Private
"Guardian" Jared E. Shafer's Racket
Exposed By Nevada's Largest
Newspaper
Screen shot from KTNV TV News (Click on image to view video)
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
April 13, 2015
LAS VEGAS - For more than a year, Las
Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Colton Lochhead has been
quietly preparing a feature story on the activities of local for-hire guardian
Jared E. Shafer, and the men and women who enable him and others in his
racket to bilk the fortunes of helpless senior citizens and disabled people
living in Southern Nevada.
In
three front page stories published in the Sunday, April 12, 2015 RJ,
Nevada's largest newspaper, Lochhead describes Shafer's rise from snake
oil salesman to one of Sin City's leading political players, all at the
expense of hapless well-to-do Las Vegas and Henderson retirees and others
who had the misfortune of being "discovered" to be in need of special "help"
by one of Shafer's Clark County Family Court judges.
In his stories, Colton weaves between Shafer's
involvement in a Ponzi Scheme wherein he used money taken from his court
appointed "wards" to enrichen himself and his CPAs Bruce Gamett and Shawn
King, to a strange political billboard company owned by an LLC run by Shafer's
attorneys Patricia Trent and Elyse Tyrell, and managed by Shafer's assistant
Amy Deittrick from his Pecos Road guardian office. A sign company that
coincidentally donates or rents billboards to local judges and politicians
who could - in a pinch - help Shafer maintain his power over the elderly
without local or state court or government intervention.
Since 2013 when INSIDE VEGAS first attempted
to schedule an interview with the shadowy guardian, he has refused to answer
numerous telephone calls, emails, or faxed requests, and has held true
to his lack of transparency by also refusing to talk to reporters from
KTNV
TV ABC News or the RJ to tell his side of this sordid story
of elder exploitation - a story that if widely known could put a damper
on one of Southern Nevada's most lucrative industries, retirement.
During
a recent telephone interview with a national news producer, I was again
asked to spill the beans on Jared Shafer, Family Court Judges Charles Hoskin
and Art Ritchie, along with their appointed "Guardianship Commissioner"
and former mob lawyer, Jon Norheim. I began my statement by saying that
the stories I write on these people and their helpless victims make me
physically ill, especially knowing that Norheim was originally appointed
by then-Family
Court Judge Steven Jones (mug shot on left) who currently is serving
26 months in prison for exploiting elderly people.
Thank God this story now has wings! People
need to know the quality of our local family court judiciary before they
decide to retire here and put their children's inheritance at risk.
Here are links to Colton Lochhead's comprehensive
exposé of Las Vegas' darkest secret:
| April 12, 2015
By COLTON LOCHHEAD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FRONT PAGE
Clark Countys private guardians may protect or just
steal and abuse (Video included)
Much of the criticism is aimed at the countys most prominent
private guardian, Jared E. Shafer, 72, who reigned as the county public
administrator for 24 years before starting his private practice in 2003.
Shafer, who did not respond to repeated requests for comment,
is considered an insider in the Las Vegas legal community, where his contacts
with judges, politicians and prominent business leaders go back decades.
Despite repeated accusations of financial irregularities, ethical lapses
and at least one FBI investigation, he has never been accused of a crime.
Although often at the center of controversy and the target
of lawsuits by former wards and their families, Shafers fitness to manage
the finances of others has never been seriously challenged not even after
he and two associates were found to have accepted commissions for steering
investors into a massive swindle.
The operation was in fact a classic Ponzi scheme that
bilked 800 investors out of $180 million, the SEC said.
In agreeing to the settlement, Shafer, King and Gamett
admitted no wrongdoing and maintained that they were unaware of the
fraud. The Utah man at the heart of the scheme went to prison.
FULL STORY: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/clark-county-s-private-guardians-may-protect-or-just-steal-and-abuse |
.
| April 12, 2015
By COLTON LOCHHEAD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FRONT PAGE
Escape was the only option for an old soldier trapped
in the guardian system (Video included)
A court clerk told her she needed to see Jared Shafer,
who for 24 years handled estate administration and guardianships as Clark
County public administrator before starting Professional Fiduciary Services
of Nevada, a guardianship company for hire, in 2003.
Shafer told Schultz he would act as a temporary guardian
until conservatorship could be transferred to California, which should
have taken about six months. She assumed the transfer would go quickly
with such an experienced guardian involved.
In a few months she realized she was wrong.
A month after he was granted temporary guardianship, Shafer
petitioned the court to make it permanent a legal move that tethered
Olvera and his money to Nevada.
Rather than making an easy move to California, Olvera
was stuck in Nevada while his family was forced to watch him lose everything.
FULL STORY: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/escape-was-only-option-old-soldier-trapped-guardian-system
|
.
Recent statement from a
victim:
Tip of the hat
to the LVRJ! The Review Journal did a wonderful job leveraging online video
in presenting the issue with these articles by Colton Lochhead. You must
go online and watch the videos. Hopefully the authorities will finally
take action. KTNV-ABC News, The Vegas Voice, INSIDE VEGAS, and now the
Review Journal can't all be misguided or mistaken. Commissioner Norheim
has penalized family members at 2.5X assumed damages and/or removed them
from protecting their mother, father, sister, or brother based on argument
alone. Norheim consistently ignores and denies presented evidence of wrongdoing
by the private guardians and Hoskin defends him. His rulings indicate an
intent to line the pockets of the lawyers and private guardians and insure
as much money as possible is fleeced from these innocent and unsuspecting
families forced to seek justice through litigation.
It is an insult
to the families who have presented legitimate estate documents and/or clear
and convincing evidence of wrongdoing by guardians for Hoskin to place
the burden on them to expose guardianship abuse. The court's job is to
resolve factual disputes. Evidence presented and Nevada law gives them
that authority.
Hoskin, (Family
Court Judge Art) Ritchie, and Norheim only have to read the evidence to
correct the guardianship abuse issues in Clark County. They refuse to protect
the disabled elderly and their estates because they don't want to. The
real question is why? - Richard Black
.
Public Administrator John Cahill
Clark County Administrator's warehouse
Then there's that mysterious warehouse
at 515 Shadow Lane. Its located next door to the Clark County Public Administrator
and Public Guardian's office once occupied by Jared Shafer. Current Public
Administrator John Cahill was hand chosen by Shafer to be his successor,
and ran his political campaign with A-frame signs from Shafer's sign company.
Rumor has it that the four story warehouse is chock full of treasures stolen
from dead wards of the county. We may never know because the warehouse
is fortified better than Fort Knox, and the county commissioners (they
also use Shafer's signs at election time) don't seem to care about this
story, and appointed Jared to the Clark
County Board of Equalization where he's able to determine taxable value
of real property.
Some of the players:
.
Family Court Judge
Charles Hoskin
Guardianship Commissioner Jon Norheim
.
PFSN employees Amy
Viggiano Deittick and Patience Bristol
.
Shafer's CPA Bruce Gamett
Shafer's travel agent Doug
Crosby
.
..
Shafer's business partners, attorneys Patricia
Trent and Elyse Tyrell
Shafer, Trent, and Tyrell's political signs promoting certain judges and
politicians
This disgrace is now in the hands of the
Clark County District Attorney, Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission,
Nevada Assemby and Senate, Nevada Attorney General, United States Attorney
for Nevada, and the FBI. (Brazil is beautiful this time of year. I suggest
Mr. Shafer be required to turn in his passport.)
BACKGROUND:
Guardian Jared E. Shafer Exploits
Special Needs Trust of 24 year old cerebral palsy victim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tgqmyKb8WI
Private Guardian Jared E. Shafer Orders Judge To Close
Court To Public
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee8XnR56gow
Financial Records From Jared Shafer's Office:
http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/ShaferFinancialRecords2.html
