interventionist and I told her how are you going to send me and my brother back to her when she abused us and she told me that I need both parents in my life and I said no she physically and sexually abused me and I’ve been doing perfectly fine with my dad staying out of trouble unlike when I was living with her. She also tells me that my brother needs to have both parents and saying it’s harder for him since he stopped living with her when he was only 8 and maybe he misses her. She blatantly ignores the fact that me and {my brother} were abused by her and want nothing to do with her. Once we walked back in and said were not going through with the Program they had my mom contact multiple wilderness camps for kids with behavioral issues and they were three months long and me and my brother were going to be split up. While all of this was happening he read me the report and it stated that since my dad didn’t coerce us to go back to my mom. Coerce which means persuading an unwilling person to do something by force or threats. I told him so my dad was supposed to send us back with my mom when we don’t feel safe around her and he said yes. Since I didn’t want to be split up from my brother so I just said ok I’ll just bull shit the program and go through with it because I don’t want be separated from my little brother. Once we got home and were living with my mom me and her get into an argument and she punched me in the face. I waited till everything was quiet and ran I heard cop cars so I hid in pushes for a while than knocked on someone’s door and told them what happened. They called the cops and I told them what happened they put me in the cop car so I can give them directions to the place we were staying at. When they interview my mom she lies and said she didn’t hit me the cop comes out said he thinks me and my brother were wrestling a couple of days before that and that’s why I have a bruise on my face. The cop contacted Child Protective Services and told me that my mom will call them to come interview us and they never did and instead the Therapeutic interventionist comes over and has a family meeting. I acted like I was asleep and she tells my brother I’m having a tough time adjusting and that he should stay with me and make sure I’m ok instead of him going to my mom’s sisters house. When I “wake up” I start arguing with her and my aunt who’s saying everything was so amazing what happened and Van heil chirps in saying looked like you guys were so happy and I told her no it was all an act so I don’t get separated from my brother and told her I want to go back to my dad and she told me I can’t. My mom has her friend come upstairs and tell us your mom is leaving at 1:30 for a court hearing and If you don’t have a family meeting with her their going to separate you and your brother for 3 months and the 90 days will restart. So we have the meeting my mom tells me I violated the court order because I ran off and wasn’t in eyesight of an adult. She than asks me and my brother if were going to listen and respect her and we tell her no so she says I need to leave we can finish this later. Like 4 days later I look up family Bridges and start reading about other peoples cases and tell her I looked it up and I don’t trust it’s going to be 90 days all these cases it’s been more and that Dr. Rand said that he makes these changes permanent and she says our case is different you will see your dad in 90 days. We keep arguing with her so she has her fiancee and her friend over and than she says she needs our phones to see what we looked up and we weren’t allowed to search anything up. We haven’t had our phones since. My brother was looking up my dad and came across this. I will probably get in trouble for this but I don’t care anymore I’m not going to be silenced by the court any longer even though this violates the 90 day order and people need to know what goes on in these reunification camps.

Segui remains barred from any contact with these two children. 

Post Script

Please check out the crowdfunding which goes along with this article to support more work like this. 

Update

Grudzielanek is now under investigation for the incident in the YouTube video at the top: according to a TMZ story.