Filmmaker in Elmira NY Turns Camera on Corruption

Filmmaker and activist William Windsor is a man on a mission, and that mission brought him to Elmira on Thursday as he seeks to battle what he calls 14 categories of corruption.

“Our challenge is to educate and reach a million-plus people,” said Windsor, who started June 14 on a 143-day trip through all 50 states to work on “Lawless America – The Movie.”

Through the project, he is recording the stories of people who say they are victims of judicial and governmental corruption.

“The name ‘Lawless America’ was developed not to say our country is lawless or that we have a lot of lawless people,” he said.

“It’s to say that we have laws and they aren’t enforced, and we have people who are supposed to enforce the law and they don’t do the right thing, so they’re lawless. The judges change the law at a moment’s notice.”

The subject of his stop in Elmira was Sara Harvey of Horseheads, who claims Chemung County is guilty of guardianship abuse.

Her husband, Gary Harvey, suffered a traumatic brain injury following a heart attack and subsequent fall down a flight of basement stairs in January 2006. He remains in a persistent vegetative state.

She had sought legal guardianship of her husband, but the county Department of Social Services was appointed as his legal guardian indefinitely.

“I want my husband back. I want to expose the corruption of the courts,” Sara Harvey said Thursday. The attorneys involved represent the guardian, the hospital and the county, she said.

“There’s nobody there to protect my husband.”

Full Article and Source:
Filmmaker in Elmira Turns Camera on Corruption

See Also:
Lawless America Films Sara Harvey

I'm Sick of the Gary Harvey Case - Time to Move On

HelpBringGaryHome.com

NASGA: Gary Harvey, NY Victim

For more information on "Lawless America" and Mr. Windsor's filming itinery:
LawlessAmerica.com

Lawless America - The Movie

Bill Windsor is traveling to all 50 states by car in an effort to save America with the help of over 750 victims of judicial corruption, law enforcement abuse, and government corruption.

Source:
YouTube: Lawless Amercia Movie Update

See Also:
LawlessAmerica.com

AZ: Health-Care Workers Arrested in Two Separate Elder-Abuse Cases

Two women in the health-care industry have been arrested separately in the last two days on suspicion of abusing elderly dementia patients they had been hired to care for, officials say.

Jennifer Lopshire, 44, was booked into the Pima County jail on one count of vulnerable adult abuse Monday evening and was being held on $5,000 bail.

Shanna Harper, 36, was arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of fraud and theft/exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Her bond had not yet been set.

The Veterans Administration hired Lopshire to help care for a 91-year-old Tucson man two years ago, said Assistant Arizona Attorney General Jesse Delaney.

A short time later, the man's daughter, who lives in Minnesota, hired Lopshire to also take care of her 88-year-old mother who uses a wheelchair. The woman requires 24-hour care because of Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and Parkinson's.

The couple were living in an assisted living facility until last year when Lopshire placed the man into a care facility and rented the woman an apartment, Delaney said.

On June 7, one of the woman's other caregivers called 911 to report the woman's mouth was swollen, bruised and cut on one side and that the woman had told her Lopshire caused the injuries when she "lost her temper."

Investigators are combing through the victim's financial records to determine if additional charges are warranted, Delaney said. Other allegations of physical abuse are also being investigated, she said.

Lopshire's preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.

Full Article and Source:
Health-Care Workers Arrested in Separate Elder-Abuse Cases

"Lawless America" Films Sara Harvey

A documentary film maker says he stopped in Elmira, Thursday, to as he said "Expose injustice within the Chemung County Court System and St. Joseph's Hospital".

Windsor says his film "Lawless America" is a collection of stories similar to the Harvey's aimed to expose these injustices.

Windsor said, “She's concerned with his well being. How can you be concerned with someone's well being and people outside your family take away your rights. I mean it just doesn't work.”

Full Article and Source:
Film-Maker Stops in Elmira to Expose Injustices

See Also:
I'm Sick of the Gary Harvey Case - Time to Move On

HelpBringGaryHome.com

NASGA: Gary Harvey, NY Victim

For more information on "Lawless America" and Mr. Windsor's filming itinery:
LawlessAmerica.com

Guma Aguiar's Fortune Now Controlled by Lawyer

Ever since Guma Aguiar disappeared at sea, his mother and her fiancé have been trying to gain control of his many millions in assets, scattered across the U.S. and Israel in the form of cash and investments.

The mother, Ellen Aguiar, petitioned a Broward County Court to make her a conservator of his fortunes. In a hearing yesterday, the judge asked her to step aside for the moment, appointing a local lawyer as conservator: Thomas F. Panza.

There are other big-name players in town who have been drawn into this case by the wide reach of Aguiar's money. Ilene Lieberman, a Broward County commissioner who last year saw prosecutorial immunity for assisting in corruption cases against her peers, has been listed as an attorney for Ellen Aguiar, although Lieberman has not responded to a request for details.

Ellen, meanwhile, is represented by powerful Miami attorney Richard Baron as she tries to keep his U.S. assets as well as an estimated $40 million in Israel out of the hands of his wife, Jamie Aguiar. The probate case is proceeding with Guma listed as a "decedent," on the assumption that he's no longer alive.

Full Article and Source:
Guma Aguiar's Assets Now Controlled by Ken Jenne's Old Pal Thomas F. Panza

See Also:
Missing Florida Millionaire May Be Alive and 'Suffering From Pyschosis'

Missouri Legislation Strengthens Senior Protections

Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation Wednesday intended to strengthen protections for elderly and disabled Missourians against financial exploitation.

Missouri already has a law that makes it a crime to take financial advantage of an elderly or disabled person through deception, intimidation or force. However, officials say it has been difficult for prosecutors to prove cases of financial exploitation when the perpetrator has guardianship or power of attorney.

Under the newly approved law, it now will be a crime to use "undue influence" to exploit someone's "vulnerable state of mind, neediness, pain or agony." That specifically could be applied to instances of improper or fraudulent use of power of attorney, guardianship, conservatorship or other fiduciary authority.

Full Article and Source:
Missouri Legislation Strengthens Senior Protections

Will Arizona Supreme Court 'Hear' Penniless Old Lady?

The elderly woman can barely speak yet she was heard in the state’s highest circles, or so I hoped.

“I live in the real world,” Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch told me, in 2010.“I’ve read your columns. They cause concern and I just think that any system, it’s a good idea to take a look at all of your processes and make sure things are working the way they’re supposed to work.”

Marie Long’s story prompted both court and legislative reviews of Arizona’s probate court system. As a result, important changes were made, changes designed to ensure that the most vulnerable among us are protected rather than processed into the poorhouse.

But all of those vaunted reforms did nothing for Marie, who was left penniless by the system that was supposed to protect her.

Two courts have said that the probate commissioner overseeing Marie’s estate acted unethically and that the court-sanctioned siphoning of her bank account was “inexcusable”.

They just didn’t do anything about it.

Now Marie has one final chance for a fair hearing. The state Supreme Court has been asked to review what happened to the 90-year-old widow and decide whether she will get at least an opportunity to get a little of her money back.

“The idea that Marie is on welfare, doesn’t have the money to go out to lunch with her lady friends, or to get her teeth fixed, or to buy a new hat to wear to church, is just outrageous,” said attorney Candess Hunter, who along with Isabel Humphrey is volunteering her services to appeal Marie’s case.

Marie came under the “protection” of probate in 2005, after suffering a stroke and then a family dispute, over where and how she would live.

By 2009, her $1.3 million in assets were gone, much of it sucked up by attorneys and fiduciaries under the not-so-watchful eye of Commissioner Lindsay Ellis.

In March 2010, Ellis ruled that those attorneys and fiduciaries were justified in helping themselves to nearly $840,000 for three years’ work. Her 21-page ruling lambasted Marie's lawyers, people who for years had been working for free. Ellis wrote that their "venomous” attacks challenging the six-figure bills forced the fiduciaries and lawyers on the other side to defend themselves.

With Marie's money, naturally.

Two months after Ellis’ ruling, we learned that Ellis had had her judicial assistant send an advance copy of her decision to select attorneys – the ones who wound up with Marie’s money – and that one of the lawyers replied that she “could not be happier.”

I suppose not. Attorney Brenda Church’s law firms collected nearly $324,000 from Marie.

Such e-mails between a judge and one side in a contested case are called ex-parte communications and they’re supposed to be a big no-no. Turns out they’re more like a wink-wink-nod-nod.

Full Article and Source:
Will Arizona Supreme Court "Hear" Penniless Old Lady?

See Also:
Marie Long, One Step Away From Getting Her Wish

CBS: Guardianship Agency Cost Elderly Woman Dearly

MI: Audit Flags Courts for not Doing Background Checks on Conservators, Guardians

Probate courts in Michigan do not always order background checks on people appointed to make financial and medical decisions for seniors, children and other wards who cannot care for themselves, a state audit has found.

Of 76 probate courts that responded to auditors' survey, 34 - or 45 percent - did not do criminal history checks on conservators, guardians or their families before naming them. Forty-six, or 61 percent, did not do sex offender checks.

The audit, released Thursday, said while doing background checks before and after appointments is not required under state law, it is a "sound business practice" favored by the AARP, an advocacy group for seniors.

Auditor General Thomas McTavish recommended that the Michigan Supreme Court's administrative arm provide guidance to probate judges on doing background checks of potential conservators and guardians.

Full Article and Source:
Audit Flags courts for not Doing Background Checks on Conservators, Guardians

Former Conservator Clerk Sentenced for Theft

A man who worked for Tuscaloosa County's former conservator has been sentenced to serve two years in prison for stealing from a patient with dementia.

Brian Lunceford, 30, worked for Zondra Hutto, the attorney who was appointed to manage the finances of the elderly victim. Lunceford pleaded guilty to charges that he used the woman's money to pay for a trip to Riveria Maya, Mexico, for Hutto and himself.

A federal judge on Friday ordered him to serve 10 months in prison for fraudulent use of a credit card and 24 months for aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith ordered him to report to prison Aug. 27. The sentences will be served at the same time.

Full Article and Source:
Former Law Clerk Sentenced in Theft

See Also:
Audits Show Alabama Conservator Zondra Hutto Mismanaged Ward's Cases