Don’t ‘lock them up’

By Allen Cooper on February 21, 2019 1:00 am

 

During the last presidential elections cries of “lock her up” energized the crowds. Have our city supervisors taken a page from that book by yelling “lock the homeless up?’

The California legislature passed a law that would allow San Francisco, to institute a new type of conservatorship. Supervisor Mandelman with the encouragement of Mayor Breed has proposed legislation to implement this.

When someone is conserved they lose all civil rights and a court appointee has authority to make all decisions for them. The new law states that an individual who is seriously mentally ill, has a substance use disorder and has been brought to a hospital for competency evaluation (5150) eight times in one year can be taken to court by the Sheriff, the head of a hospital, or the head of the Department of Health for a conservatorship hearing to determine if they can care for themselves.

The law requires that housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment as well as other services be made available to them. In general, these are homeless people who are considered nuisances by the police and residents of the neighborhoods where they stay. It has been estimated that currently 55 individuals meet, and about 48 more may soon meet, the requirements for a hearing. This has the appeal of allowing the City to say it is doing something about bothersome homeless people.

This is a bad idea for many reasons. The people in question have already been found to be able to care for themselves on eight evaluations, thus it ignores the opinion of medical professionals and puts the decision in the hand of lay bureaucrats. Further, when these people get housing, treatment, and other services, they will go to the head of long waiting lists for these services, thus pushing out the elderly, disabled and pregnant as well as other high priority unhoused who are waiting for these services.

Past experience suggests the forced treatment approach is not likely to be successful in rehabilitating the conserved individuals. Many of these seriously mentally ill people have had drug treatment in the past and have failed. In fact, 30 percent of the seriously mentally ill are drug resistant and will never respond. Putting these people in the hospital and trying to medicate them will probably lead to expensive hospitalizations.

Forced treatment for substance use has been tried for many years but evidence that it leads to long term success is lacking. It tends to lead to reduced substance use while a person is in the program with relapse when they are discharged. The best one group studying this could say is that it is probably better than nothing. This is a contrast to those who enter treatment voluntarily, where there is reasonable rate of long-term success. Eventually many of these people may end up being conserved and housed out of the city at a cost of about $160,000 per year, or in even more expensive chronic psychiatric hospital beds.

Is there an alternative? A coalition of groups and individuals with expertise and experience in this area have suggested “voluntary services first.”

This would require intensive case management to encourage the people to enter supportive housing and encourage voluntarily entrance to treatment. This will require trained case managers who will see their patients on an almost daily basis to establish a relationship and coax them into supportive housing where they can manage them over the long term. Let’s try it before we end up depriving these unfortunate people of their civil rights. Call your supervisor and tell them don’t “lock them up.”

Allen Cooper, M.D. is a professor of medicine emeritus at Stanford University who worked for Healthright360 at the Treasure Island Job Corps and the Height Ashbury Free clinic after retirement. He has treated numerous patients with alcohol and drug use problems, as well as mental illness and homelessness.

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Don’t ‘lock them up’

The best legal planning may not be enough to keep you safe from guardianship

BRADENTON, Fla. — Even the best retirement plans may not be enough to keep a stranger from taking over your life under the state’s troubled guardianship system, the I-Team found.

Alice Yaniscavitch said she thought she was making all the right moves in retirement when she went to a lawyer to set up a family trust – a decision she says ended up costing her control over her own life.

The 85-year-old moved in with her daughter Terri McGuire and her son-in-law Mickey in Manatee County after last year selling her home in Cleveland, Tennessee.

“Terri was taking care of me. She’s very good,” Yaniscavitch told I-Team Investigator Adam Walser last month.

At the time, Yaniscavitch was waiting to see if a judge would permanently place her in court-ordered guardianship, which she said she didn’t want.

“It’s my life – not theirs,” said Yaniscavitch.

Yaniscavitch said the thing she feared most was “going to a nursing home.”

“They’re not going to put me in one,” she said.

McGuire and the advocacy groups that she reached out to were concerned when the case first started in late November.

They contacted the Florida Office of Public and Professional Guardians, a watchdog agency set up three years ago to police the state’s broken guardianship system.

So far, the agency hasn’t taken any action in Yaniscavitch’s case.

How did the guardianship start?

Yaniscavitch gave both her daughters – Terri McGuire and Lori Yaniscavitch – powers of attorney over her health care decisions as part of her retirement planning, according to court records.

In November 2017, Yaniscavitch set up an irrevocable family trust, with 90 percent of her money benefitting McGuire, who was taking care of her and the rest going to Lori, according to the trust document obtained by the I-Team.

Tennessee attorney Jeff Miller wrote, witnessed and notarized the trust agreement.

“She knew why she was there. She had a purpose for being there,” said Miller.

Miller said Yaniscavitch wanted to move her assets into a trust to make sure she would be eligible for a future government benefit.

Miller said she also wanted her daughters to avoid going to probate court to settle her estate after her death.

But when Lori Yaniscavitch found out about the trust, she went to court in November, seeking guardianship for her mother.

Lori Yaniscavitch wouldn’t speak to the I-Team at a recent court hearing, but in court documents she alleges her sister was financially exploiting their mother and endangering her health.

When I-Team Investigator Adam Walser asked Alice Yaniscavitch if she felt safe in her daughter Terri’s home, she replied, “Oh, yeah. Definitely.”

Daughter moves to break up trust

Lori’s attorneys asked a judge to remove her mother from Terri’s home and put her in memory care and argued her mother didn’t know what she was doing when she signed the trust document in 2017, court transcripts and documents from the case show.

But Stetson Law Professor Roberta Flowers, director of the Stetson Elder Law Center, said that may be difficult to prove.

“The issue revolves around, under the law, was the person capable at the moment they signed the document,” said Flowers.

“You have to have people who are there when they signed the document who are able to articulate what was going on with that person, how was that person acting so that a judge at some future date can say ‘Oh yeah. Ok. It sounds like that person understood,’” said Flowers.

Miller said he put those safeguards in place when Alice Yaniscavitch signed her trust documents.

“She was fully engaged, fully aware of what she wanted to do,” Miller told the I-Team. “She was the one who spoke out and told me what she wanted and why she wanted it.”

Judge freezes all accounts

But Judge Deno Economou froze Yaniscavitch’s trust account, along with Terri and Mickey McGuire’s bank accounts.

Their funds were frozen before Christmas, according to the court order, but the McGuires hope the Florida Court of Appeals will overturn the judge’s order.

“The allegation is that they have improper funds in that account. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence to support that,” said attorney Marc Soss, who represents the McGuires. “It’s someone trying to second guess the estate planning that Alice put into place because they don’t like it.”

Judge Economou also appointed Anne Ridings as Yaniscavitch’s guardian.

Within a few days of being appointed guardian, Ridings took all of Yaniscavitch’s jewelry for safekeeping.

Terri McGuire showed ABC Action News photos she took of hundreds of pieces of her mother’s jewelry before they were taken.

“Gold watches… I’ve got bracelets, a lot of earrings, diamond earrings,” said Yaniscavitch about the jewelry she had taken from her.

Wedding ring taken off her finger

Yaniscavitch said Ridings even took the wedding ring off her finger, which she has worn for 58 years – even after her husband died.

“Horrible, horrible,” said Yaniscavitch when asked about losing the ring she wore for 58 years –even after her husband died.

“It’s called marshaling the assets,” said Jeff Swartz, a former judge and law professor. “I can understand that the guardian wants to marshal and inventory assets – that’s fine – but taking her wedding band off her finger and not letting her have it back or taking her jewelry and just sticking it away – when maybe she does still wear it because at certain lucid moments she wants her things around her – that’s just not necessary.”

Less than two weeks after the I-Team interviewed Yaniscavitch, her daughter Lori picked her up, saying she was taking her to a hair appointment.

Instead, she moved her into assisted living – even though court transcripts show the judge said earlier that Yaniscavitch should remain in her daughter Terri’s home.

Injured in assisted living

Days later Terri shot a video of her mother at the memory care center, which she shared with the I-Team. In the video, Yaniscavitch complained of arm pain and said she had fallen.

Terri McGuire had her friend, who at the memory care center with her, call 911 for an ambulance to take her mother to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed Yaniscavitch with a fractured vertebra.

Days after Yaniscavitch went to the hospital, guardian Anne Ridings filed an emergency motion asking the judge to limit McGuire’s visits, court records show. The judge denied that request.
Ridings did not respond to the I-Team’s interview requests.

It’s unclear whether Yaniscavitch’s wishes will ultimately be carried out. She has not been in the courtroom to talk to the judge during five hearings so far.

Before she was removed from her home, I-Team Investigator Adam Walser asked Yaniscavitch what would happen if a judge told her she had go to a nursing home.

“I'm not, I'm not,” said Yaniscavitch. “I’d say you’re going to have to put me in jail. There’s no way they’re putting me in a nursing home. I’ve been through it. I’ve seen it. I don't want to be there.”

The judge still hasn’t ruled yet on whether Yaniscavitch will be placed in permanent guardianship.

After Yaniscavitch was released from the hospital, she was taken to a rehabilitation center, where she is currently recovering from her injury.

If you have a story you think the I-Team should investigate, contact adam@abcactionnews.com.

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The best legal planning may not be enough to keep you safe from guardianship

Area attorney disbarred; records sealed

A state disciplinary panel has disbarred an area attorney and sealed the records of the case.

Attorney Linda Ziembicki, of Rural Valley, was disbarred on consent by the disciplinary board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, under an order handed down Thursday by the high court.

The disbarment takes effect March 16.`

A spokeswoman at the court said the board usually gives 30 days to allow an attorney to close out cases and direct clients to find other representation.

Laura Mohney, counsel to the board, said Ziembicki submitted a verified statement of resignation, which has been sealed by the court.

Ziembicki was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in April 2000, and apparently practiced law only in Armstrong County.

According to a state court system web page identifying Ziembicki as a registered attorney (state ID No. 85102), she was not affiliated with a law firm or any other legal organization.

“I do not maintain professional liability insurance pursuant to the provisions of the Rule of Professional Conduct 1.4 (c), but I do have private clients and/or possible exposure to malpractice actions,” according to a comment Ziembicki posted on the page.

Disbarment by the state Supreme Court is the most extreme form of discipline that the 13-member board is empowered to impose.

Attorneys are subject to private admonition, private reprimand, public reprimand, probation, public censure and suspension for as long as five years, in addition to license revocation and disbarment, for misconduct and other violation of the state’s disciplinary rules for lawyers.

She could not be reached for comment.

Two published telephone numbers for Ziembicki’s law office are disconnected.

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Area attorney disbarred; records sealed

OPINION: Don’t dehumanize people with dementia

Imagine going to the airport. You’re excited about reaching your destination, and nervous about the anticipated flight. You greet the airline attendant as you check in for your flight and the person at the counter explains your times, gates, and hands you your boarding pass. All of a sudden, they read your identification information and ask, “Who is the person who needs assistance?”

When you explain it’s you, because you live with dementia, their demeanour immediately changes. They stop making eye contact. They now only speak to the friend who accompanies you. The attendant assumes you are incompetent and you’re no longer treated as a person. This is the stigma Marilyn Taylor and many other Nova Scotians diagnosed with dementia face every day.

January was Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and our campaign was about changing attitudes towards the disease and reducing the stigma that surrounds dementia. We have launched an awareness campaign, “Yes. I live with dementia. Let me help you understand,” showcasing the unique and diverse stories of individuals like Marilyn Taylor living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

While there is no question that dementia is a complex disease, it is just one aspect of a person’s life story. Nova Scotians with dementia deserve respect, a good quality of life, and to face less stigma as they go on living their lives.

Research shows that stigma around dementia is rampant. In a survey commissioned by the Alzheimer Society last year, one in four Canadians said they’d feel ashamed or embarrassed if they had dementia, while one in five admitted to using derogatory or stigmatizing language about it.

Misconceptions and stereotypes are often at the root of stigma. They contribute to the isolation that those living with the disease experience, and they discourage their families from confiding in others or getting the support they need.

It is important for people to realize that negative reactions from family, friends and professionals can affect a person’s well-being and ability to manage the changes brought about by the disease.

People living with dementia are entitled to the same human rights as everyone else, but stigma can create barriers and often contravenes these rights. Recently, this led to the creation of the first-ever Canadian Charter of Rights for People with Dementia. The charter is the culmination of work from the society’s advisory group of people living with dementia from across the country, including Nova Scotia’s Marilyn Taylor.

Its purpose is to make sure people with dementia know their rights, empowers people with dementia to ensure their rights are protected and respected, and makes sure that Canadians know these rights and support people with dementia.

This year, take the time to become better informed about a disease that has the potential to affect every single one of us. By working together, we can build an inclusive community.

The next time you meet someone with dementia, clear your mind of any preconceived notions you have about the disease. If you’ve met one person with dementia, then you’ve only met one person with dementia. When they tell you they have the disease, ask them, in their words, to help you understand.

Breanne Markotich is communications co-ordinator, Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia. For more information, resources, education and support, call 1-800-611-6345 or visit alzheimer.ca/ns

Full Article & Source:
OPINION: Don’t dehumanize people with dementia

Tonight on Marti Oakley's TS Radio Network: Betrayed by Hospice, hosted by Marsha Joiner

5:00 pm PST…
6:00 pm MST…
7:00 pm CST…
8:00 pm EST

Come join us and listen to Jackie Ferrara tell how her husband, Tony Ferrara, age 72 died on August 3, 2017.

His death was hastened by Hospice in Orlando, Florida with Haldol, Ativan, morphine, lorazepam and fentanyl even though Tony and Jackie had been clear that he wanted to live and had revoked hospice.

Hospice staff suggested since he had been in and out of the hospital and rehabilitation facility several times that he didn’t want to continue this way and stated if he had a heart attack, he didn’t want to be revived – right? He said no, I do, I want to live. They were told he had no terminal illness after initially being told he did. After calling 911, the medical staff who took him to the hospital stated he had been overdosed and gave him Narcon to counteract all the drugs but he passed 3 days later.

Call in and listen to what can happen to you or your loved ones if you blindly trust rogue hospice and nursing home staff. It is our intent to inform people about the potential dangers, terminology and red flags. Stealth Euthanasia is happening across the country as elderly and disabled are being targeted for early death and deemed unworthy of more time on earth. Many of the guests on this show have lost loved ones whose death was hastened by medical predators. Education is key for you to know what is happening and not just listen to what you are being told by medical staff. You have the right to question doctors and nurses decisions, refuse drugs and/or hospice altogether. There are other options available and it is our intention to give you knowledge about your rights.

If you have a story about a hospice or nursing home hastening a loved one’s death, contact Marsha Joiner at marshajoiner2018@gmail.com.   You will need to have records that document your story. For more information check out http://www.hospicepatients.org

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

Burkburnett PD: Disabled twins found malnourished, dirty; father charged with exploitation

An elderly man has been charged with exploiting his disabled twin adult daughters, who were reportedly found malnourished and unkempt.

David Hubert Decker, 78, was charged with exploitation of a disabled individual – a third-degree felony. He was out of the Wichita County Jail Friday morning on $10,000 bail.

David Hubert Decker

The allegations came to light after one of his daughters was found wandering around Burkburnett around 11:03 a.m. on Jan. 31.

Burkburnett police were called to the 600 block of East College Street for a suspicious person call.

They arrived and made contact with a disabled person, who was identified as one of Decker's twin daughters.

The officers saw she was thin, visibly dirty and had a "pungent odor to her body." Her hair was also completely matted down into a massive tangle, an arrest warrant affidavit states.

The affidavit also notes that her finger and toenails were very long and unkempt, and she had "a layer of crust all over her body." The crust included a large ringworm on her back.

The officers observed that her disability prevented her from caring for herself and making decisions, the affidavit states.

Adult Protective Services was contacted, and the affidavit states APS requested the woman be transported to the hospital for treatment.

APS also informed officers that the woman had a twin sister with the same disability, but they didn't know where she lived.

On Feb. 1, officers found the woman's father, identified as Decker, at a residence in the 600 block of East College.

Decker claimed he was the twins' guardian and caregiver due to their disability, the affidavit states.

He apparently was aware that the one daughter had wandered off but didn't make an attempt to find her. The affidavit states he also didn't contact police to report her as missing.

While officers were speaking with Decker, they also made contact with the twin sister.

The twin sister had a similar appearance to the woman found in the street, and her toes appeared to be infected due to her toenails growing into the toes next to them, the affidavit states.

According to the affidavit, she seemed to have a difficult time walking and was taken to the hospital for treatment at the request of APS. She was diagnosed with malnutrition and dehydration.

APS reportedly spoke with officials at the Social Security Office who verified that the twin sisters receive a combined $1,541 per month in disability benefits. Decker was listed as the payee to their account.

The affidavit states that Decker was aware his daughters are not bathed or nurtured with any form of hygiene.

Decker was charged with exploitation of a disabled individual for improperly using his daughters' resources and not providing them with the medical services or care that they required.

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Burkburnett PD: Disabled twins found malnourished, dirty; father charged with exploitation

Trial of Sebring judge to begin earlier

AKRON, Ohio - At the requests of a former judge in Mahoning County's Sebring court and her husband, a federal judge has moved up the date of their trials on federal crimes.

Fifty-year-old Vettori-Caraballo and Ismael Caraballo have been granted a motion filed in U.S. District Court asking their trials, which had been set to begin on Monday, March 4, to start Friday, March 1 instead.

According to their motion, their defense attorney Gerald Ingram has a prior commitment beginning March 9, and they question whether a trial can be completed by then.

Vettori-Caraballo was indicted late last year by a federal grand jury alleging that she stole at least $100,000 from a former client. She and her husband are also charged with one count of filing a false tax return and have rejected offers for plea agreements.

In October, Vettori-Caraballo was suspended from the bench while she was being investigated for allegations that in early 2016 she took between $100,000 and $328,000 in cash that was in the home of her deceased client.

Vettori-Caraballo also drafted Robert Sampson's will, on November 20, 2015, Vettori-Caraballo filled an application in Mahoning County Probate Court to administer Sampson's estate. The application stated that Sampson died without a will.

Robert Sampson died in 2015, and his closest living relative was his sister, Dolores Falgiani. Vettori-Caraballo helped Falgiani prepare Sampson's will.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, sometime in October or November 2015, Falgiani stated that she had several shoeboxes fo cash stored at her residence. Falgiani was found dead in her apartment on March 10, 2016.

Authorities say that Vettori-Caraballo reported having found cash in Falgiani's residence and depositing the $20,000 into the estate. According to the indictment, Vettori-Caraballo filed a notice fo newly discovered assets with the court and each time failed to disclose the cash she allegedly had stolen.

Vettori-Caraballo allegedly made 22 deposits of cash into five different banks within four weeks to avoid regulations that require banks to report cash transactions over $10,000 to the IRS, according to the indictment.

Vettori-Caraballo is also named in a civil action case in probate court on behalf of the victim's family.
A proposed settlement has been offered up in that case, in regards to two other defendants.

Vettori-Caraballo was elected to become the Sebring Court Judge in Mahoning County Court #3 in 2002, and she was reelected in 2006 and 2012.

Full Article & Source:
Trial of Sebring judge to begin earlier

See Also:
UPDATE | Mahoning County judge charged with stealing

Mahoning County judge charged with stealing over $96K from client

Cleveland County woman charged with murder, abuse of mother

CLEVELAND COUNTY, Okla. - A case of elder abuse out of Cleveland County allegedly came from the hands of a family member.

“The conditions of the house were horrendous,” said Sheriff Todd Gibson, Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office.

Murder and abuse charges have been filed against 45-year-old Shauna Brown, who was the primary caretaker of her elderly mother, 73-year-old Sharon Ingram.

Ingram died of sepsis shock in the hospital last August.

In May of the same year, she was found wandering the road near her Newalla home that she shared with Brown.

The hospital found severe infections on her lower legs. One wound was bloody and was infested with maggots.

Adult Protective Services investigated Brown’s care of Ingram in 2017 and opened a new case in May 2018.

According to court documents, two months later, in July of 2018, Ingram fell to the floor at her home.

The affidavit said, “…Brown, discovered the victim on the same day and was unable to get her off the floor. Instead of contacting emergency services, Brown left Ingram on the floor for 12 days.”

“On the ground was plywood with fecal matter on the ground. The urine smell penetrating throughout the house. Just really deplorable conditions,” Gibson said.

According to Brown’s statement to Adult Protective Services, she said she did not call for medical assistance until her mother had been unresponsive for 24 hours.

Ingram stayed at the hospital under a doctor’s care, responding only to pain stimuli, until she was pronounced dead on August 19.

“Speaking with the detectives they indicated this is some of the worst they’ve ever seen,” Gibson said.

Brown has been charged with second-degree murder and abuse/exploitation/neglect of a vulnerable adult.

She is currently in jail on a $300,000 bond.

Full Article & Source:
Cleveland County woman charged with murder, abuse of mother

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

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Lawmakers scrambled to push through reforms after a 2013 ABC Action News investigation revealed failures in the state’s guardianship system.

But five years later, as I-Team Investigator Adam Walser discovered, the law still allows someone who barely knows you to use that system to ask a judge to take away your rights.

Guardianship is supposed to care for those who can’t take care of themselves, including seniors without family.

But before 84-year-old Genyte Dirse was taken into court-ordered guardianship last spring, she was living independently at the small hotel she has owned and operated in St. Pete Beach for more than 30 years.

“She was running her business,” said Gedi Pakalnis of his great aunt, who was taken from the hotel where they lived last July. “She was doing a lot of work.”

Pakalnis said he moved in with his great aunt 15 years ago after immigrating from Lithuania, living in a hotel unit on Dirse’s property during high school, college and graduate school.

He said he took her to the grocery store, church and doctors’ appointments and helped her run her hotel.

“She’s like my mother. I spent lots of time with her,” said Pakalnis.

But Pakalnis is no longer allowed to see his great aunt – his only relative in the United States.
Her life is now controlled by a court-appointed guardian, who moved her to an assisted living facility and banned Pakalnis from visiting her.

How did she get there?

“It started with a real estate agent,” said Pakalnis.

That real estate agent hired a lawyer and went to court to ask a judge to put a court-appointed guardian in charge of Dirse’s life after the elderly woman sold one building on her hotel property to her great nephew.

Pakalnis was visiting family in Lithuania in September of 2017 when real estate agent Diana Sames showed up at Dirse’s hotel a few days before Hurricane Irma.

Sames took Dirse to ride out the storm at a nearby beachfront home owned by one of her clients, posting a photo of her and Dirse together on her real estate blog and uploading a video of the two of them together to YouTube.

“(Dirse) would say, ‘I no sell. I no sell,’” said tenant Tim Everett, who has lived at Dirse’s hotel with his wife Tonya for more than three years and considers his landlord a close friend.

Everett told the I-Team he never saw Sames at the hotel until just before the hurricane.

He said Dirse never wanted to sell her hotel, and Everett’s wife told the court in a sworn deposition that she repeatedly heard Dirse tell Sames she didn’t want to sell when she returned after the hurricane.

But Sames disputes that, emailing “Mrs. Dirse had discussed selling often over the years, as I would drop off calendars.”

Real estate agent goes to court

Three months later, Dirse did sell part of her property – not to Sames, but to her great nephew. Pakalnis bought one of Dirse’s three hotel buildings for $50,000. The deal was closed at a title company in front of a notary and witnesses.

About a month later – after Sames learned about the sale, according to her court testimony – she petitioned a judge to put Dirse under the control of a court-appointed guardian, alleging her great nephew exploited her during the sale – something Pakalnis denies.

Court records obtained by the I-Team show Sames testifying under oath and unable to provide evidence to support her allegations that Dirse’s great nephew did something inappropriate in the sale of the hotel property.

“She’s very trusting,” Sames told Dirse’s court-appointed lawyer when asked about her allegations. “She trusts people, and that’s – in this instance, I thought it was important that – it worried me that the transaction – the way the transaction happened was not – was not taking her interest at heart for her future.”

Sames also admitted in court she didn’t know Dirse very well and was never close with Dirse, saying, “I don’t pretend I’m a personal family friend.”

Realtor not the ‘neighbor’ she claimed to be

The I-Team uncovered Sames didn’t know Dirse well enough to spell Dirse’s first name correctly in her court petition to place her in guardianship and wrote, “Her language is unknown, and she speaks English with a heavy accent.”

Sames also told the court she was a “neighbor,” but the I-Team found she lives more than half a mile away from Dirse’s hotel.

Sames refused multiple sit-down interview requests before speaking with I-Team Investigator Adam Walser outside her real estate office about why she sought guardianship for Dirse.

“I was so happy to involve myself with the corruption that I saw,” said Sames. “(Pakalnis) was dishonest. He didn’t contact any of the family members, and he did it by himself and it was against her will, but she loves him.”

Dirse’s only other close family members are two elderly sisters who live in Brazil.

‘I love Ms. Dirse’

In Florida, the Department of Children and Families and law enforcement have specialized units to investigate allegations of elder abuse and exploitation.

Sames admitted she never contacted the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office or the Florida Department of Children and Families to report her concerns that Dirse was being exploited.

Instead, she hired an elder law firm, who filed the petition on her behalf and helped her find a professional guardian willing to serve.

Jeff Swartz, a former judge and law professor who reviewed the case, questioned Sames’ standing to bring the court petition and her motivation.

“There’s no way that this woman will tell you she’s not going to take a commission on an ultimate sale of this property,” said Swartz.

The I-Team asked Sames about that directly.

“I would have no problem if it’s a listed property,” said Sames. “That’s my job. I work here on the beach. I’m a realtor. That’s what I do.”

But Sames insists it’s not about the real estate.

“I love Ms. Dirse,” said Sames. “I’ve come to know her and trust her and she trusts me.”

Declared ‘incapacitated’

Four months after Dirse sold the building to her great nephew, a panel of professionals examined Dirse and recommended that a judge declare her incapacitated.

Dirse’s court-appointed attorney argued she was able to bathe and cook for herself, take medication and maintain her home. She was not delinquent in paying any bills.

The attorney pointed out the panel interviewed Dirse in English – even though her primary languages are Lithuanian and Portuguese.

One doctor testified, “There was some English impairment. She did have a strong accent. I understand she speaks Portuguese, Lithuanian and English. I was able to rephrase questions and establish understanding.”

That doctor later reported, “She did not request an interpreter.”

But Judge Pamela Campbell, who served as a professional guardian herself in the past, seemed to agree with Sames, saying in a court hearing that her decision to sell her property for less than fair market value “does raise concerns about Mrs. Dirse’s right mind when she was signing the paperwork.”

But Swartz said Dirse had every right to sell her property to her great nephew – even if the price was for less than the appraised value.

“She can give it to whoever she wants,” said Swartz.

On April 18, 2018, Campbell declared Dirse to be incapacitated and appointed a professional guardian – a stranger to Dirse – to oversee all her affairs.

Past problems with guardianship

The I-Team first reported about the state’s troubled guardianship system back in 2013 with the story of then 99-year-old Willi Berchau.

Berchau was declared “incapacitated” and wrongly sent to an Alzheimer’s unit by a court-appointed guardian.

“You see nobody, you have no contact with anybody,” Willi said of his condition at that time.
He was freed from the Alzheimer’s unit shortly after the I-Team’s first report and later released from guardianship.

Lawmakers passed reforms, establishing the Florida Office of Public and Professional Guardians, which oversees guardian registration and serves as a state watchdog office.

“Willi’s story is what prompted it,” State Sen. Jeff Brandes told the I-Team at a party celebrating Willi’s freedom.

Guardian sues great nephew

Pakalnis insists his great aunt is also wrongly placed in guardianship.

“I would tell her I hope I will see her soon and hopefully, it’s going to stop,” said Pakalnis.

But Dirse’s court-appointed guardian, Traci Samuel has filed an eviction against Pakalnis and is using Dirse’s money to sue him in an effort to void the sale.

“She’s trying to get her hotel back,” Samuel testified at a recent court hearing. “She didn’t sell it to him.”

So far, Dirse has been billed nearly $75,000 by Samuel’s guardianship attorney and her court-appointed attorney.

In Florida, guardian and attorney fees are paid with the assets of the person in guardianship.

Samuel also moved Dirse from her hotel to an assisted living facility and banned her great nephew from seeing her.

“She doesn’t want him to visit. I’m respecting the privacy of her,” Samuel said in court.

As the guardian, Samuel has complete control over Dirse’s visitors. Samuel would not approve the I-Team’s request to visit Dirse.

If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email adam@abcactionnews.com.

Full Article & Source:
Realtor seeks court-ordered guardianship to take away rights of elderly beach hotel owner