Who am I? What's going on? What's the problem? How can we fix it?

Hi, my name is Julia Grace Garfield. I am 28 and was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I am an US citizen. I was born from a human trafficking ring that I personally uncovered in 2020. My parents came with love and an open heart and adopted me from one of the orphanages in the hierarchy of the human trafficking ring. 

I grew up in Eagle Point, Oregon, and went to school at Lake Creek Learning Center and then moved to Camas, Washington where I went to school at Lacamas Heights Elementary, Liberty Middle School, and then graduated from Camas High School in June of 2015.  

I have an immense amount of privilege, perspective, and life experiences thanks to my parents Stephen and Lisa Garfield. I have lived in over 15 countries, where my Dad's company The Standard let him work abroad. As long as he had internet access, he worked and travelled with us simultaneously. My mother is brilliant and found multiple ways to save money to travel and fully immerse ourselves beyond the standard tourist experience. When I say we LIVED in these countries we really did. We went to church every Sunday, in so many different languages. We had routines everywhere we went. We hardly went out to eat, we used the local grocery stores, laundromats, pharmacies, and stores. 

Most importantly, she found a home exchange program where families in Europe made their home and cars available and we made our home in Camas, Washington available with our cars too, and we swapped! My mother Lisa, negotiated and scheduled everything. We made a binder of local attractions, and let our neighbors know of the new families coming to town and to look out for each other. I don't think there was any payment between families, just payment to use the website itself. It was really priceless. 

That being said, I've been able to explore my own interests and talents. When I was younger my parents took me to see an orchestra and I saw a violin and went home and drew them. I took lessons very, very young, I want to say like 4. The violin was so very tiny, almost like a doll. I kept that up for years. I played in quartets with Beacock's Music Store with my violin teacher Darrell Hunt. We went to play in various retirement homes in the area, and in the upstairs performance area of Beacock's Music Store. I also auditioned and got one of the orchestras with the (MYS) Metropolitan Youth Symphony here in Portland, Oregon in 2010.  with the director being the fabulous Lajos Balogh. 

In high school, all 4 years, I was a part of the business program DECA. My sophomore year, I was the only one of my class to go to regionals, state, and nationals. I also went to an international competition for my written and oral business programs. I went to Atlanta, Georgia, my junior year of high school as well as Orlando, Florida my senior year instead of prom. I walked away with about 20 medals. Thanks to my marketing teacher David Johnson. He was the head of the DECA chapter in our area, and he might still be. He taught me so much, and was the one to take me aside one day and said that he saw real potential in me and to not give up. I used to shake and tremble when I spoke, I now command rooms, I hold my own with Judges, lawyers, investigative journalists, with no more fear or instability. I owe a lot to him. 

After high school, I wanted to take a break from school. I took the SATs twice, and got a 1520 and got accepted into the Saint Louis University-Madrid Campus. I worked with two wonderful women, Katie Gortz & Ms. Heidi Buffington, both admissions counselors for the University. I did not feel I was in a place to go for personal reasons and stayed local. 

I created and founded, "A Helping Hand Global, inc" which was a 501(c)(3) non-profit where I put together menstrual care kits for people who menstruate, and needed some help. It's very expensive. and some houseless people use socks or torn pieces of clothing. I bought metal tins that were airtight and had community volunteers paint each one so each one was so individual and unique so they felt loved and cared for individually and personally. 

Each kit contained tampons with various flow sizes, pads, pain relievers, sanitizing hand wipes, body wipes, and a reusable menstrual cup from a large donation from Anigan, inc. They were delivered and donated to Must Ministries in Marietta, Georgia, on behalf of my grandmother Jean Simmons. My grandmother started a similar program, called the 'BackPack Program' where it started with a few backpacks she put together with school supplies, lunchboxes, socks, pencils, cute kit stuff, into it being a large countywide endeavor, where the it was like a full week of getting backpack donations, putting together a food pantry for kids and their parents, hot and cold meals, the local churches would sponsor it. 

I guarantee that you can go down to Marietta right now and say the name Jean Simmons and someone will come running to tell you about how Jesus like she was,  and wonderful of an example of true love of your neighbor. You will be told stories of her fabulous parties and fundraisers and the "Christmas in July" thing she did. She loved children, and put them first, and it was only the most natural thing to donate back to her Ministry after she passed away. 

I'm not sure of the exact number any more but it was between 150-165 menstrual care kits I donated, and my mother, Jean's daughter, actually was the one who drove them down and hand delivered them into the warehouse. There's a photo of them at the warehouse somewhere. 

After this, I changed my non-profit into a business and helped local businesses create new websites, establish marketing strategy, gain more customers, etc. Then business slowed down a lot, I worked at a local bowling alley in their 'Arcade Room' as an 'Arcade Attendant.' Then the world shut down. 

After a while, like I've always done, I was curious about my own adoption. Who I was, where I came from, is there anything new considering the digital age, let's see what I can find. I even learned how to go on to the deep web, TOR, from my little RV in SE Portland with my 4 cats, in the front yard of my sister in law's driveway. It was cute, quaint, beautiful, and most importantly kept me and everyone safe. 

Anyways, I forgot which name I used, or how I found it exactly, but I found this weird named websites called, Puppy Pound Legacy, found at "https://poundpuplegacy.org/

From their description itself, they write, "Pound Pup Legacy (is) Inspired by stories shared by birth parents, adoptive parents, and adult adoptees, PPL explores the dark side of adoption, and the consequences illegal and unethical actions have on future family-life and the well-being of those affected by adoption.

Too many children are placed for the benefit of agencies and based on the demands of prospective adoptive parents.

Too many children are placed in inappropriate homes because the business interests of adoption agencies have higher priority than the safety of children.

Pound Pup Legacy documents and archives cases where the child placement system did not work in the best interest of the child and we offer a platform for those who want to express their thoughts and feelings about the dark side of child adoption.

From this obscure website, I found extensive archived documents regarding a human trafficking ring, specifically with the names of the lawyer who my parents used, my adoption agency used, as well as the woman who ran my orphanage Helen Del Rosal, who also was charged with Crimes Against Humanity, and she's a white woman from Iowa, who relocated to Guatemala in the 1950's and established the orphanage I put in. When I was "abandoned" by my birth mom at the main hospital in Guatemala City, "General San Juan de Dios Hospital" on 1A Avenida 10-50. 

Come to find out, through reading their own testimonies, from Indigenous women, police officers, caregivers, government officials, border agents, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and babysitters, they would steal indigenous children under the guise of offering them free boarding school, and kinda offering the mothers job training in exchange, so it seems like they are going to give their family a better life, by learning, getting a license or certificate themselves, while their children are living in a school nearby with food and everything taken care. They were preyed upon. 

I read stories of mothers who were beat up by Guatemalan Government Officials on Government Property, they were standing less than 500 yards away from a building where they KNEW their child was, and in that office, was this woman, this 'lawyer', talking to people, like my parents, who came with love and open hearts, and said this child was abandoned, here is the price, sign here, thank you and come again. 

Their mom, and sometimes Dad and other family members were OUTSIDE the building while these..transactions took place. On the more disturbing side, you read where this same woman, had a motto saying 'if we don't have it, we make it." I read stories about indigenous children being raped, and forcibly making them carrying to term, and then stealing the children. The huge level of hierarchy and power imbalance made it almost impossible for them to ever get their children back. 

There were some families who did get their child back, but reading it, and then thinking about their experience, of their fight, was horrific. They had to do DNA tests, they had to testify in front of judges, they spent time and money proving they were their parents, made from love, and were stolen away to white parents, and unknown white land. The child was no longer a child, the trauma, even truly justified, leaves trauma for everyone involved. But they got their son back, and some other families did, but not without extreme pain, long-lost time, and loving from afar. 

After reading and going through the documents, establishing the timeline, the names, what happened, why it happened, who it happened to, and more. It was a total collapse of myself, my identity, self-worth, self-image, everything. I was most likely a product of rape, had a young child as a mother, or was forcibly stolen from a loving family under a horrific guise of evil.  I am so lucky and blessed, and all the "right words" that my parents found me, and they loved me, and had a place in their home and hearts for their daughter. Not as a slave, sex-slave, or a body part/organ donor, or other horrific, real, tangible situations within human trafficking and especially child trafficking. 

Luckily with Oregon Health Share of Oregon, I was able to find a list of trauma specialists or clinics and I found one. It's called The Integrated Trauma Treatment Center, I met the requirements of "trauma", not funny but kinda funny, and started treatment there in 2021 or maybe the end of 2020, I'm not sure. I had Dissociative amnesia where I didn't know where I was, the year, what I was supposed to be doing, I had abhorrent nightmares, I was throwing up with anxiety every morning, I mean, it was bad. I was self-harming, abusive cannabis to dissociate, scrolling on tik-tok for hours on end, just a really bad place. 

Luckily, I knew I needed help and I reached out, nobody was coming to save me, so I had to save myself. I just took like 30 minutes and emailed like 3 places I found on the Oregon Health Share website and God let me to the right one for me. I voluntarily did group therapies, I did talk therapy, but also did EMDR therapy which is Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and that has been the single most tangible helpful in the day to day life that I could have hoped to find. Yes it is still hard work, but the real results, getting to the core, and reprocessing your brain from a place of love, security, safety, comfort, unconditional love, understanding, empathy, full perspectives, etc, is/was/has been life changing and I will always, always recommend it. 

Now in 2022, I moved into my Bridge City Apartments, from my RV. It was an upgrade, and the only thing I really wanted was bay windows, and guess what? This place had the most beautiful bay windows. It was a basement level apartment, I had my own little garden area with beautiful trees. My bedroom even had a sliding glass door right into the patio area too. The wonderful lady Danylle Cameron, helped me secure the apartment and I remember getting the keys and showing my Dad for the first time. They even took all 4 of my cats. She was truly amazing. 

The dates are a little fuzzy, but essentially, within 30-60 days of me signing my lease, my apartment flooded 7 times. The water came from the floor where the piping meets the bottom of the water heater. The sub-floor was concrete, and they put the fake laminate wood on top, so the water sat on top of the floor. The first time it flooded, it also flooded my next door neighbors. It was like 9-10pm at night, the emergency maintenance was called, and they had people vacuum up the water, soak it up, they brought in different fans, heated fans, then removed some carpet areas. I waited my turn, and they never came to my unit. I used the towels Danylle bought with her own money, and all my clothes, bedding, towels, I owned and cleaned it up. 

Now briefly, the last 8-9 years I've been a caregiver in different capacities and different companies. I am working between 12-15 hours each shift, and I've come home to my apartment flooded, my cats playing in the puddles of brown-ish water, and no help from management. I couldn't even hire my own plumbing because they said they had a contract with a specific company or something so that was off the table. Needless to say, I couldn't afford to move, I lived there for almost 3 years. 

It flooded 7 times, each time, I had to use my own towels, etc pillows, to clean, no apartment insurance would cover me anymore, we lived with black mold the entire time. It killed my youngest cat Arthur, cruelly, and quickly, and permanently disabled my oldest cat Fisher, with asthma. He spent time in the emergency vet overnight, for extreme pneumonia. 

I never thought of myself of suing someone, or hiring lawyers, or thinking that it would ever get to that point. Through the evidence, you can always see I was kind, I let them know of everything happening, the issues, if I can help, what they are doing, who do I need to contact, how to make it stop, and I was handled with aggression, hostility, and probably racism. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say the name of the woman who didn't help me during these years, but I still remember and can give it to you, also the property management company who enabled this as well. 

Like I stated earlier, I come from privilege, so therefore, I have privilege. My parents have biological children, the oldest one is Garrett. He went to Chicago Law School, passed the bar in Chicago, and then came to Oregon and now works for Holland and Knight in the "Big Pink" building downtown Portland. 

At some point in time, he was opposing counsel for Michael Fuller, a lawyer, who has his own, well-respected law firm "Underdog" law firm. I let my brother know what was going on and he recommended Michael, and I reached out to Michael personally. Based on the good quality of the evidence, and of the merit of the case, he took it on and offered a pro-bono agreement too. 

Two years later, we won. I win against this landlord, I get a settlement, I happily make sure to uphold the pro-bono agreement, and we walk away, hopefully forever. They are kind and nice people, but I hoped to never need a lawyer again. 

Weird, how life works out. The apartment I moved into, right after vacating the last decrepit apartment, I find myself, again, reaching out to Underdog law firm, and other lawyers based on new illegal issues with this new property, "The Nash", and "Next Wave Property Management."

I came into this place, so hopeful and happy. Ready to make a home, not just an apartment, to detox from black mold. To help my cats reach their healthiest baseline too. I bought two flower bouquets to the leasing agents in the office as a genuine thank you, and appreciation for letting me and my cats live here. My dad was the one who found this place and we toured it together. It seemed like a perfect upgrade, they had a security gate entrance and exit, security at night, it was family oriented and seemed nice. 

Well let me tell you, it hurts to be lied to in the face and taken advantage of. In less than 31 days, I had 2 pest control notices for cockroaches. This was property wide meaning every unit was going to be entered to be sprayed or place gel baiting. Right now, on September 7th, I've seen 6 cockroaches, and some were in different stages of their growth and development, from adult to newly born or whatever that's called. 

The first visit from the contracted company, Northwest Pest Control, I was casually talking to their technician, "F", and learned that this property has had this cockroach issue for years. He's been coming to this property for years, specifically for cockroaches, and lately they had him only spray empty units versus the units actually needing help, which has resulted in a property-wide cockroach infestation. Now this means a few things, in the eyes of the law, this is a habitability issue, and health issue. Also, based on the length of time, spraying and gel has not been affected for a while which means that there are points of entry or access not being addressed. This means the buildings themselves are an issue and need to be addressed too. 

One of these pest notices was put on my door at 3PM stating they are coming the following day at 9AM, and if they need to move things to place the gel or to spray, there is an undefined fee associated with that. If you are not familiar with tenant rights, I encourage you to do so. If you are renting you have rights, and it's important to know them so landlords, property owners, and property management companies can't take advantage of you. So I'm not good at math, but I know that they gave me less than a 24-hour notice of entry, which violates the ORS 90.322.

I sent a formal email denying entry and letting them know I will come to the office in the morning to further make sure they know I'm denying entry. They have over 300 apartments to do pest control stuff with, and I don't want a mistake happening on my rights. I had a member of the property management company write a denial of entry and place it on the door itself. I had court that day, not for myself, but as a supporter for a friend, and this made me late. I had to fight for my rights before ironically going into a courtroom where they were establishing rights of their own. 

So a few people might say, okay so no place is a perfect place to live. Yes, and I agree with you fully. That's why there's a walkthrough checklist and disclosure laws. If you told me about the cockroach issue beforehand, I would have the full and complete information to make an informed decision but because they did not tell me, they robbed me of my right to make an informed decision.

It's now September 7th, and there have been some critical updates. First, I know the routine, expectations, rules, and regulations when it comes to addressing these habitability issues. You have to give the other party a reasonable time, to mitigate aka "fix" the situation. You also have other ways to protect yourself and notify the rightful agencies who handle just these things. 

I filed 2 separate issues with the City of Gresham, first the cockroach infestation, I signed the consent form, they can enter my home when I am not there, I have provided evidence of cockroaches and that Northwest Pest Control has service records dating back more than 365 days. This is done by the rental housing authority, everyone is entitled to a clean, safe, and habitable home, you can report violations in your own city to hold them accountable. It sucks just sending an email as a “regular renter” doesn’t get the same respect or response that other avenues do. 

The second issue filed with the City of Gresham, is that I noticed them running an illegal car automotive business, and by “them”, I mean the hired maintenance staff. The same guys doing repairs to your kitchen sink, are spending time throughout the workday to work on multiple cars, and then send them on their way. More than half don’t have a license plate or temporary tag, some appear to have been in a car accident. They spend hours jacking the cars up, changing tires, changing oil, heavy mechanic work, they do it before, during, and after hours. I have videos and photos of the maintenance men, handling 5 cars in less than 30 minutes, and you don’t see the same cars again. They burn rubber, leave chemicals on the ground, and prioritize these cars over anything else happening on the property. They also live on the property too, so it’s blurring many personal and professional boundaries. The City of Gresham notified the property owner of the illegal activity by Next Wave Property Management. 

Guess what happened next? First, an unsolicited offer to leave my lease “penalty-free.” Second, they place a tradeline on my credit report stating I have a “48-month term” with Next Wave Property Management with the “highest recorded balance being $1.2K.” Also this tradeline start date is “June 17th, 2025” when we both signed the lease agreement July 31st, 2025.

Not only did they violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act, where they must have explicitly asked, and had me sign, to have my rental payments be put on my credit report. Signing my lease is a completely separate matter, and my signature on my lease cannot be used to execute anything else. They won’t be able to provide my signature. I’m already working to dispute it with the 3 credit agencies. 

Also, based on the timeline, their unique decision to put this tradeline on my credit report, happened less than 36 hours AFTER the property owner was notified, making it retaliation in accordance with ORS 90.385(1) which prohibits landlord retaliation. 

Now when I say thank you, and bring you flowers, that means something to me. My words and actions mean something. I represent my family, God, and myself by my words and actions. 

Based on everything that's happened, and the amount of work and time I have put into all this--I am fucking furious and righteously outraged. I hope they don't settle with me and I can launch my full-scale public accountability campaign, in all 7 states. My media kit and contact list are 45 people and organizations deep. My press release is already live on my website under "Take Action: Next Wave" if you wanted to look at it.

Depending on their decision to either stop my campaign by accepting my offer, or letting me continue on my public campaign for systematic & public accountability, as well as tangible change, you might just have to take me to lunch to hear the whole story. If they accept my offer, I have created good faith terms that limit what I have on my website and social media. Buy me lunch, and I'll tell you all about it though.

Next Wave Property Management LLC, and their agents, Erika Barajas, and Karla Perez , lied to me about a clean home, you knew about the cockroach infestation. Kala Molinsky, an asset manager for Next Wave Property Management LLC, is also complicit in numerous violations, as is being investigated by the Oregon Real Estate Agency.

Your hired maintenance staff is performing an unsafe, unlicensed automotive business, while still being paid their standard 9-5pm. I mean, I don’t have window screens that fit my bedroom or kitchen window! It's September 15th!

The property , “The Nash Apartments”, is worth between $16-21 million dollars. The property owner lives in San Clemente, California. The property management company, “Next Wave Property Management LLC” has two different smaller holding companies. It’s also based in Nevada, while having permits to conduct business in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, and Texas. They recently opened a new subsidiary in December of 2024.

These are not local people, they aren’t people based in our reality, they do not care about us, and even with the reminder of the agencies, it’s not us they are scared of, it’s just the fines, money, and public accountability from that, never about us, the individual renters themselves. It’s time for a reminder, a wake up call, their status quo is ending.

So instead of yelling, cursing, or misdirected anger, I put that anger to use. The last landlord I had, murdered my youngest cat with their willful negligence, they disabled another cat of mine, living with black mold changes you permanently, and I am still “detoxing” and trying to find my own baseline.

Now, it’s a message to landlords, property owners, and property management companies, you work for us, it’s not the other way around.

We have the same rights you have in your own home. Does not matter if your home is worth $1 million, or a one-bedroom apartment.

I have filed full-and compelling reports to:

City of Gresham Code Compliance 

City of Gresham Rental Housing Inspection

Oregon DMV Enforcement Division 

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Multnomah County Health Department 

And this is not the complete list either.

The story is on-going, it’s interesting, it’s not just for me but for my neighbors, for everyone who deserves the same clean safe home that I do. I’m privileged in knowing how to use the system and make it work for us, instead of the other way around. I’m a proud Indigenous K’iche woman, and I am a survivor of human trafficking. It doesn’t matter what capacity it is, or whose voice needs amplifying, I am an advocate, based in unconditional love and light. It’s not about a lawsuit, or making power plays, it’s about holding people accountable, reminding them that we are people, the money doesn’t just appear in your account, it comes from hard work and sacrifices you won’t ever know or understand. We are not going to be taken advantage of in silence anymore.

My voice is strong and powerful and I hope it shows others their voice is equally powerful and strong too. Community is real, and it’s worth fighting up.

Our human rights are the only thing we have at the end of the day, how we do treat others, how we do treat others that are different from us, how to hold space for each person without trying to make them choose a side

The rules of human interaction and engagement have strayed too long and too far.

It is absolutely critical to remind people again of how strong we are together when standing in true love, light, hope, kindness, and justice. 

Please remember to Smile. A smile is the most powerful form of resistance.

By Julia Grace Garfield, September 15th, 2025