AARP recently launched a new podcast series, “The Perfect Scam.” The series features author and journalist Bob Sullivan and Frank Abagnale, a fraud expert with over 40 years of experience advising the FBI and lecturing about embezzlement & forgery. Abagnale’s criminal (mis)adventures were featured in the movie Catch Me if You Can.
In this past week’s must listen to (or if like me, you’re more a reader, must-read) episode “California man almost loses his stepmother in guardianship dispute,” Sullivan and Abagnale take on the issue of guardianship and conservatorship abuse with a slew of guests to discuss the issue.
The episode highlights a California guardianship case, previously covered in detail by an AARP Magazine story. The podcast and article highlight the story of a man and his step-mother who found themselves in the center of a court-ordered guardianship that cost her precious time and both of them over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. AARP succinctly noted at the time, “A court-ordered guardianship nearly shattered Kise Davis’ life, in a trend that too often leads to isolation and exploitation of older Americans.”
In that case, Mrs. Davis was already showing signs of early dementia but was in frequent contact with her step-son, with whom she had no formal or legal ties, Larry Davis. Larry worried about her health and was already looking into options to have her moved closer to him, going so far as to have his stepmother assessed by a social worker. The assessment stated she was capable of living on her own, as did a subsequent evaluation done just before the court-ordered conservatorship.
In the time before the case, Mrs. Davis gave her power of attorney to her handyman (after having previously given it to her son, then a friend, and then back to her son). After realizing, as he put it, he was “in over his head,” the handyman reached out to an attorney who then told him to contact the court system. He then petitioned to have a guardian put into place for Davis, an order that was granted. According to the AARP story, “Kise’s newly appointed guardian, a company called Advocate Services of Las Cruces, had placed her in a dementia-care facility by order of the court. It took Larry more than a week to reach her there. When they finally spoke, on Christmas Eve, she seemed to believe she’d booked herself a room, though now they wouldn’t let her go. “They’ve put me in an insane asylum,” she told him, weeping. “Please come and get me out of here.”
According to several published reports, details of the case diverge around the time of the court order based on who you speak to. This is not uncommon in cases, even with early-onset dementia, as those at the center can give conflicting information to those in their lives. One thing is clear: Mrs. Davis’s dementia, which included some form of paranoia, was progressing, and she could use more oversight than she was getting at the time of the court-ordered conservatorship. The issue at hand being could the son have been made aware earlier of what was happening with his loved one and, additionally, when he came forward to intervene on her behalf, should the court have moved more promptly in giving him control.
It took him an astonishing 14-months for the court system to right the wrong and make him his step-mother’s caregiver.
In Feb. 2018, AARP reported, “At 87, Kise is physically healthy, and Larry hopes she’ll remain so. But her freedom came at a considerable cost. He spent more than $50,000 on legal bills and other expenses; the charges to Kise’s estate during her ordeal are expected to top $140,000. And that’s not counting the existential toll.
“They took 14 of Kise’s last months away from her and made it a nightmare,” says Larry, who testified before New Mexico’s guardianship commission at last year’s hearings. “It was like a hostage situation. No one should have to go through what happened to us.” A sentiment I have repeated in print and on-air throughout this series.
During my short time personally investigating cases throughout Alabama and reading about dozens of others nationally, I’ve learned that many, if not most guardianship and conservatorship cases involve the exploitation of seniors with memory problems and early-onset dementia. Courts like to err on the side of caution in their efforts to “protect” the vulnerable, frequently leaving them and their assets vulnerable to those seeking to abuse the system.
Exploiters of the court system and physicians they work in concert with (sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly) overstate the problems facing a ward or potential ward. I cannot overstate the potential for problems in a system in which the “protectors,” be it doctors, nursing homes, guardians, and others, are given more money and/or control based on findings of memory issues. Courts, either through laziness, ineptness, busyness, or even corruption itself, have been increasingly quick to sign off on taking away the rights and freedom of those brought before them, a problem we should all be in a hurry to address.
The podcast highlights a few public cases of fraud that have occurred throughout the nation. I wanted to link to those stories to add details and context to the events and to the ease and length of the deception by bad actors in the system.
- Rebecca Fierle of Ocala, FL, is currently facing charges brought in Feb. of 2020. A Spectrum News13 report at the time of her arrest said the following:
- “State agents arrested Fierle on Monday in Marion County, where she lives. Records show Fierle was booked into the Marion County Jail at about 6:30 p.m.
- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that Fierle was charged with aggravated abuse of an elderly person and neglecting an elderly person on a warrant out of Hillsborough County. The arrest was connected to the death of 74-year-old Steven Stryker, a Brevard County man who died in her care last year at a hospital in Tampa.
- “The guardian who caused my dad’s death has been arrested. It’s encouraging that the state has brought charges. But the problem of guardian abuse does not go away with her. The laws vary state to state and God forbid you, or someone you love, falls into the control of a bad one like her,” Stryker’s daughter, Kim, said Tuesday.
- A phenomenal report on this case that details Fierle’s role as a guardian to over 450 wards in 13 counties throughout Florida can be found here.
- Susan Harris and Sharon Moore, the co-founders of Ayundando Guardians, William Harris, Susan’s husband, and Craig Young, Susan’s son, are facing decades in prison each for their role in a case that involved an estimated $11 million in theft through their guardianship company in New Mexico. Money that detailed in documents released by a news report on KRQE highlighted went to a $50,000 Mercedes Benz purchase, vacations, and personal purchases. A statement by the Department of Justice, March 3, 2020, laid out their crimes.
- Susan Harris was the 95% owner of Ayudando and acted as president; Moore was a 5% owner and acted as chief financial officer of Ayudando. They engaged in a decade-long pattern of sophisticated criminal conduct from November 2006 to July 2017. This included unlawfully transferring money from client accounts to a comingled account without any client-based justification as part of the fraud scheme and money laundering conspiracy. Susan Harris and Sharon Moore wrote and endorsed numerous checks, often of more than $10,000, from these comingled accounts to themselves, family members, cash, and other parties where payment would benefit their families. The stolen funds were used to fund a luxury lifestyle and were used to purchase homes, vehicles, luxury RVs and cruises, as well as a private box at “the Pit” at the University of New Mexico. The stolen funds were also utilized to pay off more than $4.4 million in American Express charges incurred by the defendants and their families.
- In order to conceal the fraud scheme, Moore created and sent forged and fraudulent reports to the Veterans Administration for fiduciary clients. She falsified bank statements and annual reports to disguise the theft of money from client accounts. Susan Harris also took acts to maintain Ayudando’s appearance of legitimacy, including submitting a proposal to the New Mexico Office of Guardianship, which contained numerous false representations, including a false claim that another defendant was a nationally certified guardian at the time of the submission.
- Sharon Moore was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- According to a press release issued by the Internal Revenue Service, Craig Young was sentenced to 71-months in prison and 3-years supervised release following his incarceration. “Young pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2019. In his plea agreement, he admitted committing these crimes while employed as a guardian for Ayudando. Young used a business American Express card to pay personal expenses. He knew that Sharon Moore of Albuquerque, who served as co-owner and chief financial officer at Ayudando, paid his American Express bill each month from at least 2010 to June 2017 using funds from Ayudando‘s client reimbursement and petty cash accounts.”
- The Harris’s initially took a plea deal but then skipped town, assumed fake names, and tried to start a new life. Prosecutors have since withdrawn their deal. According to a June 3, 2020 news report, “They were found in Shawnee, Oklahoma, where prosecutors say they were living under the alias Marvin and Cheryl Valdez. They say the couple spent a substantial amount of money to buy fake IDs showing they were from Utah and purchased a new vehicle. William even secured a job at a grocery store in an attempt to fit in. Prosecutors are now asking the judge to sentence William to the full 15 years he faced. It’s unclear how much time they want Susan to face. She was looking at 30 years.”
These are just a few of the cases they highlighted, but the details should be jarring enough to make even the most complacent see how important additional safeguards are for this important system.
In talking to Sullivan at the end of the podcast, Larry Davis gave a key point of advice that we should all heed, “There’s one lesson I learned is that no matter how awkward it seems to be intervening in your loved one’s life, and how much they may resist it because of their own independence, you cannot get in there too soon.”
As important as shining a spotlight on this issue is Sullivan and Abagnale also focus on efforts being taken by AARP’s policy arm to protect seniors and their families and to hold fraudsters accountable. AARP provides a wealth of information on guardianships and conservatorships.
Here are a few places to start:
This is the latest installment in an ongoing investigative series. You can earlier posts Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here, Part 5 here, and Part 6 here.
