Sam Rule - I’ll Get You! Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom (true crime)

Ill Get You!

Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom

Sam Rule & Kelli Peters

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

TRUE STORY! FEATURED ON DR. PHIL!

PTA president Kelli Peters had a normal, happy life in Orange County, California, where she volunteered at her daughter's school, carpooled, and took care of her family. When a school parent angrily accused Kelli of keeping her son waiting during the afterschool pick-up, it appeared to be a simple confrontation with an overprotective mother. Kelli soon learned, however, that she was the target of a twisted plot against her that involved drugs, lies, schemes, and a campaign to ruin her life. The vendetta led to reputations tarnished, careers lost, secret lives uncovered, two parents in jail, families destroyed, and a $5.7 million civil judgment.

"I'll Get You!" Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom is the true story of an ordinary American woman who survived an evil conspiracy that turned her life upside down and shook her hometown to its core.

Copyright 2016 Sam Rule & Kelli Peters

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systemsexcept in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviewswithout permission in writing from the authors.

Cover art by Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations. Cover art copyright 2016 Sarah Hansen.

This book is a memoir based on the recollection of events by Kelli Peters and official government records and proceedings, including court records. Kelli has related these events to the best of her knowledge, and as told to author Sam Rule. She has described events, locales, and conversations based on her personal memories of them. Much of the information in this book can be found in public court records. Some identities have been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved.

Dedication from Kelli: This book is dedicated to my superhuman family. If you were in any way involved in helping us stand up to the Easter Monster, or just helping us stand up, then you are my family. Bill: Thank you, sweetheart, for your love and gentleness. Sydnie: Thank you, my love, for your humor and spunk. Because of you, I survived. ~Peace, Kelli

Dedication from Sam: This book is dedicated to Dina and JD. You know why. ~Sam

Special thanks to our beta readers: Amy, Ana, Cassie, Chris, Christy, Janette, Josh, Kathie, Manny, Miki, Perry, and Tina. This book is better because of you. A special shout-out to Chris from RCS for letting us work by the pool. ~S & K

foreword

On February 17, 2010, an Orange County mother and attorney named Jill Easter accused a longtime PTA volunteer, Kelli Peters, of deliberately locking Easter's son out of an afterschool program. Jill Easter's accusation was not true. Nevertheless, the incident sparked five years of what Kelli Peters describes as a campaign of torture against her that involved gossip, lies, threats, lawsuits, and the planting of drugs on an innocent person. It ended with the criminal conviction of Jill Easter and her attorney husband, Kent, for their crimes against PTA mom Kelli Peters. Jill Easter took a plea deal and spent four months in jail. Kent Easter was convicted of a felony and spent six months in jail. After the felony conviction against the Easters, Kelli Peter won a civil lawsuit for emotional damages that resulted in a judgment of $5.7 million against the Easters.

How and why did all of this begin?

When I first heard about this case, before I knew the players involved and the details of the story, I thought it was a sensational tabloid story about two women caught up in a catfight that escalated out of control. It conjured up images of the Real Housewives and all of their drama and wineglass throwing. I thought, as many people think when they first hear about this story, that the victim in this case, Kelli Peters, must have done something to Jill Easter to set her off and cause her such visceral rage. After all, the adage there are two sides to every story exists for a reason. Indeed, there is also Jills story in this case. Im sure she has her own perspective on what happened that caused her to make the choices she made, no matter how deluded some may think it is.

But this book is not about Jill Easter. Nor is it about Kent Easter, Jills husband, the man who went along with her plan to get Kelli Peters, even though hed never met the PTA volunteer until they faced off in court.

This book is about Kelli, the woman I came to know as I wrote her story: an ordinary woman with a kind heart; a woman who, up until this point, had lived a peaceful life. She always chose to see the positive in every situation. She gave fully of herself to her family, friends, and community. She rescued animals and volunteered with children. She loved spending time with her husband, Bill, and her daughter, Sydnie. She was happyuntil one day she inexplicably found herself in the crosshairs of someone shed never met before, a woman hellbent on destruction and, in Kellis words, mentally unstable and evil.

The first thing people always asked me when they found out I was writing this book was: What was the motive? Indeed, I searched long and hard for the true motives behind Jill and Kent Easters crimes. I interviewed the criminal prosecutor, Kelli's civil attorney, Kellis co-volunteers and friends, people at the school who were there that day, and Kelli herself. I read court records and trial transcripts and asked questions and delved into the issue. No one could come up with a solid, concrete motive for why Jill Easter decided to go after Kelli Peters.

There were plenty of theories, yes, some of which will be explored in this book. But what it really comes down to is this: sometimes bad things happen to good people without explanation. Inexplicable events can unfold in our lives with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes people are targeted by others without cause. We can incur tragedy or hardship or trauma in our lives through no fault of our own. Good, innocent people die in car accidents at the hands of negligent people. Decent, law-abiding people are cheated on, lied to, swindled, and harmed. It happens every day. As human beings, we always seek to find out the why for an unthinkable occurrence in the lives of others in the hopes we can avoid the harm ourselves.

But sometimes, no matter how carefully or honorably we live our lives, there is no avoiding the lightning bolt out of the sky. There is no predicting the unpredictable, especially when it comes to random criminal behavior or the actions of other people who may wish us harm.

Oftentimes, we never see it coming.

We are blindsided, our lives forever changed due to a chance meeting of fate.

That is what happened to Kelli Peters.

This is her story.

Sam Rule

Statement from Dr. Nina Rodd, Ph.D., who treated Kelli Peters throughout her ordeal with the Easters:

I saw my role as the provider of healing for the deep fear and traumatic wounds that Kelli and her family had sustained. This meant that I was an instrument of help. I had to evaluate the needs of my patient and determine how I could provide her with either the therapeutic techniques or guide her to get the necessary help from other sources.

My role was to empower a woman who felt helpless, hopeless, fearful for her own life and her familys life, and who was totally devastated. My patient not only trusted me and accepted help, she also was appreciative of the assistance I was providing to her and her family.

Kelli saw her life, her safety, her reputation, and her daughters life being threatened and destroyed in just one day, maybe in a few hours, or only in a few minutes. She saw her life and her familys life ruined. After that infamous day she still didnt know: Was she going to jail? Would police find her innocent or not? What else this woman and her husband are capable of doing. How far would they go with their violent behavior? It wasnt only the posttraumatic stress disorder and its devastating symptoms that she was suffering from. She was realistically living on an hourly basis, a nightmare of what else was going to happen to her, her daughter or her husband. Sleepless nights, nightmares every time she fell asleep, hypervigilance, being startled at any little noise or event, anxiety, thought rumination, and withdrawing from her world and her friends are just some of the things she was suffering on a daily basis.