Former professional guardian Traci Hudson sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for theft, exploitation

Hudson pleaded guilty to 19 felony counts

By: Adam Walser

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A former professional guardian appointed by the court to care for elderly people under her care pleaded guilty to felony charges in Pinellas County court this afternoon.

The ABC Action News I-Team has been covering the case for over three years and was in the courtroom today when the plea happened.

Traci Hudson will spend 8.5 years in prison and then will spend 20 years on probation.

She will also be responsible for paying more than $575,000 in restitution to her victims after changing her plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” on all counts in Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge Susan St. John’s courtroom.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Hudson was fingerprinted, handcuffed and escorted by deputies to the Pinellas County Jail, where she will await transportation to a state prison to begin serving her sentence.

Under state law, she must serve at least 85 percent of her sentence before being released.

Plea comes 3 ½ years after arrest

Hudson was first arrested in November 2019 after records showed she took more than half a million dollars from a 92-year-old man under her care.

Hudson was appointed by the court to manage the finances, health care and other life decisions for at least 45 elderly adults who had been declared “incapacitated” by judges.

After her initial arrest, her guardianship cases were audited, resulting in 18 more felony counts, including exploitation, grand theft and perjury.

The prosecutor said in a memo that Hudson could have faced up to 135 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Hudson is the former president of the Guardianship Association of Pinellas County.

A 77-page report from the Pinellas County Inspector General released last year alleged she often billed wards for working more than 24 hours in a day, paid realtors up to 18 percent commissions from the sale of her ward’s properties, altered inventories, and had tens of thousands of dollars worth of her wards’ belongings come up missing.

Hudson failed to show up for a court hearing to face her most recent charges in April.

A Pinellas Park Police report says her daughter grew concerned and asked for a welfare check at a Marriott hotel, which was Hudson’s last known location.

Hudson was found there “on the floor unresponsive.”

According to the report, “there was a substantial likelihood that Hudson attempted to commit suicide” and that Hudson met Baker Act criteria and was hospitalized.

In court Monday, Hudson admitted to stealing money, guns and jewelry from elderly victims under her care.

Some of Hudson’s victims’ family members and guardianship reform advocates attended Monday’s sentencing hearing.

"We have so many victims that have been taken by Traci Samuel Hudson that, as we speak, not getting justice," said guardianship reform advocate Hillary Hogue, who reported Hudson multiple times to the state Office of Public and Professional Guardians.

That's the watchdog agency set up by the state to ensure professional guardians comply with state law.

Lesa Martino was also at the hearing.

She lost her home after losing a libel/slander lawsuit filed by Hudson in 2018, the year before Hudson's arrest.

Martino alleged Hudson didn't provide adequate care to her father, Roland Martino.
 
"I think she's, like in her mind, like she didn't do anything wrong. She blames the system," Martino said.

 "She just pled guilty to every charge that was put to her. That is the biggest and strongest way you can take accountability for anything in this country," said Hudson's attorney Richard McKyton.

Another Florida professional guardian is scheduled to enter into a plea deal in Hillsborough County court later this month.

Rebecca Fierle was also arrested in 2019 following the death of a man under her care.

Her first trial last year ended in a hung jury.

Hudson will be 83 years old when she finishes her prison sentence and probation.

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Former professional guardian Traci Hudson sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for theft, exploitation

 

 

See Also:
Professional guardian Traci Hudson's trial on 2019 charges delayed again

Embattled former professional guardian Traci Hudson found ’unresponsive’ at hotel

Former professional guardian abandoned wards' mail, committed crimes: Inspector General report

Former guardian allegedly stole guns, forged appraisal

Former guardian charged with pillaging elderly man's estate refuses to sign final accounting

Price of Protection: Woman loses Seffner home after father's guardian sues her for libel

Guardianship ends in isolation from family, alleged neglect and death from COVID-19

77-page guardianship investigation exposes lack of oversight in Florida's system

New charges, new investigation involving embattled former professional guardians

Hotel owner placed in guardianship by St. Pete Beach realtor dies from COVID-19

Realtor seeks court-ordered guardianship to take away rights of elderly beach hotel owner

AARP Florida makes guardianship reform a top priority

Broken window results in more than $45K fine under former professional guardian's care

Two Pennsylvania judges ordered to pay $200m to kids-for-cash scandal victims

Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan accepted $2.8m in illegal payments to send children to for-profit jails

Former judges Michael Conahan, front left, and Mark Ciavarella, front right, leave the US district courthouse in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2009. Photograph: Mark Moran/AP

Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200m to hundreds who fell victim to their crimes.

US district judge Christopher Conner awarded $106m in compensatory damages and $100m in punitive damages to nearly 300 people in a long-running civil suit against the judges, writing the plaintiffs are “the tragic human casualties of a scandal of epic proportions”.

In what came to be known as the kids-for-cash scandal, Mark Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and accepted $2.8m in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups.

Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, pushed a zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed large numbers of children would be sent to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.

Ciavarella ordered children as young as eight to detention, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes. The judge often ordered youths he had found legally delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to say goodbye to their families.

“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” Conner wrote on Tuesday in his explanation of the judgment.

“Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”

The Pennsylvania state supreme court threw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions after the scheme was uncovered.

Ciavarella is serving a 28-year prison sentence. Conahan, who was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, was released to home confinement in 2020, with six years left on his sentence, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is not clear whether the plaintiffs, now well into adulthood, will see any of the substantial damages award.

Marsha Levick, co-founder and chief counsel of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center and a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said on Wednesday she “can’t imagine there is any money out there”.

 

Full Article & Source:

Two Pennsylvania judges ordered to pay $200m to kids-for-cash scandal victims

Missouri Man Sent to Prison for Financially Exploiting Elderly Woman

A 48-year-old Carthage man pleaded guilty this week to financial exploitation of an elderly woman in Lawrence County and was assessed five years in prison.

Willie J. Harrison took a plea offer Thursday in Lawrence County Circuit Court that resulted in the prison time meted out by Judge Matthew Kasper.

Harrison originally faced counts of first-degree kidnapping and stealing in the case involving the attempted bilking of an elderly Lawrence County woman with dementia in a driveway repair scam two years ago.

Harrison was identified as one of three males caught on a trail cam video spreading sealant over a small portion of the woman's driveway before leaving with her seated in their truck. Two of the men later showed up with her in their truck in the drive-thru lane of her bank in Monett and tried to withdraw $4,200 from her account.

Full Article and Source:
Carthage Man Sent to Prison for Financially Exploiting Elderly Woman

Prison, probation for Marion caretaker accused of stealing money from elderly resident

by Austin L. Miller

A Marion Oaks caretaker accused of stealing thousands of dollars from an elderly resident has accepted a plea bargain that calls for an 18-month prison term and 10 years of probation.

Local court records show Ruth Oumarjeet, 51, was adjudicated guilty of grand theft by Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon during a hearing on Wednesday.

When she was arrested, Oumarjeet was charged with two counts of grand theft and one count of felony fraudulent use of a credit card. The credit card and one of the grand theft offenses were eventually dropped by prosecutors. 

The plea bargain also says that she cannot have contact with the victim, cannot go within 100 feet of any vehicle occupied by the victim or within 50 feet of the victim's residence, and may not go to Harbour House Assisted Living, where she once worked.

Oumarjeet was ordered to pay $27,006.41 in restitution to the victim, with payments of $500 a month.

In June 2019 law enforcement was notified about a caregiver at the assisted living facility allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from a then-88-year-old man. 

A Marion County Sheriff's Office report states the victim had $67,000 in his bank account. When deputies began their investigation, the man only had $10,000.

According to Oumarjeet's arrest report, she reportedly used the money to pay for personal expenses.

The report also states that the victim was a resident of Harbour House, but left after an injury. Oumarjeet, who was an employee at the facility, was fired, according to assisted living officials.

Full Article & Source:

Prison, probation for Marion caretaker accused of stealing money from elderly resident

Suffolk man sentenced for $3.9 million international fraud conspiracy targeting the elderly

NORFOLK, Va. – A Suffolk man was sentenced Monday to more than nine years in prison for his role in an international fraud conspiracy that stole more than $3.9 million from hundreds of victims.

Court documents say 44-year-old William Onyebuchi Ogbonna, who is originally from Nigeria and is now a naturalized United States citizen, spent at least three years conspiring with local, national and international conspirators to steal more than $3.9 million from unwitting victims.

The victims were subjects of lottery, inheritance, romance and real estate scams, among other types of fraud, and were tricked into sending money to dozens of bank accounts Ogbonna opened in his name, under the fake name “Donald Miller,” and in the name of different business entities he created to further the scheme.

Records say Ogbonna would take a percentage and then send the remaining money to Nigeria, China and other countries. The majority of victims were elderly and many became destitute as a result of Ogbonna and his conspirators’ actions.

“William Onyebuchi Ogbonna was an organizer and leader of a large, international conspiracy to defraud hundreds of victims, many of who were elderly, of millions of dollars,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Elder justice has been a priority for this office for the past two years and this case is proof positive of that commitment. We are combatting these scams through education and awareness, deterrence, and prosecution.”

Elder abuse is an intentional or negligent act by any person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to an older adult. It is a term used to describe five subtypes of elder abuse: Physical abuse, financial fraud, scams and exploitation, caregiver neglect and abandonment, psychological abuse and sexual abuse.

Authorities say elder abuse affects at least 10% of older Americans every year.

Full Article & Source:
Suffolk man sentenced for $3.9 million international fraud conspiracy targeting the elderly

10 ALF owners sentenced for accepting kickbacks

Ten Miami-Dade County assisted living facility owners have received sentences of federal prison time or home confinement for accepting healthcare kickbacks, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.According to court documents, the operators conspired with the former owner of Florida Pharmacy to receive kickbacks and bribes in exchange for referring residents for prescription medication and durable medical equipment paid for by Medicare and Medicaid. The scheme violated their Medicaid provider agreements as well as federal and state anti-kickback rules and regulations the Justice Department said.Nine of the owners were sentenced to federal prison terms ranging from eight months to one year and one day, and an additional owner was sentenced to home confinement. All 10 defendants also were ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay restitution and be subject to forfeiture judgments.

Sentenced to home confinement was Blanca Orozco, 69. Sentenced to prison:

• Alicia Almeida, 56;
• Norma Casanova, 67;
• Yeny De Erbiti, 51;
• Maribel Galvan, 43;
• Marlene Marrero, 60;
• Dianelys Perez, 34;
• Jorge Rodriguez, 57;
• Rene Vega, 57; and
• Osniel Vera, 47

The sentences came in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Indictments against the defendants were announced in October. All 10 subsequently pleaded guilty to receiving kickbacks in connection with a federal healthcare program.

Full Article & Source:
10 ALF owners sentenced for accepting kickbacks

Former Darien advisor gets prison for bilking elderly client of $1.2m

A former Darien resident received a 41 month prison sentence Wednesday, after his conviction of stealing more than $1 million from an elderly Weston client.

Robert N. Tricarico, 60, ran RNT Wealth Management, which had an office in Westport, and was employed by or associated with several other firms including LPL Financial, Wells Fargo and briefly Northstar Wealth Partners. Between 2010 and 2013 Tricarico misappropriate more than $1.1 million from the late Emily Anderson by writing checks to himself or for his benefit without the authorization of his client. Tricarico also liquidated a coin collection belonging to his client, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly.

Tricarico pleaded guilty in June to one count of wire fraud, at the time living in Milford. He was remanded to the U.S. Marshals Service to begin serving his sentence and was ordered to pay full restitution.

Full Article & Source:
Former Darien advisor gets prison for bilking elderly client of $1.2m

Ex-Arlington attorney gets 20 years in prison

Tiffany Lewis

FORT WORTH — A disbarred Arlington attorney who had also worked as a municipal judge in Dallas is going to prison for pretending to be a lawyer.

Tiffany Lynn Lewis received a 10-year sentence from a Tarrant County jury Friday before state District Judge Robb Catalano, who presided over the trial, tacked on another 10 years after revoking her probation.

Lewis, 46, testified Thursday and Friday to try to persuade the jury to not give her a lengthy prison sentence. The minimum sentence was two years. Instead, she got the maximum of 20.

Lewis had been taken into custody Wednesday after a jury convicted her of falsely holding herself out to be a lawyer.

“You had it all,” her attorney, Leon Haley, said as he questioned Lewis on Thursday. “You had the look, you had the clothes, you had the car. How’d you let it all slip away from you?”

The State Bar of Texas stripped Lewis of her law license in April 2005 because she had spent money that had been awarded to one of her clients in a 2003 probate case.

She had also worked as a municipal judge in Dallas but resigned that position in 2007 to avoid disciplinary action by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Lewis pleaded guilty in September 2009 to misapplication of fiduciary property in the 2003 probate case, admitting to spending a $78,000 probate settlement awarded to a Dallas family.

She was sentenced to 10 years’ probation and 60 days in jail and ordered to repay $58,000. She was also forbidden to hold herself out as an attorney or work as a fiduciary.

But according to testimony Thursday, Lewis shredded the conditions of her probation. She started a business and acted as a fiduciary, repeatedly failed to pay restitution in the ordered amounts and moved out of Tarrant County without her probation officer’s permission.

A probation officer familiar with her case gave Lewis the worst score possible when he was asked to rate her as a probationer.

During her five years on probation, Lewis rarely paid the minimum in restitution and fees and was more than $15,000 in arrears, said Queinton Waldon, a senior officer with the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Correction Department.

Lewis blamed her lapses in judgment on abusive relationships with two men.

Lewis testified that after being disbarred, she started a business to help people in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. During one of her transactions, Lewis cashed a $500 check that identified her as an attorney.

“I didn’t pay any attention to what she wrote on the check,” Lewis testified. “I don’t want to practice law anymore. I’m a business owner and an entrepreneur.”

According to Lori Burks, Tarrant County assistant district attorney, that check was one of several that Lewis cashed in violation of her probation and the law.

“This had been going on for a long time, since 2005,” said Burks, who prosecuted the case with Tiffany Burks and Zena McNulty.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/10/24/6228508/former-arlington-attorney-sentenced.html?storylink=addthis#.VF-cxAl1Nl4.facebook&rh=1#storylink=cpy

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Ex-Arlington attorney gets 20 years in prison