By Milton G. Allimadi
Photos: Above & Below YouTube Screenshots
Doctors are supposed to help heal the afflicted, however, Cassandra Fameux, a Michigan woman, in a complaint to the U.S. Attorney has alleged that two physicians—one of them her own husband—illegally drugged her for years with an anti-psychotic medicine for treating schizoaffective and bipolar disorder even though they knew she didn’t suffer from the ailment.
Ms. Fameux has alleged that her husband’s motive in the scheme was to induce violent psychotic behavior, have her hospitalized for mental illness, get a guardian appointed for her, and then coerce her into signing documents that transferred the bulk of the couple’s marital assets to him— an agreement that also gave him an advantage in gaining custody of their three children.
The husband, Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire, an anesthesiologist, and his alleged accomplice Dr. Dominic Barberio, a psychiatrist who became Ms. Fameux’s therapist as part of the alleged scheme, are both employed by Lansing, M.I.-based University of Michigan Medical-Sparrow, a $7 billion medical system. It was formerly known as Sparrow Hospital.
This is the third article in Black Star News’s series examining various allegations against Dr. St. Claire. He was suspended by Sparrow Hospital after the first article was published more than a month ago, according to people familiar with the matter.
John Foren, a spokesperson for the hospital wouldn’t comment on whether the hospital has reported Dr. St. Claire’s alleged crimes to local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies.
That first article, published on Nov. 23, 2023 focused on allegations that for several years, Dr. St. Claire’s supervisors at Sparrow Hospital handled documented complaints of sexual harassment against him by co-workers and a patient with kid gloves.
[Dr. St. Claire in a photo from 2014. Source: X formerly Twitter].
The second article, published on Dec. 17, 2023 reported that medical records kept by Dr. Barberio showed that Ms. Fameux was indeed injected with Invega Sustenna, the antipsychotic drug, for 44 consecutive months, beginning July 11, 2017 to Feb. 5, 2021.
Previously when contacted for comment, Tiffany Brown, spokesperson for Mark Totten, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, in an e-mail message said, “As long as the court proceedings and investigation is ongoing, our department policy is not [to] comment.”
Official Sparrow Hospital medical records released to a lawyer who briefly represented Ms. Fameux last year and reviewed by Black Star News omit the Invega Sustenna injections. The spokesperson, Foren, declined to comment when asked whether Dr. Barberio kept a secret second set of medical records that the hospital’s administration wasn’t aware of. These records were obtained through unconventional means.
Ms. Fameux alleged that Dr. St. Claire, 71 years old, even had her injected with Invega Sustenna as punishment, as previously reported by Black Star News. One day, when Ms. Fameux didn’t cook for Dr. St. Claire’s two adult daughters from a previous marriage, he phoned Dr. Barberio who went over to their home and injected his wife, she has alleged.
Black Star News previously published hand-written notes maintained by Dr. St. Claire which document the injections of his wife by Dr. Barberio at home.
[Notes in Dr. St. Claire’s handwriting documents one of Dr. Barberio’s visit to inject his wife at home on May 27, 2020 with Invega Sustenna.]
In addition to the Invega Sustenna injections, Ms. Fameux was medicated orally with various additional drugs by Dr. St. Claire and by other doctors at Sparrow Hospital, both the official medical records and the ones kept by Dr. Barberio show.
[Information from chart maintained by Dr. Barberio documenting injections of Ms. Fameux with Invega Sustenna in 2017 alone. They don’t include injections given at home. Chart contains information through February 2021]
Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio stopped injecting Ms. Fameux on Feb. 5, 2021 when her doctor, concerned by her elevated prolactin level, ordered an MRI that revealed that she’d developed a brain tumor. She also became diabetic and developed an irregular heartbeat. In March 2023, Dr. Sampath Gunda, a cardiologist at Sparrow inserted an implantable loop recorder in her chest to monitor her condition, Ms. Fameux said.
Ms. Fameux said she also developed heavy bleeding and on the recommendation of Dr. Kristin Koskela, an obstetrician-gynecologist, she had a procedure called endometrial ablation—the removal of a thin layer of tissue from the uterus—which likely means she won’t bear children in the future. Ms. Fameux is 43.
She blames her medical condition on the years of alleged illegal drugging by her husband and Dr. Barberio.
Ms. Fameux said she plans to take legal action against Dr. St. Claire, Dr. Barberio, and Sparrow Hospital for the alleged illegal drugging.
In response to several e-mail messages from Black Star News seeking comment about Ms. Fameux’s allegations of illegal drugging by Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio, Foren, the Sparrow spokesperson, in an e-mail message said: “Following our standard policy, we cannot comment on pending legal and personnel matters.”
Santa J. Ono, the president of the University of Michigan, also didn’t respond to an e-mail message seeking comment, sent through his chief of staff, Jon Kinsey.
Dr. St. Claire is also being investigated by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation (LARA), according to people familiar with the matter. Norman Naimy, the investigator handling the case with LARA, didn’t respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.
When Ms. Fameux signed a “qualified domestic relations order,” and a “judgment of separate maintenance,” on Feb. 12, 2018, giving Dr. St. Claire advantage over custody issues and the bulk of the couple’s financial wealth, she was still being injected with Invega Sustenna and medicated with various other drugs, the hospital’s and Dr. Barberio’s records show.
Ms. Fameux says she intends to challenge the validity of the agreements signed with Dr. St. Claire since the illegal medications had impaired her ability to think and act rationally.
A closer examination of the documents themselves and a review of activities by Dr. St. Claire and the lawyer who represented him at the time the papers were signed—and who still represents him—raise additional questions about the agreement’s validity.
A review of the agreements by Black Star News reveals that Ms. Fameux’s court-appointed guardian ad litem, Melissa G. Leckie, did not sign the two documents. Ms. Leckie didn’t respond to several messages from Black Star News inquiring as to why she didn’t sign the agreements even though her name was printed on the signature pages of both.
In addition to Dr. St. Claire and his lawyer Jessica Larson—she previously went by her maiden name, Waite—the agreements were signed by Roben Omer, a lawyer who represented Ms. Fameux. What Ms. Fameux didn’t know was that in 2003, when Dr. St. Claire was in a divorce battle with his second wife, Dr. Marcy Street, he was represented by a lawyer named Jane Radner and that Roben Omer was her partner in the same law firm. Ms. Fameux said she was never informed at the time she signed the agreement in 2018 and only learned this information from this Black Star News reporter.
Omer didn’t respond to two e-mail messages from Black Star News seeking comment.
Ms. Fameux has alleged that Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio didn’t write prescriptions for the Invega Sustenna, in order to avoid leaving a paper-trail, for at least three years, from 2017 to 2020. The injections lasted until February 2021. A subsequent article will deal with Ms. Fameux’s allegations that Dr. Baberio also altered the medical records he kept to make it appear as if he’d been injecting Ms. Fameux with lower dosages of the drug.
Dr. Barberio, in e-mail messages exchanged with Janet Hamilton, a lawyer who briefly represented Ms. Fameux last year after Dr. St. Claire filed for divorce, confirmed that the Invega Sustenna supplies came from samples and claimed this was “normal” practice.
In her Oct. 30, 2023 affidavit to Totten, the U.S. Attorney, in support of her criminal complaint against Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio, Ms. Fameux claimed her husband started drugging her in 2014 by spiking an energy booster she used to drink three years before he and Dr. Barberio started injecting her with Invega Sustenna.
Ms. Fameux arrived in the U.S. as a 15-year-old in 1995, fleeing hardship and political instability in Haiti. Seven years later, she was working as a 22-year-old intern at Sparrow Hospital’s nutrition department. She dreamed of one day pursuing a career in healthcare or medicine, she said. In the spring of 2002, she was pursued by Dr. St. Claire, who was then 50 years old and still married to his second wife Dr. Marcy Street.
Ms. Fameux said Dr. St. Claire told her he was going through a divorce. Court records show that Dr. Street didn’t file for divorce until November 3, 2003.
Ms. Fameux claimed it was much later, during the course of the abusive marriage, that she learned that Dr. St. Claire had a reputation for pursuing romantic relations with immigrant employees who were in subordinate positions at Sparrow Hospital. She claimed when she told Dr. St. Claire about her ambition for a future medical career, he told her she was “not smart enough.”
When Ms. Fameux became pregnant in 2003, Dr. St. Claire pressured her unsuccessfully to have an abortion, even offering her $80,000 as reward, Ms. Fameux claimed. Dr. St. Claire said he had “a reputation to protect,” in the Okemos community, a suburb of Lansing, M.I., and that he didn’t want his DNA “spreading around,” Ms. Fameux said.
Dr. St. Claire even had a lawyer named Robert Baldori call Ms. Fameux with a message from him, she said; unless she agreed to end the pregnancy, he would sue her. Baldori, of Lansing, M.I.-based Baldori Law, didn’t return an e-mail message from Black Star News seeking comment.
Dr. St. Claire continued to pressure her, constantly calling her at work or going to her apartment, Ms. Fameux claimed. She moved back with her parents, seeking protection, and she even obtained a personal protective order (ppo) against Dr. St. Claire, she said.
After Ms. Fameux gave birth to a girl in 2004, Dr. St. Claire refused to provide child support, saying he wasn’t sure he was the father, so she relied on social services and support from her church, she said.
After a paternity test confirmed he was the father, Dr. St. Claire moved Ms. Fameux and the child into an apartment and started providing child support, she said.
Dr. St. Claire also started professing his love for her and eventually she moved into Dr. St. Claire’s house. It’s the same marital home where they still live today, and which Dr. St. Claire had transferred to his exclusive ownership through the agreements Ms. Fameux claims she signed while under the influence of her husband’s alleged illegal drugging with Invega Sustenna and other medications.
Ms. Fameux gave birth to a second daughter in 2005. The couple finally married on Dec. 17, 2009. In 2010 Ms. Fameux gave birth to their last child, a son.
It wasn’t until five years into the marriage, in early 2014, that Ms. Fameux says she started experiencing serious physical and mental health issues.
Ms. Fameux said she used to drink a solution she prepared by dissolving powdered cayenne pepper in water before her regular gym workouts.
“I was consuming a minuscule amount of a powdered pepper supplement to naturally boost my metabolism,” Ms. Fameux’s Oct. 30 affidavit to the U.S. Attorney stated. “However, each time I consumed the powder, I would get violently sick, my heart would palpitate extremely fast. I had feelings of fainting, retching, my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were [falling] out.”
“I became extremely concerned. I voiced to my husband that I was going to have the powder supplement tested for contamination or toxic substances because it was making me violently ill,” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit added. “A few days later, I looked inside the cupboard where I [had] kept the supplement and to my dismay, the supplement was gone. I looked everywhere in the kitchen and it was nowhere to be found.”
Ms. Fameux never got to test the powder. It was only later that she suspected her husband, Dr. St. Claire, had been spiking her energy booster.
“Over the next few weeks, my symptoms escalated from fainting episodes to complete paranoia. I became convinced that people were stalking me, and my mental health continued to deteriorate,” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit stated. “During this period, my husband was medicating me every night. My husband told me that the medication was intended to help me sleep because he believed my behavior was a result of sleep deprivation. However, the medication my husband was giving me did not provide any relief at all; in fact, my mental health worsened with each passing day.”
Ms. Fameux says to this day she doesn’t know what drugs her husband was giving her every night.
During this period, Dr. St. Claire “was behaving very peculiarly,” Ms. Famuex’s affidavit stated.
“My husband would make unsettling comments, such as, ‘how would you like it if I were to hire someone to come here (to the house) to pop you?’ While pointing towards me with the finger gun mimicking holding a gun,” the affidavit to the U.S. Attorney stated. “At night, he would take me to empty deserted parking lots and simply sat there in the car with me in the middle of nowhere. I would cry and begged him to drive away because I was scared, instead my husband would look at me sarcastically, with a smirk on his face and calmly [ask] me ‘what are you afraid of?’”
“I began to feel neurotic,” the affidavit added. “I was constantly second-guessing my sanity and perceptions, which led to me experiencing frequent panic attacks. I became afraid of sharing my husband’s abusive behavior with others, fearing they might believe my husband and [perceive] me as genuinely mentally unstable.”
In mid-November, 2014, Dr. St. Claire told Ms. Fameux that he would have her treated discreetly by a friend at Sparrow Hospital—who turned out to be Dr. Barberio—so no one would suspect she had a mental illness. When they reached the hospital, Ms. Fameux panicked and fled, she recalled.
Thereafter, Ms. Fameux had frequent panic attacks. Meanwhile, her husband continued to medicate her at home. Occasionally, he’d take her to the ER at Sparrow Hospital for out-patient treatment.
By December, 2014, she’d become “increasingly fearful” of Dr. St. Claire, Ms. Fameux’s affidavit stated.
One night, on Dec. 17, 2014, after another panic attack, Ms. Fameux fled from the couple’s home to a neighbor’s house across the street. She was so terrified of her husband that she refused to return home with him when he followed her. It was only after Dr. St. Claire phoned Ms. Fameux’s sister, Jenny Smith, who came over, that she agreed to leave the neighbor’s house, she said.
Together with Ms. Fameux’s sister, Dr. St. Claire took her to Sparrow Hospital where, once again, she believed she’d receive out-patient treatment, she said.
This time, instead of the ER, her husband took her to Dr. Barberio’s office and asked him to diagnose her as schizoaffective with bipolar disorder, Ms. Fameux’s affidavit stated.
“I started crying telling them ‘I am not schizophrenic nor Bipolar,’” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit to the U.S. Attorney stated. “I told them ‘I was not hallucinating and I was not hearing voices.’ I [remember] Dr. Barberio said they had to put these diagnosis down for insurance billing purposes. This false mental label has now become part of my mental health record.”
In spite of her objections, Dr. St. Claire had her admitted into the Behavioral Health Center at St. Lawrence Hospital, part of the Sparrow Hospital system, she said. It was a significant development in Dr. St. Claire’s scheme to have her officially designated as “crazy,” Ms. Fameux said.
Ms. Fameux was confined in Sparrow’s mental health ward until the spring of 2015. She says she’d been so heavily-medicated while she was hospitalized that she had to re-learn how to use utensils, including a fork and knife.
After her release, Dr. St. Claire continued to medicate her daily at home. “I have no idea what sort of meds he was giving me but I was submissive and I consistently took the meds,” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit stated.
“In March of 2015 few weeks after I was released from the first hospitalization, I was severely beaten and raped on different occasions by my husband,” the affidavit stated. “I did not call the police fearing my husband will either have me taken to jail or re-admitted at the psych ward.”
Dr. St. Claire played “mind-games” on her to aggravate her, Ms. Fameux claimed. He’d pick up the children after school, and rather than bring them home, he’d take them somewhere else and not return until around 8PM, she said. One day, when she kept the youngest child away from school so she could spend some time with him, Dr. St. Claire beat her in front of the boy, she claimed.
Things came to a boil one day on Nov. 28, 2015 when Ms. Fameux held up a razor and told Dr. St. Claire that she’d had enough of his abuse and that she’d defend herself. She said she didn’t attack Dr. St. Claire with the razor but instead slashed up a couch.
Dr. St. Claire struck her head from behind and pinned her to the floor and had one of the children dial 911, she said. Police arrived and arrested her, Ms. Fameux said. After a few days in jail Dr. St. Claire said he wouldn’t press charges if Ms. Fameux was once again committed to the Behavioral Health Center at St. Lawrence Hospital.
During her confinement in the mental health ward at Sparrow Hospital, Dr. St. Claire sent a messenger with documents for her to sign even though she was disoriented by the medication, Ms. Fameux said. A nurse, and even Dr. Barberio who may have been alarmed by his friend Dr. St. Claire’s behavior urged her not to sign the papers and she refused. Later, she presumed the documents were the same ones she ended up signing in 2018.
As part of his alleged scheme to discredit her as mentally incapacitated Dr. St. Claire moved to have her sister, Ms. Smith, appointed as her guardian.
It’s unclear what role Dr. St. Claire’s attorney, Ms. Larson, played. Court documents reviewed by Black Star News show that Ms. Smith’s application for guardianship over Ms. Fameux was approved on Dec. 10, 2015. The lawyer who signed the application form was Dr. St. Claire’s lawyer, Ms. Larson, of Lansing, M.I.-based Mallory, Lapka, Scott & Selin, PLLC. Ms. Larson didn’t respond to questions sent by e-mail message from Black Star News asking why she signed the application to get a guardian appointed for Ms. Fameux, her client’s adversary.
[Ms. Larson signed the paper asking that Ms. Smith be appointed Ms. Fameux’s guardian. She went by her maiden name, Waite, at the time]
It’s unclear which judge approved the application. Judge Richard J. Garcia’s name is stamped on the top part of the document. Judge R. George Economy’s name is stamped on the signature spot. Finally, there’s an undecipherable signature with a note that states: “for Richard J. Garcia.”
On March 15, 2017, Dr. St. Claire filed for a personal protective order (ppo) against Ms. Fameux. Court records reviewed by Black Star News show that in his application for the ppo Dr. St. Claire portrayed Ms. Fameux as a mentally unstable woman who posed a threat of mortal danger to him and their three children. The language was identical to how he characterized his second wife, Dr. Marcy Street, after she filed for divorce in December 2003.
In that divorce case, Dr. St. Claire had also filed for a ppo against Dr. Street on Dec. 19, 2003.
“My wife has exhibited paranoid ideation and has an unaccounted handgun and has a history of violence,” Dr. St. Claire wrote, explaining why he needed a protective order. Dr. Street represented a threat of “assaulting, attacking, beating, molesting or wounding,” him, according to sections of the ppo application checked off by Dr. St. Claire.
[Dr. Marcy Street was Dr. St. Claire’s second wife. She was a prominent dermatologist who focused on skin cancer. Source: X, formerly Twitter].
In hand-written notes attached to the application, Dr. St. Claire said: “Dr. Street, in sworn testimony, is being treated for depression and is taking medications and has a chronic history of medication use for anxiety disorder and mood swings.”
“In summary, Dr. Street is having worsening paranoid ideations, continues her coarse (sic) of deceit and lies, is a pathological liar, has an assaultive nature, has an anger problem, is being treated for depression and has a handgun still not properly identified or traced and will not accept advice of our custody psychologist,” Dr. St. Claire’s ppo application added.
Dr. St. Claire’s ppo application was denied on Dec. 22, 2003 by the presiding Judge Janelle A. Lawless because Dr. Street had already been granted one against her husband.
Ms. Fameux has claimed her psychotic episodes were induced by the illegal medications administered by Dr. St. Claire and later by both he and Dr. Barberio. “Prior to meeting my husband, Dr. Paul G. St. Claire, I had no history of depression or any other mental illnesses,” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit to the U.S. Attorney stated.
On the other hand, a close family relative of Dr. St. Claire revealed that he’d once been treated for his own mental illness, Ms. Fameux’s affidavit stated. “On or about October 11, 2023, I learned from one of my husband’s relatives that my husband, Dr. St. Claire, had been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and/or Bipolar disorder while he was in medical school and had to take lithium for several years,” the affidavit stated.
“This revelation finally provided some insight into my husband’s unpredictable and irrational behaviors over the past 21 years, which I will detail in this affidavit,” the affidavit added. “When I confronted my husband about his previous mental health history, he responded, ‘That was 30 years ago; I don’t need medication.’ My husband had kept his serious mental illness diagnosis a secret from me.”
The family relative the affidavit referred to did not return an e-mail message from Black Star News seeking comment. Dr. St. Claire’s lawyer, Ms. Larson, didn’t respond to an e-mail message regarding the allegations in Ms. Fameux’s affidavit about her client’s mental health. She also didn’t respond to an e-mail message asking for an interview with Dr. St. Claire.
During his 2003 divorce from Dr. Street, the couple’s housekeeper, Shelley Van Epps, filed a sworn affidavit dated Dec. 4, 2003, stating that she’d be willing to testify about alleged peculiar behavior by Dr. St. Claire. When she was working at the couple’s home on the morning of Nov. 13, 2003, Van Epps’ affidavit stated that, “Dr. St. Claire was eating cat food and swigging wine from a gallon jug. This occurred at approximately 11 a.m.’”
Ms. Van Epps’ affidavit also stated that, “Dr. St. Claire asked me numerous personal questions, including ‘does your husband rub your clitoris, I mean back?’” The affidavit also stated that, “Dr. St. Claire also told me repeatedly that he was horny and asked me if I was horny.’”
“I was frightened by his behavior which I found bizarre and unexplainable,” the affidavit added.
[Ms. Van Epps’ affidavit describing what she called “bizarre” behavior by Dr. St. Claire]
A licensed psychologist, Dr. Sharon R. Hobbs, had joint sessions with Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Street during the divorce. She expressed concerns about Dr. St. Claire in a letter dated March 19, 2004 addressed to his lawyer Ms. Radner and to Dr. Street’s lawyer, Nan Elizabeth Casey.
“Dr. St. Claire’s behavior is erratic,” Dr. Hobbs wrote. “He loves the children and they love him, but his judgment is very problematic.”
“Everything is someone else’s fault,” the letter continued. “My last session with the couple was clear proof that a joint custodial arrangement will not work. While I have expressed my concerns about both parties, Dr. St. Claire’s constant bad mouthing of Dr. Street, and his unwillingness to listen to her concerns without calling her names, is very troubling. I noted that she tended to acquiesce to his demands or totally ‘shut down and not respond’ during a good portion of most joint sessions.” The letter also stated: “Based on my conversation with the baby sitter and my own observations, I believe that the children will be best served by a non-block schedule during the school year.”
Dr. St. Claire’s March 15, 2017 ex parte application for a ppo against Ms. Fameux, his current wife, was granted. Although Judge Lawless’s name—the same judge who presided over Dr. St. Claire’s 2003 divorce—is stamped on the ppo application, the document was signed with the initials “RG.” In response to inquiries from Black Star News, Ananda Worden, the deputy court clerk, said the initials belong to Judge Ricardo Garcia. The ppo was valid until Sept. 18, 2017 and also granted Dr. St. Claire temporary custody of the couple’s three children.
Judge Lawless, who is now retired, didn’t respond to an e-mail message sent to her personal e-mail account inquiring as to why the ppo application was initialed by Judge Garcia. The question remains open why Judge Lawless, who’d presided over Dr. St. Claire’s 2003 divorce from his second wife, Dr. Street, didn’t recuse herself from actions he filed against Ms. Fameux. Documents from the 2003 case show that both Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Street had included Ms. Fameux’s name on their list of potential witnesses.
Dr. Street died in 2019. An obituary did not mention the cause of death. One person who knew her said the cause was cancer. Her lawyer during the the 2003 divorce, Ms. Casey, didn’t respond to a message from Black Star News.
Dr. St. Claire’s first wife went on vacation to her European country of origin and never returned, according to a person familiar with the matter. This first wife didn’t respond to a message sent by Black Star News seeking comment. Ms. Larson, Dr. St. Claire’s lawyer, didn’t respond to a message asking whether the first wife ever divorced Dr. Street.
The injections of Ms. Fameux with Invega Sustenna started in July 2017, the records maintained by Dr. Barberio shows. By February, 2018, Dr. St. Claire was in a strong enough position relative to his wife’s diminished mental capacity to get the signature he wanted on the agreements, Ms. Fameux said.
Dr. St. Claire’s lawyer, Ms. Larson, apparently drafted the agreements. In an e-mail message dated Jan. 4, 2018 to Robin Omer, the lawyer who represented Ms. Fameux, Ms. Larson wrote: “Rob and Melissa, I’ve attached the judgment of Separate maintenance. I will forward the USSO and the opt out forms shortly. Let me know if you want to discuss any changes.” Presumably Melissa was reference to Melissa G. Leckie, the court-appointed guardian ad litem who never signed the documents.
Ms. Larson didn’t respond to an e-mail message from Black Star News asking about her role in drafting the agreement.
As previously reported, the agreement let Dr. St. Claire keep all the bank accounts under his name; credit cards and debt; all fidelity investments (non-retirement); and Fidelity Roth IRA and IRA. Ms. Fameux, a stay-at-home spouse with no independent income, kept the accounts under her name and Fidelity Roth IRA in her name. She was to get $130,000 as part of her equity from a cottage the couple owned and $575,000, paid out of Dr. St. Claire’s employee-sponsored benefit program, and $3,814 per month in spousal support, beginning Aug. 15, 2017 and thereafter on the first day of each month for five years. Documents reviewed by Black Star News show that Dr. St. Claire’s portfolio was close to $5 million.
In response to earlier questions seeking comment about the allegations in Ms. Fameux’s affidavit to the U.S. Attorney, Ms. Larson had responded with a broad statement saying: “Dr. St. Claire denies Ms. Fameux’s false and malicious allegations against him. Ms. Fameux fabricates claims and omits important details of her own conduct in an effort to falsely discredit a property settlement reached over five years ago in a separate maintenance action.” In that judgment, “Ms. Fameux had the assistance of an experienced family law attorney and a court appointed attorney guardian ad litem,” Ms. Larson added.
Ms. Larson’s statement didn’t mention that the “experienced family law attorney” Omer, was once a partner at the same firm as Jane Radner, who represented Dr. St. Claire in his 2003 divorce—the law firm was Bernick, Omer, Radner & Oulette.
[Signature page of the “qualified domestic relations order,” minus Ms. Leckie’s signature].
[Signature page of the “judgment of separate maintenance,” minus Ms. Leckie’s signature].
The guardian ad litem that Ms. Larson referred to, Melissa G. Leckie, never signed the documents, as already noted. (A note, “see attached” is written on Leckie’s signature spot. What’s attached is a page that states: “The parties and their respective counsel have read and reviewed the foregoing judgment and fully understand its provisions contained therein, and so hereby consent to the entry of the judgment.” It’s not clear what judgment is referred to; what’s more, even though the attached page has signature spaces for Dr. St. Claire, his attorney Larson, Ms. Fameux, her attorney Omer, and the guardian ad litem, Melissa G. Leckie, only Leckie’s signature appears on this page).
Judge Lawless, now retired, didn’t respond to another message sent to her private e-mail address from Black Star News asking whether an agreement absent the guardian ad litem’s signature was valid.
A court official also seemed unsure when the same question about the agreement’s validity was posed. Aly Trudgeon, senior deputy circuit court clerk, in an e-mail message, said: “For your question about the requirements to sign said documents; that is a question you need to ask an attorney licensed in the State of Michigan. I am unable to answer that as it would be considered legal advice. We do not have attorneys here whom can advise what documents need to be signed and by whom.”
In addition to the absence of the guardian ad litem’s signature, Dr. Barberio’s role in the agreement poses a glaring conflict of interest. The section referring to parental custody of the children in the judgment of separate maintenance, in part, stated, “Defendant will authorize her treating psychiatrist, Dr. Barberio, to communicate directly with Plaintiff regarding Defendant’s mental health as it relates to her ability to co-parent the parties’ children.”
[Dr. Dominic Barberio. Source: Sparrow website].
In other words, the same Dr. Barberio who’s accused of conspiring with Dr. St. Claire to make her mentally ill, would tell his friend and alleged co-conspirator whether Ms. Fameux was fit to co-parent the children.
What’s more, the two doctors allegedly continued to inject Ms. Fameux for at least 37 more months after the agreement was signed by some of the parties.
That’s the agreement that Ms. Fameux still lives under.
When Black Star News sent Ms. Larson the lawyer representing Dr. St. Claire an e-mail message asking whether she’d known prior to Ms. Fameux’s Oct. 30, 2023 affidavit to Mark Totten, the U.S. Attorney, that her client had been injecting his wife with Invega Sustenna, as alleged by Ms. Fameux, she fired back a ballistic response via e-mail message:
Ms. Larson stated: “We appreciate your journalistic vigor. But your queries, especially with the negative tone and unsupported, accusatory, and libelous/slanderous innuendo, are not welcome. The contact is now harassment. Additional contact with me, my client, or the firm I work with will be considered harassment. Please do not reply to this email and do not send any additional correspondence at all to me, my client or my firm.”
[Dr. St. Claire’s lawyer Ms. Larson. Source: mclpc.com]
In the second article of this series, Black Star News reported that Judge Lawless’ signature and initials were also missing from both the “qualified domestic relations order,” and the “judgment of separate maintenance,” of Feb. 12, 2018, and that her name and the clerk’s were only stamped on the documents.
Responding to inquiry from Black Star News, Trudgeon, the Senior Deputy Circuit Court Clerk in an e-mail message said: “When we issue conformed copies, the copies receive a stamp with the Judge’s name, initials are not required. Originals are kept at the Court with the judge’s signature. The documents are still valid, as they are stamped with the Judge’s permission. Lastly, not all documents are required to have dates, or all parties’ signatures.”
She sent copies of the agreements that still don’t have the guardian ad litem Leckie’s signatures but do have Judge Lawless’.
The copies of the agreement were forwarded by Black Star News to retired Judge Lawless’ personal e-mail address. The judge didn’t respond to an e-mail message asking if she could verify and confirm that she signed the documents.
Last year Dr. St. Claire asked Ms. Fameux to change her will and make him the beneficiary, and to also name his eldest daughter from his marriage to Dr. Street as the person who’d handle her funeral arrangements if she were to die–even though she and that daughter don’t get along, Ms. Fameux said. A lawyer who once worked for both Dr. St. Claire and Ms. Fameux advised her not to do so, she said. The lawyer declined to comment when contacted by Black Star News.
Ms. Fameux, who still shares the same house with Dr. St. Claire, says she would feel better if Dr. St. Claire moved out of the house. “I would not be alive today without your publication,” she said.
