by John Karlovec
“I do not wish harm on Mr. Green, but I feel that the grievance
committee has a duty to the public and to the bar to bring this matter
to your attention and have you address it as county prosecutor in the
way you see fit.” – Michael Judy
A former probate court-appointed guardian has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from three elderly victims.
A county grand jury indicted attorney Frederick H. Green, of Thompson
Township, on Oct. 11, 2019, and charged him with three counts of
fourth-degree felony grand theft and one count of third-degree felony
perjury.
Green, who recently resigned as president of the Geauga County
Historical Society’s board of directors, made an initial appearance
before Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge David Ondrey in November
2019. He appeared with his legal counsel, Robert N. Farinacci.
Green pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a
personal recognizance bond. His case was assigned to Judge Carolyn
Paschke for future proceedings.
Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz said his office was alerted to
Green’s alleged misappropriation of funds in September 2017 when he
received a letter from Michael T. Judy, chairman of the Geauga County
Bar Association’s grievance committee.
“The theft was not reported to law enforcement until our office
received Mr. Judy’s letter,” Flaiz said. “At that point, one of our
investigators was assigned and the matter was brought to the grand jury
for indictment.”
Judy said the bar association had received a grievance against Green,
who Geauga County Probate Court Judge Tim Grendell had appointed as
legal guardian for William Vancura, in May 2017. The grievance claimed
that Green, in his role as legal guardian, misappropriated $18,400 from
Vancura.
When the discrepancy was discovered, Grendell appointed attorney
Joseph H. Weiss Jr. as master commissioner to investigate the matter.
Judy told Flaiz that Green admitted to Weiss he took the money, but
eventually paid back $18,000, “but not before perjuring himself with a
false affidavit he voluntarily provided to Weiss.”
“It has since come to light that there may be discrepancies in
several other cases in which Mr. Green serves as guardian,” Judy added.
“Some of these cases are still under investigation, but it does appear
that at various times Mr. Green took money from various wards without
court approval; took fees from a ward’s account in addition to being
paid by the court’s indigent guardian fund; may have misappropriated
money he received as a Social Security representative payee; and — most
disturbingly — appears to have outright misappropriated (stolen?) money
from other wards and then provided the probate court with falsified or
at least inaccurate accountings.”
He noted Grendell had removed Green from several guardianship files
and assigned successor guardians or investigators to determine the
extent of Green’s impropriety.
“I do not wish harm on Mr. Green, but I feel that the grievance
committee has a duty to the public and to the bar to bring this matter
to your attention and have you address it as county prosecutor in the
way you see fit,” Judy said.
Probate Court Administrator Kim Laurie said the court was first
alerted to irregularities with the Vancura guardianship cases when it
discovered Green was less than honest with the court and was taking
certain actions without court approval.
“The judge and the court were shocked and severely disappointed to
discover these actions by Mr. Green, as there had been no prior
indication of such, and he was a longtime guardian going all the way
back to Judge Henry’s time on the bench,” Laurie said.
The court immediately appointed a master commissioner who was tasked
with further investigating and auditing the guardianship, she explained.
“As a result of the master commissioner’s report, Mr. Green was
removed as guardian from this and all other cases, including those for
which he was appointed by Judge Henry, and successor guardians were
appointed for this and all of Mr. Green’s former cases,” she said.
Laurie also noted Green was required to post a $1 million bond in order to protect the assets of the ward.
“The court instructed Mr. Vancura’s successor guardian, as subagent
of the court, to pursue litigation to seek recovery on the bond, which
the court had required Mr. Green to post, and from Fred Green himself,
and to notify law enforcement and the bar association,” she said.
The court recovered Vancura’s assets through Green’s bond and, after
paying expenses, monies were distributed to veterans groups per
Vancura’s will, Laurie said.
“The bar association communicated to the court that they had notified
the Ohio Supreme Court and law enforcement,” she added. “The successor
guardians were tasked with reviewing the guardianships formerly assigned
to Mr. Green. There were two other cases that followed the same process
which were also turned over to the bar association, law enforcement,
and similar recovery was made.”
Green was in court on Feb. 13 and Paschke continued his jury trial, at his request, to May 12.
Full Article & Source:
Probate Court-Appointed Guardian Accused of Stealing from Elderly
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