Dear Professional:

I am a clinical psychologist in private practice in San Jose. ^[1] On Monday December 12, 1997, I entered my office to find that it had been burglarized and vandalized sometime the previous weekend.  Considerable expensive office equipment was not taken -- but at least 150 to 200 confidential patient ^[2] files were.  Those files particularly targeted involved cases where I served as the Family Court's expert, for example, as Special Master for parenting issues, as custody evaluator, etc.

Sometime after the burglary, two of these stolen files came into the physical possession of Ms. Robin Yeamans, a certified family law specialist in San Jose. ^[3] Both of these files contained information directly related to Ms. Yeamans; one of them concerned a party in a contested custody matter who listed Ms. Yeamans as the deposition officer for these same records in two separate subpoenas.  Both of these subpoenas were invalid and subsequently quashed by the Family Court. ^[4]

Several weeks after the burglary these two files were returned to me by Mr. Daniel Mayfield, a criminal defense attorney retained by Ms. Yeamans. ^[5]  The District Attorney informed me that Mr. Mayfield had received them directly from Ms. Yeamans. Citing attorney-client privilege, both Ms. Yeamans and Mr. Mayfield have refused to answer any of my questions relevant to those sensitive materials ^[6] such as how Ms. Yeamans obtained them, whether she reviewed their contents, etc. ^[7] The District Attorney's office is investigating the matter vigorously, especially since some of the sensitive contents from these files have been circulated publicly by Ms. Yeamans as well as unknown individual(s). ^[8]

In light of the above, I am personally offering a reward of up to $10,000.00 for any information leading to the return of additional files and/or the arrest and conviction of any individual(s) responsible for their their [sic] and distribution. ^[9] If you have any such information, please feel free to call either Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney, Michael Fletcher, or me directly.

Sincerely,