Ex-wife asks for extra youngster assist, claims she’s too ailing to work; Video proof contradicts their claims

EL PASO COUNTY — An investigative report from News 5 ends with findings for a man who spent years trying to prove his ex-wife was milking the court system so she could continue receiving child support payments.

After a 14-year marriage that ended more than a decade ago, Helga Czarbecki and her attorney filed filings claiming she was too ill to work and needed more child support.

Our investigative team revealed that not only did Czarnecki work, she had no problem telling our undercover cameras how much money she was making.

“It seems like an uphill battle to prove things,” said Greg Czarnecki, Helga’s ex-husband.

SOLDIER

Gregory and Teresa

Greg and his current wife, Teresa, approached News 5 Investigates for help. The couple claimed that Helga was not honest in court about her employment and income.

For the last ten years, Helga had collected alimony to support her.

Court filings show earlier this year that Helga’s attorney, R. Gregory Haller, filed filings not only to continue spousal payments, but to increase the amount Helga received from $100 to $600 a month.

SOLDIER

Chief Investigative Reporter Eric Ross searches court records

Coming through years of court records, we learned that Helga had testimonies from a former employer claiming she could no longer lift and was working at a building maintenance company.

While that may be true at one point, cellphone video taken by one of Helga’s neighbors clearly shows Helga lifting and moving a liner for a backyard water pond just days before she appeared in court for a hearing.

Photo from next door

Helga lifting foil for pond

There is also a cell phone video that Teresa provided to us showing Helga dancing with a male stripper in a club.

Video provided by Teresa Czarnecki from Helga’s Facebook page

Helga appears to be dancing with a male stripper (2017)

The couple believe this footage does not indicate a woman who is too ill to work.

Teresa Czarnecki

Helga’s Facebook post

“If someone could just follow her daily and see how she’s doing when she goes to the grocery store,” Teresa told News 5 She Is, and then the videos when she’s in the courtroom how she’s doing.”

After our original story aired, Helga called the News 5 Investigates hotline and left a voicemail.

“For one thing, I never said I couldn’t work,” said Helga.

You may find this claim odd because Helga’s own attorney filed court documents on June 8, 2021, specifically telling the courts that Helga “was unable to work at all as of the last week of May.”

In a request for increased spousal payments, Helga’s attorney also said his client’s health had deteriorated in 2021 and continued to deteriorate at an accelerated rate.

Helga’s attorney also stated that she was only taking care of one client as a caregiver due to her pain and health issues.

“If you’re qualified to take care of people’s loved ones, you would think you’re qualified to take care of yourself,” Greg said.

News 5 Investigates responded to an advert that Helga posted on the care services website Nextdoor.

Next door

next door ad

Remember that Helga’s attorney tried to get the courts to increase the spousal payments due to Helga’s medical problems and disability.

To prove that Helga was able-bodied and had multiple jobs, we asked a KOAA employee to bring Helga to a meeting at a local Starbucks to talk about her nursing services.

Helga met one of our undercover employees at a local Starbucks and admitted that she takes care of four customers and revealed that one of her customers pays her $2,000 a month.

After that meeting and prior to our original broadcast, we reached out to Helga through her attorney to discuss what we captured on video.

Haller declined to comment.

After this evidence came to light, we have since learned that Helga dropped her application for child support. In the future, Greg and Teresa will not have to pay Helga a penny.

A divorce case that has remained “open” in the court system for 13 years (since 2009) is now being closed just months after our story exposed the truth.

“I knew your story blew her out of the water,” Teresa told News 5 in a follow-up call.

Teresa and Greg are now in Texas, but News 5 Investigates was able to reach them by phone for a response.

“There will be no contact, not even through third parties,” Teresa said. “We can’t contact her and she can’t contact us anyway and that’s like a fourfold blessing. Not only did it all end, but she will never be able to contact us again.”

The only verbal correspondence we received from Helga was via voicemail.

“You don’t know anything,” said Helga. “You are not a good person. You’re just an egoist and you don’t know anything about me. You went from a one-sided story and acted it out because you wanted it on the news.”

News 5 reached out to Helga’s attorney twice for his reaction to the ending of this case.

We haven’t heard back.

In the meantime, News 5 Investigates reached out to Helga directly one last time to give her the chance to explain her point of view.

“I can’t talk to you,” Helga said in a text message.

A subsequent message to Helga did not come back.

Need our help to uncover wrongdoing or investigate an issue our community is facing? Email us: News5Investigates@KOAA.com

Transparency Report:

After our story aired, News 5 received a request to testify in court at an upcoming hearing in this case. This hearing was canceled because the matter was resolved and closed before the scheduled court date. KOAA’s corporate legal team responded to the attorneys in this case by telling them that we would continue to provide factual reporting on the matter but would not testify on behalf of either party.