SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - A
Sioux Falls woman is in custody, facing accusations of abuse and neglect
of an 18-year-old victim with special needs.
Kimberly Marshall faces one felony count of Abuse or Neglect of a Disabled Adult or Elder.
The
investigation began when bystanders called a welfare check for the
victim, who was standing outside at a bus stop for nearly 2 hours in
September 2025.
When officers arrived, the victim was wearing an adult diaper that reportedly smelled strongly of urine.
Police later learned from educators at the victim’s school that they required assistance from caretakers to function.
The teacher reported to officers that the victim had a feeding tube and noticed it to be unsanitary and had leftover contents.
Police also learned the victim would occasionally wear the diaper for more than one day at a time.
An arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 18, and Marshall was arrested that day.
According
to online court records, Marshall’s first hearing was on Thursday, and
she was released from jail without having to pay bond.
The New York State Police Livingston Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) has arrested Christopher J. Read, 46, of North Adams, Massachusetts, in connection with a larceny investigation involving the misuse of guardianship funds.
Following an extensive investigation, authorities determined that Read,
who had been appointed as a legal guardian for an individual residing
in Hillsdale, NY, failed to utilize the entrusted funds for the care and
well-being of the victim. Instead, Reed diverted these resources for
personal gain, misappropriating a total of $38,302.05.
As a result of the investigation, Read was charged with:
Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (Class D felony)
Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person in the First Degree (Class E felony)
Read was released on one's own recognizance and scheduled to appear in the Town of Claverack Court on June 25,2025.
Contact Troop K Public Information Officer: Trooper Krystal P. Paolicelli
ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Under guardianship in Florida, a stranger can
take you to court and have all your rights taken away, even if you have
family members willing to care for you.
The ABC Action News I-Team
uncovered the financial, emotional and deadly consequences of
guardianship for one Florida woman and her family.
Genyte Dirse lived and built her American dream at a small hotel beside one of Florida’s best beaches.
“She had a rental business in St. Pete beach in the Don Cesar area
and she was doing very well,” her great-nephew Gedi Pakalnis said. “I
lived with my great aunt or nearby for almost 15 years and she's like my
mother.”
“She was out there every single day, when she was in her 80s, out there sweeping,” Dirse’s neighbor Beth Morean said.
Morean lived across the street from Dirse for 38 years.
“She
kept it clean around here. Always had a smile on her face,” her tenant,
Tim Everett, said of Dirse. “He (Pakalnis) took care of her. She took
care of him. That’s what family does.”
Pakalnis moved from Lithuania as a teen and lived rent-free at the Dirse hotel through college and graduate school.
“He was helping with the property and meals and cleaning. Doing everything,” Morean said.
Trouble in paradise
Tim Everett says the hotel was Dirse’s version of paradise.
“She enjoyed it so much, I think she'd rather be here than anywhere else,” he said.
But as Hurricane Irma approached in September 2017, there was trouble in paradise.
“It started with a real estate agent who was pushing her to sell her property,” Pakalnis said.
After Pakalnis flew to Lithuania for a family emergency, neighbors say realtor Diana Sames began showing up at the hotel.
“She never knew her. She was never a friend to her,” Morean said, adding that she had never seen Sames around the hotel before.
Everett says he overheard Dirse refusing to list her property with Sames.
“Genny would say ‘I no sell. I no sell,’” Everett recalled.
But
as Hurricane Irma approached, Sames took Dirse to ride out the storm at
her former client's home across the street from her hotel, posting a
YouTube video of the two there.
Months after the hurricane, Dirse
sold one of her three buildings to her great-nephew for a below-market
price of $50,000, closing at a title company in front of a notary and
witnesses.
Sames went to a lawyer who helped her file a petition to ask a judge to declare Dirse incapacitated.
In that court document, she claimed Pakalnis had exploited Dirse.
Sames also misspelled Genyte’s first name and wrote “Her native language is unknown and she speaks English with a heavy accent.”
Sames also described herself to the judge as a close neighbor to Dirse, but she lives six-tenths of a mile from her.
As court proceedings progressed, Dirse reported unwanted visits from Sames.
“This
is Dirse Apartment Hotel. Diana Sames comes all the time here. Very bad
woman, talking, talking too much,” Dirse said, in a 9-1-1 call made in
February 2018.
“It was against her will, but she loves him”
Sames initially declined our interview requests, but we caught up with her outside her office.
“I
was so happy to involve myself with the corruption that I saw,” Sames
said. “He was dishonest. He didn't contact any of the family members.
And he did it by himself and it was against her will, but she loves
him.”
Sames denied she had any interest in Dirse’s property.
“All I
care about is Geny Dirse. I don't care about any other dramas. And it
was very important to protect her interests,” Sames said.
Judge
Pam Campbell declared Dirse incapacitated, took away her rights and
placed her in guardianship to protect her from her great-nephew.
“He was taking property from Mrs.Dirse
for less than the fair market value during the time of the guardianship
being established. So that does raise concerns about Mrs. Dirse's right
mind,” Judge Campbell said during a court hearing.
“She’s trying to get her hotel back”
The judge appointed Traci Samuel, now known as Traci Hudson, to be Dirse’s guardian. Samuel was paid from Dirse’s funds.
She used Dirse’s money to file an eviction lawsuit against Pakalnis and to try to reverse the sale of the hotel.
“She's trying to get her hotel back. She didn't sell it to him,” Samuel testified.
Samuel initially hired caregivers to take care of Dirse at the hotel,
but one day, Pakalnis caught a caregiver on videotape yelling at Dirse
and pulling her by her arm.
Pakalnis reported the incident to police, but no charges were filed.
Samuel
told the court she stopped using that company after the incident and
Dirse was moved into assisted living. Pakalnis, her nephew, was
prevented from seeing or communicating with her.
“She doesn't want him to visit. I’m respecting the privacy of her,” Samuel said.
Guardian arrested on felony charges
In November 2019, Dirse’s guardian known then as Traci Hudson was arrested,
accused of stealing more than half-a-million dollars from a 92-year old
man under her care. Authorities say she used the money to buy a 4,000
square foot house in Riverview, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tickets and
jewelry.
“That case she was charged with is a power of attorney
case, so totally different from our guardianship cases,” Judge Pam
Campbell said, at a hearing for family members and attorneys for about
two dozen people under Hudson’s care.
That case is still ongoing and Hudson has not been charged in the
Dirse case. But the judge assigned Dirse a new guardian who filed
documents with the court showing that Dirse, while under Hudson’s care,
had “not been to an eye doctor, nor a dentist.”
As for Dirse’s home, the guardian wrote “nothing has been done, not even food out of the refrigerator. Speechless! ”
Hudson
also failed to turn over Dirse’s tax returns, family contact numbers,
bank statements, canceled checks, keys and dozens of other items,
despite a judge’s order.
Court records show guardians and lawyers billed Dirse $287,648 in less than two years.
“It cannot be any worse”
In late April, Pakalnis received the news he most feared.
“I
see on my phone pop up a message, email message saying that my aunt is
hospitalized and infected with coronavirus,” Pakalnis said. “And my
heart said this is not good news. “
Pakalnis tried to find a way to visit or talk to his great-aunt.
“The problem is we had an order, a no visitation order,” he said. “I
started communication with an attorney and then the guardian.”
Dirse died less than a week later. Pakalnis didn’t talk to her during the last year-and-a-half of her life.
He
held a memorial service in her honor on the beach in front of her
hotel, with attendees wearing masks and standing apart – unable to hug
and comfort each other.
“She loved her beach home and worked
around it until she was moved to an assisted living facility,” Pakalnis
said. “We wish that the last two years away from her family and her home
would not be lost to her. That things could have been different for her
and for all of us. “
Dirse was entombed next to her late husband.
She was one of more than 7,000 Floridians living or working in
long-term care facilities to die from COVID-19.
Pakalnis fought to expose issues with the guardianship process during the time he wasn’t allowed to see his relative.
“Now we have the results. The results were getting worse and worse. And
on May 5, we end up with my aunt’s … death. It cannot be any worse. It
can’t be worse,” he said.
If you have a story you think the I-Team should investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com
