by Darcy Spears
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) - In the past two days, multiple individuals who
were supposed to protect our most vulnerable citizens have been
indicted, and most are now behind bars.
But their crimes didn't happen in back alleys under the cloak of darkness or in secret back rooms.
Contact 13 continues to investigate the broken guardianship system to see who else should be accountable.
Guardianship cases are handled in Clark County's Family Court, but
shockingly, the courtroom is exactly where the accused committed most of
their alleged crimes.
Thursday afternoon,
Susan Rousselle was indicted on 44 counts of theft and exploitation for
stealing more than $50,000 from the special needs trust account of Jason
Hanson.
On Wednesday, private, for-profit
guardian April Parks was indicted as the alleged ring leader of a group
authorities are calling a criminal syndicate.
The four, arrested Wednesday in law enforcement actions across the country, are facing nearly 300 felony counts.
They're charged with isolating elderly and disabled people from their
families and systematically draining their life savings in the last
months of their lives.
"I'm saddened to say
that most of the victims that are part of this criminal indictment have
since passed away," said District Attorney Steve Wolfson in a press
conference following the indictments.
April
Lynn Parks, husband Gary Taylor, business partner Mark Simmons and
attorney Noel Palmer Simpson stole over half a million dollars,
according to a criminal indictment. It was handed down Wednesday--two
years after Contact 13 first broke the story about April Parks and her
business bilking those the court assigned her to protect.
"When I get to that age and somebody tries to put me in a guardianship,
I'm probably going to come out kicking and screaming too," Parks said
in an interview with Contact 13 in early 2015.
She was talking about Rudy and Rennie North, who are among more than
150 victims named in the indictment as having lost money and possessions
to Parks.
"We do marshal the assets," Parks
explained. "Yes. We absolutely do that. And we are instructed to do
that. And that's for safe keeping."
But the
Grand Jury indictment says she failed to keep much of anything safe.
She's accused of filing hundreds of false documents with the court and
committing perjury. Which begs the question, where was the oversight?
Every one of Parks' alleged victims were wards of the court,
conscripted into guardianship by people like Commissioner Jon
Norheim--who's been removed from all adult guardianship cases, and
Family Court presiding judge Charles Hoskin.
"There are other agencies and other departments within Clark County that
are somewhat responsible for what I call a failure," said District
Attorney Wolfson.
Part of that failure even
included fraudulent medical records, which the court allowed Parks to
use to prove people needed a guardian.
Contact
13 wanted to know why all those phony and altered documents were
accepted and whether any judges, commissioners or doctors would be held
accountable.
"Some of the operational things
down in Family Court--some of the checks and balances that perhaps
weren't followed," said Wolfson. "But at the end of the day, I believe
changes have been put in place and I'm hopeful that these won't happen
again."
We asked Clark County District Court
for a response to the District Attorney's comments and questions about
how all this fraudulent activity was approved. The Court provided the
following statement:
It is the goal of the court, that improvements made over the past two
years to the guardianship system including: hiring an investigator and
compliance officer, technological upgrades, and case re-assignment to
judges, will stop the potential for those intent on defrauding the most
vulnerable in our community.
Protecting our most vulnerable requires not only court commitment, but a
commitment of resources by funding authorities in the executive branch,
and continued leadership from the legislature. We all need to focus on
improving guardianship and must continue until all possible improvements
are implemented.
When issues with the guardianship system were brought to the attention
of the court, the court took immediate action to address issues and
called for a commission to determine what needed to be done to get
guardianship in line with national best practices. The court has made
changes over the past two years to address issues with the guardianship
system including: automating daily compliance reports; moving the
caseload from a hearing master to judges, working to implement new
specialized software. A Guardianship Hotline was established and is
still up and running to take concerns and questions at 702-671-4614 and
an email...is also available at guardianshipcompliance@clarkcountycourts.us for those who have concerns.
Full Article & Source:
CONTACT 13: Guardianship crimes occurred in courtroom
