Sheila Gast Sentencing

Sheila Gast’s sentencing date is on 7/7/2009 at 1:15pm.

If you are a victim, please write a victim statement to the judge before July.

1. How have you suffered from Sheila Gast and her lawyers?

2. How much money did Sheila Gast and her lawyers take from you?

3. How much have you emotionally suffered from Sheila Gast and her lawyers?

Robert M. Small
Hennepin County District Court Courts
Tower C-1251
Hennepin County Government Center
300 South 6th Street Minneapolis, MN 55487

See also:
Investigators: The Power of One - May 2009

Judge Accused of Assaulting Mom

A part-time judge, who sometimes works at Fulton County Juvenile Court, is accused of assaulting her mother.

Judge Jacqueline Gibson and two siblings are all charged following a fight that broke out over custody of the 92-year old woman.

Some believe the family feud surrounds the mother's property and it all came to a head recently at a sibling’s home.

According to documents obtained by Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones, Judge Gibson and her brother, Gary Gibson, went to their sister's house to take their mother away, since Gary Gibson is the guardian. With an Atlanta Police officer there, one side says the mother didn't want to leave.

Attorney Elizabeth Rogan, who represents Gibson’s sister Blair King: “She did not want to go. She resisted. And a fight broke out. It's a very complicated unhappy story.”

Full Article and Source:
Judge Accused Of Assaulting 92-Year-Old Mom

"Disruption of Congress"

2005 - Activist Elena Sassower annoyed congress, her trial judge, and defenders of free speech—all the way to jail

Two days before Christmas, Elena Sassower walked out of the Washington, D.C., jail where she'd just finished serving a sentence that should frighten anyone inclined to protest in the halls of power.

For reading a 24-word request to testify at a judicial appointment hearing on Capitol Hill, an act that qualified as "disruption of Congress," Sassower was hit with six months' incarceration—the maximum allowed by law. Despite the grave constitutional implications of her case, not one of the dozen civil rights organizations she'd asked for help came to her assistance: not the ACLU, not Public Citizen, not People for the American Way, not Common Cause.

Her real crime, it seems, was her penchant for being a pest. Reached by the Voice, attorneys from three such organizations refused to comment or spoke only off the record. One attorney privately told the Voice that his group's unwillingness to lend Sassower a hand had "nothing to do with the merits of her claims" and "everything to do with her being a very difficult person." Sassower ended up acting as her own lawyer, doing herself no favors in the trial.

Full Article and Source:
The Scourge of Her Conviction

Elderly Sues Judge Seidlin

An 83-year-old woman has filed a lawsuit against former Broward Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin over accusations that Seidlin exploited her frail health for personal gain.

Barbara Kasler's suit also lists Seidlin's wife, Belinda, and his in-laws, Barbara and Oren Ray, as defendants.

The lawsuit was filed less than a month after the state ended an elderly-abuse investigation and found no wrongdoing in Seidlin's relationship with Kasler, a wealthy, bed-ridden widow who is his neighbor in the Marine Tower condominiums on Las Olas Boulevard.

That investigation was triggered in March after Kasler's niece and a caregiver jointly called the state's elder-abuse hotline, alleging neglect and financial exploitation by Seidlin, his wife and his mother-in-law.

Full Article and Source:
Former Broward Judge Larry Seidlin sued by elderly neighbor

See also:
Seidlin Cleared in 2nd Probe

Judge Accused of Exploitation

New Protection for Estates

Local advocates for the elderly are praising a new law that prevents anyone who abuses, neglects or financially exploits vulnerable adults from inheriting their money.

House Bill 1103, sponsored by Rep. Jim Moeller was signed into law May 18 by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Longview resident Tom Deutsch, who advocates for vulnerable adults in Southwest Washington, calls the new law “great progress” in addressing a sharp rise in senior exploitation cases.

Full Article and Source:
New protections for estates of abused seniors making an immediate impact

Judge's Guardianship Guide

Parents looking to establish guardianship over their adult children with disabilities are getting a leg up from a local judge.

Judge Lawrence Kirkwood prepared a guide to walk parents through the often confusing process of seeking guardianship.

Until last year Floridians needed a lawyer to seek guardianship, which could cost thousands of dollars. But a recent act of the state’s legislature made it so that parents can file for guardianship on their own.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Offers Guide For Parents Seeking Guardianship

More information:
Judge's help called a 'lifeline' for parents

Accountant Becomes Guardian

After reading last month's News-Democrat stories about problems with guardianship of impaired adults accountant Charles Fike decided to intervene.

Fike: "What concerned me is the lack of accountings, the lack of showing where the money's going."

He told Judge Stephen Rice, who oversees probate court in the county, that he'd like to get into the guardianship business. He has visited with health care providers, such as Memorial Hospital in Belleville, to let them know they can turn to him when trying to find a guardian for a patient.

Since last week, he has been appointed as guardian for three people.

"I see the need for this, and I believe I can do it," Fike added that he thinks his more than two decades of experience as an accountant and his responsibility in caring for his parents provides the perfect background for this type of work.

Full Article and Source:
Belleville accountant offers to be guardian for impaired adults

Kristal Estate Settlement

A settlement has been reached in the long and often bitter battle over the estate of former CBGB proprietor Hilly Kristal, CBGB Made Hilly Kristal a Millionaire—His Ex Got Nothing.

At the center of the dispute: whether Kristal's ex-wife Karen, who was the legal owner of CBGB throughout the club's entire existence, signed the business over to her former husband in 2005. The document was unwitnessed, and today, Karen Kristal says she has no memory of signing it. But her daughter, Lisa Kristal Burgman, who was the chief beneficiary of the more than $3 million dollar fortune her father left behind when he died in 2007, maintains that her mother did willingly sign, and that the club and the money was therefore rightfully her father's, and now hers.

"The thing that I'm mad about is the guardianship," says Dana, who explains his and his mother's decision to settle as the result of legal blackmail by his sister, whose lawyers threatened a guardianship over his mother in the midst of the now two years worth of legal wrangling.

"I was told they could actually put my mother in a hospital. That's why we felt we had to agree...You never know what's going to happen in a guardianship, and I didn't want that threat over my mother."

Full Article and Source:
The Final CBGB Settlement: Hilly Kristal's Estate Takes Its Last Legal Bow

Missing Teen

TX - CCPD is seeking the assistance of the public in locating the following missing, possibly endangered, person:

Ryan Ramirez, age 16. Ramirez was last seen at this grandparents' residence in the 1200 block of Florida street on April 3, 2009 at approximately 10:00 PM. Ramirez left behind a note indicating he intended to run away and has not been heard from nor seen since. His grandparents, who have guardianship, are worried because he also left behind prescribed medication. Ramirez, who is 5'6" tall, 120lbs with black hair and brown eyes, may have traveled to San Antonio to visit a girlfriend or family members.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Ryan Ramirez is urged to call Sr. Officer J. Lerma in CID at 886-2677 or 886-2840.

Family members are extremely worried about his well-being and are desperately hoping for any confirmation that he is in good health.

Source:
CCPD Seeks Public's Help In Locating Missing Teen