The girlfriend

Monica Gabriel sat before a judge in Frederick County Circuit Court for yet another contempt hearing in her divorce.

On Dec. 18, 2018, she was in the courtroom because her ex-husband, Curtis Williamson, had failed to pay alimony. Monica was awarded indefinite alimony in their divorce six years ago. Williamson owed her more than $90,000.

His failure to appear did not surprise Monica. Williamson has a history. Not showing up for hearings is his modus operandi. During their divorce in 2012 and the years since, Williamson filed nearly a dozen motions to combat the divorce and alimony. When a hearing was scheduled, he never turned up.

Monica, who had no contact with her former husband for several years, did not know where Williamson was. She had not seen him in years, except when she called the police on him in October 2018.

Williamson had been arrested in October 2018 on a body attachment from years earlier. He was held on $5,000 bail, 10 percent of which had to be paid for him to be released. He failed to appear at his bail hearing four days later because he was in the hospital. Williamson’s attorney told the judge he had leukemia. There is no evidence that he was ill.

The judge released him without bail. Mail from the court to the address listed for Williamson was returned. He has not shown up for a number of hearings since, including the one on Dec. 18.

Monica told the judge she was skeptical of the illness Williamson’s attorney mentioned in October. She said he had said he was sick to get out of other commitments, she said.

The judge presiding over the hearing issued another body attachment for Williamson. This time, Williamson needed proof of any illness if he sought to be released from jail for a medical condition. There is not much the judge can do, Monica said, but in her mind, this was a positive step.

It is the third body attachment issued for Williamson, according to electronic court records. As of April 16, police have still not contacted Williamson.

Local police cannot serve a body attachment on a man who is not in Frederick County or the state of Maryland. Because while Monica sat in courtroom six at the county courthouse, telling the judge about her abusive marriage and divorce from Williamson, he was about 320 miles away, in North Carolina.

He had a new girlfriend.

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