Knave In Knoxville
A cry for help from Tennessee. A mom trapped in another CRAZY DIVORCE and the KNAVE IN KNOXVILLE investigation exposes how unfair it is for a woman battling a husband like James Apodaca who has all the money. Do Tennessee judges even care?
I’ve learned a new word… Knave. It means a deceitful person… But that only begins to describe the injustice we see in a crazy divorce battle in Knoxville, Tennessee. A young mom betrayed. Wayne Dolcefino said to the camera.
“Hi, James?” Peyton said.
“Yes.” James Apodaca said.
“Hi, my name is Peyton. I’m an investigative reporter. I work for Wayne Dolcefino.”
This is never good news.
“I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for a while. Have you been ignoring us?” Heussner said.
“No, but I’m with a customer right now okay.” Apodaca said.
What James Apodaca didn’t know was that customer was an undercover Dolcefino investigator.
“Don’t worry about it, you guys can take it.”
“No, that’s okay.” Apodaca said.
“I have some questions about your ongoing divorce with Holly,” Peyton Heussner said.
“Okay, well you can contact my attorney. That’ll be fine,” Apodaca stated.
A nasty divorce battle is unbuckling in the bible belt… in Knoxville Tennessee. A wife and mom being cheated. and not just by an unfaithful husband.
“I don’t believe that any wife or mother should ever be put through this.” Holly Apodaca said.
Holly Apodaca says judges are illegally punishing her for what he did. Listen to Chancery court audio from December 2024.
“Pleading with someone and having all the good intentions in the world,” Judge Heagerty said.
“Is that…Sorry…. I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Holly said.
“The next time you interrupt me you are going to jail. Understand that? Do you understand that?” Judge Heagerty said.
Threatened with jail right after you say you’re sorry.
“Thevery place that you’re going to seek protection ends up being used as a weapon against you,” Holly said.
A five -year long fight … Another case of family injustice. Another crazy divorce.
“I don’t want anything in this world other than to be free of him,” Cheryl Verret said.
That investigation last February triggered a call for help from Tennessee.
“Court proceedings, threatening you, endless litigation, watching your bank accounts just be drained,” Holly said.
All a part of a fight Holly Apodaca never wanted… And never deserved.
“I was like, even if he’s cheated, like maybe he can… maybe he would be sorry or he’ll. You know sorry, it’s still emotional because it’s…I just didn’t want a divorce,” Holly said
Better days… wedding photos from 2004. Together, they built a business from scratch, a logistics company known as APS.
“Our businesses started really… taking off. And we were able to start giving back,” Holly said.
A-P-S became a multi-million-dollar corporation… A tax return shows both Holly and James owned the company fifty-fifty.
“We started to actually make it, whatever that means in the American dream,” Holly said.
James was a deacon in the church… a board member on east Tennessee’s Make-A-Wish foundation.
“Itwas sort of like the life that everybody could only even dream of you have two healthy parents you’ve got thriving businesses. You’ve got healthy children,” Holly said.
And then everything changed.
“I ended up getting pictures of… He was with the prostitute that weekend and he had actually flown her to his apartment. I have the flight ticket and apparently him and her were in the apartment together when I showed up,” Holly said.
This hard to explain. Money sent to women, designer bags that weren’t given to Holly. And a breast augmentation… Excuse me, two breast augmentations. Looks like he was really attached to heather Duncan. She’s a stripper from Florida.
“Okay, so you don’t want to talk about the strippers that you put on payroll during your divorce?” Peyton Heussner says.
“You can contact my attorney, okay, that’ll be fine,” Apodaca said.
Holly finally filed for divorce, citing inappropriate marital conduct, five and a half years ago.
Take a look what at what Holly found when she started looking at the financial records. It sure looks like a premeditated attempt to hide the money from your wife.
Look at this APS document from 2016 years before the divorce. Holly’s name is gone from the state records. She found a board of directors that she said she knew nothing about.
“Okay, you didn’t put funds in a separate business account?” Peyton Heussner said.
“You can contact my attorney,” Apodaca said.
“Without letting your wife know?” Heussner said.
“You can call my attorney,” Apodaca said.
“With millions in revenue,” Heussner presses.
“You can contact my attorney for that,” Heussner says.
“Ok, but she has proof,” Heussner said.
“You can contact my attorney for that,” Apodaca continued to say.
And look at this. James had formed another new company, The Apodaca Group Logistics Incorporated. TAG. Funny, it does the same kind of work as APS did. Tax returns trace lots of money going over to the new company. Projects were too.
Holly was given $115,000 dollars when all this started to hire lawyers and investigate the alleged fraud. That included a $100,000-dollar forensic investigation and report that to this day it is not part of the official record in this divorce case.
Her last lawyer was Jim Exum from Chattanooga… Holly says the first time he even appeared in the courtroom was to withdraw from the case. Her first lawyer quit when he got sick. Exum had not even filed a request for additional legal fees. And only James had access to all those millions their company had made.
The judge let the lawyer out. Leaving Holly without a lawyer. Fighting over visitation. Just days before Christmas.
The judge gave Holly until a few days after new years to come back to court ready to fight again.
“Every time you come here its either I want money or he is a terrible person. Both can be true, but I don’t believe it,” Judge Heagerty states.
The judge left Holly with no money to fight on… She’s been without a lawyer to help her ever since.
Let me get this straight. The victim in this crazy divorce case is the one being punished.
And James only allowed around the kids a few times a month because of his conduct… Would eventually get fifty-fifty custody.
By the time of trial in April 2025 Holly was Pro Se. which means she was representing herself in the complicated world of family law. The Constitution says you can do it but, my advice is don’t.
That’s why the judge really matters in these divorce dramas. In this case chancellor Christopher Heagerty.
“I’m going to be bankrupt from this. Like, because of all these hearings and nothing really happening that actually makes the case come to an end,” Holly said.
Heagerty originally ruled in Holly’s favor on issues involving support this order from June 2023 showed James was already more than $21,464.92 behind in child support and alimony.
James repeatedly violated court orders…. Cheated his wife and kids out of financial support. Even held in contempt of court .. But never actually punished… Never forced to pay the tens of thousands of dollars in fines he should have paid.
Failing to enforce just this one order, A daily fine, cost Holly a quarter of a million dollars.
Money Holly desperately needed for her legal fight.
The case proceeded to trial in April of 2025. Holly appeared in court. The first day spent trying to mediate the fight. It failed.
Holly went to the trial on the second and final day and saw a bunch of lawyers on the other side and she knew this would not be a fair fight.
The judge had already blocked her critical subpoenas to the financial people she needed… And even the lawyer for the company she half owned. So, Holly left. But before she did she submitted these documents to the court. Saying that would be “insufficient to fairly present the complex, financial, legal, and parenting issues involved.”
“Because I was trying to tell the court like all these behind-the-scenes things that I had found in the paperwork. And when I tried to bring any of that up I was you know shut down,” Holly said.
She left a proposed final order of how the marital assets should be divvied up. Her home clearly the most important thing. She left the courthouse believing she was finally divorced that day. But she wasn’t.
“Then Heagerty didn’t issue a divorce and ended up setting more proceedings afterwards. None of them were set by me, so they’re all set by either James or the court,” Holly said.
Under Tennessee law the judge in a divorce case is supposed to rule in sixty days after the trial. That did not happen.
At the court hearing months later the judge issued this order. And look he back dated the date of and alleged continuance. Blaming Holly for not staying for the only day of trial. But no one asked for a continuance.
Judges can’t give legal advice to people who fight battles without lawyers. But they can be at least sympathetic. Rember she wasn’t the one who caused this.
“You threatened me with jail in front of your podium in December.” Holly stated.
“That doesn’t mean I was yelling at you. I threaten people with jail all the time,” Judge Heagerty said.
Moments after that… It was the judge who got out of this marriage drama first.
“I’m saying I am going to recuse myself from this hearing and you are going to get another judge,” Judge Heagerty said.
“I want to get a divorce your honor,” Holly said.
“You will get a divorce, but it won’t be from this judge,” Judge Heagerty said.
“That leaves me trapped in my marriage your honor,” Holly pleads.
“It leaves both you and my client,” Vanessa Samano says.
“But your client has all the money.” Holly says.
“He has 48 dollars in his bank account” Vanessa Samano said.
But what about all those businesses?
“You can contact my attorney I’m not going to answer any other questions.” James continues to say.
Neither will his lawyer Vanessa Samano. She ignored our calls. A new judge was assigned in the Apodaca divorce case in October of 2025. Judge Greg McMillan.
“He didn’t do anything on the case except that James’s attorney filed for more proceedings and has filed for another trial and that is set for next month. And I’m still without counsel, you know, because of all of this,” Holly said.
And yes eight months later Holly and James are still married. Another trial in this crazy divorce Tennessee style is set for June 22nd in Knoxville… In this Crazy Divorce, Tennessee-Style. The third on record.
I ain’t no lawyer. But I read up on Rule 63 in Tennessee which says the new judge, he can just finish the trial that already started. Instead, its starting all over again, from scratch. That’s Crazy!
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