American Idol Finalist LaKisha Jones Could be Jailed for not Paying Flint Father's Bills

"American Idol" finalist and Flint native LaKisha Jones could face jail time for failing to pay her father's nursing home bills after she was named his legal guardian, a judge ruled.

Jones, a Flint native, was found guilty by Judge Jennie Barkey on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 at Genesee County Courthouse of civil contempt of court for failing to pay her father's nursing home bills.

Genesee Probate Judge Jennie Barkey found Jones guilty of civil contempt of court Feb. 25, after the court was alerted that Jones' father was involuntarily transferred out of a nursing home for failure to pay and was behind in payments at his current nursing home.

Barkey told Jones that she has 60 days to catch up on the missing payments or she could be sentenced to time in the Genesee County Jail.

"I didn't steal my dad's money," Jones told the judge before the ruling.

Flint attorney Christopher J. Ebbott, who represented Jones, declined to comment on Barkey's ruling.
Jones, 34, was granted full guardianship of her now-68-year-old father Aug. 7, 2012, after he was released from Hurley Medical Center in June 2012 following a stroke, according to court records.

Barkey's ruling also removed Jones as her father's legal guardian.

The guardianship required Jones to pay the monthly bills for her father's care at a Flint skilled nursing facility after doctors told the court her father was unable to reasonably understand his condition.

However, a court-appointed advocate for her father reported to the court in July 2013 that Jones' father was involuntarily discharged from the facility after Jones failed to pay nearly $6,500 for her father's care.

He was placed at a new facility in April 2013, where again Jones fell behind in making payments for her father, according to court records. A billing representative from the facility testified Tuesday that Jones still owed more than $1,600 to the facility despite making a $2,000 payment less than two weeks before Tuesday's hearing.

Jones, who now lives in Texas, was responsible for paying $987 per month for her father's nursing home care at the most-recent facility. Her father receives $1,047 monthly in Social Security benefits.
Barkey asked Jones where her father's Social Security payments were going if they weren't being used to pay for the nursing care.

"I was paying his apartment and other things as well," Jones told the judge.

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American Idol Finalist LaKisha Jones Could be Jailed for not Paying Flint Father's Bills