Shelley Lubben's Ranch Home Burns to the Ground; Drug Lab Explosion Suspected Cause

Springville, Calif. -- At approximately 5:00 a.m. on Friday, March 16, 2018, an explosion and fireball ripped through the ranch home of disgraced anti-porn crusader Shelley Lubben, leaving its residential structures leveled and engulfed in flames.

Lubben, 49, who has resided at the so-called "Lubben Ranch" since 2015, was home at the time, but escaped without serious injury.

The blast came from the house with blacked-out windows connected to Lubben's. Two residents, a man and infant son, were airlifted from 45117 Balch Park Road near Highway 190 to a local hospital for treatment of severe burn injuries. The man's pregnant wife was listed as in "fair condition".

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office states that due to "the suspicious nature of the fire", detectives from the Marijuana Investigation Team were dispatched to the scene. Two butane canisters were discovered, and the suspected cause of the fire, still officially under investigation by the Tulare Area Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team (TAGNET), is a drug lab explosion.

This detached garage is the only structure left standing

Last June, Lubben transferred the property to Sirjoe Carmona, a convicted drug offender from Visalia and Ivanhoe, Calif., but Lubben remained on the parcel as a tenant.  Rumors in Springville have been rampant for some time that marijuana was being cultivated illegally at the ranch.

The property was also placed back on the market recently.

Here are the incredible BEFORE and AFTER PHOTOS of Lubben's home

Only smoldering rubble remains of Shelley Lubben's home and belongings

Lubben's residence was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, and they had to take a defensive position to keep the flames from spreading into the heavily wooded area.

Shelley Lubben has reportedly lost everything but her jeep, iPhone, and the pajamas she was wearing at the time of the blaze.

In the aftermath of the fire, multiple sources report, Shelley Lubben has confirmed that a drug lab was the cause of the disastrous blaze. 

However she also claimed that despite the owner's history of running an illegal grow operation, and the building's blacked-out windows, she had no idea whatsoever that a dangerous drug lab was operating yards from her bedroom until it exploded early Friday morning.

It remains to be seen whether the injured honey oil lab operators will implicate Lubben.

Video by Cristina Davies, ABC30

The Fresno Bee reports that Joe Rosa, a spokesman for the Tulare County Fire Department, said both fire and Tulare County Sheriff's investigators are on scene.

According to sheriff's spokeswoman Ashley Ritchie, butane canisters were found in the home, so authorities were investigating it as a place where a honey-oil lab might have been set up. Ritchie said detectives were working to get a search warrant so they could go inside the residence. 

Honey oil is manufactured with the used of butane, and powerful explosions can result when fumes from the gas come in contact with a flame source, such as a hot water heater. 

Authorities describe the injured persons at the home when the fire broke out as a 36-year-old male, listed in critical condition; his pregnant 25-year-old wife, in fair condition; and their 15-month-old baby boy, also in critical condition.

The three were airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Fresno for treatment. The parents may face child endangerment charges, reports CBS47 News/YouCentralValley.com:

"The butane containers definitely indicate a honey oil lab," said Tulare Sheriff's Ashley Ritchie.

Anyone with more information regarding this investigation or a possible location of the suspect is urged to contact the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office at 1-800-808-0488 or anonymously at tcso@tipnow.com or by text or voicemail at 559-725-4194.

Honey oil

A butane hash "chef" packs a pipe with marijuana trimmings that will be used to make butane hash. (Genaro Molina / L.A. Times) 

Butane honey oil, or BHO, is a potent form of hashish (or hash), with a very high THC level.  

Since January 1, 2018, it is legal in California for adults age 21 and older to use, and possess up to eight (8) grams of, hashish, a.k.a. concentrated cannabis. However, possessing more than eight grams of concentrated cannabis is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six (6) months in county jail. 

Selling hashish is only legal in California if one possesses a state license to do so. Without such a license, possessing hashish with the intent to sell it is a crime, as is unlawfully selling it or transporting it for sale. 

The unlawful production of more than eight (8) grams of hashish is likewise a crime in California, and the penalty is up to six months in county jail under Health & Safety Code 11358 - cultivation of marijuana.

If one uses a toxic chemical -- such as butane -- to produce the cannabis resin, one may also be found guilty of chemical extraction of a controlled substance and face a fine of up to $50,000 and three, five or seven years in state prison.

>Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article205528709.html#storylink=cpy

The flames

The house fire represents just the latest dramatic event in the scandal-plagued life of Shelley Lubben.

Born Shelley Lynn Moore in Pasadena, Calif. in 1968, Lubben struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse since her teens, and often found herself in trouble with the law.  In 1986, at age 18, she was asked to leave home by her long-suffering parents, and found work as a stripper, prostitute and small-time con artist in the Los Angeles area.  Lubben has proudly referred to herself as a "hustler" and "professional liar" who could talk her way out of anything.

In 1988, she gave birth to a daughter she says was conceived via a prostitution act.

An admitted attention seeker, Lubben failed in her attempt to launch an acting career, then dabbled in pornography from 1993 - 94.

When porn stardom eluded her, and her drug and alcohol use spiraled out of control, she married Garrett Lubben.

In 2004, Lubben re-emerged as a Christian anti-porn/anti-sex work crusader, complete with a set of horror stories about her short time in the adult business that no one -- even the people she knew at the time -- had ever heard before. Similarly, her tales about her early life were eventually contradicted by evidence provided by family.

In 2008, she and Garrett founded Pink Cross Foundation, "a faith-based public charity dedicated to reaching out to adult industry workers offering emotional, financial and transitional support."

However PCF never yielded a roster of success stories; instead, the vast majority of the women who associated with Lubben later described her as a manipulator and abuser who was addled by wine and prescription pills, and who misused funds donated to help the women in her care.

Lubben surrounded herself with bizarre individuals with claims that were provably false, and anti-porn evangelists such as Donny Pauling, who was later unmasked as a serial child molester.

Shelley Lubben and Donny Pauling

Lubben also practiced her own strange and fanatical version of Christianity. She would later assert that Pink Cross Foundation was the true church.

She claimed to be the reincarnation of the Prophet Elijah, and allowed herself to be filmed praying with an 8-foot staff.

A lightning rod for criticism

On April 26, 2011, the married anti-porn activist attended a Porn Star Karaoke event in Burbank, Cailf., and was photographed smiling while having her surgically-enhanced breast signed by hirsute porn star Ron Jeremy outside the bar's toilet.

Lubben's outrageous behavior, obsessive self-promotion as an anti-porn advocate, trips to rehab centers and psych wards, and half-hearted attempts at therapy took a toll on her marriage and family.

In 2015, Garrett and Shelley placed their Bakersfield, Calif. McMansion up for sale and Shelley moved out to the country -- to Springville -- while Garrett remained in Bakersfield so that the couple's youngest daughter wouldn't have to change schools. 

Garrett's hope was that the new surroundings would help Shelley cut back on her immense daily alcohol and prescription drug consumption. However, when he came to visit, he found the residence littered with empty wine bottles, and additional pill containers. 

On Oct. 13, 2015, Garrett filed for a legal separation in Bakersfield. 

The following month, Shelley admitted to a months-long extra-marital affair with ranch employee Joe Valley.

On Christmas Eve 2015, she had Valley arrested on charges of rape and domestic battery, but later withdrew the rape allegation.

Just after the new year, with her face still swollen, Lubben announced the shuttering of Pink Cross Foundation.

On March 14, 2016 Garrett amended his petition to Dissolution of Marriage (divorce). 

Approximately one week after Garrett blocked calls and texts (which had vacillated between the two running themes of "let's work it out and be together" and "I'm gonna get you and make you pay!"), a disgruntled Shelley approached the Tulare Sheriffs on May 5, 2016, with an accusation that Garrett had attempted to bribe her.  Her "evidence" of felony bribery was a couple of iPhone video clips directed and filmed by Shelley on Halloween 2015 as part of the couple's separation/divorce negotiations.

However, in February 2017, following hysterical testimony from Shelley, Judge Michael B. Sheltzer ruled that the video clips did NOT show an attempt to bribe Mrs. Lubben and all charges were dismissed.

In July 2016, Garrett Lubben filed for a restraining order in Bakersfield, Calif. to protect himself and his children from Shelley.

All domestic violence charges against Garrett Lubben were dropped last month.

Lubben also filed multiple domestic violence charges against Joe Valley, who has spent every birthday in jail since becoming involved with Shelley Lubben.

Following each release, Valley moved back in to the Lubben Ranch. 

But in November of last year, he was arrested on the property after allegedly striking and killing a cyclist on the way home to the ranch, while intoxicated. 

Valley is currently being held on $145,000 bail as he awaits trial for Gross Vehicular Manslaughter while Intoxicated, and fleeing the scene of the hit-and-run collision.

He is expected to plead guilty in Tulare County Superior Court on March 20. Valley faces 11 years in state prison.

Shelley Lubben's Boyfriend Now Faces Mandatory Consecutive 5-Year Prison Term for Fleeing Crash Scene

Joe Valley, charged in a November 2017 DUI collision, remains unlikely to be able to plea bargain

Shelley Lubben, Valley's lover and owner of the car that struck and killed a 51-year-old cyclist, did not bother to attend Thursday's hearing 

Porterville, Calif. -- Joseph Valley, the live-in boyfriend of disgraced anti-porn crusader and minister Shelley Lubben, was back in Tulare County Superior Court Thursday morning, February 8, three months after he allegedly struck and killed a 51-year old cyclist less than 2 miles from the Lubben ranch property and fled the scene, according to witnesses.

Valley faces two felony charges -- Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated, and Hit And Run Driving -- in connection with the fatal collision.

Joseph Valley. Courtesy: Tulare County Sheriff's Office

Thursday, Valley was re-arraigned in conjunction with an amended criminal complaint, which added the "Special Allegation" of Fleeing The Scene of the Crime. 

Under the California Vehicle Code, individuals who are convicted of Gross Vehicular Manslaughter who also fled the scene of the crash face a mandatory consecutive five-year state prison sentence. 

Prosecutors specifically allege a violation of subdivision (c) to ensure that they have provided a defendant adequate notice under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that he faces the mandatory consecutive five year term. (Thus, the "Special Allegation" in the Amended Complaint against Valley.)

DUI

Witnesses say Joe Valley was already intoxicated when he arrived at a local bar prior to the crash, and was cut off from ordering more alcohol before he allegedly ran down the cyclist while driving Shelley Lubben's car. 

Valley's mother, Christina, maintains that Lubben had been feeding Joe wine and prescription pills prior to the crash.

The hit-and-run collision occurred at Balch Park Road and Battle Mountain Road in Springville at around 4:40 p.m. on Nov. 7.

According to the California Highway Patrol, 27-year-old Valley hit the cyclist while driving a silver 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser with a convertible top. A witness at the scene saw Valley take off "up Balch Park Road to his house" after the collision. The cyclist died at the scene.

Valley, who has a prior criminal record, was booked later that night, and held on $100,000 bail. District Attorney Tim Ward later filed criminal charges against Valley, upping his bail to $145,000. Joe Valley is being held at the Adult Pre-Trial Facility in Visalia.

The charges were followed by Ward's announcement of a $153,620 California Office of Traffic Safety grant. The grant will be used to help prosecute cases of drunken and impaired drivers.

"No one should be injured or lose their lives due to the reckless and risky behavior of a drunk driver," said Ward. "We look forward to continuing our focus on prosecuting this dangerous and avoidable crime."

"I honestly think she [Shelley Lubben] was driving, always drinking and driving," Mrs. Valley said. She went on to say that she believes Joe may be taking the fall out of some sense of duty to the woman he believes loves him.

A 'serious felony'

The criminal complaint filed by the Tulare County district attorney charges Valley with felony hit-and-run driving resulting in death or serious bodily injury to another person, as well as the 'serious felony' gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

The California Penal Code stipulates:

1192.7. (b) Plea bargaining in any case in which the indictment or information charges any serious felony, ... or any offense of driving while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, narcotics, or any other intoxicating substance, or any combination thereof, is prohibited....

1192.8. (a) For purposes of subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7, "serious felony" also means any violation of Section 191.5, paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 192, subdivision (a), (b), or (c) of Section 192.5 of this code, or Section 2800.3, subdivision (b) of Section 23104, or Section 23153 of the Vehicle Code, when any of these offenses involve the personal infliction of great bodily injury on any person other than an accomplice. . . . 

In addition, the complaint against Valley states that "the People hereby put the defendant on notice that the aggravated sentence may be sought in this case." 

California's “three strikes” law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously convicted of two or more violent crimes or serious felonies. The law also limits the ability of these offenders to receive a punishment other than a life sentence.

Valley does indeed have a prior criminal record.

Shelley Lubben and Joe Valley met when her husband hired him to work at the Springville property in the spring of 2015. Shelley began an affair with Valley, and her husband later filed for divorce.

On Christmas Eve 2015, Lubben phoned 911 and reported that Valley had sexually assaulted and battered her. She later recanted the sexual assault claim, but Valley served 90 days for domestic battery in Porterville. Further charges by Lubben led to additional minor convictions for Valley.

In Porterville, Thursday, the court also held a brief pre-trial hearing on three probation violations stemming from his prior convictions. The terms of Valley probation(s) were violated by his DUI hit-and-run arrest last November 7.

Valley returns to Tulare County Superior Court March 1, at 8:30 a.m.  He is currently being held on bail.

UPDATE: Valley’s case has been continued to the morning of March 15, 2018.

Tulare County Braces for New Year's Eve with Shelley Lubben: Establishes DUI Checkpoints, Patrols

Tulare County, Calif -- Now through Jan. 1, 2018, local law enforcement agencies are partnering with the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in a special year-end “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” enforcement mobilization to get impaired drivers off the street and to spread the word about this dangerous crime.

As part of the holiday enforcement campaign period, police, sheriff and the CHP will be setting up DUI checkpoints and conducting DUI saturation patrols all across the largely rural county.

Look out, Tulare -- Springville's Shelley Lubben may take to the road this New Year's weekend!

Tragedy

In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in alcohol and drug-impaired driving crashes. On Nov. 7,  Joe Valley, the live-in boyfriend of disgraced anti-porn crusader Shelley Lubben, was arrested after he allegedly struck and killed a 51-year old cyclist on Balch Park Road after leaving a Porterville bar.  It has since come to light that Lubben, a Springville resident, was providing Valley with the prescription drug  Alprazolam, which is marketed under the name Xanax.

Xanax is a potent, short-acting benzodiazepine anxiolytic—a tranquilizer.

Shelley Lubben and Joe Valley on the road

“This holiday season, drivers will notice increased enforcement watching closely for anyone who is driving impaired,” said Sgt. Mark Feller of the Visalia PD Traffic Unit. “It is vital that we keep our roads and our travelers safe, not just at the holidays, but every day. With extra travelers on the roads, and people attending holiday parties, we will likely see an uptick in drunk driving. We‘ll be arresting anyone we catch breaking this life-saving law.”

Driving under the influence of alcohol can have deadly, devastating consequences. Nationally in 2016, 37,461 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes, and 28 percent (10,497) died in crashes where a driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over the limit of .08. California reported 1,059 DUI deaths at .08 or above. In 2014, 15 people were killed and another 230 were injured in DUI related collisions in Tulare County, according to the California Highway Patrol’s annual report. In 2015, 318 people were killed or injured in an alcohol involved collision in Tulare County. Of those 5% involved drivers under the age of 21. 

Visalia had 73 alcohol involved crashes, the most in the county, while Porterville had 30, Tulare had 15, Lindsay had 12, Dinuba had 4, and Farmersville had 2, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. Exeter and Woodlake had zero.

In recent years, California has seen an increase in drug-impaired driving crashes. Local law enforcement in Tulare County support the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that DUI doesn’t just mean booze.

“If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI. Marijuana use can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI. “Two simple words can keep your holiday festivities safe – plan ahead,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “Before you head out to any celebration, plan how you are getting home safely. If you are drinking, that means knowing what sober driver or service will be using.

Lubben inspired?

The program seems as if it were written with Shelley Lubben in mind, as she is a drinker, a marijuana smoker and a pill-popper.  That's what's known as a Tulare Trifecta.

Drivers are encouraged to download the Designated Driver VIP, or (DDVIP), free mobile app for Android or iPhone. The DDVIP app helps find nearby bars and restaurants that feature free incentives for the designated sober driver, from free non-alcoholic drinks to free appetizers and more. Funding for this DUI operation is provided to Your Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reminding everyone to “Report Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”

(VIDEO) The Devil and Shelley Lubben: Ep. 5 - Teaser 4

This preview sequence from The Devil and Shelley Lubben: Episode 5, provides a view of mental instability of the anti-porn crusader through the eyes of her husband of over 20 years.

The Devil and Shelley Lubben is a documentary series produced and directed by Michael Whiteacre. It features never before seen interviews, photographs, videos and documents to illustrate the story of a fascinating , tormented, but ultimately malevolent public figure.

Shelley Lubben Gave Wine and Xanax to Boyfriend Charged in DUI, Says His Mom

Joe Valley's mother thinks Shelley Lubben is complicit in the tragedy, and even suspects that Joe might be taking the fall for Shelley!

Porterville, Calif. -- Defendant Joseph Valley was led into Tulare County Superior Court December 7, at a preliminary hearing in the case of the hit and run death of cyclist Octavio Munguia. Valley is charged with Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated, a felony, in the fatal Nov. 7 collision.

Valley was on probation at the time of the deadly collision, so at Thursday's hearing, the court also considered three probation violations that were triggered by Valley's arrest last month.

Readers may recall that disgraced anti-porn crusader Shelley Lubben called 911 and accused Valley, then her boyfriend, of rape and domestic violence on his 26th birthday (Christmas eve) in 2015.  Valley was arrested and later was able to plead to one count, while the others were dismissed. 

His charge of domestic battery lowered to misdemeanor-level, Valley was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with credit for time served, given probation, and released on March 22, 2016.

However, in court, Thursday, discussion of Valley's probation violations brought to light two additional convictions of Valley's in 2016, during his relationship with Shelley Lubben.

On June 26, 2016, Joe Valley was arrested for the crime of Possession of a Controlled Substance after being found to have a quantity of Alprazolam, a drug marketed under the name Xanax, without a prescription.

Xanax is a potent, short-acting benzodiazepine anxiolytic—a tranquilizer.

Where would Joe Valley obtain Xanax without a prescription? According to Joe's mother, Christina Valley, he got the pills from Shelley Lubben.

This narrative corresponds with Garrett Lubben's recollection as well: in August 2015, when Garrett visited the ranch property in Springville that he then co-owned, he personally saw bottles of Xanax at Shelley's residence that she had purchased in Mexico. He has never known Shelley to hold a valid prescription for Xanax.

These drugs were alluded to in Garrett's affidavit in support of a restraining order he sought in July 2016 to protect himself and his daughters from Shelley.

A fatal collision

"He's a young man that just wanted to be loved and to love back," Valley said of her son's volatile relationship with Shelley Lubben. "She fed him wine and pills!"

"My son never really went to jail before her, some drunk in public, panhandling that sort of stuff," she added. And indeed it is true that, like others before him, Joe Valley's life took an unfortunate turn after hooking up with this pill-popping narcissist.

The deadly hit-and-run crash occurred on Balch Park Road near Battle Mountain Road in Springville at around 4:40 p.m., November 7.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Valley hit the 51-year old cyclist while driving a silver 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser with a convertible top. A witness at the scene saw Valley take off "up Balch Park Road to his house" after the collision. The cyclist died at the scene.

A blood draw revealed Valley’s blood alcohol content at .26 percent, the District Attorney’s Office said. That was more than three times the legal limit of .08 percent.

The mystery surrounding the provenance of the vehicle, and how Valley, whose license had been suspended for failure to make child support payments, had gotten back on the road, was settled by Mrs. Valley.

"[Shelley] paid the the the money to get my son's license back," Mrs. Valley said. "She paid everything: insurance, bought [the car], in her name. She paid for the insurance, also.

"I remember she said something about insurance only covers up to $1000.00, [the victim's family] won't be able to get anything else [from the insurer]." If that coverage limit is accurate, this suggests Shelley Lubben will personally be on the hook for a substantial sum of money.

"I honestly think she was driving, always drinking and driving," Mrs. Valley said. She believes that Joe may be taking the fall out of some sense of duty to the woman he believes loves him.

Lubben and Valley met when her husband hired him to work at the Springville property in the spring of 2015. Shelley soon began an affair with Valley, and her husband later filed for divorce.

Christina Valley views Lubben as a manipulative predator: "When I first heard about her and how they came to be, I cried. She found a man with emotions and needs of a lonely boy, desperate to belong somewhere, to someone he can say it's real. . . . I see the text[s] that were sent between her and Garrett; as seems to me, [it] went just the way she wanted it to."

The other conviction

On April 13, 2017, Shelley Lubben got Joe arrested again. 

Even though he had moved back in with Shelley following his release from jail in March 2016, and she regularly posted photos of the couple out and about, taking road trips to Las Vegas, and even at a polling place on Election Day 2016, there was a criminal protective order -- a stay away order -- in place that legally prevented him from being around her. At risk to Joe's freedom, the couple ignored the order.

Something Joe said or did must have provoked Shelley's ire on April 13, and Joe was again taken into custody.

Joe Valley's next court date is scheduled for 8:30 am on January 18, 2018. We will be providing continuing coverage of the case as it unfolds.

Anti-Porn Crusader Shelley Lubben's Text Messages To Ex Are Simply Astounding

Former sex worker turned minister and "born again" anti-porn crusader Shelley Lubben made a career of opposing pornography, prostitution and sexual sin on every conceivable ground.  But after committing adultery and being served with divorce papers by her long-suffering husband, the suddenly cash-starved Lubben texted a series of screeds to her soon-to-be ex. 

Amazingly, she details her plan to quietly return to prostitution to pay her bills.

In light of the significant increase in new visitors to this site, I've decided to take a small step back from reporting on Shelley Lubben's recent shenanigans and the carnival sideshow that is her life, and instead present some previously unseen material that well-illustrates who and what she is. 

The uncontested elements of her life story go like this: Shelley Moore, an attention-craving problem child turned alcoholic and drug addict (she also suffers from mental illness), worked as a prostitute and stripper in 1980s and '90s Los Angeles, and also shot a handful of long-forgotten adult videos during 1993 and '94. 

In 1995, she married a younger and less worldly man named Garrett Lubben and left Southern California. After a period of time studying at a church in Tacoma, Washington -- a time she refers to as her "recovery from porn" -- she returned to California in the 2000s and became known as an anti-porn crusader and minister.

The many public and private claims she's made over the years include that she was miraculously healed of herpes, as well of all her addictions and other physical and mental infirmities; that she receives direct revelation from God and Jesus Christ; that she is the reincarnation of the Prophet Elijah; and that she is on a special mission from God to eradicate pornography and masturbation.

She has also been caught in more lies and self-contradictions than any public figure I can think of.

Lubben is a textbook narcissist. To quote my brilliant associate Dr. David Ley, Ph.D., "The narcissist is actually plagued by self-doubt, and the core foundational thought or fear for the narcissist is that if they don't constantly tell everyone how great they are, then nobody will think they're great, then people will think that they're shit."

The Lubben Text Messages

The commentary I have added below is intended merely to provide a historical frame of reference, and is backed up by: details gleaned from my interviews with Garrett Lubben and others; court and law enforcement records; independent published accounts; Shelley's public statements and actions; private unguarded emails; and the contents of a lengthy chain of text conversations between Shelley and Garrett.

The following screen caps of text conversations were made on the iPhone of Garrett Lubben, Shelley's ex-husband. I can confirm that they were sent to and from Shelley's own private mobile number, and I can thus vouch for their authenticity.

This cache of messages in my possession dates from mid-2015, when she had begun a secret affair with Joe Valley (who had been hired by Garrett to work on the couple's ranch property in Springville, Calif.), through their legal separation and Shelley's pleas for another chance, to her accusations against Joe, her threats to Garrett, the Lubbens' divorce negotiations, and their eventual divorce in 2016.

Two things stand out here: Shelley's utter, hysterical desperation, and her tendency to be both ruthlessly calculating and clumsy in her manipulations. These conversations make it crystal clear that she does not want Garrett to leave her for good. Her boyfriend Joe Valley had been homeless and living in his car prior to starting work at the Lubben Ranch. Suddenly on her own again after 20 years, she is panicked. Accordingly, in text after text she alternates between threatening, seducing, cajoling and pleading.

Not once does she take responsibility for what has happened to her life.

We begin on April 1, 2016, at which point the Lubbens' divorce was a forgone conclusion:

A little over two weeks later, on April 17, 2016:

The Power of 911

By the summer of 2015, the Lubbens' marriage, which had been tense since 2011, was pretty much over. He was living in Bakersfield while she holed up at the Springville ranch property. Shelley had told Garrett she wanted to use the quiet seclusion to improve herself, both emotionally and to ease up on her out of control alcohol and drug use. But upon his return visit to the ranch, he found dozens of empty wine and liquor bottles as well as prescription bottles from Shelley's latest trip to Mexico.

He began quietly removing personal items from the house, but eventually Shelley caught on. When Garrett announced that he was leaving, on September 8, another argument began. According to Shelley's own statements (including those in their text conversations), she called 911 to calm him down, and keep him from leaving. However when the Tulare County Sheriffs arrived, she accused him of battery. 

Garrett was arrested and bonded out of jail.  Shelley, though maintaining that the arrest was Garrett's fault because he never should have yelled at her, eventually confessed in an affidavit (made under penalty of perjury) that it had all been a big misunderstanding. But not before a second incident at the ranch led to another arrest for Garrett.

On October 8, 2015, Garrett was arrested at the ranch on even more dubious charges, while Joe was present. In her text messages to Garrett, she blamed Joe for instigating the 911 call.

Although Shelley would later brag to her Facebook fans that her new young lover Joe Valley was a wonderful guy who was absolutely "on fire for God", she was at the very least lying by omission.  Their relationship was volatile and, according to local residents, involved much drinking. She also knew that Joe had a criminal record, and a history of drug use.  On Christmas Eve 2015 -- two months after Garrett filed for legal separation -- Shelley again called 911, this time targeting Joe.

When the sheriffs arrived, she accused him of domestic battery and rape. Lubben later recanted the rape charge, but, likely because she had visible bruises, the battery charge stuck and Valley wound up serving 90 days in jail.

Joe Valley's most recent mugshot.

Joe made me do it

Throughout her text messages to Garrett, Shelley repeatedly demonizes and insults Joe, and asserts that it was Joe, not she, who is to blame for Garrett's legal problems.

This text dates from January 19, 2016, when Joe was locked up in a Porterville jail after Shelley accused him of domestic violence.  She and Garrett are still cordial here, and with Joe out of the way for now, she retains the hope of reconciliation with her husband.

The following message was sent March 4, 2016, while Joe was still locked up and her relationship with her estranged ex, Garrett, was deteriorating. The handwriting was on the wall. Ten days later, Garrett amended his filing for Legal Separation to initiate divorce proceedings. 

Is it just me or does Shelley seem concerned about what Joe might reveal under oath.

Hell hath no fury

Garrett had decided that over 20 years of Shelley had been more than enough. In addition, both of the children she'd had by Garrett had chosen to live with him and, predictably, Shelley felt spurned.  Her revenge, it would appear from these texts and from the timeline, was to trump up a bribery allegation against Garrett. She also informed her daughters (while they were still speaking) that she'd soon be back in their lives because their dad was going to prison "for a long time." But this, like all of Shelley's schemes, backfired.

When Shelley took the stand in Porterville last year, at a hearing before the Honorable Judge Michael B. Sheltzer related to the felony bribery charge, she presented herself to the court as a long-suffering victim of domestic abuse who was glad to be free of her manipulative abuser.  

Shelley testified that she came forward with the bribery allegation soon after making iPhone video recordings of a kitchen table negotiation with Garrett.  In court it was revealed that the videos were shot on October 31, 2015. However, Shelley had finessed the timeline, stating under oath that the videos were shot between February and April of 2016.

Shelley had actually brought the videos to the Tulare County sheriff on May 5, 2016, which just so happened to be a week after Garrett had blocked her calls and texts

The bribery charge was summarily dropped because there was no evidence that Garrett had induced Shelley to do anything unlawful, but as we see in these messages, her "good riddance to my abuser" premise was also a contrived lie.

To illustrate this point, let's travel back to April 2016. The divorce has not been finalized, Shelley and Joe are both unemployed, and Shelley is bemoaning her sorry financial state. 

Shelley had already made many attempts to win Garrett back since October 2015, while simultaneously proclaiming her undying love to Joe.  Here's a sample.

April 28:

God's own prostitute

April 24: Shelley is wallowing in self pity.  This astounding thread has much to offer, including one of her fullest renderings of the recurring motif of her life -- in Shelley's version of events she is always the victim or the hero, or both. 

Shelley claims she has suffered more than Job!

Several times in these conversations, Shelley admits that she is losing her vision. Yet she posts the following for public consumption on social media:

November 28 (2016) at 3:00pm ·

I'm liking the glasses look. I think I'm going to buy a pair of glasses even though I don't need them LOL these are a little bit too big for my face but yeah I think I'm going to get glasses.

April 29: Yet more allusions to returning to prostitution:

"There's only one option for me now."

"watch your sick wife go back to prostitution"

As a prostitute, Shelley says she'll bill herself as a "former adult actress and make a killing to help pay [her] medical bills."

As a prostitute, "I'll be rich soon," says Shelley.

Has a narrative of perennial victimhood ever been more clear and embracive?  I've often been asked why anyone would adopt and promote such a narrative and forever reframe their life experiences as ongoing, relentless -- even fated -- victimization.

A 2010 academic paper, "Victim Entitlement to Behave Selfishly", by Emily M. Zitek, Alexander H. Jordan, Benoit Monin, and Frederick R. Leach of Stanford University, may hold the answer.

Clinical psychologists have long suggested a link between unpleasant life experiences and a sense of entitlement. Freud (1916) observed that people who thought they had suffered poor childhoods felt entitled not to endure any more of life’s “disagreeable necessities”. . . . In a study of individuals with disabilities, those who least accepted their disability—those who presumably felt most wronged by it—felt most entitled to use alcohol and drugs (Li & Moore, 2001). This body of work suggests that at a chronic level, individuals who feel that they have suffered in life possess more of a sense of entitlement than do others who perceive their life narrative as more clement.

[The sense of entitlement may] lead individuals to behave selfishly by, for example, refusing to help, endorsing self-serving intentions, or claiming a bigger piece of the pie when sharing resources with others.

If they are under-benefited in one relationship (e.g., underpaid), they may try to over-benefit themselves in another. . . .  In support of this equity-with-the-world hypothesis, Austin and Walster (1975) found that participants who were underpaid by an individual in a first task were later more likely to underpay a different individual (and overpay themselves) in another task. . . .  [citations abbreviated or omitted]

Feeling like a victim alleviates guilt and engenders a sense of entitlement and a license to take advantage of others. This is what narcissism and sociopathy look like.