by Mardi Link
Jul. 23—PETOSKEY — A Harbor Springs man defrauded in 2020 by a court-appointed conservator — who spent $14,000 on lingerie, electronic cigarettes and cash withdrawals — has lost faith in a system he says missed opportunities to get his money back.
"She outsmarted the court and she's still doing it," said George Pappas, 97, a widower and World War II veteran. "I try to support the courts, but they have done nothing for me."
Pappas in the fall of 2020 approached the Veterans Administration about getting temporary help to get his car fixed, make dental appointments, and organize his finances, after his wife, Geneva Pappas, died a few months prior.
An Emmet County Probate Court judge appointed Elise Page, 42, as his conservator. At that time, Pappas said, he wasn't sure what a conservator was — or what authority that person would have over his money.
"I know what they are now," he said. "I know they can do whatever they want and nobody's watching 'em do it."
Michigan's Estate and Protected Individuals Code provides for conservators to be appointed when a court determines a person can no longer handle their own finances; a guardian is similarly appointed to make medical and housing decisions.
These judicial decisions are meant to protect a person's money, health, home, or all three, and many guardians and conservators — who can be family members or professionals — serve without ever running afoul of the law.
But when things go awry, as they did in Pappas' case, victims have little recourse and a criminal prosecution is no guarantee they'll be made whole.
Record-Eagle reporters in August 2021 first began examining records in a dozen Michigan probate courts. They found a steady stream of worrisome stories ranging from family isolation to outright theft.
In Pappas' case, for example, records show Page told a police investigator on Dec. 14, 2020, that she had enough money in her personal checking account to pay Pappas back.
"In that statement she wrote all charges to Pappas' account were hers and she was going to provide two cashiers checks to cover the amounts," Harbor Springs Police Chief Kyle Knight wrote in a report.
That never happened.
Instead, Page stopped responding to calls and texts from police and was charged by an Emmet County prosecutor with felony embezzlement, embezzling from a vulnerable adult and using a computer to commit a crime.
On July 26, 2021, she pleaded guilty to a single count of embezzlement, served five months in jail, sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to pay full restitution to Pappas, plus court fees and costs.
Court records and email correspondence show that, since then, Page has paid $300 in court costs, a $130 crime-victim-rights fee, and is expected to pay the $60 DNA specimen fee and the $68 in state minimum costs, prior to her scheduled release from probation later this month.
The $2,500 Pappas was received from the Victim Rights Fund, however, and $13,400 of the $14,300 restitution she still owes him, remains unpaid, court records show.
Adding to Pappas' frustration, he said, is something else he's since learned about Michigan laws surrounding probate court procedure — judges have discretion over whether to require the conservators they appoint to be bonded.
A surety bond ensures a protected individual will receive compensation for financial harm if the conservator steals their money or defrauds them out of valuables or property.
When Judge Valerie Snyder appointed Page to be Pappas' conservator, records show she hand-wrote a note on the petition: "Bond will be considered after inventory is filed."
Conservators have 56 days to file an "inventory," which is essentially an accounting of a person's estate.
Bank records show it took Page just 39 days to spend $13,915.47 of Pappas' money — it was gone before any inventory was ever filed or required.
"I've talked with the court, I've emailed the prosecutor's office, I've sent a package of information about George to the attorney general's office and I've called politicians," said Matthew Bush, the service coordinator at The Village of Hillside, a low-income senior apartment where Pappas lives.
"No one seems to know how to hold these people accountable."
Pappas and Bush, an ally, have reached out to a variety of officials for help — including an assistant prosecutor with the Emmet County Prosecutor's office.
An email response shows they were told their best bet would be to hire a civil attorney who could garnish Page's wages.
"I know this isn't a great answer for Mr. Pappas, but the courts are prohibited from putting people in jail simply due to unpaid money and the probation department intends to end her probation, at which time the criminal case will be completely concluded," Mike Schuitema, an assistant county prosecutor, said in a July 7 email to Bush.
"The only avenues left will be through private attorneys putting garnishments on her wages or liens on her property," Schuitema said.
Neither state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who launched an Elder Abuse Task Force in 2019, nor the state Legislature, where bills on reforming portions of the conservatorship and guardianship system languish in committee, have provided a solution.
Staff attorneys with Nessel's office have actively prosecuted dozens of embezzlement cases where the victim is elderly and the accused theft large.
For example, Lisa Lundy, 52, of Macomb, was charged last year with more than a dozen felonies, one of which was conducting a criminal enterprise, in the theft of money from vulnerable adults her company, Community Guardian Care, was appointed to serve.
On July 10, Constance Marie Roberts, 66, of Flint, was charged with four counts of embezzlement of $100,000 or more from a vulnerable adult, and four counts of failing to file taxes. Roberts is accused of taking large sums of money and multiple vehicles from her husband after he began showing signs of cognitive decline.
And on June 7, David P. Sutherland, a Wayne County attorney, was bound over for trial on accusations he embezzled millions from the trust accounts of two elderly clients who had designated some of their funds for charity.
But it remains unclear how much, if any, of these funds will be recovered for the victims or their families.
And proposed legislation targeting reform in how conservators and guardians are appointed and monitored so far does not address how to enforce those collections.
Pappas said it has not been easy publicly sharing the details of his finances and his court struggles, but he did so in an effort to spare others from what he has experienced.
"I go to bed at night, and I can't clear my mind," Pappas said. "I've lost hope in the system."
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'NOBODY'S WATCHING 'EM:' WWII vet decries systemic probate court oversight failures
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