We Will Not Forget:What We Witnessed - Bobbie Thompson- Part V

-by- Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.

Part Five: Bobbie ThompsonWe found another victim in the Seminole County court records—Bobbie Thompson—and decided to go visit her. We found her in a nursing home in a shared room. Although she didn’t make a lot of sense on certain topics, there was one topic on which she made perfect sense and on which she gave us a lot of accurate information.
Bobbie was most concerned about her grown son who had been living her. “He’s been applying for social security disability; he’s living at my house alone. What is going to happen to him?” She provided us with the correct address, so we decided to go pay Roy Thompson* a visit.

The exterior of the home seemed to be in need of some serious repairs. The grass also was very tall and needed cutting. In fact, we doubted that anyone lived at the residence. We peeked through the windows and saw that the living room furniture was in disarray with many items, such as a sofa and TV, missing.

We heard the sound of dogs barking when we knocked on the door, so we knew that someone must be residing at the home. Roy Thompson appeared at the door and looked suspicious and concerned.

“May I help you?”

I asked him if he had heard of a professional guardian by the name of Rebecca Fierle and I explained that I was the victim of that same guardian and I asked him if he would like to speak with me. Roy’s attitude and demeanor immediately improved and he graciously invited us into his home.

We sat down with him at the dining room table and he explained to us how Rebecca Fierle had taken control of his mother when she had gone to the hospital. Roy had lived with his mother for many years and so he assumed that he would become her guardian if one were ever needed. Fierle had written in the court records that Roy did not wish to become the guardian.

Roy had no money for attorneys’ fees to fight this inaccurate scenario.

After taking control of Bobbie Thompson through an emergency guardianship, Rebecca Fierle next set off to remove Roy from the home.

Although Roy is handicapped and had been applying for social security disability, Fierle had all utilities turned off at the home, leaving Roy and his dogs to live in the dark without a working refrigerator and no water or air conditioning. Lucky for Roy, he had a girlfriend who paid to have the utilities turned back on. Fierle had been moving furniture and items out of the house but had told Roy that if there was anything he wanted that had belonged to his mother, he could go ahead and keep it, but she had also provided him with an eviction notice. So far, Roy had been ignoring the eviction notice. His girlfriend stated that Roy could move into her condominium with her, but the condo association does not allow for pets and Roy was very concerned about and attached to the dogs that he loves and wanted to keep.

It was obvious that Roy was in a very dangerous situation and I warned him. “You could be next. I envision that if you don’t leave this house,

Rebecca Fierle is simply going to take an emergency temporary guardianship out on you and then she’ll come here with the deputy sheriffs and have you removed to a nursing home, especially since you’ve been applying for social security disability.

This triggered an alarm in Roy and he said, “Funny you should mention that. A package came in the mail for me just the other day. And when I opened it, it was these purple pills that are for depression. They arrived in my name. I’ve never ordered such pills and they are a prescription drug.”

David and I had been suspecting for several weeks that victims are overmedicated, such as my mother and Elizabeth Faye Arnold, and that it might have to do with Rebecca Fierle, who is married to a medical doctor.

“And have you been taking these pills?”

“Yes, I’ve taken some of these, since I really am depressed,” he stated.
“But they make me feel dizzy and disoriented.”

David spoke up. “This might be why the mysterious pills showed up in your mail box. If you are removed from this home and tested for mental capacity during the time you are under an emergency temporary guardianship, these pills would assist in having Rebecca Fierle’s doctors assess you and declared mentally incompetent. I think you should stop taking those pills.”

By now, we truly had Roy’s attention. “I think we should call my girlfriend on my cell phone. I have very little minutes left this month, but this is worth the call.” He dialed Mary Ann’s number. “Honey, could you come over here? Well, there’s these people here and I want you to meet them.” She sounded reluctant to come. “They know Rebecca Fierle.”

The girlfriend changed her tune. “I’ll be right over.”

Many Ann arrived. “So, what you’re telling me is that Roy might be in danger of losing his civil rights if he remains in this house?”

“It sounds like a real possibility,” we stated. We told her and Roy of other similar cases, especially the story of the Arnolds.

“Honey, I really think you should move in with me.”

“Does Rebecca Fierle know your address?

“No. She doesn’t even know that Roy has a girlfriend.”

“Good. I think you should keep it that way.”

“Most definitely.”

“But what about my dogs!?” Roy asked in a distressed tone.

I think you might have to select between your dogs and your freedom,”

Mary Ann stated. Roy’s eyes became filled with tears.

“But I don’t want to lose this house! Once I get onto disability, I will have enough money to make the mortgage payments. I told this to Rebecca Fierle. But she said she doesn’t care and that I have to get out. Maybe I can just wait it out just a little longer 'til I start getting my cheques.”

Roy also told us that one of Rebecca Fierle’s employees had called him one day and wanted to know when he expected to receive his first disability cheque.

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Back at the courthouse, we examined Bobbie Thompson’s file for a second time. We discovered that rather than make the mortgage payments on Thompson’s house, Rebecca Fierle had allowed the house to go into foreclosure. It turns out that a process server had attempted to find Ms.

“Fierle” and had gone to her residence that she had listed—sworn to as correct--on Bobbie Thompson’s emergency temporary guardianship—under penalty of perjury.

However, David and I already knew from the docier that had been provided to us by Suzanne McCormack that this was not Rebecca “Fierle’s”

Real address. In fact, Rebecca “Fierle” had sold her residence of 13037 S.
HIGHWAY 475, OCALA, FLORIDA 34480 almost a year before when she swore, under penalties of perjury on Bobbie Thompson’s emergency guardianship application, that this was her current address.

In reality, Rebecca “Fierle”, who signs property documents when she buys and sells properties, under sworn affidavit as Rebecca “Santoian,” was now living at 9384 S. MAGNOLIA AVENUE IN OCALA, FLORIDA but time and time again, in the court records we were viewing, Rebecca “Fierle”
was consistently stating in her petitions, under penalty of perjury, that her legal address and residence was 13037 S. HIGHWAY 475, OCALA, FLORIDA 34480—the place that she and her second husband, Dr. Edward Santonian, had already sold nearly a year before.

We now understood the benefit to Rebecca Fierle of using an alias and an incorrect address—under penalties of perjury—on her guardianship applications. The process server noted that he had been unable to located or serve Rebecca Fierle. He noted that the new residents of 13037 S. Highway 475, Ocala, Florida did not include a Rebecca Fierle and the new residents stated they had no idea where she might be. They stated that Dr. Edward Santoian might know where Rebecca Fierle might be.

The process server next knocked on the door of 9384 S. MAGNOLIA AVENUE IN OCALA, FLORIDA but was told by Dr. Edward Santonian that he didn’t really know Rebecca Fierle and had not seen her in several months.**

Therefore, Thompson’s house was able to be foreclosed upon without Rebecca Fierle, as the guardian of Bobbie Thompson, being sued for the balance of the mortgage payments.

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We returned to Roy Thompson’s residence to let know what we had found in the court records and to provide him copies. But this time, the house truly was vacant and the cell phone numbers that Roy had given us for himself and his girlfriend were not longer working.

Roy had selected freedom—at least for the moment, he was “safe.”

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*Not his real name.
**Court records confirm that Rebecca “Fierle” is legally married to
Dr. Edward Santonian, a cardiologist. “Fierle” is actually the last name of
Rebecca “Fierle’s” first husband, Jeff Fierle, whom she filed bankruptcy with and also experienced a home foreclosure with back in 1997. “Fierle” therefore goes by three last names: When she buys and sells properties in Marion County, she signs the deeds as Rebecca Santonian, under notarization; when she applies for guardianships, she states she is Rebecca “Fierle,” under notarization and penalties of perjury, and when she opens guardianship bank accounts to“benefit the ‘wards,’” she uses her Florida driver’s license,which states that her legal name is Rebecca Fierle-Santonian.

*Note: Dr. Angela V. Woodhull, a licensed private investigator, spent more than two and a half years investigating court records in Seminole and Orange Counties, Florida and interviewing family members and victims in order to compose this story. All court records that verify the contents of this article were submitted as attachments to the editor of the F.B.I. journal as verification of accuracy. Woodhull can be reached at (352) 327-3665 or(352) 682-9033.

We Will Not Forget What We Witnessed: Elizabeth Faye Arnold and William Harold Arnold (Part 3-B)

-by-Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D. © AV Woodhull, 2011

In Part “A” of Elizabeth Faye Arnold, I ended the factual story by posing a question: “What would a person be charged with for running a red light and hitting someone on a motorcycle who later dies?”

I have now called a few police departments and posed this as a hypothetical question to them. “It depends on the circumstances” was the
typical answer. “It could be anything from negligence to manslaughter.”

“Would the typical investigation by traffic homicide investigator be closed out completely within four hours?”
“Oh, no, ma’am” a Miami front desk officer stated. “To complete such an investigation would take at least a couple of months.”

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On the surface, this factual story, so far, appears to be nothing more than an “unfortunate situation.” It’s early on a Sunday morning. William Harold

Arnold is off on his motorcycle, probably on his way to his church where he plays the piano. He’s sitting on his motorcycle at a large intersection in Orlando and when the light turns green, he takes off, when suddenly, from out of nowhere, a woman in a Mustang hits him broadside. The motorcycle skids to a dirt area on the side of the road. Tina Holland, allegedly remorseful, apologizes to the police officer for being distracted from eating a doughnut. The officer closes out the investigation within four hours. No further investigation is ever conducted. Holland is issued a ticket for “running a red light” and given a court date.

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A careful look at the file, however, reveals some curious information.

It turns out that William Harold Arnold, a 53-year-old spinster who has been living with Mama his entire life, is well hated by his neighbors. There are several police reports where he has called law enforcement on the neighbors, and they, in turn, have filed reports on him. This has been an ongoing battle for many years. One report states that the neighbor children were trespassing onto his property. Another report states that the neighbor children were spraying a chemical on his car. The officer notes that the kids were allegedly spraying only water onto his car.

There appears to be another file of an emergency guardianship proceeding commenced several years ago on Elizabeth Faye Arnold. Elizabeth, it turns out, has gone to the hospital emergency room on several occasions for swollen legs and feet—poor circulation.

While at the hospital, Rebecca Fierle steps in and becomes the emergency temporary guardian. She then places Mrs. Arnold in a nursing home.

The son, however—enraged-- somehow is able to bail Mom out of these emergency temporary guardianships and bring her back home. The emergency temporary guardianships expire. This back and forth scenario goes on for a number of years, about three years.

************************
A background check on Tina Holland reveals that Holland has actually been in jail on several occasions for DUI, possession of crack cocaine, and
prostitution. On the morning when she hits William Harold Arnold, however, she is merely eating a doughnut.

A background on her work history reveals that she used to own a dumpster business with her ex-husband—the type of business that professional guardian Rebecca Fierle would hire when she needs to clean out a house.

The records further show that Tina Holland’s court date was changed on several occasions over the next two years, with the officer always being the one who requests a change of the date.

When the hearing finally comes about, no one is present at the hearing except for the officer. The judge asks if the man hit on the motorcycle is all right and alive. The office responds to the judge that yes, indeed, William Harold Arnold is well and alive.
The judge therefore, based on the officer’s testimony, institutes a $400
fine on Tina Holland for running the red light, and also mandates that she attend traffic school.

The paperwork in the file shows that William Harold Arnold—who was actually deceased—was served a subpoena of notice of the traffic hearing.

The subpoena was, however, returned to the court, undelivered—the process server noting that the house appears to be vacant and that there is a “For Sale” sign on the residence.

A further investigation into the file shows that Rebecca Fierle entered a
death certificate into the record on the date that the accident occurred.

That death certificate is then voided out and a new death certificate was created for another date—approximately two months later—when William Harold Arnold actually dies. Furthermore, the court records show that Fierle placed William Harold Arnold on Medicaid, even though she sold his home for $190,000.00. Fierle then was appointed as personal representative and there are outstanding medical bills that come forward as claims against William Harold Arnold’s estate. However, Fierle’s attorney states that the claims are too old, were not timely filed, and therefore don’t have to be paid. Fierle places the “Notice to Creditors” in an obscure little newspaper rather than the Orlando Sentinel.
****************************
We visit Elizabeth Faye Arnold in person. She is alert and appears to be
as mentally competent as a person can be. She has been tucked away in a marginal nursing home for quite some time now and she, too, has been trying to figure out just exactly what happened to her. “They came with an ambulance to my home the day that my son was hit on his motorcycle—even though I had not called for an ambulance.” Elizabeth, removed from her home by ambulance, was rushed to the hospital and then placed in the nursing home, where she has remained ever since.

She removes the blanket that is covering her feet. “Look at my feet,” she says. Her feet are so red and so swollen that there are stretch marks on them. “I’ve met Rebecca Fierle,” she states, “and she does nothing for me and does not give me any answers. I’ve looked out the window and I see her nice Mercedes that she drives. Can you get me out of here? Can you find out what has happened to my possessions, my furniture, my photographs? I don’t have even one picture of my son.”

“Would you be guardian? I want you to be my guardian,” she whispers to me, squeezing my hand.

************************

After much searching, I finally track down the only two witnesses who were allegedly at the accident scene when Tina Holland was eating her doughnut. The one witness just happens to be a city council member and his wife is the secretary for the state attorney’s office in Orlando. He appears to be extremely defensive when I ask him to recall what he witnessed at the accident scene. “Whatever it states on the report. That’s all I remember,” he states. “Read the report.” And he walks off hurriedly.

The other witness is a real estate broker. He, too, appears to be extremely defensive when I knock on his door and attempt to interview him. “How did you find me!?” he inquires. “I don’t remember what I saw,” he states.

“It was too long ago.”

*************************

I interview more neighbors. It turns out that the neighbor across the street is also well connected to city officials. “They were real problem people,” he states. “The yard and the house were always a mess. Nobody liked them.”

*************************

I track down a former landlord of Tina Holland’s but I was never able to actually locate Tina Holland herself. The landlord tells me that everyone in the neighborhood was aware of the motorcycle accident. “She killed a man on a motorcycle and got away with murder,” he stated. “It was the talk of the neighborhood.” “She’s a real problem person—a drug addict. Didn’t pay her rent.”

***********************

Elizabeth Faye Arnold’s house has been repainted. The yard is tidy.

The neighbors no longer call the cops. Everything is now happy and tidy on Silver Drive.

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Related Post: We Will Not Forget What We Witnessed: Elizabeth Faye Arnold and William Harold Arnold (Part 3-A)*Note: Dr. Angela V. Woodhull, a licensed private investigator, spent more than two and a half years investigating court records in Seminole and Orange Counties, Florida and interviewing family members and victims in order to compose this story. All court records that verify the contents of this article were submitted as attachments to the editor of the F.B.I. journal as verification of accuracy. Woodhull can be reached at (352) 327-3665 or (352) 682-9033.

We Will Not Forget What We Witnessed: Part 6 Wade McNalley and his Father, Bruce McNalley

-by-Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D. (Part 6)

Wade McNalley and his Father, Bruce McNalley*

Back at the probate court files in Seminole County, things were heating up. Rebecca “Fierle’s” attorney in my mother’s case (Reverend Attorney Anthony Nardella) actually began billing my mother’s estate every time I was observed reading the court files. Imagine that.

“Phone call from probate clerk stating that Woodhull is reading the probate files once again.” Charge: $58.”

The next file I began assessing was yet another veteran. By now, we clearly understood that Rebecca “Fierle” had quite an appetite for veterans, since she automatically receives five per cent of their monthly income—no matter what is done or not done during the course of a month.

Another veteran, Carlisle Bosworth, we noticed that $250,000.00 of his assets had been spent in a very short period of time.

What about Bruce McNalley, a veteran? First of all, becoming increasingly savvy at ascertaining the court records more quickly, we noticed that “Fierle” had placed McNalley in a regular nursing home, rather than a veteran’s nursing home. There is a “reason” for this. A veteran’s nursing home is free. Therefore, there would be nothing to bill for. However, if “Fierle” places a veteran in a non-veteran’s nursing home, not only can she bill, but she can also GENEROUSLY bill. I called the nursing home where McNalley was staying and posed as a concerned daughter looking to place my father somewhere in an upscale nursing home. The administrator told me that a top-of-the-line private room, with all the bells and whistles, would cost about $6,000.00 per month.

And what was “Fierle” claiming to the court? “Fierle” was claiming that she was spending $12,000.00 a month in McNalley’s care. We wondered: Where is the other $6,000.00 per month going?

Because of the exorbitant and completely unnecessary spending (to reiterate, McNalley is a veteran—between his monthly income and the fact that he could be placed in a veteran’s nursing home for free, McNalley should have had enough money to sustain himself indefinitely), “Fierle” had initiated a lawsuit against Wade McNalley, Bruce’s son. Wade was facing

being evicted from his homesteaded residence if he could not find the money to purchase his father’s half of a trailer home. The title was “joint tenancy with right of survivorship” but that hadn’t stopped Rebecca “Fierle” for attempting to make Bruce’s son homeless. It was time to visit Wade McNalley.

************************

How can I describe Wade McNalley? The words that come to mind are “fun” “vivacious” “opinionated” “strong willed” “straight shooter.” Wade likes to drink beer, kick back, tell a few jokes, and use a lot of colorful language, especially when describing his feelings toward Rebecca “Fierle.”

After introducing ourselves at his door, one of his first comments were, “Oh, don’t even get me started talking about that c---.” We knew we were in for an interesting evening.
Wade and his father had lived together quite amiably on several occasions. He described Dad as a “skirt chaser” and somehow he ended up in an expensive retirement center due to that fact where he could flirt with all the gals. There were some health problems and soon he had been transferred to a nursing home. Wade had been out of town when he learned, upon his return, that a woman named “Rebecca Fierle” was now his father’s guardian.

“What the hell was that sh-- all about!? You tell me. It’s gotta be about his money! The b---- just wants his money. Don’t even get me started talking on that subject. Then she moves Dad so far away that I can’t even get to go see him. I’m on a very limited budget and I suffer from arthritis.

How the hell am I supposed to go clear across town to visit my dad?

As far as that lawsuit against me, she can go f--- herself! I have an attorney on it and she ain’t gonna get a g—d---m dime outta me!”

Wade told us how his attorney had been very good to him. Wade had recently been released from a hospital and his attorney had actually been paying for groceries and delivering them to Wade’s door. “What a fantastic guy! I couldn’t ask for better.”

Truthfully, an attorney going out of his way THAT much for a client just didn’t sound right. We wondered what it all meant. We were soon to find out. Wade was in the middle of suing someone, a personal injury case.

The “nice” attorney was actually pre-spending the few dollars that Wade would end up with from the settlement. In the end, there wasn’t much left for Wade out of the settlement money, and at that time, “Fierle” just happened to want to “settle out” with Wade. She offered to let him stay in his homesteaded home if he would simply turn over $10,000.00 to her—the same, exact amount of money Wade was about to get in a settlement. (How ‘bout that there.)

We asked Wade, after he cooked us supper and gave us a few beers, if he would like to drive to the neighboring town and see his father. “Would you like to go see your dad this evening?”

“Hell, yeah, I’d love to go see my father! I’m going to get him the hell out of there once I get my settlement money and then I’m going bring him back home. I’m going to be the guardian! I mean, what the hell, I am his son! Who ever heard of some f------ c--- stranger being my dad’s guardian?! Who ever instituted this crazy f---ed up shit?! I was doing one hellofa job taking care of my dad and I know he was happy here. He needs to come home. There’s nothing mentally wrong with him. You’ll see.”

The three of us piled into my van and Wade directed us to the nursing home. It was late at night and we found his father laying in bed, this tall man who seemed very similar natured to his son. The hugs and tears between these two macho men brought tears to the eyes of both David and me. We were ecstatic to have brought them together. “Honey, let’s videotape this because I see no mental incompetence whatsoever.”

Bruce seemed a little startled at first that were videotaping him. “Don’t worry about it, Dad. These are my new friends. They’re here to help you.

I wanna get you back home, Dad, and this can help.”

Bruce was then all right with the videotaping. He stated on many occasions that he would like to come home, that he wanted his son to definitely stay in the trailer home and he was definitely upset to learn that Rebecca Fierle was in the process of trying to make his son homeless.

“When you bail me out of here, we’re going to sue the hell out of her.

Oh, yeah, just you wait and see,” Bruce declared adamantly.

Staff workers, not used to seeing visitors in Bruce’s half of the room, kept peeking into the room. We would hide the phone camera every time a staff worker appeared.

Soon, it was time to leave. “I don’t see any mental incompetence with your dad,” David stated. “Neither do I.”

“See? I told you so!” Wade responded. “We got to get him the hell out of there. I’ve never seen him in such bad physical shape. This place is killing him. I want my dad home.”

************************

The following day, Rebecca “Fierle” found out that Wade had managed to go see his father.

Her response? She had Bruce Baker- acted—put into a straight jacket and medicated on psychotropic drugs. She then contacted her attorney and they wrote a Petition to the court asking the judge to NOT permit Wade McNalley to see his father any more. “Fierle” claimed that it upset the father so much to see his son—and whom he “didn’t really want to see” according to “Fierle”—that she had to Baker Act him. Little did “Fierle” know that we have video footage of the father that is so contrary to these claims that it is rather surrealistic to even fathom that such a statement would be written in the court records.

Lo and behold, at the court hearing, Judge John D. Galluzzo actually decided he would not go along with “Fierle’s” petition. He denied the motion and stated that Wade was free to see his father any time he wanted.

However, Galluzzo’s decision did not stop Rebecca “Fierle” from wielding her unlimited authority. Her response? She simply moved Bruce McNalley to yet ANOTHER nursing home so far away that Wade would have to spend the entire day taking a series of buses just to get to the new location.

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Wade never saw his father alive ever again.
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The next time we saw Wade, he told us hold his attorney was planning on having “Fierle” removed as the guardian—a motion serious enough, that if awarded, “Fierle” could lose her license as a professional guardian.

“I thought we were moving ahead. Next thing I know, I’m getting a call from one of ‘Fierle’s’ staff members. The b---- didn’t even have the nerve to call me herself. Fierle’s employee stated to me, ‘Where do you want us to drop off your father’s ashes?’”

“What!?! My father died?! When did my father die?”

“More than a month ago,” the staff member responded in a flat tone.

“You mean to tell me my father has been dead for more than a month and this is the first time you’re even telling me about it! What the f--- bull---sh-- is this!?”

This big, warm-hearted man, a true man’s man, stood there in front of us and wept. He broke down and he literally wept.

“Oh, there’s a special place in hell for people like Rebecca ‘Fierle,’ Wade stated. “I didn’t even get to say good-bye to my father. My dad had a pre-paid burial plot. He didn’t ever want to be cremated! What the f--- kind of sh—is that?!” “Oh, believe you me, there’s gonna be a payback time!”

Wade could not stop weeping.

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Shortly thereafter, Wade became seriously ill – to the point of almost dying. He was hospitalized on several occasions and needed extensive home health care. “I can’t focus on any of this Rebecca ‘Fierle’ bullsh—any further,” Wade told us. “It literally ruined my health. At least that b---- wasn’t able to get a f------ dime out of me. At least I have my home.”

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*Not their real names.

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*Note: Dr. Angela V. Woodhull, a licensed private investigator, spent more than two and a half years investigating court records in Seminole and Orange Counties, Florida and interviewing family members and victims in order to compose this story. All court records that verify the contents of this article were submitted as attachments to the editor of the F.B.I. journal as verification of accuracy. Woodhull can be reached at (352) 327-3665 or

(352) 682-9033.

We Will Not Forget What We Witnessed Lawrence Long - Part Four

-by-Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.

The next victim that we visited was a man in his early sixties living in an assisted living facility, Lawrence Long. Long was in the process of being sued by professional guardian, Rebecca Fierle.
Long’s crime? Rebecca Fierle had lost in her bid to become Long’s guardian. She was now suing Long for the unwarranted attempt at becoming his guardian—and charging Long for the cost of her hiring an attorney and pursuing an involuntary guardianship against Long.

Her attorney, Karen Goldsmith, who had assisted Rebecca Fierle in her quest to become Long’s unnecessary and unwanted guardian, had been sending threatening letters to Long. Using their favorite judges in Seminole County, Rebecca Fierle and Karen Goldsmith had managed to obtain a court order demanding that Long pay thousands of dollars to Goldsmith for their foiled attempt at taking away Long’s civil rights. A judgment had already been entered against Long—even though he had never been successfully served or appeared in court.

It was time to meet Long and ask him how he had managed to become victimized by this precarious and frightening situation.

We found Long alive and well and living in an upscale assisted living facility. He had his own efficiency apartment and seemed quite happy and fine in his surroundings. He enjoys playing on the internet, driving his car, and going shopping. It turns out that Long had suffered a stroke, which is what put him on Fierle’s “radar” but had now fully recovered.

Fierle seems to enjoy taking involuntary guardianships against veterans she finds in hospitals--probably because she is guaranteed, by Florida law, five percent of their monthly income—for doing practically nothing. Although “five per cent” does not seem to be a lot, multiply five per cent times 20 veterans every month and you have a pretty nice income for very little work.

Long was aware that Rebecca Fierle had sued him for the money she had spent in her foiled attempt to become his guardian.

There were stacks of unopened mail from Fierle and her attorney, Goldsmith, piled up in a corner of his small living room. Long said he didn’t want to open the mail because it was “too stressful” to deal with and he didn’t really know what else he could do except ignore the situation.

How was Long lucky enough to get out the unwarranted guardianship? Luckily for Long, he had been seeing his own personal psychiatrist for most of his adult life and his personal psychiatrist went to bat for him and wrote a letter to the court stating that he would not go along with the assessment that Long needed to be placed into an involuntary guardianship and have all of his civil rights removed.

However, the unpaid bill “owed” to Rebecca Fierle is actually an omen of what is to come. Banking on the “fact” that Long is getting older, it’s just a matter of time. Fierle can always re-apply at a later date to become Long’s guardian, having her favorite doctors declare him incompetent. At that time, the unpaid money for the first foiled attempt will be reimbursed to her out Long’s lifetime savings, since there is already a recorded judgment against Long.

We enjoyed the afternoon visiting with Long, sharing a pizza with him. We opened, with Long, the stack of unopened threatening letters Fierle and Goldsmith had sent to him, which confirmed what I had already read in the court files.

“Let her go f--- herself,” Long said, looking over the bills from Fierle and Goldsmith that increased in price every month, due to interest. Fierle’s attorney was adding interest for each month that Long had ignored the bills.

Long showed us websites that he likes to visit. Between surfing the web and driving around in his car, he has managed, for the moment, to escape the realty that his freedom will be short lived.

Long seemed to realize that he is a “marked man.” Even though she didn’t win the first round, it’s just a matter of time before Rebecca Fierle steps back into Long’s life to become Long’s “guardian.”

“I try not to think about it,” Long said. Long has been “marked for destruction.”*
___________________________________

“Marked for Destruction” is a term coined by John Caravella who became involved with yet another victim of a predatory guardianship. His book, Adele’s Diary, can be viewed at www.markedfordestruction.com

*Note: Dr. Angela V. Woodhull, a licensed private investigator, spent more than two and a half years investigating court records in Seminole and Orange Counties, Florida and interviewing family members and victims in order to compose this story. All court records that verify the contents of this article were submitted as attachments to the editor of the F.B.I. journal as verification of accuracy. Woodhull can be reached at (352) 327-3665 or

(352) 682-9033.

“Dancing Around the Beast”

“Dancing Around the Beast”

(Guardianship “Reform” Legislation is Failing to Address the “Beast”)

-by-

Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.

(licensed private investigator)

(352) 327-3665
(352) 682-9033

If you’re unfamiliar with the saying, “Dancing Around the Beast,” then perhaps a definition of that saying is where I should begin. Yet, according to a search in Almighty Google,

there is no definition for “Dancing Around the Beast.” Likewise, a few books on colloquialisms does not produce any reference to “Dancing Around the Beast.”

Okay. We all know what it means. It’s the “elephant in the room” Or put another way, it’s “skirting the issue.” It’s talking about a “problem” and addressing all of the peripheral issues but never tackling “the problem,” better known as The Beast.

You may be asking, “Well, who is the Beast?” And if you haven’t guessed by now, The Beast, by all means, are attorneys—the primary vultures when you or your loved
one have been placed under an involuntary, predatory guardianship.

What can be done about the Beast?

Those of us who are Civil Rights Guardianship Reform Activists have done several things to confront the Beast.

We’ve:

· Gone to court

· Hired attorneys to fight the Beast (other attorneys)

· Contacted law enforcement (to no avail)

· And, finally, contacted our local legislators, crying, “You need to change the laws! We need guardianship legislative reform!!”

Guardianship Attorneys Are “The Beast”

In a nutshell, The “Beast” is predatory guardianship attorneys who set off to covert all of your assets into attorneys’ fees. And as we saw in the Marie Long case, it doesn’t take long for a team of vulcher-like guardianship attorneys to deplete a $1.3 million estate leaving the victim subsiding on welfare and Medicaid. The “solution”, from public outcry in Arizona, was to demand legislative reform. But that main goal was quickly forgotten.

HR2424 quickly evolved into a pro-guardianship bill.

As guardianship victims go round and round from legislator’s office to legislator’s office looking ways to reform the law, everything is address except for The Beast. Take a look at some of the reforms that all of our efforts have gotten us so far:

· New Law, state of Washington: A guardianship should only be commenced with “clear and convincing evidence.”

The Beast doesn’t care about this law. This law will not stop The Beast. Why? Because there are always medical professionals who will write reports of “clear and convincing evidence” so that a guardianship can be commenced upon anyone.

Take the case of Debra Skulls, for example. When her mother died, she inherited about $250,000.00 and thought she would move in with her brother and his wife. But Skull’s sister-in-law did not like that plan. The solution? Skull was declared by “clear and convincing evidence” mentally incompetent placed under the “care” of a professional guardian who allowed Skull to live in a filthy half way house in the downtown Miami area while Skull’s

“guardian” and the guardian’s attorney feasted for two years on Skull’s inheritance. When the $250,000.00 was completely spent, Skull was found by “clear and convincing evidence” to be re-capacitated. Yep. As soon as the guardian and her attorneys spent all of Skull’s money, they found three medical doctors to say that Skull no longer needs a guardian. The Beast therefore continues his dance.

· New California law: Professional guardians are now “monitored” once every two years. Does The Beast care about this law? Not in the least. The Beast will continue to rake up exorbitant attorney’s fees while, at the same time, a new industry has been created—private companies that are hired to monitor professional guardians! And guess who pays for this new level of investigation—The Ward! So, meanwhile, The Beast will continue to happily dance.

Let’s take a look at other passed legislation:

California Bill AB 1363--Enhances court review & expands duties of court investigators

(This bill dances around The Beast by adding another layer to the problem. The court investigators may find that an attorney charged $375 for an item that the court should have paid only $350 for. Therefore, the “Beast” still gets to devour the assets of the elderly person, but it may take a little longer.)

In fact, any of the following bills simply “dances around the beast”:

California SB 1116--Increases court oversight of ward moves & sale of
home.

California SB 1550 --Establishes licensing & disciplinary scheme for
professional fiduciaries.

California SB 1716-- Allows court to take action in response to informal
ex parte complaints & communications.

Florida HB 457-- Enacts recommendations of Guardianship Task
Force.

Florida HB 191-- Enacts amendments concerning less restrictive
alternatives, guardian modification of ward trusts, and court monitors.
because the end result, at the end of the day, is that no one is monitoring or examining The Beast.

The Beast Continues—Unfettered--Despite Any and All

Guardianship Reform Legislation

Does The Beast really care if there is:

· A Guardianship Task Force? (The Guardianship Task force compiled a “report” in 2006. Did this report inhibit the Beast? Not in the least.)

· Increased court oversight regarding the selling of the “ward’s” home? (Does this additional oversight inhibit The Beast? Not in the least. At the end of the day, the attorney is still paid whether the home of the “ward” was sold at fair market value or below market value and then laundered by the guardian and her friends.)

· Increased licensing requirements of professional guardians

(No. At the end of the day, the Beast is still turning in exorbitant fees that the Judge is rubber stamping. It’s just “another day in court” for The Beast.)

And yet another new law was just passed in the state of Kentucky regarding “financial exploitation” of the elderly. Does it sound like a beneficial law that will prompt an investigation of attorneys who convert nearly the entire estate of a “ward” into attorneys’ fees? Of course it does! But what the new Financial Fraud Act of Kentucky actually accomplish? Incredibly, it states is that if a named heir has ever been convicted of a felony, the heir
cannot become a guardian or collect his or her share of the estate!

The new Financial Fraud Act of Kentucky actually benefits professional guardians and their attorneys by making it easier for them to exploit the elderly. Once again, The Beast dances away.

HR 2424—

Most recently, in the state of Arizona, Representative David
Smith (R) stopped dancing around the Beast and decided to tackle the Beast directly with HR 2424 which, in its original form, stated that attorneys would be limited to taking only $10,000.00 in fees to defend a challenged guardianship. Guardianship associations, however, quickly opposed the bill, and instead introduced their own bill that gives more power and authority to professional guardians. HR 2424 was soon almost dead in the water and instead incorporated into a pro-guardian bill that, of course,eliminated the $10,000.00 cap of attorneys’ fees.

The Beast—at this point—is so experienced at circumventing guardianship legislative reform that you’ll soon see him on

Dancing with the Stars.

California Reform of Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and Nursing Home Abuse (CANHR)

Which led me to stumble upon the California Reform of Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and Nursing Home Abuse non-profit organization in California. “Now here is something exciting!” I thought! “An organization that is actually addressing attorneys financially exploiting the elderly!” I couldn’t wait to speak with the director, Pat McGinnis, who claimed in a brief phone conversation with me, that she’s been “fighting the fight”

for 27 years. Even though nothing much has been accomplished,

according to McGinnis, at least she’s been out there writing grants and her staff attorneys address the California legislature on a regular basis. It was Don Quixote with a law degree and I wanted to speak with him.

Prescott Cole, Staff Attorney, California Reform of Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and Nursing Home Abuse (CANHR)

When I received a call back from CANHR staff attorney,

Prescott Cole, I was eager to see what he would suggest as far as authoring legislation that would kill the Beast, or at least tame him dramatically.

I asked Cole, “If I am an elderly person, and my daughter and a professional guardian are battling over whether or not I should be placed under guardianship, why should I be paying for this?”

But Cole had no answer for me. Even though he specializes in “financial exploitation” of the elderly, his investigations into legislative reform never include examining the Beast. Instead,
Cole is the Attorney White Knight who investigates fraudulent insurance companies and shady “reverse mortgage” schemes.

But when I suggested that attorneys are exploiting the elderly by converting a lifetime of savings into attorneys’ fees, this was not a subject that Mr. Cole was interested in pursuing in the least.
The Beast dances again.

Cole suggested that I speak with yet another attorney at CANHR who specializes in guardianship reform.

Alas! I would be put in touch with the “right person” who could tame the Beast!
Disturbing Phone Conversation with Staff Attorney Tony Chicatelle, CANHR
I explained to Chicatelle that I was looking for legislation, similar to what had died in the water in Arizona, where attorneys could be paid no more than a “mere” $10,000.00 in attorneys’
fees for “defending” a guardianship, using the “ward’s” money.

I told him that Norman Lawson, head of the Kentucky Legislative Judicial Committee, stated that there could be a bill that simply states that the “’ward’s’ funds cannot be used for the criminal or civil defense of a guardianship.” End of story.

Chicatelle, however, felt that would be a terrible bill.
And why is that? Because, Chicatelle, in his capacity as the attorney for a non-profit organization, actually is hired to get people out of unnecessary guardianships. “Capping attorneys’ fees,” Chicatelle stated, “would provide a disincentive to fully litigate their rights.”
Yes, you heard me correctly.

So, if someone decides tomorrow to file a guardianship proceeding upon you that you did not ask for, request, or even need, then you might find yourself having to spend your lifetime
of savings on getting yourself OUT of that unwarranted guardianship.

Chicatelle, the non-profit extraordinaire, saw absolutely nothing wrong or out of the ordinary with this scenario. Said Chicatelle, “It’s no different that anyone suing you over anything. I can start a frivolous lawsuit over anything on you and you’ll have to spend money to defend yourself. Or, if you are charge with a crime, you’ll have to hire an attorney to defend yourself.”
Chicatelle added, “My freedom means enough to me that if I had to spend my entire lifetime’s savings to get out of a guardianship, I’d do it.”

Chicatelle saw nothing wrong with this scene, which, in actuality, amounts to, more or less, a legalized form of kidnapping and ransom. After all, he is the “non-profit guy” trying to get you “out” of the guardianship that you shouldn’t have ever been placed under in the first place.
And so, The Beast continues, dancing away, unfettered.
*****************
Tomorrow is another day. There will be other civil rights guardianship reform advocates calling up legislators and visiting their 22-year-old legislative side kicks, their eyes glazed over as they feign interest in the subject matter of guardianship reform. There will even be a smitten of legislators taking their own phone calls, some vowing to “’reform’ the guardianship laws.” Some will get a bill or two passed, and there will be a new “tightening” on the restraints of what professional guardians can and cannot do. But the “dance around the beast” will remain, unaddressed.

And the Beast will continue his dance—unfettered--until the federal government seriously steps in and takes the Fourteenth Amendment (life, liberty, and property cannot be removed without due process) seriously. Converting one’s entire lifetime of savings into attorneys’ fees is the dancing beast that needs to be seriously addressed by our federal legislators.
**********************************
Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.
licensed private investigator
(352) 327-3665
(352) 682-9033

A Review of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows

A Review of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows

Book-by- Melanie Joy, Ph.D. ---Review below by Angela Woodhull , this review of Melanie's book as it relates to the Elder Abuse and Exploitation Reform Movement.

Yesterday, I attended a power point presentation at the local library by Dr. Melanie Joy, the author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows.

Dr. Joy pointed out that “all systems of oppression depend on our ability to dissociate or find elaborate rationalizations to keep from recognizing the suffering of a socially sanctioned inferior.”

Sound familiar, folks? This is exactly what we do to the elderly when we take away their civil rights, stick them in nursing home dungeons against their will, and allow attorneys, through their judge associates, to steal all of their assets and convert them into attorneys’ fees.

Dr. Joy asked the audience, “When is the last time you saw a farm animal?”

Her point? The animals are kept tucked away at the slaughter houses and that if most people ever witnessed what goes on in the slaughter houses, it would traumatize them.

We do exactly the same thing to our elderly when we tuck them away in nursing home dungeons and then allow attorneys to consume their assets.

And that which is not seen or witnessed is so much easier to exploit.*

Dr. Joy believes it is a “cultural mentality” – a mental disconnect-- that allows the slaughtering and eating of some animals, such as cows and pigs, and the loving of other animals, such as dogs, to transpire.

Perhaps if more judges, attorneys, and professional guardians became vegetarians or vegans, they would also develop a transference of sensitivity to the elderly that would not allow financial exploitation and nursing home physical and emotional neglect to occur. Perhaps we are evolving as a society and as more people embrace a healthier and more humane diet, the mistreatment of our elderly will cease.

Could it be that dietary awareness could lead to more humane laws and justice? Dr. Joy believes that justice depends on our ability to speak up, witness to the truth, and make dietary changes.

I believe that by embracing a consistent reality and sensitivity toward all living beings on Planet Earth, our treatment of the elderly, the unborn, and all of God’s creatures may become more humane.

Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D. a licensed private investigator

licensed non-denominational minister, ADL #1290

(352) 327-3665

(352) 682-9033

_____________________________

*See quote from Reverend Anthony Nardella, attorney at law, published March 14, 2011. “I earned that money.” (almost the entire estate of Louise A. Falvo has been converted into attorneys’ fees to benefit Reverend Nardella; see more of Reverend Nardella’s guardianship cases on the web, Orange County dockets, excessive fees)

See also: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Dogs-Pigs-Wear-Cows/dp/1573244619

See also: “Consistent Life Ethic” http://www.consistent-life.org/contact.html

http://www.consistentlife.iwarp.com/consiste.htm

We Will Not Forget: What We Witnessed Elizabeth Faye Arnold and William Harold Arnold (Part 3-A)

-by-Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.© AV Woodhull, 2011

In August 2008, I interviewed, at first, by phone, and then later in person, Elizabeth Faye Arnold, 81 years old, who had been confined to a nursing home against her will after her son, William Harold Arnold, had been injured to the point of death in a mysterious motorcycle accident.

Since I am able to type almost as rapidly as humans speak, here is what I captured of the conversation. In her own words in a phone conversation with me, Elizabeth Faye Arnold related the following facts:

FAYE ELIZABETH ARNOLD—PHONE CONVERSATION (August 2008)

(407) 294-4647

(She has relatives in N.C.)

I’ve been here over a year in January. They took it upon themselves to sell my house after Billy’s death for $190,000. After paying Billy’s hospital bill, they claimed $1,400 was left. My home was paid off. It was fully paid for. I came from here to the hospital. They should have had me out of here a year ago. I am perfectly healthy. I’m 81 and walking and I’m like a spring chicken. I make up my own face everyday and comb my own hair. I don’t go out of my room until I have my face made up. What I need to do is open a cosmetic department here! (laughs)

Billy died a year ago. A woman hit him on his motorcycle and he died 3 ½ weeks later from the wreck. If I ever get out of here, I’d like to sue her. She went scott free and killed my son. They should have put her in jail. She ran a red light.

$1,400 they gave me. I don’t know where the rest of the money is. Nobody is telling me anything. All I would have to do is pay the taxes on my homesteaded home. I’m well enough to do my own cooking.

People are friendly here but I have an old man who is flirting with me all the time.

I don’t know where my jewelry is. Wedding rings and diamond rings were left on a shelf in the linen closet. I just laid them up there because my fingers had swelled up and I couldn’t wear them. I had a very expensive dark blonde bedroom suite—Fierle sold it for $500. And they’ve taken that. I don’t even have one single tape of Billy playing the piano. It’s made me very angry. They did all of this without my permission.

Address of my former home: 907 Silver Drive

I turned the title of the house over to my son. He was in good health until the woman hit him.

I had poor circulation in my legs so I checked into the hospital. I went to the hospital on my own before Billy died for “poor circulation.”

Losing him, I still haven’t gotten over it. It was the most horrible thing I’ve been through in my life.

The woman ran the red light and was speeding. I’m going to call the city about it.

Then they transferred me from the hospital to this nursing home. They didn’t even ask me where I wanted to go. I’d be there in my home if they hadn’t taken me here. I was the heir since I was his mom. I had put the house in his name. He was 53. He was a wonderful son.

All my furniture is gone. My son had just bought a branch new couch.

He had four televisions. It was a two bedroom hours. Sold for $190,000, my sister in law found out. But they didn’t even converse with me at all. They just went and sold it. It really knocked me out.

I sit around and watch TV and read the Bible a lot since I’ve been stuck here. The activities here are boring. They play Bingo a lot—it’s not for me.

All of my photo albums are gone. I have no idea where everything went to. All of my jewelry is gone, my chest of drawers, my clothes, my shoes—I have no idea where it all went to. My fur coat. It’s all gone.

I guess whoever bought my house moved out all of my stuff? The least they could have done is grabbed my fur coat!

I’ve been here now for about 1 ½ years. Rebecca Fierle? I’ve never met her. I don’t know who she is.

They gave away the piano. They said it was donated to a church. They had no right to give it away. It was practically brand new Billy had just bought it about eight months before he died.

I had real silver silverware. It’s all gone. I guess they sold it? I don’t think they can do that. It makes me very angry.

I think I could sue them if I find out who did this.

I heard at one point that they put everything into storage, but I don’t know where it is. Who is paying the monthly storage bill?

I don’t know what’s going on. They took my rights away when I first came here. They said I didn’t have good sense. They gave me strong pain medicine and I then I couldn’t remember things. They kept me on pain medicine and my mind was quite a different mind. It puts you in a state of mind like I was half drunk. It makes you feel happy. I’m not still on it. No. Now they just give me some Advil or Tylenol. They had me on the strong pain medicine for about six months. I made my legs better by exercising them everyday. I exercise my legs 30 times a day to keep them circulated. Everybody here is given a wheel chair whether you need it or not.

I had a regular doctor examining me every week. He was a doctor and a psychologist. Diagnosed my legs and psychologist Dr. Williams came to see me every two weeks on a regular basis. He’s through with me, I guess. I don’t need him any more. He never discussed Billy’s death with me.

So many test questions they gave me—the date, what month, what year it is. I got it all right. They just ask you simple questions like that. Actually, they just come in, waste your time, and take your money. He came every two weeks for the past two years—the psychologist.

I get two social security checks every month—mine and my husband’s—about $3,000 a month from the two of them. They give me a little budget out of it. I get about $130 a month of my own spending money. I’ve gone to see a couple of doctors. I’ve only been out of this place twice in a year and a half. I’m only allowed out with a family member but I haven’t heard from Faye and Patricia in several weeks. Faye has a nice apartment. Mike died. Patricia and Mike had

two children together. Patricia’s husband is a dentist. She keeps the house and cooks two to three meals a day.

My possessions? Well, I believe they put it in storage first but I don’t know now. Nobody ever told me the name of the storage place. And they gave the piano to a church but nobody seems to know which church.

I called my neighbor, Sophia Hope, shortly after they took me here. She was the one who told me my house had been sold. I didn’t know my house had been sold. I just couldn’t believe it!! And when I called her, it was the day that the furniture was being dragged out of the house. She was really shocked. She couldn’t tell me any details. She just looked out the window and saw what was going on.

The woman who hit Billy—they fined her $400. She ran a red light, speeding.

We owned two cars—1993 Plymouth and a 1997 Dodge with very low mileage on it. Billy also had a second motorcycle. It’s all gone. A couple of months before I went to the hospital, I was still driving.

My driver’s license expired a year ago in March. I didn’t know all of this would happen when I went to the hospital. I could still drive, I believe. I am 81 years old.

A “personal representative?” I don’t have a personal representative of any sort.

No, I never went to court.

No, I was never served any court papers.

I recently found out from one of the nurses that Billy was right here in the nursing home when he died—just a few doors down from my room. He was in a coma when they brought him here. He died here in a room around the hall.

Curious to know more about the motorcycle accident, David and I went

to the Orlando Police Department and obtained the records and the photographs of the accident scene. The investigation, it turns out, was

closed out within four hours and the person who hit William Harold Arnold (Tina Holland) was charged only with running a red light, and given a date to appear in court regarding speeding through a red light and causing an accident.

In the “investigative” report, it states that Tina Holland, when interviewed by the officer, stated that she had been eating a doughnut and was distracted by eating the doughnut and crashed the red light. “I’m sorry. I was eating a doughnut.” The photographs showed the inside of her car with a bag of doughnuts next to the gear between the bucket seats. One doughnut was seen down by the gas pedal.

I have a question for our group: Is this how an accident is conducted

when someone dies in the accident? Is the person who caused the accident only charged with running a red light?

[I then interviewed neighbors and have more to report, but for now,

I’d like to hear your reactions to what I wrote so far. Does anyone know about accident investigations? Can someone literally get away with “running a red light” when the victim they hit in an accident dies????

**********************************

Angela Woodhull

*Note: Dr. Angela V. Woodhull, a licensed private investigator, spent more than two and a half years investigating court records in Seminole and Orange Counties, Florida and interviewing family members and victims in order to compose this story. All court records that verify the contents of this article were submitted as attachments to the editor of the F.B.I. journal as verification of accuracy. Woodhull can be reached at (352) 327-3665 or

(352) 682-9033.

************************

Related Posts: Will Not Forget What We Witnessed: Elizabeth Faye Arnold and William Harold Arnold (Part 3-B)

We Will Not Forget:What We Witnessed (Part II- Debra Duffield)

-by- Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D. © AV Woodhull, 2011

As we searched the Seminole County court records looking for cases where Rebecca Fierle had been appointed as the plenary guardian, it was difficult to know where to begin. There were so many cases that came up on the docket with Rebecca Fierle as the plenary guardian, so we decided to focus on the more recent cases and cases where the victim seemed to be just too young to qualify for guardianship. We also took notice that there seemed to be only four attorneys who represent Rebecca Fierle in these predatory guardianships—Thomas Moss from Sawyer and Sawyer (an

Altamonte Springs husband and wife lawyer team—Mr. Sawyer also happens to be a medical doctor—how convenient), Karen Goldsmith,

Ian Gilden, and “Reverend” Anthony Nardella, who just happens to be a licensed minister when he is not representing Rebecca Fierle or putting his own relatives under guardianship. (I wonder if he administers the Last Rites when the victims have been totally fleeced and are no longer of any use to him or Rebecca Fierle?)

Soon, we found a case in the records that had all of the elements of looking suspicious. The victim, Deborah Duffield, was only 56 years old and had been diagnosed with manic depression and anorexia nervosa. She was being confined to a nursing home where the average age of the residents is about 76 years old. Prior to being institutionalize, Duffield had been living with a good friend, at the friend’s house, Suzanne McCormack, in Altamonte Springs in a lovely lake-bound neighborhood.

We set off to interview McCormack.

Suzanne is in her early sixties, attractive, thin, clad in artistic attire with nicely styled hair and wearing lots of interesting silver jewelry, has a uniquely furnished small house that is artistically decorated. She was delighted to see us and it turned out, she had also been conducting background research on Rebecca “Fierle.”

Suzanne owns her own jewelry story where she crafts and sells custom made jewelry. Duffield had been a frequent customer. And that’s how Duffield and McCormack had met many years before.

Orphaned at birth, Duffield had been adopted by parents who were now deceased and who had left her a small fortune. Duffield had a fully paid off house, several nice antique furnishings, and a trust that her parents had left for her. She had also worked part-time as an adjunct college professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. A few years back, Duffield had fallen in love with a woman from England who had moved in with her and taken advantage of her, robbing her, breaking her heart, and returning to England with about $60,000.00 in cash that she had taken from Duffield. Duffield then went into a deep depression and stopped eating. That’s when McCormack offered her help. According to McCormack, Duffield simply could not cope with the loss and betrayal of the girlfriend and was feeling quite suicidal. Duffield did not wish to live alone and so Duffield offered McCormack a power of attorney to sell her home (which was necessary to do since McCormack is not a licensed real estate broker). McCormack then did her best to find a seller for Duffield’s house and then moved Duffield into a wing of McCormack’s home. The wing had been used for storage for many years, so McCormack used part of the proceeds from the sale of Duffield’s home to furnish the wing in which Duffield would live. McCormack even refurbished the private bathroom for Duffield--$18,000.00—all with Duffield’s permission who was happy to have someone taking care of her.

Truthfully, the price seemed a little high—eighteen thousand dollars just to update a bathroom? But McCormack seemed nice enough. She is a grandmother of two and has a daughter with whom she is very close. She did not appear to be the kind of person who would take advantage of another. The phone rang frequently from her daughter and other friends as we sat and sipped on herbal tea and cookies while visiting with her. She was also on good terms with her ex-husband who just happened to be a licensed private investigator. It was through McCormack that we were provided with an extensive docier on Rebecca Fierle that had been obtained by McCormack’s ex-husband, the private detective.

Rebecca Fierle’s docier provided us with many interesting pieces of information we had not previously known. We discovered that “Fierle” is not even her real name. Her real name is Rebecca Fierle-Santonian or Rebecca Santonian (depending upon which legal document she is signing). Fierle is married to her second husband, an older man (about 20 years age difference between them) who is a cardiologist based out of Ocala. Fierle’s first husband, Jeff Fierle, filed for bankruptcy in 1997 with her. The two of them also went through a home foreclosure. So, from 1997 to 2007—just ten short years—Rebecca “Fierle” went from totally bankrupt and homeless to multi-millionaire. Interesting. Most people working ordinary jobs cannot make such a claim. The guardianship business is certainly “good.”

We also learned from reading the docier that Fierle owns a fleet of Mercedes, carries a concealed weapon, and owns several million dollar properties in Windsor, Florida and other Florida locations.

Next, it was time to set off for the nursing home where Duffield was being housed. How did this happen? How did Duffield, at such a young age, end up in a nursing home? According to McCormack, Duffield had slipped and broken a hip on the slippery tile floors in McCormack’s home while McCormack was at her jewelry store. Because she was so thin from not eating, she broke a hip. Duffield called an ambulance and was taken to the emergency room for surgery. It was while she was at the hospital that a social worker discovered that Duffield was living with her friend who held a power of attorney. Professional guardians, social workers, and law enforcement view anyone with a power of attorney as a suspicious individual. And, hence, Rebecca Fierle was alerted by the hospital regarding this situation and she placed Duffield under an emergency temporary guardianship using the “Reverend” Attorney Anthony Nardella as her counsel. Ann Marie Giordano-Gilden, once again, was the court appointed attorney for Duffield (whose husband, Ian Gilden, usually represents Rebecca Fierle in a plethora of guardianships—what a “cozy” arrangement).

It was time to go see Duffield. We invited McCormack to come along, but she was not permitted to see Duffield since Rebecca Fierle had become the guardian and confiscated all of Duffield’s possessions.

We learned of another player who is frequently on the scene when it comes to Rebecca Fierle cases—a DCF worker by the name of David McKenzie. It seems that whenever Fierle is about to become the guardian or has already been appointed as the guardian, there is always David McKenzie to step in and do the “shake down.” McKenzie arrived at McCormack’s house on several occasions threatening her with criminal prosecution. “All you have to do is give back all of the money you took,” McKenzie told McCormack, “and we won’t prosecute you.”

McCormack, frightened, had cash on hand which she provided to Fierle. She gave back all accounts and investments that she had made on Duffield’s behalf. The money had actually been growing, the way McCormack had invested it. She had been creating, according to McCormack, a nest egg for her girlfriend. Before we left, McCormack showed us photos of Duffield at the family dinner table, along with McCormack’s family members and grandchildren, eating a Christmas dinner. “As you can see from these photographs, Debra was doing quite fine while she was here with me.” “She was capable of carrying on a bright and intelligent conversation.”

The photos depicted a vibrant woman seated at the dining room table among McCormack’s relatives.

At the nursing home, we quickly learned that it is best not to ask the location of an “inmate.” It raises too much suspicion—especially if it is someone who is without friends and relatives. Such a person is not expected to have visitors.

So, David and I learned to simply walk briskly down the hallways with him checking on the left and me checking on the right for the victim’s name to appear on one of the doors. Alas, we came upon a room labeled “Debra Duffield.”

The young woman was lying in bed in the middle of the afternoon watching television. She didn’t make a lot of sense at first but snapped back into reality once we started speaking with her at length. She appeared lethargic and resigned to the fact that she had been placed against her will in a nursing home. She strongly smelled of fecal matter and she frequently adjusted her body from side to side to attempt to avoid the uncomfortable fecal matter that was in her diaper. The sound of the crinkly diaper was ever present as she kept adjusting herself from side to side. Duffield had nothing negative to say about McCormack. In fact, she asked how she was doing and asked to give her regards. “Would you like her to come and visit you?”

“She’s too busy,” Duffield said. “She has a jewelry store to run.”

We asked Duffield if she knew who Rebecca Fierle was. She said that she did not know Rebecca Fierle—that she had never met her. There were several beats of silence. Duffield sometimes switched the channels and commented on what she saw on TV.

I found this situation to be particularly emotionally upsetting for me. Here was a relatively young woman, confined to a bed in a nursing home—probably one of the youngest persons. Certainly with only a diagnosis of manic depression she could be somewhere other than a nursing home smelling of fecal matter.

There are many members of society who have been diagnosed with manic depression who are not confined to nursing homes. David and I were later to learn, when we took the guardianship certification course from master guardian Irene Rausch in Clearwater, Florida, that one of the stated purposes of a guardianship is to attempt to rehabilitate the “ward” as much as possible.

I witnessed no effort of “rehabilitation” toward Debra Duffield. In fact, after observing photographs of Duffield at Christmas time in McCormack’s house—just a few months before—and now witnessing this thin, gaunt woman with scrambled hair lying on a cot with a 90 year old roommate who moaned and made babbling noises the entire time we were visiting with Duffield, I was rather distraught. At one point, I left the room, nauseous not only from the smells of fecal matter and urine that this young woman was allowed to sit in for more than an hour, but just to imagine that here was a woman—one year younger than me. It was upon meeting Duffield that I realized, “This could happened to me! Rebecca Fierle could place me—or anyone else—in one of these places. All it takes is an allegation.”

When I returned to the room, I whispered to David, “Let’s go. I can’t take this.” We bid farewell to Debra Duffield. It felt like I was leaving someone on the side of the road to die. I felt helpless, overwhelmed, and truly horrified by what I had seen.

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Back at the Seminole County courthouse, we read Debra Duffield’s file a little more carefully. We discovered that Rebecca Fierle had listed some of Duffield’s antiques on a list and the prices for which she allegedly sold the items. We then returned to McCormack’s home and showed her the list.

McCormack assured us that these valuable items were far underpriced*—for example, an antique table allegedly was sold for $30. “This can’t possibly be true,” McCormack stated. “That table was worth at least $300.00.”

McCormack then mentioned at least a dozen items that didn’t even appear on the inventory list.

In addition to taking back cash and investments that McCormack had created for Duffield’s benefit, Fierle had also obtained a judgment against McCormack for $120,000.00. In effect, the court order allowed Fierle to obtain TWICE what McCormack had returned to Fierle. “How am I supposed to pay back $120,000.00?” McCormack asked, when I’ve already given back everything?

That was the last time we saw Suzanne McCormack. The next time we went to visit her, there was a For Sale sign on her home. Neighbors stated that she had already moved.

Checking the court records periodically, we learned that nothing—absolutely nothing—was being done to “benefit the ‘ward.’” “Reverend”

Attorney Anthony Nardella simply put in regular billings statements for doing such things as trying to find and track down Suzanne McCormack, read and review the court file, run a property check on McCormack, etc.

But there was nothing—absolutely nothing—in the record to indicate that anyone had done anything for Debra Duffield who, I would imagine, is still lying in that bed, smelling of fecal matter, watching TV.

It did seem a bit odd that McCormack had spent $18,000.00 alone just to remodel a bathroom. But the point is this—whatever financial “abuse”

McCormack may have committed, the guardian and her attorney have now stepped in to finish it off. What the legal “protectors” have taken is far more than anything McCormack—who was actually caring for her friend—may have “taken.”

To date, more than half of Duffield’s money has been converted to attorneys’ fees to benefit Reverend Nardella. There is no one fighting this guardianship. Yet Duffield’s money is being spent at such a rapid rate that she is probably destitute by the time of this writing. And now the taxpayers of the state of Florida are paying for a young woman to rot away in a nursing home while Rebecca “Fierle” is seen on Facebook smiling, showing off her new pool.

__________________________

*We also learned later from taking the guardianship certification course with Irene Rausch that antiques are supposed to be appriased. Fierle had not bothered to do this court-required mandate.

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Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.
licensed private investigator
chachaangelina@yahoo.com
(352) 327-3665
(352) 682-9033

We Will Not Forget! What We Witnessed ...

*Photo is a graphic representation and visual aid of what we have seen,witness and report about and does not necessarily represent the identity of victim(s) in this article.

What We Witnessed(Part One: Veda Jones)-by- Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.
© AV Woodhull, 2011

This is a pre-release of chapters for an upcoming book titled Guardian vs. Guardian. In the chapter titled “What We Witnessed” I describe the various situations we (David, my fiancée, and I) came across when visiting Rebecca Fierle victims in nursing homes—the shocking conditions—and when knocking on doors and interviewing family members.

After my mother was declared “100% mentally incompetent” based on the most tenuous and inaccurate information (She couldn’t draw the hands on a clock (Wasn’t given her glasses to even see the clock) , didn’t provide her correct address (the examining committee was given the wrong address), and didn’t know her bounty (She intentionally understated her bounty when asked its extent by three strangers—a wise move, actually), David and I decided to go on a gigantic search for other victims. We began daily visits to the Seminole County courthouse in search of other Rebecca Fierle victims. Our big question was: “If Louise A. Falvo had been placed in a nursing home against her will based on based on false allegations and tenuous reports, were there other victims in nursing homes who also maintained mental capacity but had been declared (wrongfully) ‘incompetent’ as well?”

Veda Jones

The first victim we decided to visit was Veda Jones. We read in the court record that she was only 62 years old and had been diagnosed with dementia. It was hard to believe that a woman, only 62, had been declared 100% mentally incompetent.

It appeared that Veda Jones had no relatives, had previously worked as a nurse, and had owned a condominium in the Orlando area that, during the boom period, had been worth about $250,000.00. Veda had also had a bank account, furniture, a car, etc. How had she ended up in a nursing home at such a young age?

We went to Life Care of Altamonte Springs and located Veda who was strapped into a wheel chair and sat in front of a TV in a community room.

We attempted to talk to her.

“Veda? How are you?” Veda stared up at the ceiling, her eyes rolling around from side to side as though she was attempting to “find” our voices.

“Veda? What happened to you? How did you end up here? You used to be a nurse?” Veda attempted to speak with us but the words came out jumbled and garbled. There was drool running out of the corners of her agape mouth.

A staff member walked by the TV room, curious to notice that Veda Jones actually had a visitor.

“May I help you,” she asked tersely.

“Oh, no. We’re fine. We’re just here to visit Veda.”

“How do you know Veda?” she inquired.

“Oh, we lived in the same condominium complex off of Pine Hills Road. She was our neighbor. We just learned that she’s here. What happened? How did she end up here?”

“That’s private information,” the nurse stated. “I am not permitted to discuss her diagnosis.”

We stayed only a bit longer. It is difficult to carry on a conversation with someone who is unable to respond.

Her hands were warm. I squeezed her hands. I held her hands. I attempted to make eye contact with her. I stroked her hair. I sensed that there was more to this story than my brief review of her court file had indicated.

*********************

Back at the Seminole County Courthouse, I gave Veda’s file another look.

There had been a “Report to Court” filed by the court-appointed attorney,

Ann Marie Giordano-Gilden. Gilden is frequently seen as the “court-appointed attorney” on Rebecca Fierle cases. Gilden just happens to be the wife of probate attorney Ian Gilden, who co-authored “Guide to Guardianships” with Judge Nancy Alley, who is generally the probate judge on these Rebecca Fierle Seminole County cases. Prior to becoming a judge, Nancy Alley was a probate (guardianship) attorney, and prior to obtaining her law degree, Nancy Alley was a professional guardian. Ian Gilden has represented Rebecca Fierle in more than three dozen guardianship cases.

So this, I discovered, was quite a “cozy” arrangement.

It turns out that a careful read of Ann Marie Giordano-Gilden’s “Report to Court” revealed that Veda Jones had actually been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. But she was not being treated for Parkinson’s disease.

She was simply being given a cocktail of psychotropic drugs on a daily basis. With treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Veda Jones could actually have remained an active member of her community, just like Muhammad Ali. However, the drugs that treat Parkinson’s Disease are quite expensive. It is much cheaper to declare someone as suffering from dementia and then just keep them drugged up and strapped in a chair.

Minus the drugs, I wondered what Veda Jones would look like and act like.

I was soon to learn that a significant number of Rebecca Fierle victims are unable to speak. There are drugs so powerful that they take away one’s ability to communicate. How convenient for the guardian who can simply write on her annual report that the appropriate therapeutic “activities” and treatment had been rendered during the year but that Veda Jones had remained unresponsive. It’s difficult (actually impossible) to complain to the Ombudsman when you remain tongue tied due to the effects of psychotropic drugs.

The next time we checked in on Veda Jones, she had been left alone in her bed. A tray of lunch food had been delivered to her room (which was now cold to the touch) and remained untouched on a portable table adjacent and parallel to her bed. We wondered how she was supposed to eat this food.

We concluded that she wasn’t.

Soon, a worker came and removed the untouched tray.

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There was little we found in the Seminole County court record to indicate what had happened to the $250,000.00 from the sale of her condominium, her car, and her personal belongings. All we knew was that Rebecca Fierle had later petitioned the court to not have to file any further annual reports because all of the money was gone.

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MORE RESULTS OF OTHER INVESTIGATIONS TO COME.

Angela Victoria Woodhull, Ph.D.

*Note: Dr. Angela V. Woodhull, a licensed private investigator, spent more than two and a half years investigating court records in Seminole and Orange Counties, Florida and interviewing family members and victims in order to compose this story. All court records that verify the contents of this article were submitted as attachments to the editor of the F.B.I. journal as verification of accuracy. Woodhull can be reached at: chachaangelina@yahoo.com