Woman charged with theft remained the court-appointed guardian for dozens of vulnerable Nebraskans

Advocates say the case is evidence of “a systemic failure” to protect the 10,000-plus Nebraskans placed in guardianships or conservatorships. 

By Andrew Wegley 

Becky Stamp had already been ordered to repay clients for inflated fees that she took from their accounts when a judge signed a warrant for her arrest in early November.

A court-appointed guardian who managed the lives and finances of dozens of vulnerable Nebraskans across 18 counties, Stamp allegedly racked up more than $21,000 in charges at shops across York using an account belonging to a man deemed incapable of making his own financial decisions, according to court documents. She was arrested and charged with three felonies, including abuse of a vulnerable adult.

Some judges — who appoint and oversee guardians in Nebraska — moved quickly to suspend or revoke Stamp’s powers. Others ordered reviews of Stamp’s financial filings.

But more than a month after her arrest, Stamp remained the guardian for at least 25 vulnerable Nebraskans, maintaining her authority over their living arrangements, medical care and, in most cases, finances, according to a Flatwater Free Press review of court filings in 42 cases in which Stamp had been appointed.

Advocates say the case is further evidence of “a systemic failure” to protect the 10,000-plus Nebraskans who, often due to old age, disabilities or injuries, are deemed by judges to be unable to care for themselves and placed in guardianships or conservatorships.

“I think that Nebraska is in desperate need of a safety net of more oversight for guardians,” said Amy Miller, a staff attorney at the nonprofit advocacy group Disability Rights Nebraska, which first publicized Stamp’s alleged theft in December.

The full extent of Stamp’s alleged thefts remains unclear. A state official told the Supreme Court Commission on Guardianships and Conservatorships in November that when she was arrested, Stamp served as the guardian and/or Social Security payee — a separate federal designation giving Stamp access to her clients’ government benefits — in approximately 77 cases, according to meeting minutes provided by the judicial branch.

In a search warrant filed in York County, a State Patrol investigator accused Stamp of moving money from the bank accounts of four more Nebraskans. A spokesman for the patrol said the agency is looking for additional victims.

In at least one case, Stamp’s alleged financial abuse did not end when she was charged, according to court filings.

In Merrick County, a judge waived required credit and criminal history checks in October to appoint Stamp as the guardian for a 46-year-old man diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Then, in December, Stamp wrote an $810 check to herself from the man’s account, an attorney alleged in a court filing.

The 46-year-old told his attorney that Stamp cashed the check and kept $400 for herself Dec. 5 — nearly a month after her arrest and at least three weeks after courts had been notified of the charges against her, according to the filing and other public records.

“I suppose the reality is that it would be foolish for anyone in the position of facing a criminal charge to continue to act in a wrongful way,” Miller said. “But technically, she does still have the power of guardianship until that has been revoked by a judge.” 

Through her attorney, Stamp declined to comment.

Individual judges deferred to Corey Steel, the state court administrator. Steel said the judicial branch has “informal mechanisms” in place to immediately alert judges to potential issues “so the judge can determine what the next steps are.”

Steel declined to detail how the judiciary responded to Stamp’s case specifically, citing the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct. There is nothing in state law that requires a guardian’s removal in any case.

“A lot of it is judicial discretion on those individual cases, because each case and each example is vastly different,” Steel said. “And so it’s the judges that need to make the determination if they’re fit to be a guardian or not based on whatever allegations are being brought forward.”

‘I thought we had it tamed’

After a 2013 state audit revealed that a Bayard woman who had been assigned more than 600 guardianship cases had stolen thousands from her unknowing clients, Nebraska lawmakers overhauled the state’s guardianship system.

They established the Office of Public Guardian, meant to serve as a last resort for vulnerable Nebraskans who have no family able or willing to fill the role. The law’s passage made Nebraska the last state in the country to create a central office for guardianship.

The law barred public guardians within the office from taking on more than 20 cases at a time and required them to visit their clients once a month. But the law placed no such restrictions on private, for-profit guardians like Stamp. 

“It’s very sad,” said State Auditor Mike Foley, whose 2013 probe prompted the policy change. “I really thought that we had made great progress 10, 12 years ago — whenever it was when we addressed this problem. Because it was the Wild West back then. I thought we had it tamed. But obviously we didn’t.”

State law already mandated guardians undergo background checks and required regular reports on the well-being and finances of the vulnerable adults in their care. But those reports sometimes went unfilled, Foley noted back in 2013.  

In 2024, Disability Rights Nebraska raised similar concerns, warning in a report that county court staff lacked the resources to ensure guardians filed the required annual reports, much less review the documents for red flags.

The nonprofit furnished the report to the Supreme Court Commission on Guardianships and Conservatorships. Minutes from a November 2024 commission meeting said the report “highlights what this commission is working on to improve” and that the judicial branch is “really drilling down on some areas of the report that are internal system issues.”

Steel, the court administrator, said the commission proactively sought a change to state law the Legislature made last year authorizing the State Patrol to run national criminal history checks, rather than state-level checks, on those applying to serve as guardians in Nebraska.

“There is continued improvement that we need to do, and we take it serious,” he said.

State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington, who sponsored the 2025 law that nationalized criminal history checks, said she was looking into introducing legislation this year to limit caseloads for private guardians. But she cautioned that any attempts to fix the system’s shortcomings must weigh the risk of losing would-be guardians to overly burdensome paperwork requirements.

Ninety-five percent of guardians serving in Nebraska are unpaid and are often relatives or friends of the wards they are assigned to.

“I hope we do not have the kind of reaction we did the last time something really bad happened within this system, where then we have to sort of course correct over time,” she said.

Still, DeBoer acknowledged, the system “certainly didn’t work here.”

Stamp and her guardianship business — Stamped With Love LLC — now exist as Exhibit A for advocates and leaders arguing for further reform of the system.

Stamp was appointed the guardian in at least 14 new cases in 2025 — even as she was removed from others for failing to file financial reports or neglecting the Nebraskans she had been appointed to care for, according to court filings. She also faced lawsuits over unpaid debts.

Creditors sued Stamp and her husband three times in 2024. In April of that year, a debt collector filed suit in Lancaster County seeking $10,529 from the couple, who quickly repaid what they owed, according to court filings. Stamp’s alleged theft from the York man that led to her criminal charges began the same month.

In October 2024, a Red Willow County judge revoked Stamp’s guardianship in one case after the ward’s mother told the judge in a handwritten filing that Stamp had “almost zero communication” with her son in four months as his guardian.

In July 2025, judges in three counties terminated Stamp’s authority in a two-day span for failing to file annual financial reports or failing to appear at court hearings over the missing documents. Such reports are the only ones guardians in Nebraska are required to submit to state judges each year to account for their work. 

But in most cases, Stamp held onto her post.

One judge left Stamp’s guardianship in place until mid-December despite an annual financial report being 20 months overdue.

Another kept her authority intact after the 22-year-old she was appointed to care for penned a letter asking the judge for a new guardian.

“My current guardian doesn’t check up on me or talk to me,” the woman wrote. “She also doesn’t help me with anything.”

In another case, Stamp remained the guardian for a 55-year-old woman even after a judge ordered her to reimburse the woman $473 for fees and mileage she had overpaid to herself from the woman’s account.

The judge issued the order after auditing the annual form that required Stamp to detail a year’s worth of expenditures and explain why she should remain the woman’s guardian.

“So she gets the best care & nobody take advantage of her,” she wrote. 

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Woman charged with theft remained the court-appointed guardian for dozens of vulnerable Nebraskans 

Financial exploitation of seniors

By LouAnn Schulfer, AWMA®
, AIF®

With our aging population, financial exploitation of seniors is a serious and growing problem. It happens throughout all economic levels and has robbed people of their savings, their financial security, their homes and ultimately their dignity. We tend to think of criminal activity as obvious and violent. However, exploitation often begins with a much softer approach. By playing on emotions, money or other assets are often stolen through gradual persuasion, with the victim eventually signing over money or other valuables thinking they are doing the right thing by helping someone else in a time of need. Often there are promises of returning the “borrowed” money. Sometimes, the emotion is our own greed, as exploitation may be a promise of returning the money along with a great rate of return. Exploitation can escalate through coercion, trickery, deception, and even harassment and threats.

Each year, I attend LPL Financials’ annual national FOCUS conference with a few thousand other advisors and financial professionals. Protection of seniors is of such importance that it has been one of the few mandatory sessions that all securities licensed advisors have been required to attend. The SEC approved amendments to FINRA Rule 4512, Customer Account Information, and FINRA Rule 216.5, Financial Exploitation of Specified Adults. As of February of 2018, advisors are required to make efforts to obtain the name and contact information for a client’s Trusted Contact person when opening or updating an account. The Trusted Contact person is an additional resource for advisors to consult when a complex situation arises, such as having concern for a client’s physical or mental wellbeing or responding to possible financial exploitation.

If you do not have a Trusted Contact on the record of your accounts, contact your advisor or the company where your money is held and request detailed information on how this can help to protect you, and what the firm’s policy is on contacting the Trusted Contact. Additionally, it is always a good idea to let a responsible adult know some basics about your financial affairs — where to locate assets and/or who to contact on your behalf in the event of concern, death or disability.

The State of Wisconsin has put together a guide of common consumer protection issues facing Wisconsin’s senior citizens. It is an excellent resource and I encourage you to read it: www.datcp.wi.gov/Documents/SeniorGuide170.pdf. Together, let’s work to detect and prevent the financial exploitation of seniors.  

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Financial exploitation of seniors 

Michigan nursing homes have few staff, little training. Misery can follow

by Robin Erb

 

• Most poor care in nursing homes can be traced to low staffing, advocates, attorneys and others say
• Michigan has not updated its law since 1978 even as other states have boosted requirements
• An industry official calls such standards unnecessary ‘feel good’ measures and says the real issue is a worker shortage

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Residents of the Mission Point of Beverly Hills awoke hungry on Sept. 6, 2023. No meals were served. Nor did aides come to help immobile residents out of bed to avoid bed sores or make it to the bathroom.

The residents, many of whom had limited or no mobility, had been left on their own for an entire shift, according to a state inspection report. The reason: a lack of staff.

Across Michigan, the state’s most vulnerable residents are living out their last days in what inspection reports characterize as sometimes squalid conditions, because many nursing homes are critically understaffed. Positions are tough to fill because nursing aides are paid less than $40,000 for work that is so physically demanding they have a higher rate of workplace back injuries than construction workers. 

So far, the state and federal government have not stepped up to help.

Michigan has about 420 nursing homes that provide care to 34,000 residents. A Bridge Michigan review found that at least 167 facilities were cited at least 362 times total for lack of “sufficient” or “competent” staff in the past four years. 

That is a certain undercount, since inspectors are on site sometimes just once a year. Six of those homes were cited more than six times each.

“A basic minimum level of staffing is so important to the quality of life and the dignity of people’s lives,” said Megan O’Reilly, vice president of government affairs at the national AARP office, which has advocated for more staffing. 

“It almost feels like you’re being set up to fail. There’s no way to meet the need and the demand that’s in front of you,” she said.

Michigan’s minimum staffing requirements have remained unchanged since 1978 and require each resident to receive just 2.25 hours of care a day, or 2.31 hours if including time from the director of nursing, according to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, a longtime national advocacy organization for residents of long-term care facilities.

That’s below the 4.1 hours a day recommended by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services a quarter century ago.

Across the US, staffing minimums vary widely. Some states have no standard; at least six and the District of Columbia require at least 3.5 hours a day: DC (4.16 hours a day), Rhode Island (3.87) Illinois (3.83), Florida (3.66), Massachusetts (3.64) and California and New York (3.56)

When Michigan’s law passed, people in what many then called “retirement homes” often were more able-bodied. Today, those same people live in independent- or assisted-living facilities, leaving nursing homes to care for those with more complicated medical needs, said Sarah Slocum, a longtime consumer advocate and former head of the Michigan Long-Term Care Ombudsman office.

“There’s nobody in a nursing home who doesn’t need a bunch of help. That’s why they’re there,” she said. 

Bridge found that for-profit homes were cited more than nonprofit ones.

Roughly a fifth of the state’s 66 nonprofit nursing homes have been cited at least once for staffing shortages or inadequately licensed workers over the past four years. 

In contrast, more than one third of the state’s 319 for-profit homes were cited.

In all, Bridge Michigan documented about two dozen deaths at nursing homes in the past four years that were either cited by inspectors for wrongdoing or the subject of lawsuits alleging poor treatment.

To be clear, residents are frail and prone to injuries, and many of Michigan’s nursing cares provide exceptional care.

But a Bridge review reveals that others have far more persistent problems.

At the now-closed Mission Point Nursing and Physical Rehabilitation of Ishpeming, Richard Bellmore, 61, died in 2022 after he hadn’t been checked for hours, according to a lawsuit filed in his death and a 179-page report filed with the state.

At the facility, an inspector described residents who sat in their own waste, went without medical care, and were fed barely edible food. 

One resident’s pillow was soaked in urine that seeped up to the resident’s hairline, a visitor told the inspector. Residents who couldn’t walk on their own were left in their beds for days, according to the reports.

State reports claim the facility’s director of nursing was frequently absent and would even climb out of the office window to avoid staff members who had questions.

Confronted by a staff member as she was climbing through the window, the director of nursing explained she didn’t want to be “bombarded,” the staff member recalled to the inspector in a Jan. 18, 2023, report.

It was “hard to get down the hallway because too many people stop her and ask her questions,” the staff member said the nursing director told her.

‘Feel good’ measures?

Over the years, lawmakers have made efforts to boost Michigan’s minimum staffing requirements. A quarter-century ago, some lawmakers suggested boosting standards to 2.75 hours a day, defraying costs with money from a 1998 settlement with tobacco companies for $6.2 billion.

Many nursing homes typically exceed those standards, with about a third, 142, providing more than four hours a day of care per resident, according to data from  NursingHome411, a project by a New York nonprofit called the Long Term Care Coalition.

In all, 13 homes provided less than three hours, according to the report.

Last year, the Biden administration announced staffing requirements that would have pushed daily care requirements generally to 3.48 hours a day. 

Under these first-ever federal staffing levels,  more than a half hour of that care each day would be provided by a registered nurse — changes that would have saved about US 13,000 lives a year, according to research by the University of Pennsylvania.

In Michigan alone, the change could save 251 to 500 lives, according to estimates.

The $200 billion nursing home industry opposed the change, arguing that it would require finding another 102,000 workers nationwide in an industry already beset with worker shortages.

Staffing ratio levels are “feel-good” measures but arbitrary — failing to account for individual needs of residents — and put a “target on our back” for inspectors, said Melissa Samuel, president and CEO of the Healthcare Association of Michigan, an industry lobbying group.

Instead, the government should relax immigration standards and increase Medicaid reimbursements, she said.

“If you want to fix the problem of a workforce problem, then let’s fix the problem and get workers,” she told Bridge.

In the end, it didn’t matter.

The “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” signed by President Trump in July, listed such staffing requirements as “wasteful spending,” delaying the rules until 2034.

Less training than a barber

Providing the backbone of care in Michigan are more than 38,000 certified nurse aides who are paid less than $39,000 per year on average, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Michigan requires 75 hours of training for them, with an additional two days of clinical training — less than most other states and far less than a 2008 recommendation by the National Academy of Medicine that called for at least 120 hours of training.

Michigan requires 400 hours to be a manicurist and 1,800 hours to be a barber.

Nursing aides is a tough job that requires is physically and emotionally draining — and aides can quickly get overwhelmed, said Clare Luz, a gerontologist whose work at Michigan State University 

“Have you ever tried to give an elderly disabled person a shower?” she said. “You and I — we jump in the shower, we spin around, and two minutes later we can get out.”

For a medically-frail person, she said, “it can take a full hour just to give somebody a shower.”

She said a few hours of care a day for residents isn’t enough.

‘My roommate hasn’t gotten up’

At Mission Point of Beverly Hills in 2022, an inspector entering the facility heard one resident yelling “I’ve been sitting in piss for five hours.” Others complained they’d gone weeks without showers. Medications were late. One resident reported waiting nine hours to get fed.

“My roommate hasn’t gotten up in over a week,” one resident told inspectors.

The facility — along with the closed home in Ishpeming that closed in 2024 — is part of the Mission Point Healthcare Service chain of Grand Rapids.

Its Beverly Hills facility has been cited so frequently that federal officials deemed it  a “special focus facility,” making it subject to more inspections. 

As recently as on Oct. 26, 2023, an inspector detailed at least six days of nursing shortages.

Darious Parks, administrator of the Beverly Hills facility, now part of the Certus Healthcare chain and called Harmony Village of Beverly Hills, told Bridge by phone that improvements have been made at that facility — both in staff, and in turn, for the residents.

He said he has been on the job only a few months, and he’d heard the allegations of a “terrible” record connected to Mission Point. A former nurse aide, Parks said staffing and care has improved during his tenure.

In all 15 different Mission Point locations in Michigan were cited by state inspectors over three years for having insufficient staff, either by not having enough workers “to meet the needs of every resident” or by failing to have, specifically, enough nursing staff, according to a Bridge analysis of three years of inspection reports.

Calls from Bridge to Mission Point corporate offices were not returned.

‘Impossible to meet the needs’

Mission Point of Grandville was cited in 2023 for short staffing, too, after an 85-year-old church elder died when her blood sugar slumped after missed medications. Staff noticed her struggling, but no one notified her doctor, according to state inspectors.

The day before she was scheduled to return home, a nurse found her unresponsive, and her blood sugar level “incredibly low.” 

The nurse, who later said he hadn’t been told of her low sugar the previous days, raced around the facility to find a dose of injectable or gel glucagon, used in a low-blood-sugar crisis.

There was none.  

He tried to get into a medicine cabinet. It was locked.

He called 911, crushing glucose tablets to put into Johnson’s mouth in an attempt to “save her life,” he later told an inspector. 

It was too late.

Inspection reports also indicate that residents went without showers because there wasn’t enough staff, doctor appointments were missed and wound care was neglected.

Falls — the leading and increasing cause of accidental death for older Americans — had surged.  In a two-week period, staff reported 14 separate falls in the facility. One fall left a 78-year-old resident on the floor in only his briefs, his pelvis broken, one nurse said.

“Help, help,” he called, the nurse later told the inspector.

A woman broke her arm in another fall. After that, she was left in her wheelchair instead of being put in bed after dinner “because there weren’t enough staff,” an aide reported.

Even as the inspector visited the facility on April 13, two aides were helping a resident who had fallen to the bathroom floor, unable to locate a nurse to help.

It was “impossible” to meet the needs of all the residents,” an aide told the inspector.

Angelic Thomas said her mother, Julia Williams, never complained about her care at the facility. 

Still, she said she never saw staff either.

“There never seemed to be anyone at the nurses’ station,” she said.

The facility also was cited for Williams’ death after staff failed to offer her CPR and other life-saving help when she apparently suffered from a heart attack in 2023.

At her Grand Rapids home this past summer, Thomas said she often thinks about her last visit with her mother. Julia Williams had been a housekeeper, working into her 70s. She’d been independent and strong, but in those final weeks, she seemed to be “tired, giving up,” Thomas said.

“The last conversation we had, she wanted out of the nursing home,” Thomas said of her mother.

Thomas dropped her head into her hands, rubbing her face and shaking her head.

She sighed at the memory: “I said ‘Mom, I’ll try.”  

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Michigan nursing homes have few staff, little training. Misery can follow 

Caregiver accused of stealing $37K worth of jewelry from 83-year-old woman

By Lydian Coombs

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A Memphis caregiver is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry from her elderly patient.

Jasmine Durham, 32, is charged with felony property theft and financial exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable person.

On December 12, 2025, the Memphis Police Department responded to a call about expensive jewelry that disappeared from the apartment of an 83-year-old woman living at Trezevant Manor Assisted Living Facility on Highland Street.

The woman told police that she requires a caregiver due to her declining health.

The woman’s family hired Durham as her caregiver on September 19, 2025.

The victim told police that during Durham’s nearly three-month tenure, seven pieces of jewelry valued at $37,857 came up missing.

Two weeks after the police were called, an investigator discovered via online records that Durham had pawned rings in late October.

Investigators later learned that she sold several pieces of jewelry to local pawn shops on October 24 and again on December 9.

A total of four rings were recovered during the investigation.

Durham was booked into the Shelby County Jail on Monday.

She’s being held behind bars on a $3,500 bond. 

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Caregiver accused of stealing $37K worth of jewelry from 83-year-old woman 

Legislation could block elder abusers from inheriting money or property in Alabama

by Austin Pratt 

A new legislative proposal, House Bill 9, seeks to expand existing laws in Alabama to prevent individuals convicted of elder abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation from inheriting money or property from their victims.

The bill would apply to inheritance through wills, intestate succession, life insurance policies, and other contractual benefits.

Additionally, it would remove survivorship rights in jointly owned property, meaning abusers would not automatically gain full ownership after the victim's death. Property rights would pass to the next in line in the same way as if the abuser died before the victim.

The legislation aims to prevent individuals from profiting from harm done to elderly Alabamians by establishing financial consequences for criminal convictions in abuse or exploitation cases.

Courts would be able to apply these penalties following a criminal conviction or based on a judge's findings if no conviction exists.

HB9 has been referred to the Children and Senior Advocacy committee. If passed it would take effect on October 1, 2026.

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Legislation could block elder abusers from inheriting money or property in Alabama  

Mercer County Man Investigated in Sexual Assault Case Involving Incapacitated Woman, Deputies Say

by Lootpress News Staff 

MERCER COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Mercer County man is facing felony charges after deputies say an investigation and forensic testing linked him to a reported sexual assault involving a woman with documented intellectual disabilities.

According to the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, deputies first responded to a home on Trove Place in Princeton on June 20, 2025, for an indecent exposure complaint after 911 callers reported a man and woman engaged in sexual activity in a front yard.

Deputies said they arrived to find the pair — identified as Charles Keffer and Alexis Anderson — together near a trailer. A neighbor later provided deputies with brief video clips that appeared to show sexual activity taking place in the yard, investigators said. 

During the response, Anderson’s mother arrived and informed deputies that she is Anderson’s legal guardian and that Anderson has autism and an intellectual disability, supported by court documentation, according to the report. Anderson was transported to the hospital, where a sexual assault examination was performed.

Detectives later reviewed forensic lab results from the evidence kit, which indicated the presence of male DNA on multiple samples collected from Anderson. A court-authorized DNA swab was later obtained from Keffer, and state police lab analysts determined that DNA from several swabs was consistent with Keffer’s profile, investigators said.

Because of Anderson’s documented incapacity and longstanding acquaintance with Keffer, detectives wrote that they believe he was aware of her limitations at the time of the alleged conduct.

A forensic interview with Anderson was also conducted in October 2025 due to her cognitive condition. Investigators said Anderson disclosed that she was sexually assaulted and identified Keffer as the person involved.

Following the lab findings and interview, detectives requested warrants charging Charles Leslie Keffer with sexual abuse in the second degree and sexual assault in the third degree.

The case remains under investigation, and Keffer will face the charges through the court system.

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Mercer County Man Investigated in Sexual Assault Case Involving Incapacitated Woman, Deputies Say 

Georgia Panel Urges Removal of Probate Judge Over Years of Delayed Rulings

By Tyler Brooks 

A disciplinary panel in Georgia has recommended removing a Chatham County probate judge from office, concluding that prolonged delays in issuing court rulings amounted to a sustained pattern of misconduct that undermined public confidence in the judicial system.

In a detailed report filed in late December, a three-member hearing panel of Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission said Probate Judge Thomas C. Bordeaux Jr. routinely delayed decisions for months and, in some cases, years, even after receiving repeated warnings from judicial oversight officials.

The 69-page report acknowledged that Judge Bordeaux took office in 2017 inheriting what it described as a deeply troubled court, including a significant backlog of weapons-carry license applications. Witnesses likened the court at the time to “a bus running on two wheels.” The panel noted that Bordeaux initially took steps to address those issues, including hiring new staff and appointing Wendy Williamson as chief clerk. 

Williamson, who later became an associate probate judge, led an effort to digitize court records and raised concerns early about the judge’s failure to issue timely rulings. According to the panel, she created tracking tools in 2019 to highlight unresolved matters and later helped implement weekly hearing schedules and order-monitoring systems.

Despite those efforts, the panel found that delays persisted. In July 2021, Bordeaux was notified that he was under investigation for judicial misconduct related to several weapons-carry cases and a delayed ruling. While that complaint was later dismissed, it involved alleged violations of Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.2, which requires judges to resolve matters “fairly, promptly, and efficiently.” The panel said Bordeaux has since acknowledged violating that rule in 16 separate cases.

The report said Bordeaux hired a staff attorney in 2021 to assist with drafting orders but “was largely unwilling to allow that lawyer to assist him with preparing orders in any meaningful way.” It added that even after being given lists of overdue rulings, the judge failed to bring cases up to date.

A statewide transition to a new case management system in 2022 also did not improve the situation, the panel said, nor did suggestions that Bordeaux use form orders, rely more heavily on staff, or request proposed findings from attorneys.

Several cases cited in the report involved extraordinary delays. One estate matter remained unresolved for more than seven years, while other estate cases took more than three and four years to conclude. The panel said these delays imposed avoidable “emotional and financial costs” on the affected parties.

In 2024, the JQC director sent Bordeaux two separate notices regarding unresolved cases. According to the panel, he still failed to rule even after formal charges were filed in October.

“Between February 6, 2024, and October 3, 2024 — nearly eight months — after two letters and the filing of formal charges, he still had failed to rule,” the panel wrote. “Under these circumstances, we have no difficulty finding by clear and convincing evidence that Judge Bordeaux acted in bad faith by blatantly failing to rule in response to the notices from the director.”

The panel said the judge’s conduct sent a damaging message to the judiciary that ethical rules were “merely suggestions or requests” rather than binding obligations, adding that his actions brought the judicial office “into disrepute.”

It also concluded that Bordeaux showed persistent resistance to procedural and technological changes and that there was “little basis” to believe a suspension would prevent future misconduct.

“It is truly unfortunate that we find ourselves here,” the panel wrote. “But what are we to do with a judge who simply will not rule, even after receiving repeated notices from the body that regulates his conduct? … Because of his own actions and, more rightly, in actions, we find that Judge Bordeaux has forfeited that privilege.”

Panel member Richard L. Hyde issued a separate concurrence, agreeing with the removal recommendation but warning of a broader problem within the state judiciary.

“Judge Bordeaux is not alone,” Hyde wrote, describing judicial delay as “by far the most common complaint” he has heard from Georgia lawyers over the past 25 years. He suggested that lower courts consider mandatory ruling deadlines similar to those imposed on the Georgia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

The matter now moves to the Georgia Supreme Court, which will make the final decision on whether Bordeaux remains on the bench. The recommendation follows a three-day evidentiary hearing held in August.

Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission is represented by Courtney Veal. Judge Bordeaux is represented by S. Lester Tate III of Akin & Tate and W. Matthew Wilson of Bell Wilson Law LLC.

The case is In re: Inquiry Concerning Judge Thomas C. Bordeaux Jr., case number 2023-1082, before the Judicial Qualifications Commission of the State of Georgia. 

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Georgia Panel Urges Removal of Probate Judge Over Years of Delayed Rulings 

Judge off bench after commission found he sided with defendants, ridiculed victims

Yates County town judge improperly tried to make prosecutor a witness in case, a state Commission on Judicial Conduct investigation finds 

By Patrick Tine

A foul-mouthed judge in the Yates County town of Jerusalem has resigned from his position after a state Commission on Judicial Conduct investigation determined he engaged in a pattern of “biased and discourteous behavior " and demonstrated a “significant misunderstanding of legal procedures” in multiple cases.

One of those was a case in which a man was found guilty of crashing into a horse-drawn buggy and injuring a Mennonite family. 

The judge, Todd C. Whitford, who is not an attorney, had served as the elected town justice since 2018. He resigned on Dec. 4 and agreed never to seek judicial office again, according to the commission’s decision.

The commission served him in September with a formal written complaint alleging misconduct in four cases.

During a preliminary hearing in a 2022 domestic violence case in which prosecutors said the male defendant violated an order of protection against the alleged female victim, Whitford said the woman had “the brain of a small child” and that her testimony in the case was “garbage,” according to a court transcript provided by the commission.

Whitford intimated that the woman invited the defendant’s alleged conduct, and the judge expressed sympathy for him. 

“I don’t even know why you’d want to even look at her. Don’t even — if she texts you, don’t text her back. . . you’re going to screw your entire life up…. Guys, they have it out for them,” Whitford said in the transcript. “This is like 15-year-old bull---- …. They’re going to freaking ruin your life. Don’t make contact with her. . . . Don’t. Go get a freaking lizard or a hamster or something. Spend your time with that. Don’t — man. Women, don’t do it.”

In a 2021 sentencing hearing, Whitford again expressed sympathy to the defendant who had admitted guilt in the car crash that injured seven people and killed their horse, according to the commission. “I hope you’re not mad at me,” the judge said.

Whitford also gave the man a pep talk, which touched on the significant local attention the case had received. “I just want you to walk tall,” Whitford said, according to the transcript provided by the commission. “Who gives a s--- about Facebook and what they post?”

The prosecutor noted every person riding in the buggy had been injured, and some victims were taken by helicopter to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for treatment. The judge interrupted the assistant district attorney when he referred to the collision as a “crash.”

During a July 2025 suppression hearing in an assault and child endangerment case, Whitford improperly tried to compel the same Yates County assistant district attorney to verify initials on a document, an act that would make the prosecutor a witness in the case, the commission said. 

In a 2021 case, the judge apologized to a defendant who had been convicted of his second drunken driving offense in less than five years. The punishment for the offense, even if the prosecution offers a plea deal, requires a defendant to serve jail time. The prosecution’s offer was five days in jail and 30 days of community service.

“Unbelievable,” Whitford said. “A person who’s never been in jail is going to go to jail? I’m sorry that you’re going to jail. I think it’s disgusting. I think it’s wrong.

In his resignation letter, Whitford said money concerns prevented him from continuing a legal fight with the commission. He had been representing himself in proceedings with the body since September.

“I simply do not have the financial means required to secure the level of legal representation necessary to continue,” he wrote. “As a part-time justice earning a modest stipend, the cost associated with navigating the Commission’s formal procedures is far beyond my resources. I want to be clear that I take seriously the concerns that have been brought forward. I am committed to learning from this experience. I regret that I will not have the opportunity to continue serving this town, and that I cannot fully take part in the process due to financial limitations, despite my desire to participate and provide the context necessary for a fair and complete evaluation.” 

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Judge off bench after commission found he sided with defendants, ridiculed victims

2023 Conservatorship Case of Tommy Lee Jones’ Daughter Resurfaces After Her Tragic New Year Death: What Went Wrong?

After the tragic death of Tommy Lee Jones' daughter, Victoria Jones, on January 1st, a Conservatorship case reveals problems in her personal life. 

by  Deepak Bisht

On Thursday, January 1, 2026, it was reported that the Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones‘ daughter, Victoria Jones, was found to have been passed away in San Francisco, California. And according to TMZ, the alleged reason for her tragic passing is linked to an overdose on hard recreational drugs, most probably cocaine.

While this death was extremely unexpected and saddening, a deeper look into her passing has revealed a legal case of Conservatorship she was a part of two years prior, which might shed more light on this tragedy.

What Was the Conservatorship Case of Tommy Lee Jones’ Daughter?

Despite her passing in the new year, according to legal documents procured by the San Francisco Chronicle, her father and prolific Hollywood star, Tommy Lee Jones, had filed for a legal Conservatorship case for her. On August 7, 2023, the Captain America: The First Avenger star had petitioned for Victoria Jones to be put under the supervision of a legal conservator.

To give more details, a Conservatorship is a legal arrangement in which a court appoints a person/organisation to manage the personal, financial, or medical affairs of another person. This is typically done by a guardian for the conservatee who is unable to do so on their own due to reasons like illness, disability, or age.

According to the documents, Jones petitioned and wanted a conservator to be appointed for his daughter, as she was being found by him to be under ‘Life-Threatening Conduct’ and in need of rehab from recreational drugs. And many reports corroborated this case, as she had a long list of substance abuse, possession, and cases of violent behaviour registered against her (via People).

But months later, all those filings were dropped by the Men in Black star on accounts that still remain confidential. And with the recent findings and reports that have been received, it seems that drug overdose is the most likely suspect behind Victoria Jones’ death, which becomes even more tragic after learning about this new information. 

Victoria Jones’ Career and Life, at a Glance

While Victoria Jones’ recent passing has most people looking her up, she had a short acting career, mostly alongside her father, before her death.

Her first role in the film industry was alongside Lee Jones and Will Smith in 2002 in Men in Black II, where she played the role of the Neuralyzed Daughter. Later, she would also appear in the film, titled The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which Tommy Lee Jones directed and starred in, where her role was that of the Immigrant Girl.

She would also appear as a guest star on a drama series in 2005, titled One Tree Hill, playing the role of one of the Cheerleaders in one of the episodes. And lastly, she was seen as one of the stars in Lee Jones’ film, titled The Horseman, which would also prove to be her last.

After this, she was seen numerous times with her father at many Red Carpet events until her tragic passing in 2026. 

Full Article & Source:
2023 Conservatorship Case of Tommy Lee Jones’ Daughter Resurfaces After Her Tragic New Year Death: What Went Wrong? 

Opinion: CARE Court expansion exposes gap between legislation and reality

by Tom Scott 

The recent expansion of California’s CARE Court reflects good intentions, but it again exposes the gap between legislative design and real-world county implementation.

The California Association of Public Administrators, Public Guardians, and Public Conservators represents the county officials who serve individuals with the most serious mental illness, often when no family or support system is available. Our members see firsthand how CARE Court’s promise has not translated into meaningful outcomes for many Californians.

Even before eligibility was expanded, narrow diagnostic criteria, difficulty locating people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and assumptions about clinical outcomes created barriers to success.

While CARE Court is funded and can produce positive results in some cases, failing CARE Court should not be treated as an automatic path to Lanterman–Petris–Short conservatorship. The burden of proof for conservatorship remains high, and many individuals do not succeed in CARE Court for reasons unrelated to their ability to survive safely.

Expanding eligibility without addressing these structural flaws risks repeating the same mistakes at a larger scale. Counties continue to face shortages of treatment slots, housing options, and wrap-around services necessary to stabilize people with severe mental illness.

Legislation should be judged by how it functions in practice, not how it reads on paper. Without realistic standards, adequate resources, and a clear understanding of CARE Court’s limitations, expansion may offer hope — but not the durable solutions that vulnerable Californians and their families urgently need.

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Opinion: CARE Court expansion exposes gap between legislation and reality 

Valdosta man arrested for arson after fire leaves elderly man hospitalized

By WALB News Team 

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) — Officials arrested a man for arson after a fire on Dec. 17, left a 75-year-old man hospitalized.

The Valdosta Police Department said Michael Fuller intentionally set the home on fire with the man inside.

Police have not yet given a motive but said Fuller also lived in that home. On Friday, Dec. 19, Fuller was arrested and charged with first-degree arson and aggravated battery.

The fire happened on Dec. 17 at around 7 p.m. on Melrose Drive. The man who was in the house at the time of the fire is still at a Florida hospital and is stable, according to the Valdosta Fire Department. 

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Valdosta man arrested for arson after fire leaves elderly man hospitalized 

Veteran in coma after DoorDash driver allegedly punched him over speeding warning

The alleged attack happened after the victim asked the DoorDash driver to slow down. (WXYZ, WIXOM POLICE DEPARTMENT, FAMILY HANDOUT, OAKLAND COUNTY COURT, CNN)

 By WXYZ

WIXOM, Mich. (WXYZ) - A 75-year-old veteran remains hospitalized in a coma after he was allegedly punched by a DoorDash driver who he asked to slow down in his Michigan neighborhood.

Family members say 75-year-old Lloyd Poole walked out of his Wixom driveway last Sunday to tell 40-year-old Ryan Turner, a DoorDash driver, that he believed he was going too fast. What happened next has left them devastated.

“Punched him right in the side of the head. My dad fell, never got up, never moved, and the DoorDash driver got back in his vehicle and drove away,” said Poole’s daughter, Jen Shaw.

Poole has been hospitalized since the alleged attack. He suffered a black eye and underwent emergency brain surgery, where doctors removed part of his skull. Shaw says her father has never fully regained consciousness.

“He’s not responding. He can’t talk. He’s not awake,” Shaw said. “We don’t know when he’s going to get out of this hospital bed. That may never happen.”

Wixom Police say Turner admitted to hitting Poole and leaving him on the side of the street. The suspect maintains he felt threatened when he found himself face-to-face with the 75-year-old after stepping out of his car to confront him.

Turner is charged with aggravated assault, a misdemeanor for which he faces up to one year in prison. He posted bond Thursday.

“[He’s] going about his life as normally as can be, and we’re definitely not,” Shaw said. “He’s out, wandering around. You just never know. I think you need to be careful because people are unpredictable.”

In a statement, DoorDash called the incident “appalling,” saying they removed Turner from their platform and are working with local law enforcement to ensure justice for Poole and his family.

Shaw describes her father as a strong man who volunteers regularly in the community. She says he never expected to be hit, hospitalized and hanging onto his life. The family is taking shifts at the hospital day and night, hoping he regains consciousness soon.

“You just don’t know with the brain, so we’re very concerned. We’re really worried,” Shaw said.

Court records show Turner has prior appearances for assault and battery in 2022, which was pled down to a lesser charge. He also has multiple offenses related to driving, including driving with a suspended or invalid license. 

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Veteran in coma after DoorDash driver allegedly punched him over speeding warning

Woman accused of exploiting elderly victims in Broward County faces more charges

by  Amanda Batchelor

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — A woman is facing a bevy of charges after she was arrested last week on accusations that she exploited multiple elderly victims to get cash and open at least one credit card, authorities confirmed.

According to arrest reports for Jamisha Shamari Sylvain, 26, of Deerfield Beach, one incident occurred on Sept. 27, 2025.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies said Sylvain approached the victim, who is elderly and blind, outside of her apartment building off Southwest Third Ave. in Deerfield Beach as the victim had mail in her hand and asked the victim if she needed help reading it.

According to the report, the victim was hesitant as she has a friend regularly read her mail for her, however Sylvain convinced the victim to allow her inside her home at the B’nai B’rith Apartments.

Once inside, Sylvain asked the victim personal questions, such as her Social Security number, and said the victim would need to cancel her debit card and that she would help her do that, authorities said.

According to the report, Sylvain then went back to the victim’s home another day and rode the bus with the victim to a TD Bank branch to change the victim’s account.

The victim told detectives that she later received mail stating that a Capitol One credit card had been issued to her, which she never applied for, and confirmed that Sylvain was the only person she recently provided her personal information to, which resulted in a credit card and phone number being opened in her name without her consent.

According to a separate arrest report, a man went to BSO’s Deerfield Beach District station with his 78-year-old mother who had dementia on Nov. 25, 2025, and told detectives that his mother had been exploited earlier that month.

Detectives said the son has power of attorney for his mother and discovered that on Nov. 17, Nov. 18 and Nov. 22, his mother was taken to a Chase Bank on South Military Trail by a woman, later identified as Sylvain, to withdraw a total of $1,718 in cash.

Detectives said Sylvain pretended to be the woman’s granddaughter and a bank clerk identified her to them in a photo array.

According to the report, Sylvain was taken to the BSO Deerfield Beach station on Dec. 19 for an interview and claimed that she entered the victim’s apartment to “help her” and also took the victim to the Chase Bank to withdraw money.

Deputies said Sylvain was arrested that same day on charges related to four similar cases.

After being released, she was arrested again on Dec. 23 after deputies tried to pull over her vehicle.

According to the report, Sylvain initially fled on foot but was quickly detained.

She faces a plethora of charges, including exploitation of an elderly person, resisting an officer without violence, burglary, larceny and fraud.

As of Friday afternoon, she remained held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility on a $132,500 bond.

Anyone living in a BSO jurisdiction who believes they or someone they know may be a victim of a similar scam is asked to call the agency’s non-emergency number at 954-764-4357. 

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Woman accused of exploiting elderly victims in Broward County faces more charges 

As elder abuse investigations surge, protective services office seeks to fill vacancies

by Scott McCaffrey 

The county government’s Adult Protective Services office is attempting to keep up with a surge in reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation.

“We’re in uncharted territory here in terms of volume,” said Rachel Coates, an official with the Department of Human Services, at the Dec. 15 meeting of the Commission on Aging.

Adult Protective Services handles reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation of those over age 60, as well as those over 18 who are incapacitated. The increases come as there have been two vacancies for human-services clinicians who investigate such cases.

“For the first five months of the fiscal year, we’ve seen a 30% increase in reports and 50% increase in investigations compared to the previous five months in 2024,” Coates told ARLnow. “The largest number of reports that we are receiving is for financial exploitation, which accounted for 38% of the reports in November.”

A weakening regional economy may be driving some of the financial-exploitation cases, said Coates, director of the Community Supports and Coordination Bureau for the county’s Aging and Disabilities Services Division.

William Way, who chairs the Commission on Aging, said he was hopeful new and existing staff would be sufficient to keep pace with the need.

“A lot of people are counting on you,” he said.

The application period for the two vacancies closed last week. In the meantime, “we do have temporary support,” Coates said at the commission meeting. “We are using interns as well, but the teams are seeing extremely high volume.”

Adult Protective Services works closely with the Arlington County Police Department on investigations. In addition, outreach events sponsored by the Commission on Aging are being planned for 2026 to further educate the community about fraud and exploitation.

The county government has an online reporting tool for suspected abuse or exploitation. From the website:

“What if you have a ‘feeling’ about a situation but cannot verify details? Adult Protective Services workers are professional social workers trained to handle complex situations. Based on your report, the social worker will assess the situation and determine how best to respond.”

Anonymous reports also can be made by phone to the county duty worker at 703-228-1700 during business hours, or to the state hotline at 888-832-3858 after hours.

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As elder abuse investigations surge, protective services office seeks to fill vacancies