The Double Life of John Leary

Here's another double life for you.

James Olson, College of Marin (California) Band Director, has been accused of living a double life by Morgan Alexandra-Olson of Reno, Nevada, who filed for a divorce from Olson in Reno, Nevada in February 2007 (DV07-00352). Photos of Olson and Alexandra are on Alexandra’s web page at http://www.scsr.nevada.edu/~alexa110/pdf/about.pdf

According to the Reno court documents, Alexandra, a Truckee Meadows Community College (Nevada) Real Estate teacher, immediately after sending Olson two $10,000 checks, received an anonymous phone call from a woman in October 2006 at their Reno home that "Jim had died." According to Alexandra that phone call led to the revelation of Olson’s double life. The Marin court documents have that Olson has filed four times in Marin to divorce Alexandra (first in March 1991, less than 30 days after their February 16, 1991 marriage after being together for nine years, second FL6764 filed March 23, 1992, the third filed August 31, 1992 in FL7442, both times going to Marin court ordered marital counseling by then Judge Michael Dufficy where Olson admitted his until then closeted cross-dressing and bondage fetish, and both parties then went through exhaustive court ordered counseling for) and Olson’s first three divorces were dismissed, and that Olson had admitted he reconciled with Alexandra the fourth time in July 1996 from his October 19, 1994 FL 10061 divorce filing. In February 2007, Olson filed a Marin $1.5m libel suit against his Reno wife (CV 070655) claiming she has accused him of bigamy, having an affair with her, forging her married name of J. Morgan Olson, filing a false police report that she stole his car in Larkspur (that was titled in both their names, sleeping with her during his divorce actions, having Reno homeowners insurance with her, having a Nevada Living Trust with her, and of his cross dressing. In Olson’s libel suit, he claims he divorced Alexandra in Marin (California) in July 1996 then simultaneously admits he reconciled with Alexandra in July 1996 (in Reno where Alexandra had relocated to in September 1995 after buying a house there in July 1995). Olson is the retired Band Director of Marin’s Redwood High School. Olson and Alexandra, together since February 1982, married February 16, 1991. In 1992, Olson was the defendant in an action brought by his then student teacher from Dominican College, Cindy Wood. According to the Marin court records, Mrs. James K. Olson (Morgan Olson) obtained a restraining order against Ms. Wood when dozens a night phone calls were traced to Ms. Wood by the Sausalito police. According to the court documents Alexandra wrote "When I went to the Marin Court against Ms. Wood, she attacked me in court screaming "your husband is a pervert, a cross-dresser and" she "had filed sexual misconduct and harassment charges" against my husband. That was the first I had heard of any of that. I obtained a restraining order against Ms Wood, and later a civil judgment." In the recent Marin court documents there is a written reconciliation acknowledgment notarized in October 2000 in Marin by a Marin notary where Olson acknowledges his July 1996 reconciliation and reaffirmations of his February 16, 1991 wedding vows with Alexandra. In the Marin court documents Alexandra writes and there is the supporting document in the Marin court records that "on June 14, 2000, my husband did indeed twice forge my married name on the purchase of a car in San Rafael, California when my husband signed "J. Morgan Olson" with his "JKO" initials next to it (see attachment). Since it is my belief we were married at that time as well as today, my husband makes a big leap over the credibility gap that this activity implies my husband "violated a criminal law by forging Alexandra’s signature," as it was my belief then my husband had every right to forge my married Olson name when we bought the Buick in Marin as I didn’t then, and still now, don’t go to Marin. I haven’t filed any criminal documents about it as I then and now don’t consider it a criminal activity. This document supports my reasonable belief my husband and I are married as it, then and now, as my husband did forge my married name twice in our purchase of this car in San Rafael, California. He did it in the context of my husband, which is not a criminal activity."

According to the Washoe County, Nevada public records, Olson and Alexandra own five Reno properties titled in their Nevada Living Trust, of which they are both equal co-trustees and the beneficiaries of. There are copies of their Reno home owners and landlord’s insurance policies in the names of James and Morgan Olson in the Marin court records. If Olson isn’t married to Alexandra as he now claims, then he’s been involved in several years of insurance fraud.

In the Marin court documents Alexandra writes "I reasonably and in good faith believed, based on my husband’s claim of and then his 10 ½ year of behavior since, he had dismissed his fourth Marin divorce filing and we are still married, and I and my husband continue to act such, married, through a series of behaviors and conduct for the next 10 ½ years. My husband admits his July 1996 reconciliation with me. We had planned for me to move back to Marin, in with my husband at our Marin home when I retire, and then start selling our Reno properties. Divorce is not a handy vehicle for the summary disposal of old and used wives. Which is what my husband is now smugly alleging he did July 12, 1996, divorce me, while talking outside the other side of his mouth, his admission that he reconciled his marriage with me in July 1996. So now, several years later I’m suddenly the old and used "former" wife, and an "enraged" one at that according to my husband."


In the Reno court documents of April 2007, is recent testimony from four independent witnesses who confirm Alexandra’s claims. Paul Hogan, Olson and Alexandra’s Reno mechanic, testified he had seen Olson and Alexandra over the last ten years as husband and wife, most recently in September 2006. Mr. Hogan also provided an Affidavit of Resident Witness in Alexandra’s Reno divorce filing under oath that Olson and Alexandra were together in Reno as husband and wife. Clara Stamulis, a client of Alexandra, testified she saw Olson with Alexandra several times in 2005 and again in 2006 in Alexandra’s Reno office and knew Olson to be Alexandra’s husband. Shari Proske, a Reno Greater Nevada Credit Union employee, testified she knew Olson to be Alexandra’s husband and had seen them together at the Reno credit union on several occasions over the past four years, last seeing them together at the Reno credit union in Fall 2006. Josh Neel, the tenant renting one of the Reno properties that Olson and Alexandra own, testified he met Olson in September 2006 at that property that he then rented from them, and was introduced to Olson as Alexandra’s husband.

Olson married Alexandra in California on February 16, 1991 while both were domiciled in California. In that marriage, Olson and Alexandra certified they had been living together as husband and wife. Olson files in Marin County Court for four divorces from Alexandra from March 1991 to October 19, 1994. Olson’s attorney prepared a Notice of Entry of Judgment for Olson’s fourth divorce filing. The "Effective date of termination of marital status" is blank and has "WARNING: NEITHER PARTY MAY REMARRY UNTIL THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE TERMINATION OF MARITAL STATUS AS SHOWN IN THIS BOX." This box left blank by Olson’s attorney further supports Alexandra’s claims and calls into question the validity of Olson’s now claim of his marriage to Lucy Olson in August 2004.

In the Marin court records, page 2 of Olson MSA explicitly has "It is the intent of the AGREEMENT that it be final as of the date of signing with respect to all issues EXCEPT THE TERMINATION OF THE MARITAL STATUS . . . " (emphasis added).


In the Marin court records, page 15 of Olson MSA in FL10061 explicitly has "NO other agreement . . . shall be binding on the party making it UNLESS it is in writing AND signed by the parties SUBSEQUENTLY to the effective date of this AGREEMENT." (emphasis added). That clearly supports the Olson’s October 2000 WRITTEN and notarized signatures for both in their reconciliation in July 1996 AND reaffirmation of their February 16, 1991 marriage vows part of that written agreement as well as the concurrent amendment to the trust among other things, adding Olson as a co-trustee and making Alexandra his sole beneficiary then and continuing into today. Olson was, since November 1996 when Alexandra executed the trust, and remains, Alexandra’s sole beneficiary into today.

In the Marin court documents, Alexandra writes "In the Marin Court CV 070655 my husband claims he is indeed married and remains married to someone other than me, since 2004. At the time of that marriage and afterwards, my husband continues his Reno homeowners insurance with me, his Reno wife, with him as the primary insured on our Reno properties, with me, Reno wife, he self-described me as Morgan Olson, as the secondary insured, while certifying his occupancy as owner. My husband continues to send love letters, love cards and love notes to me as his wife. My husband continues to see me in Reno. People in Reno continue to see him and I together as husband and wife. My husband continues his Nevada Living Trust with me to date. My husband continues seeing me in Reno representing himself as my husband and continues his sexual relationship with me."

In the Marin court documents, Alexandra writes "All my husband’s nonsensical stories and muddy allegations have no basis in fact or truth. What is way more credible is that my husband created his colorful and petulant stories and supporting documents to discredit me, to create damages to offset our impending divorce/annulment 50-50 division, and to escalate the drama - again to force me, or even perhaps his California wife, or perhaps both of us, to fight for him, to prove we "love" him. Which I learned about in the Marin court-ordered marital counseling in one of my husband’s several surly divorce filings against me is that getting a woman to fight for him is a characteristic of cross-dressers, which my husband admitted he is in this counseling, and he admitted that he loves it when I fight for him. That cross-dressers are immature men who are always insecure of the love of the woman who loves him and obsessively creates on-going drama to always get her to prove she loves him. That cross-dressers are passive-aggressive. I also learned that is why my husband has a leather, rubber, vinyl obsession, known as a fetish, for the clothes, costumes and sexual props/toys he bought us and insisted we wear and use, and why he demands his bondage and passive sexual activities with me, both activities unknown to me until my husband, 9 years older than me, started his sexual relationship with me. Since then, I have had no sexual relationship beyond my husband. These claims by my husband are another red herring where my husband writes in his complaint "Olson has an uncontrollable fetish . . . i.e. implying Olson is mentally disturbed and a repugnant person of dubious moral character." Well, I’ve known for years about my husband’s cross dressing and love of leather, etc., without ever believing my husband is mentally disturbed and a repugnant person of dubious moral character."
There are Easter/Birthday 2007 love letters from Olson to Alexandra in the Reno court documents.

A retired San Francisco attorney commented off-the-record on this unusual case. He says he heard about this case through the rapid grapevine of the legal community as well as the Bay Area cross-dressing support groups of which he is an anonymous member. "As a closeted transvestite now in my fifth marriage to another wife who doesn’t know, and although I deliberately chose to live in a locale that should be socially accepting, sadly, it’s just not true. I know of many heterosexual men in prominent positions who cross-dress, who are married and their wives do not know. Few, if any, women are happy with their man’s transvestite behavior and are definitely not happy with any scenario involving their husband as a transvestite. Olson and his California wife (who obviously didn’t know since Olson is fighting against it) live in a very narrow biased world subject to the pressures of exposure and embarrassment at now being outed in his double life. Even Olson’s attorney seems to have a righteous problem with it, writing mentally disturbed and a repugnant person of dubious moral character to describe Olson. Olson and his Nevada wife, who has known him for 25 years, and has adapted beyond the norm of most wives in her acceptance of him, only exists in Nevada. That’s a double life."

Several Bay Area counselors also knew about this case. The consensus is that the vast majority of cross-dressing men are heterosexual, and that bondage, being tied up by an attractive woman during sexual intercourse, is the second most common male fantasy, with intercourse the first. One anonymously commented "Mr. Olson has identified himself as a cross-dresser into bondage and with leather, vinyl fetishes. His mask, his double life, is that of passive-aggressive, shrouded in secrecy and well into a mental disorder with all the classic symptoms of Inversion. His obsession with mirrors, the ballroom dancing, his immaturity, his choice of career in music, and musical instrument, the trumpet, his narcissism, his wardrobe, his arrogance, his double life, compulsions, reality confusion, and repression in one life are all evidence of his over concern with his own pleasures."

Olson and his California wife, Lucy, refused all comments referring everything to Olson’s attorney, Steven Schoonover, a self-described California real estate specialist. Olson’s Nevada wife, Morgan, referred everything to the court records in both Marin and Reno, saying "they clearly support me," and to her Marin attorney Mike Samuels and her Reno attorney, Jill Whitbeck. Cora Lancelle, Alexandra's Marin attorney in the last three divorce filings by Olson, is still a practicing attorney in Marin. She corroborated Alexandra's claim that Olson had continued sleeping with her while he was divorcing her and had a restraining order against her. According to Lancelle, Alexandra had told her about it, so in the very early morning she called Alexandra's then home at Sonoma State Student housing that Olson had moved Alexandra to in his third divorce filing. She spoke with Olson, asked him what he was doing sleeping with Morgan while he was again divorcing her and again had a restraining order against her?! Olson replied "I don't know," and immediately then dropped his third divorce action when Lancelle brought it to the attention of Olson's attorney and the judge.

Ok, ok, you would think we're more liberal of sex scandals in the Bay Area, but we aren't, although we LOVE them. The Significant Other Woman. Open and notorious adultery. Just the recent stuff. OK, so it isn’t a total secret that “Matrix” co-creator and producer Larry Wachowski is a cross-dresser — the relationship with dominatrix Mistress Isla Strix was never really hidden, as it destroyed two marriages — but the in-depth article in Rolling Stone revealed much more. In “The Mystery of Larry Wachowski,” Peter Wilkinson writes: “Leaving Los Angeles, he and Ilsa moved into a $2.7 million home in San Francisco, on a steep hill in the Castro, with sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. Guess LA was just too tame for their tastes. More Bay Area men with double lives. Along with John Leary, the New College founder, Craig Benedict Lee on suspension as superintendent of the Lagunitas School District, those two San Rafael math teachers, Norm Burgos, a gym teacher and tennis coach at Tamalpais High School was charged with sexual battery against a former member of the boy's tennis team, and was arrested on a $75,000 warrant following an investigation by the Mill Valley Police Department, a former athletic trainer at Terra Linda High School who was charged with molestation; a Drake High basketball coach charged with peeping and acquitted in a mistrial; a Novato youth soccer coach who was fired after getting arrested on indecent exposure allegations in San Francisco; a coach charged with having sexual relations with two girls at the Marin Water Polo Club, and Father Gregory Ingels of Marin Catholic High School. Wow. those Marin educators lead some very interesting lives. One comment wrote about Craig Lee has "I am not surprised at all. I had several problems with Craig Lee and was always uncomfortable around him. Igo Ono school is so much better with our new principal and alot more safe. What isn't being said is the law suit he had against him for allowing child molestation to go on at platina school. He should have never been hired anywhere. I do feel sorry for his children and the children of his girlfriend. I hope he not only looses his career but that he is locked up for a long time."

By far the wealthiest school district in Marin, spending more than $22,000 per student -three times the state average and among the highest in the nation. Yet its students have the lowest test scores in the county. More than half never graduate high school. Its teachers have among the smallest classes in Marin and are the county's highest paid, earning an average of $71,000 a year. Yet critics often target the teachers as part of the problem. And Mary Jane Burke and her predecessers continue covering up past and current transgressions of their teachers.

Enter another San Francisco Bay Area cross-dresser with a Significant Other Woman, or two, and some secrets of his own. Sounds like an adulterer just wants the women to fight for him and the best woman wins the adulterer!

OR

"Imagine, for a moment, that you grew up having to hide a deep, dark secret. One so terrible that, if revealed, people will call you a 'pervert', a 'freak', or an 'abomination'. If you're lucky you'll only be called names; reveal your secret to the wrong people and you'll get harassed, beat up, perhaps even murdered. How would you feel if you couldn't even talk to anyone about it? Every representation society provides about what you feel inside is negative. If you suppress it until you are married, you can never tell your spouse for fear of divorce, losing your job, being legally denied visitation with your children. You're in for a lifetime of shame and guilt and denial. How would you deal with it?"

You develop and live two lives. One life knows all about you and still loves you. Another life is your public mask who know only the mask.

Psychiatrists disagree about what forces are at work in men who cross-dress. One camp considers men of this type to have a "gender-identity disorder," to be "women trapped in men's bodies." In recent years, another group of doctors labeled some men who demonstrate these tendencies to be autogynephiles -- straight men who are essentially sexual fetishists, aroused by the thought or image of themselves as women.

J. Michael Bailey, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University and the author of The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism, is a vocal proponent of the science behind autogynephilia, and although he declined to comment about Larry Wachowski, he did describe typical autogynephilic behaviors. "Autogynephiles frequently mention having a longing to be a girl that begins in childhood," says Bailey. "But the first outward manifestation of it usually crops up in early adolescence, when they discover that it turns them on to wear women's clothing. What you do not see, despite frequent claims to the contrary, is evidence that these folks were notably feminine in childhood." Some experts believe that men who want to be women also tend to be what Larry Wachowski appears to be: a guy with a jones for technology. In 1974, Donald Laub, a plastic surgeon, and Norman Fisk, a psychiatrist, conducted a study at the Stanford University School of Medicine of 769 patients. Of the male patients, Laub and Fisk discovered an interesting predisposition: " . . . to be interested in mathematics and computer sciences."

Naturally, crossdressing impulses and potentials cannot be denied forever. They emerge partly, and in disguised form so as to elude the mechanisms of repression. For example, a boy may dream that he is a girl. And in dreams he may experience the totality of all these repressed thoughts and feelings. Perhaps the repression of these tendencies produces a form of "arrested development." These impulses linger in a state of continual half-activation, never fully on, but unable to be turned off until they are expressed. At this point, we should consider what happens with "normal" male development--which, perhaps is not so normal at all. The usual dynamic is that the male eventually projects his repressed female side onto women in his life. Part of his attraction to women is that they display (or he imagines they do) some of his own female traits which he cannot let himself express. He experiences his own anima vicariously through his female partners and other women. But these women have their own identities. They are who they are, not the man's projection. When a man projects his anima onto them, he is not seeing them as they really are, and he creates false expectations for them. That is bound to cause problems.

But one can easily see examples of how crossdressing leads to excess, or, at the least, fails to bring the crossdresser to a more balanced, happy, and effective way of life. How does the process go awry? One answer that perhaps the crossdressing behavior becomes autonomous of the original goal: crossdressing becomes a habit, rather than a spontaneous response to the impulse for personal completion. The analytic mind says "I enjoy crossdressing. Let me plan and arrange my life to facilitate this." In any case, crossdressing has secondary gains. For example, it is a way to escape reality. All people are prone to escapism, but the crossdresser is especially vulnerable. Crossdressing is secretive and therefore less likely to benefit from corrective support and feedback from friends, family, and society in general. Inasmuch as the crossdressing remains a detached and isolated part of the ego, there is nothing to say "This much is enough."

An excellent web site for understanding cross dressing. It also discusses the two lives, separate personalties of crossdressers:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cathytg/anima.htm

As things progress, the CD may develop almost two personalities. The male side has a concept of the female as almost a different person. He may even refer to 'her' in the third person. At the same time the reverse may happen. The female may see the male as like a different person. This might seem like "multiple personalities" making people think it's bad. But it isn't a psychiatric disorder. With multiple personalities, different personalities within the same person are unaware of each other. The crossdresser does not just wear women's clothes. He creates a new persona. Here both the male and female parts are completely aware of each other essentially living a dual life. For a married CD such as Olson, this can be problematic, as one wife knows about and accepts his cross dressing, his Nevada persona, and the other only knows his California persona.

Crazy Love ala Burt & Linda Pugach, Joey B. & Amy Fischer, Larry & Isla Wachowski . . .

The incredible film Crazy Love is out. It’s about those infamous New Yorkers, Burt and Linda Pugach. This review by Owen Gleiberman is well worth reading. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20040669,00.html

With echoes of Joey B. and Amy Fischer, further echoed by Larry and Isla, who cares what the shrinks or for that matter what anyone thinks or writes?! Here again, romance prevails. I stand up and cheer for these who have loved in honesty for what they are and the person they love are and continue to love each other with all its craziness. But do you think this Band Director'll conduct Barber's School For Scandals if we ask him to?

The incredible film Crazy Love is out. It’s about the infamous New Yorkers, Burt and Linda Pugach. This review by Owen Gleiberman is well worth reading. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20040669,00.html

With echoes to Joey B. and Amy Fischer, and more echoes to Larry and Isla, who cares what the shrinks or others think or write?! Here again, romance prevails. I stand up and cheer for these who have loved in honesty for what they are and the person they love are and continue to love each other with all its craziness. But do you think he'll conduct Barber's School For Scandals if we ask him to?

I can’t forget the night I met you,
That’s all I’m dreaming of.
Now you call it madness,
But I call it love.
—Nat King Cole, “You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)”
Do you think the Band Director will conduct the College of Marin's Symphonic Band in Barber's School For Scandal if we ask him to in honor of his own 25 year Crazy Love? Develop and live two lives. One secret life knows all about you and still loves you knowing you're a bigamist, polygamist, adulterer, crossdresser, or whatever or combo of. Another life is his public mask who knows only the mask, the other wife. That's why Jimmy Olson was Superman's buddy.
Where can I sign up?

My Dad hates that I want to grow up to be a Marin County, California cross-dressing teacher with two wives. One in another state who ties me up and forces me to have sex with her. The other wife is the hoity-toity Marin career wife who brings home the big bucks so we can live in the most affluent county on the planet. I learned it from my teacher. He's got his own Big Love and Crazy Love going. Sounds real good to me. It works for Burt & Linda!! It works for ole Joey and Amy!

2 wives sounds way cool when I can't get 1 gf. Where do I sign up? Confidential Marriage license are a common tool to avoid bigamy charges. They are issued in accordance with California State Family Code Part 4, Section 500. It has that when a man and a woman, not minors, have been living together as husband and wife, they may be married pursuant to this chapter by a person authorized to solemnize a marriage. State law allows confidential marriages with a minimum of fuss: no marriage license, no blood test, no three-day waiting period and, best of all, no public record that the marriage ever took place. Growing numbers of couples are using the law to avoid red tape and keep the marriage secret. In 1972, only 532 such weddings were performed in Los Angeles County and adjacent Orange County. Recently it was 12,212. 'It's one of the greatest laws,' says Edie Steinmetz, owner of the Doves of Happiness Wedding Chapel in Inglewood, a leader in the state's $700,000-a-year secret-marriage industry. 'It allows a lot of people to get married who otherwise would not be able to'—including the already married. Couples fill in a confidential marriage form, which is filed with the county clerk and is then unavailable for inspection by anyone. That makes it easy for applicants’ intent on bigamy. Says William St. John, Orange County clerk: 'There is nothing on the form that requires a couple to say how long they have been living together, if they had a previous marriage or divorce, and if the divorce is finalized.' Dr. A.W. Morey, owner of the Lafayette Wedding Chapel in Long Beach, shrugs off the bigamy problem. Chapel owners are legally authorized to preside at weddings as long as they have some sort of ministerial certificate, which in California is as easy to get as a secret wedding.

In the rigid Marin school world, social and sexual identities cannot shift, and must remain hidden. Marin educators with apparent double lives. Sausalito 's John Leary, the New College founder, had a taste for young boys in his secret criminal life. Craig Benedict Lee on suspension as superintendent of the Lagunitas School District for child pornography. Two San Rafael math teachers. Norm Burgos, a gym teacher and tennis coach at Tamalpais High School back in the news after charged with sexual battery against a former member of the boy's tennis team, and was arrested on a $75,000 warrant following an investigation by the Mill Valley Police Department in 2006. A former athletic trainer at Terra Linda High School charged with molestation. A Drake High basketball coach charged with peeping and acquitted in a mistrial. A Novato youth soccer coach fired after getting arrested on indecent exposure allegations in San Francisco. A coach charged with having sexual relations with two girls at the Marin Water Polo Club. Father Gregory Ingels of Marin Catholic High School. Former Redwood High Music teacher James Olson whose Reno District Court DV07-00352 and Marin CV 070655, FL6764, FL7442 paperwork provides glimpses into his 30 plus year secret world of adultery, sex, bondage, domination, cross-dressing, double life, and fetishes. Amy Lee Kelly of Bacich Elementary School in the Kentfield School District, photographed having sex with two Redwood High School boys in a Corte Madera home in October 2006. Novato bus driver Remsen McGinnis Benedict is facing four charges relating to possession or exchanging child pornography. Bail was set at $500,000 because of Benedict's "access to children and the nature and quantity of images seized," said Novato police Sgt. Dave Jeffries. Marin educators lead some very interesting lives that seems to be an epidemic.