Ousted Norco Custody Master: Judges Sletvold and Roscioli Place Incumbency Protection Over Safety of Children

In 2018, the decision of a Bucks County jurist led to tragic and fatal consequences for seven-year old Kayden Mancuso. Her father had a history of violence. He once bit off part of a man's ear, threw a beer bottle in a woman's face, abused the family dog and even would hit himself. He harassed Kayden's teachers until the school district ordered him to stay away. Judge Jeffrey Trauger nevertheless granted him unsupervised visitation with his daughter, after which he promptly killed her and then himself. 

This case caught the attention of  NorCo Judges Jennifer Sletvold and Paula Roscioli. But instead of being concerned about the lives of children that were in their hands, they focused on insulating themselves from information that could raise red flags, giving themselves plausible deniability in the even a child was abused.

Such is the contention of NorCo's former custody master, in a beefed-up federal complaint filed yesterday. She now specifically names Sletvold and Roscioli as Defendants and adds President Judge Craig Dally and Court Administrator Jermaine Greene to her rogues' gallery as well.  

According to Tresslar's complaint, she advised the Court "that they had a valuable tool to help them search out evidence of danger to children, specifically, her practice of referring custody litigants to family counselors who could then testify in court about psychological evaluations and statements made by parties and their children during the counseling." This would enable judges to craft custody orders that actually kept children out of harm's way. But Judges Sletvold and Roscioli were mor interested in protecting themselves. 

Tresslar asserts "After the Kayden Mancuso case, instead of searching out stronger and more extensive evidence about danger to children, Defendants Sletvold and Roscioli did the opposite, i.e., they (1) tried to discourage, and sometimes prevent, parties and attorneys from presenting evidence about danger to children; (2) unreasonably pressured custody litigants to settle so that the judges would not hear evidence or make decisions about danger to children; (3) unreasonably pressured custody litigants to agree that statements made to family counselors would be forever excluded from evidence before them or any other judge in any type of case, which would include not only custody cases but juvenile dependency cases, protection-from-abuse cases, and criminal cases."

As bad as this is, things got worse. Judges Sletvold and Roscioli, using Court Administrator Jermaine Greene as their patsy, presented changes in custody procedures that ostensibly came from the bar association that would insulate them from any situation like what happened to Kayden Mancuso. But when then Judge Steve Baratta questioned the bar association, lawyers vehemently denied having anything to do with these changes, noting they had come "from the court." Greene was forced to apologize.

Tresslar continued to advocate for children but paid a price. Harassment by Judges Roscioli and Sletvold started in 2018 and continued until her constructive termination in 2023. As their power grew, Tresslar's role in custody was diminished until she was reduced to little more than a clerk. 

You can read her amended complaint below. It is important to remember that we are hearing only one side of the story. Neither Tresslar nor the court will speak outside the pages of the pleadings. 

Tresslar Amended Complaint by BernieOHare on Scribd