Mayor, commissioners will not follow up on audit that criticized oversight of Guardian program

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ORLANDO, Fla. — WESH 2 News is investigating the state's Guardian Program.

It's designed to care for people, often elderly, who are incapacitated.

WESH 2 News investigative reporter Greg Fox explains why Orange County's mayor and commissioners are not going to follow up on an audit that criticized oversight of the program.

Rebecca Fierle is a former professional guardian who is charged with aggravated abuse and neglect of the elderly, related to the death of one of her wards, Steven Stryker.

Jan Garwood was a former Fierle Ward, whose attorney persuaded a judge last fall to restore her rights.

"And I said, 'please, if anybody is reading this, please help me. I've been kidnapped and forced into a locked facility,'" Garwood said.

Fierle was just one of the professional guardians whose questionable financial control over their wards was exposed in a March audit by Orange County's comptroller. It also suggested that the clerk of courts who oversees the Guardian program was not doing an adequate job.

After examining 3,300 cases, the audit revealed in just 14 cases, "unsupported expenses" of $1.25 million, for living facilities, medical expenses, and for "other" unexplained expenses.

But Clerk Tiffany Moore Russell pushed back, saying comptroller Phil Diamond doesn't understand how the program works.

"That this could still happen? That's really the saddest point," Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe said.

That's why Uribe asked for a commission workshop, to learn more.

But at a recent Public Safety Coordinating Council meeting, Russell rejected the idea.

"This is not the venue," Tiffany Moore Russell, Orange County Clerk Of Courts, said, "to address those issues regarding Guardianship."

Instead, she referred WESH 2 News to the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers Association. In an email, a spokesman told WESH 2 News a new task force will "focus on Guardianship in Florida and make recommendations on improvements to the process."

"We will continue to work with our judiciary as far as our processes in making sure we are doing our best to protect those most vulnerable," Russell said.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said what the clerk really needs, is more money from the state.

"To look at legislative relief and funding to better fund the guardianship program," Demings said.

But critics, who believe local clerks and judges can be manipulated by guardians and their attorneys, want lawmakers to establish a statewide court and jury.

The Clerk and Comptroller Association could not provide a timetable for the new task force beginning or completing its work.

 

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Mayor, commissioners will not follow up on audit that criticized oversight of Guardian program