For the past four years the same detectives in Abuse and Neglect have
discouraged similar complaintants if it involved Shafer's name. Most recently,
exploited Shafer ward Jason
Hanson, described his encounter with Det. Angie Christensen of Metro's Abuse
and Neglect Detail who reportedly told Hanson, "... there was no evidence that
Shafer did anything underhanded and was just doing his job like he was supposed
to," after Hanson, a 28 year old cerebral palsy victim, told her that Shafer
sold a 1,200 sq. ft. ADA (Americans with Disability Act) compliant condominium that was left to him by his late father
in a gated community for $47,000. The condo was appraised at
$170,000.00, but Hanson told Det. Christensen he received a total of
only $5,530.74 from the under-market-value sale after waiting over nine
years for payment. Nonetheless, Det. Christensen reportedly balked at
Hanson's request for help.
As
a point of clearification, I am not casting dispersions on the brave
officers of the LVMPD. However, I believe it is important to present
the information contained in this column if it will help bring justice
to those who have been, or are currently, the subject of guardianship
abuse.
According to Jason Hanson,
Det. Christensen also accused Steve Miller and Becky Olvera Schultz (daughter of
guardianship fraud victim Guadalupe Olvera) of ..."not having the complete story and
only using parts to help with their own crusades against Shafer."
"The officer said
Steve Miller didn't know how to read court documents or was intentionally
misreading them to twist my story around," stated Hanson.
"She didn't seem to think Shafer was an upstanding
citizen but she seemed to think Miller and Olvera Schultz had some personal
grudge against him. She said that Steve and Shafer had once been friends and
they had a falling out and since then Steve has wanted to take Shafer down,"
stated Hanson. (Shafer and Miller attended the same high school at the same time, but
were never friends.)
Det. Christensen was also assigned to investigate the exploitation of the late Guadalupe Olvera, but allegedly
disparaged Mr. Olvera's daughter, Becky Olvera Schultz, in her discussion with
Hanson.
In addition to the above mentioned cases, there are many others
who have reported that Metro Abuse and Neglect have ignored their complaints
against Jared Shafer.
Marcy DuDeck and son-in-law Charles Pascal
California resident Charles Pascal
told INSIDE VEGAS that on August 5, 2009 he spoke with Detective Colin Haynes of
Las Vegas Metro PD to report the kidnapping of Pascal's mother in-law, Marcy
DuDeck.
Pascal continued, “I
tried to tell him that Shafer had bragged to me about the kidnapping, which was
carried out by Lance Dudeck (Pascal's brother in law) against an existing Nevada
court order. Det. Haynes said the following: 'As a
department, Metro doesn’t get involved in guardianship issues. They are
considered to be a family matter. We (the police) will not be taking a report about your
mother in-law’s situation because Ms. Patience Bristol has already informed us
your mother in-law is doing fine. Mr. Shafer had our office check on her
condition and she is in good health,"'
"On August 4, 2009,
two days before an August 6, Los Angeles evidentiary hearing involving our
petition to remove Jared Shafer as guardian was to take place, Marcy DuDeck was
kidnapped by her son, Lance DuDeck, from Sunrise Senior Assisted Living in
Playa Vista, CA," stated Pascal. "Her kidnapping was in direct violation of a May 1, 2007 NV
court order stating Mrs. Dudeck would remain in California for the rest of her
life. The evidentiary hearing was to deal with facts of Shafer’s negligence,
which involved Shafer not paying IRS taxes for the DuDeck estate, refusal to pay
HOA association fees, and removing funds from the DuDeck trust without a court
order.
During the morning of August 5, 2009,
after learning of the taking of Mrs. DuDeck, I (Charles Pascal) contacted Las Vegas Metro Police
to file a report that a kidnapping of Marcy DuDeck, in direct violation of a
Nevada court order, had taken place.
The officer I spoke with on that
morning around 11 a.m. identified himself as Officer Collin Haynes. Officer
Haynes was very abrupt. Officer Haynes stated it was the policy of Las Vegas
Metro not to take reports concerning guardianship cases because Las Vegas Metro
considered guardianships to be strictly a family matter. Officer Haynes said if
I had a dispute with the guardian, Mr. Shafer, I should contact Clark County
Family Court.
I tried to explain to Officer Haynes
that a court order existed stating Mrs. DuDeck was to remain in California for
the rest of her life had been violated by the kidnapping. I also pointed out
Marcy’s kidnapping occurred as a direct attempt to block an August 6, 2009
evidentiary hearing. Haynes didn’t want to listen and wished me a good
day.
At approximately 2 PM on August 5,
2009, I visited the West Los Angeles Metro Police to try to get them to
investigate the kidnapping of Marcy DuDeck. I spoke with Officer Charles
Phillips. Officer Phillips listened to everything I had to say. Officer
Phillips asked me to wait outside. I waited for about 45 minutes. Officer
Phillips returned and told me he had spoken with officer Haynes, who informed
him Mrs. DuDeck was in good health and the Las Vegas Metro Police considered the
matter to be closed.
On August 6, 2009, California Judge Riva Goetz
said no evidentiary hearing could take place because Mrs. DuDeck wasn’t
available. The objective was achieved. On August 11, 2009, Mr. Shafer called
me and bragged that he ordered Lance DuDeck to take Mrs. DuDeck because he
considered the California courts to be a bunch of crap, in his words.
The key inconsistency I remember is
the fact the police refused to take a report from me, but they completed a
welfare check on Mrs. DuDeck. Someone was covering their butts. Marcy died six
months later and her weight had dropped from 134 pounds in Los Angeles to 122
pounds at the time of her death," states Pascal.
Pascal then stated, "I received
the same reaction from Officer Charles Phillips from West Los Angeles PD who
told me he had called Las Vegas Metro and spoke with Officer
Haynes.
Next I went to the Nevada Attorney
General Cortez Masto. I never talked with her. Someone in her office whose last name
I remember as Brown told me that the Nevada Attorney General wouldn’t take my
report. In fact this Ms. Brown said Mr. Shafer was highly regarded in the
state.
In 2011, I went to the Nevada state
legislature. My contact person who never wanted his name mentioned was Brooks
Holcomb. He served one term as Assemblymen. Becky (Olvera Schultz) had many
conversations with him. Brooks claimed Shafer took $100,000.00 from his mother’s
estate while acting as the Administrator.
At the May 2011 meeting, I spoke with
the State Senator
representing Henderson, Nevada at the time and Attorney Sally Ramm. Both ladies
told me nothing could be done about Shafer and (Clark County Guardianship
Hearing Master) Norheim because they were deep in the
system.
Finally I went to the FBI in Los
Angeles, who refused to take a report.
California Attorney General Brown, who
is now our governor, would not take a
report either.
What Rachael Aviv of The New Yorker
missed is many families went to the authorities who wouldn’t take a report. All
cases resulted in the statutes of limitation running out. So as a result, the
issue dies not because the guardians were in the right, but because the
authorities played deaf and dumb and stalled the case to death,” concluded
Pascal.
Becky Olvera Schultz and father Guadalupe Olvera
Becky Olvera Schultz, whose WW2 veteran father was a victim of Shafer's guardianship,
wrote this to INSIDE VEGAS:
“The New Yorker missed a huge point of
the problem; they reported it from the wrong angle. Guardian corruption is also
about massive fraud and waste committed against the tax payers. Seniors who
could have taken care of themselves see their wealth being stripped away through
guardian fraud and corruption which forces them on the public dole, causing
these seniors end up on Medicaid and Medical.
I believe certain people have been
high jacking proper coverage of this issue. Certain key officials in NV have
brought this problem into the public focus; Attorney General Laxalt, Governor
Sandoval and Senator Becky Harris, but the New Yorker did not mention
them.
I believe some people in Clark County,
NV, have been obstructing the prosecution of the key perpetrators who have
exploited hundreds of the elderly like my father and the system. These people,
including former AG of NV, Catherine Cortez Masto (currently US Senator Masto),
have blocked the prosecution of professional guardian Jared Shafer and his
attorneys, while going after the much smaller fish like Patience Bristol and
April Parks. Mr. Shafer has been exploiting seniors and the system since 1979
when he was a public guardian, but not much damaging info on him was mentioned
in the New Yorker article, especially anything about his no contest plea for
selling securities without a license in a Utah Federal Court. Him paying 20
grand to settle was enough to prevent him from operating as a
fiduciary/guardian, but that type of financial wrong doing didn’t seem to bother
any authorities.
I personally believe our case was
deliberately stripped down in the article. Aviv had informed me and others that
the article was to focus on the architect of the guardianship system, Mr.
Shafer, and my father's case, but instead it focused on others who did not even
own a home to lose and lost a fraction of what many others and my father lost.
Nearly half a million was bled from my father's estate during the guardianship
proceedings, mainly legal fees going to attorneys for Mr. Shafer. I eventually
had to save my father by getting him out of the state, the first to do so. See
https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/escape-was-only-option-for-an-old-soldier-trapped-in-guardian-system/
In court my father protested needing a
guardian and was mocked while the judge blew off his pleas, https://youtu.be/ZixHgeOzko4; the
treatment of veterans is especially horrific in this system. Absolutely no
respect has been given for those that risked their lives to protect all of our
rights. My family has been dealing with this problem for 8
years.
Between
10/16/13 and 10/22/13, I sent 13 emails to Metro’s Colin Haynes, many
with attached documents. I received no call back and no response
via email, only “read receipts” verifying he received the emails. I had
called Metro previously on 10/16/13 and spoke with Haynes on the phone.
He told me to send him information and documents and he gave me his
email address. I never heard from him again. Earlier this year I filed
a complaint against him for not responding and not sending my
information to the Abuse and Neglect unit over 3 years ago; no one got
back to me about the complaint either. Later, Sgt. Krumme and Det.
Christensen kept harping on how the statute of limitations might have
run out, but I told them I originally spoke with Haynes and sent him
the same documents 3 years ago that I sent to them so it wasn’t my
fault no one acted upon the problem within the time line. It is my belief that the reasons for
the statute of limitations running out in most guardianship cases is because of
LVMPD refusal to act upon the information they were sent, until it was
conveniently too late.
(Officer Haynes
called me in November 2013 to inquire about documents I have that could be
useful to his case. Therefore, I can attest to Ms. Olvera Schultz' timeline.)
Between
5/4/15 and 5/6/15, I sent 13 emails to the AG’s investigator Jaclyn O’Malley’s
supervisor, Tony Kotlarz. Then I sent 8 more emails to Jaclyn O’Malley (some
copied to Kotlarz) between 5/8/13 and 5/13/15. After a few conversations with
them, I never heard back from either one of them. Some time ago, Kotlarz retired
and O’Malley set-up office within Metro to work with their detectives.
Between 2015 and 2017, I’ve spoken with the following Metro officers:
Detective Brian Santa Rosa, Detective Phil DePalma, Detective Angie Christensen,
Sargent Jerome Milton and Sargent Troyce Krumme.
Det.
Christensen has been allegedly investigating my father’s case for
nearly 2 years. In early August 2017, I received a call from Dr.
Einhorn. He was the first qualified professional in CA to interview my
father and determined him to be competent. Einhorn wanted to tell me
that Det. Christensen had called him and said she might be getting a
subpoena for my father’s records. But I’ve never heard back from
Einhorn or Metro so I don’t think anything happened. On Aug. 16, 2017,
I sent Christensen an email asking her how she even knew about Einhorn
because I did not give her his name. I copied the email to Sgt. Krumme
and neither one of them responded to me. Christensen had previously
told me she would not take 'copies' of any of the doctor's competency
reports. I asked, why not? She said 'Because copies can be altered', as
if she thought I was going to alter the docs. The issue is Einhorn
would have only given her copies too, not the originals.
During all my conservations with Krumme and Christensen, they
gave me the impression that they were interviewing all the exploiters and
believing the stories they were being told. Apparently Shafer or one of his
cronies told them I had no relationship with my parents, which was totally
untrue. This really upset me that these officers gave me the impression they
were taking the bad guys seriously! These two also spoke about Jason Hanson as
if he was mentally deficient, which I found very offensive.
Since
October of 2016 I have received a few emails from Krumme and Christensen. The
last email I got from Krumme was 7/26/17. He copied it to Christensen and Roger
Price, who must be a superior of his. The theme
of the email was that they did not want me to discuss Jason’s case with
them. Apparently LVMPD Abuse and Neclect Detail wasn't interested in anyone with information that could help Jason."
Jason Hanson
In June 2017, Jason
Hanson asked me (Steve Miller) to be present during his interview with LVMPD Sgt. Jerome Milton
and Officer Cynthia Sauchak of the Abuse and Neglect Detail. During the hour
long interview, Hanson poured out his heart about how his entire inheritance was
stolen from him, giving concise details and often mentioning Jared Shafer as the
primary exploiter. At the conclusion of the interview, Officer Sauchak told
Jason and I that she "...did not believe any laws had been broken." This
shocking statement inspired me to tell The New Yorker: "Only federal
intervention is going to give us peace of mind.
These are not isolated events. They are just the tip of the iceberg.
Since the publication
of the national magazine article, I am happy to say that I have been contacted by a Federal Investigator. Meanwhile, Hanson's
exploitation lawsuit is quickly making its way through the Nevada State court
system
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/7-24-17_Inside_Vegas.html.
BACKGROUND: http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/ShaferFinancialRecords2.html