Scott Licensing Decision Anticipated In August

By Janet Phelan

The Department of Consumer Affairs has put off a final decision on conservator Melodie Scott´s licensing, the Sentinel has learned.

Scott had appealed the decision, which was tendered this spring by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), following hearings on her licensing in Oakland Administrative Law Court, which spanned from May to October of last year. While Administrative Law Judge Melissa Crowell had opined that Scott should receive a probationary license, the DCA overrode Crowell´s decision and denied her application. Scott subsequently appealed. The DCA was scheduled to issue a final decision in July but this has been deferred now until August.

In 2005, the Los Angeles Times published a series of articles exposing multiple problems with conservatorships. Scott was featured in the first of the series. As a result of public outcry in response to the series, the California Legislature created by an act of law the Professional Fiduciary Bureau, which began operation in 2008. One of the first tasks of the newly created agency was to consider applications for licensure by fiduciaries, who previously had been unlicensed. Scott applied for licensure and her application was denied on grounds that she made false statements on her licensing application. Later, two more counts were added: 1) that she continued to act as a professional fiduciary after her license was denied and 2) that she had a drunk driving conviction.

Black´s Law Dictionary defines a conservator as a protector or guardian. Conservatorshiops are generally initiated through court proceedings, when there are allegations that a party lacks competency to handle his or her own affairs. There are two kinds of conservatorships in the State of California--conservatorships of the person and conservative of the estate.

Upon the initiation of a conservatorship of person, all personal decisions, such as whether the alleged incapacitated person may marry or see family and friends, are transferred to the conservator. When a conservatorship of estate is initiated, all assets of the alleged incapacitated person are transferred to the care and protection of the conservator. A number of national grassroots organizations have sprung up recently, based on concerns that civil rights and property rights are being violated in conservatorship proceedings.

Numerous other allegations have surfaced concerning Melodie Scott and her company, CARE, Inc, including embezzlement of client funds, undue influence on local judges, threats made to family members of conservatees and inappropriate use of ¨Power of Health Care¨ to terminate the lives of a number of her conservatees.

Scott recently sold her building, which was located at 25 E. State Street in Redlands, and started a new company, Reliant Professional Services. The website advertises Scott as a “Professional Fiduciary.” According to Gary Duke, who is legal counsel for the DCA, this offering of services without the proper license constitutes a misdemeanor. In a recent interview with Duke, he expressed concern that the police agencies in San Bernardino are not adequately pursuing allegations of criminal activity by Scott and her cohorts, including attorney J. David Horspool.

“There is a network down there,” stated Duke, “and they watch each others´ backs.”
Horspool, who has represented Scott, told the Sentinel “The state came in and destroyed Ms. Scott’s business without the least effort at conducting an objective investigation.”

With regard to the suggestion that he had engaged in criminal activity in conjunction with Scott, Horspool wrote, “I have no comment about anything Janet Phelan says or writes, as she is not a real journalist, but a nut job with an axe to grind. Any allegations that come from her are automatically suspect.”

A source close to Melodie Scott reports that she remains confident that she will soon achieve licensure