Chad Justice resigns as guardian of Johnnie Sharp, widow of Big Red CEO Donal Sharp

Four charged in alleged financial exploitation of Ms. Sharp 

John Jay Justice, Cassandra Draper, Chad Justice and Mary Justice.(Photos: Tommy Witherspoon for KWTX)

By Tommy Witherspoon

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - One of four people charged with negligently caring for and financially exploiting Johnnie Sharp, the 79-year-old widow of former Big Red president Donal Sharp, resigned as her guardian Friday, three weeks after his indictment on felony charges associated with her care.

McLennan County Court-at-Law Judge Vik Deivanayagam accepted Chad Justice’s resignation as guardian during a brief hearing attended by friends and supporters of Sharp’s son, Brad Sharp, and members of the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office, who are prosecuting Justice and his co-defendants, which include his mother and brother.

The hearing was prompted by a motion filed by Brad Sharp’s attorneys, John Mabry and John Lewis, who said Sharp ultimately will seek guardianship over his mother’s “substantial estate” and her well-being.

In the meantime, the judge appointed the charitable social service agency Friends for Life as temporary guardianship over Mrs. Sharp’s well-being, stripping Chad Justice of any authority over Mrs. Sharp.

Deivanayagam appointed Friends for Life guardians over Mrs. Sharp’s estate after a hearing in September 2024, while appointing Chad Justice guardian over her well-being after being presented with a declaration from Mrs. Sharp indicating she didn’t want her son to be her guardian.

That changed when Chad Justice, his brother, Jay Justice, their mother, Mary Justice, and Jay Justice’s girlfriend, Cassandra Draper, were indicted. All four remain free on bond and did not attend Friday’s hearing.

Mabry said that Mary Justice and Johnnie Sharp were friends, and he and Brad Sharp believe she and her sons “drove a wedge between Brad and his mother in an effort to benefit themselves financially, which is exactly what they have been indicted for.”

Mabry said he thinks the family has taken “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of Johnnie Sharp’s money.

“We believe the facts will show Mrs. Sharp was suffering from dementia, memory loss, confusion and serious physical and cognitive impairments when she executed that declaration, and it was the result of undue influence and fraud on her by Chad Justice, his brother, Jay Justice, and Jay’s wife, Cassandra Draper, and their mother, Mary Justice,” Mabry said. “All of them have been indicted criminally for endangering Johnnie Sharp physically and financially exploiting her.”

Chad Justice, 51, is charged with injury to an elderly individual, a first-degree felony, exploitation of an elderly individual, a third-degree felony, and endangering an elderly individual, a state jail felony.

Mary Justice, 79, is charged with injury to an elderly individual, endangering an elderly individual and exploitation of an elderly induvial.

Jay Justice, 54, and Draper, 36, are both charged with exploitation of an elderly individual.

Court records show Jay Justice remains on felony probation in a 2015 case in which he was convicted of pointing an AR-15 rifle at two teens who were visiting his daughter at 1 a.m. at their Robinson home.

McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens said Friday his office is in the process of determining if it will attempt to revoke Jay Justice’s probation because of the new charge. 

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Chad Justice resigns as guardian of Johnnie Sharp, widow of Big Red CEO Donal Sharp

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Judge amends bond conditions in elder exploitation cases involving widow of former Big Red president