Nebraska State Auditor: Guardian Fleeced State Wards

Judith Widener of Scottsbluff has confessed to embezzling money from state wards who could not take care of themselves, Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley said Monday in a press conference.

Widener, 70, had 46 wards in Lincoln County, according to the state auditor's report.  

In a finding of wide ranging fraud, Foley said Widener, a Health and Human Services guardian with 600 clients scattered across the state, is under prosecution.

 

Widener confessed Wednesday to auditors, accompanied by the Nebraska State Patrol. She was jailed Friday in Scottsbluff.

 

She held an array of credit cards and more than 40 bank accounts that could have been used to shuffle money. Foley said her bank accounts contained more than $600,000.

 

She made a recorded confession to the auditors, indicating she knowingly misappropriated monies that belonged to wards, Foley said.

 

She is held on $500,000 bond.

 

Widener also operated a debt and credit counseling service company called Safe Haven, Inc.

 

Widener's alleged embezzlement was the worst case among several, Foley said. Auditors looked at assistance programs for roughly 6,000 vulnerable Nebraskans who are elderly, blind, or disabled.

 

The programs are run by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and cost nearly $15 million a year in state tax dollars. The audit team found the programs to be riddled with problems – some of which are criminal in nature, Foley said.

 

The random check by auditors found, in 36% of the instances that were reviewed, the Department of Health and Human Services was making cash payments for living expenses or medical payments that were unreasonable or in direct violation of state law or regulations, Foley said.

 

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State Auditor:  Guardian Fleeced State Wards