February 25, 2013
Ms. Catherine Cortez-Masto
Office of Nevada Attorney General
100 N. Carson St.
Carson City, Nevada 89701
COMPLAINT: Re: Elder Abuse
Dear Ms. Cortez-Masto:
I am writing in regard to Mr. Guadalupe Olvera, a 93 year old World War II veteran who is clearly suffering guardian abuse at the hands of professional certified private guardian Jared E. Shafer.
Mr. Olvera suffered permanent frost bite damage, vision, and hearing loss fighting in World War Two. After his wife died in 2009, he was placed in the Nevada guardianship program because he had no relatives living in Nevada to help him settle his affairs, a requirement of Nevada law.
In 2003, Carmela and Guadalupe Olvera moved from Santa Cruz County, California to Sun City Anthem in Henderson. Soon after arriving in the Las Vegas area, Carmela attended an estate planning seminar given by John Dawson at the Sun City Anthem Community Center. She and several other residents hired Dawson of Lionel Sawyer Collins to create trusts and wills, only to discover he had made himself executor of many of their estates.
Carmela died in November 2009 leaving her then 91 year old husband to live alone in their 3,000 square foot home. The Olvera’s only living child, Rebecca Olvera Schultz, flew to Las Vegas to make arrangements to move her father to their home in Santa Cruz County. Rebecca was informed because her mother had been guardian over her father's 'person,' she needed a temporary guardian to settle Guadalupe's affairs so he can leave Nevada. For-hire guardian Jared Shafer was recommended by someone working in the Clark County Guardianship Commissioner's Office of Jon Norheim.
Against court policy, the court gave Shafer's unlisted home phone number to Rebecca. After hiring Shafer, Rebecca was reportedly told that it will take two or three months to "package things up."
She had no idea that she had just signed over her father's person and entire fortune to a stranger with a highly questionable background.
Mr. Olvera's Henderson home is free and clear and worth an estimated $500,000. He also has a late model Toyota and sizable bank accounts at Wells Fargo.
The first time Rebecca and her husband Robert Schultz were allowed to visit after Shafer established guardianship, they were not allowed to spend the night in Guadalupe’s home despite the fact that he had two spare bedrooms, forcing them to check into a hotel. During the next several months, Shafer allowed Rebecca and Robert to stay at Guadalupe’s home, but for no more than four days at a time. Patience Bristol, Shafer's assistant guardian, told Mr. and Mrs. Schultz that if they spoke to Guadalupe about the guardianship, they would have to limit their visits.
Months after becoming guardian, Shafer told Rebecca that it will take much longer to settle Mr. Olvera's affairs. In January 2010, with her patience exhausted, Rebecca hired a Las Vegas law firm to petition the court to have Shafer's guardianship terminated. Shafer's attorneys (at Olvera's expense) objected, telling the court that Schultz is an "exploiter" though she's Olvera's only living child.
On April 27, 2010, the eve of a court hearing, Shafer advised Patience Bristol to send a text to Guadalupe's caregiver stating "You are NOT to bring Lupe to court," denying Mr. Olvera the right to attend his own hearing the following morning.
On September 8, 2010, another hearing was held in the court of Family Court Commissioner Jon Norheim, and Guadalupe was reluctantly allowed to attend. After Norheim ruled he could not leave Vegas, Guadalupe demanded to be heard. He told the court that he wants to relocate to California, stating: "I'm going to go to California no matter what! I'm not going to live here. I don't need that man either. I don't need Jared (Shafer)."
In his 2 minute 27 second plea, Mr. Olvera unequivocally stated his desires to be relieved of Mr. Shafer’s guardianship.
He asked that he be allowed to spend his final days with his large family in Santa Cruz. In open court, Olvera was repeatedly interrupted by the judge and Shafer's attorney Alan Freer. He was mocked, condescended, and ignored after he said "Give me a Chance!"
(Continue reading on Guardelupe Olvera's Profile on NASGA's Victims page)
Sincerely,
Steve Miller, Friend of the Olvera family
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I mailed the above letter via Registered Mail to assure it was received by Ms. Cortez-Masto. After receiving my receipt, I waited patiently for her reply. None followed.
As a former public official, I am not one to waste my time researching and composing lengthy letters to public officials that go ignored.
In Mr. Olvera's case, my initial attempt to interest then-Clark County District Attorney David Roger was not expected to garner a response because of his friendship with Mr. Shafer, but in order to establish a paper trail, I tried nonetheless. Upon receiving no response, I turned to the Office of the Nevada Attorney General.
I was a resident of Clark County in 1976 when Ms. Cortez-Masto's late father then-Clark County Commissioner Manny Cortez initially appointed his friend Jared Shafer to the position of Clark County Administrator/Public Guardian. Since then, Shafer has stolen millions of dollars from those he was assigned to protect.
Because of Shafer and Manny Cortez' close friendship, I should also have assumed Catherine would be loyal to her father's crony, but I tried to inform her nonetheless believing she was a devoted public servant. I was wrong - again. Mr. Shafer's political influence reached all the way to Carson City at that time in Nevada history.
However, two years after my failed attempt to interest the Nevada A.G. in the racketeering enterprise mastermined by Shafer and his corrupt band of local Family Court judges, the Las Vegas Review-Journal took interest, and published the first in its series of front page stories about Shafer's victims, "Escape was only option for an old soldier trapped in guardian system."
After reading this story, and realizing that she missed her opportunity to be a true Nevada hero, Ms. Cortez should have been ashamed of herself.
Today, in spite of Cortez-Masto's indifference in 2013, several local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are conducting in depth investigations of Las Vegas cases of guardianship fraud and abuse including that of Mr. Olvera. - SM
April 11, 2015
Escape was only option for an old soldier trapped in guardian system
By COLTON LOCHHEAD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
That wasn’t the case a few years ago, when he was isolated and alone, a prisoner in his Henderson home — a ward of Clark County, surrounded by people he didn’t know who were supposed to protect him, but who ended up with more than $420,000 of his money, most of his estate.
More information on Jared E. Shafer
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| Jared E. Shafer |
See Also:
NASGA: Guadelupe Olvera, NV/CA Victim
Steve, you never let up!
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