"Guardian" Jared Shafer's Perfect Crime
A Police Lieutenant tells Clark County Commission that Nevada
laws do not contain adequate criminal penalties to punish court
appointed guardians who financially exploit the elderly or infirm

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LVMPD Lt. James Weiskopf (left) addresses Clark County Commission. Jared Shafer (far right)
orders Commissioner Jon Norheim to close the courtroom to the public after being asked about
$500,000 missing from one of his wards.      (Click on images to play videos)

"The complaints we're hearing from our agency, the family members aren't
even aware that this Family Court is occurring or that a private guardian has
been appointed for the estate." "The next thing the family knows, the private
guardian has total access to the finances of these wards. What the private
guardians are doing is charging these fees for all the different services, that
gets charged against the ward's estate." "The goal is to create liquid assets
so that way these private guardians can continue to charge their fees." "As
the ward's estate is depleted, the private guardian goes to Family Court for
permission to sell assets like cars, homes or other valuables to continue
funding their services." "That's the overall gist of the complaints we're getting
...that there's no oversight of these private guardians who are charging these
ridiculous fees."  Metro Police Lt. James Weiskopf

“Maybe we need to remove (Guardianship Commissioner Jon) Norheim.”
Commissioner Tom Collins

“I would get rid of him now and put into effect some individuals who
will work with the families.”  Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani

"Unbelievable" stories of private guardians "manipulating the system to drain
their (wards') assets." “These families are in the middle of nightmares."
"If there's truth to some of these allegations being made, someone
deserves to be in prison.”  Commission Chair Steve Sisolak

“Why has this been a best-kept secret?”  Commissioner Lawrence Weekly

"If there is private guardian abuse out there, we should go after a couple right
away. We don't have to wait for the overall analysis."  "If we can start going after
some of the most flagrant abuses, I think we can start to build back the public
trust as we ... improve the system." Commissioner Larry Brown

"Little gods making decisions they shouldn't." Commissioner Susan Brager

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
April 27, 2015

LAS VEGAS - In a disturbing revelation of what's legal in Nevada, on Tuesday, April 21, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Abuse and Neglect Detail Lieutenant shocked the Clark County Commission by explaining that his department has minimal authority to arrest on felony charges the for-hire court appointed guardians who financially exploit their wealthy elderly or disabled "wards."

The NRS guardianship statutes have been gutted by politically connected for-hire guardians with the help of previous Nevada Attorney Generals Frankie Sue Del Papa and Catherine Cortez-Masto. Right now, first offense elder exploitation is only a misdemeanor, and few District Attorneys want to spend tax dollars prosecuting first time misdemeanor crimes. A second offense is a felony, but there had to be a first offense conviction for this to occur, and that does not happen because of budgetary restraints and possible political pressure. This is all by design to benefit thieves. These crimes are definitely Felony category, and if made so, I would think Clark County DA Steve Wolfson would be inspired to take action. Until the state laws are changed, being a Nevada court appointed for-hire guardian under the oversight of a weak or corrupt family court system is a license for cowards to steal from the weakest of the weak without fear of being criminally charged within the state.

According to Nevada Revised Statutes, there are NO penalties in the NRS 159 Guardianship law.   Its NRS 200 that isn't stiff enough.  NRS 160-Guardianships, has no penalties included, and NRS 200.5091-50995-Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation, or Isolation of Older Persons and Vulnerable Persons states that the first offense for exploitation of the elderly by a for-hire guardian or anyone is only a gross misdemeanor.  For-hire guardian and private administrator Jared E. Shafer and his attorneys allegedly designed it to be that way with the help of the two former Nevada Attorney Generals.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson (left) likes to save taxpayer dollars by rarely prosecuting misdemeanors. Having not responded to numerous first time misdemeanor elder exploitation complaints, the likelihood of Wolfson prosecuting a second such offense as a felony is extremely unlikely, i.e., how can you prosecute a second offense as a felony when you refused to prosecute the first offense which was a misdemeanor? This intentional catch 22 makes elder exploitation in Clark County the "perfect crime."

Only a county District Attorney or state Attorney General can act on Requests for Prosecution filed by police. The police are not prosecutors. Consequently, all elder exploitation requests for misdemeanor prosecution have so far gone unheeded by our DA, something that frustrates good cops.

(Shafer's protégé, Patience Bristol, was arrested for felony burglary only after she brazenly pawned thousands of dollars worth of jewelry stolen from one of Shafer's Professional Fiduciary Services of Nevada (PFSN, Inc.) ward's. Bristol is presently serving 5 - 8 years in the Nevada State Penitentiary. Shafer was never charged.)

Hundreds of thousands of dollars or more are stolen annually from wealthy Nevada retirees under color of arcane Nevada law that does not penalize guardians who refuse to file monthly or annual accountings of their ward's expenditures, and there seems to be no way to stop the travesty unless these custom designed laws are given teeth. In the meantime, I recommend that wealthy retirees find another state in which to retire.

Even if the state guardianship laws had effective criminal penalties, it's highly questionable whether any elected Nevada District Attorney would dare prosecute a man who owns and controls hundreds of A-frame political advertising signs used to elect (or defeat) candidates for county D.A., Nevada A.G., Assembly, or State Senate during political campaigns.

Jared Shafer operates Signs of Nevada, LLC from his PFSN, Inc. office at 5858 S. Pecos Rd, Suite 500 in Henderson, and he's known as the go-to-guy around election time for cheap or free A-frame political billboards placed strategically on vacant lots and in the desert across the state for up to a month before an election. Many believe these highly effective signs are his free pass to stay out of trouble, or if exposed for the quid pro quo they possibly present, could become his achilles heel.
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As an ex-Nevada politician, I can personally attest that these portable A-frame signs are extremely effective and are a political campaign necessity that can either make or break a campaign.  In my most recent state wide campaign in 1993, I was told by the then-owner of the signs, Mark Peploski, that all his A-frames had been rented to my opponent, and none were available for me. No other company offered the service in such volume, so for that and many other reasons, I lost the election. The same applies today. In Clark County where the average voter has lived for less than three years, its a little known fact, but he or she who has the most signs almost always wins the election! The person who doles out the signs has the power to indebt himself to the politicians who he favors with his hard to get signs.

In the past 36 years since Jared Shafer was first appointed public guardian by then-Clark County Commissioner Manny Cortez (the father of former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto), NRS Chapter 200 and Chapter 159 laws were enacted - then weakened through amendment  - laws that were intended to protect the assets of wealthy court appointed wards (Poor people are not appointed private guardians). During the tenure of Cortez-Masto and her predecessor Frankie Sue Del Papa, the guardianship laws were amended several times to favor court appointed for-hire guardians and administrators, and financially punish families who challenge them by forcing the family to pay the court appointed guardian's exorbitant legal defense fees in the probable event a family court judge or appointed commissioner rules the challenge merit less.

Many of the assembly members and state senators who voted to weaken the guardianship laws used Shafer's signs during their campaigns. These same politicians need to step back now and allow statutes in NRS 200 and NRS 159 to be amended to make the FIRST offense a felony. That's the only way to stop the abuse. Otherwise, being a private for-hire guardian or administrator will remain a license to steal, and many more hapless seniors and disabled people will die knowing they were powerless to stop strangers from stealing their life savings, homes, and family inheritances.

For now, we'll have to rely on Clark County District Court Chief Judge David Barker, Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, the Clark County Commission, and the feds to hopefully stop this. We can't rely on the District Attorney who has discarded numerous citizen's complaints.   Steve Wolfson has inadvertently or purposefully helped Shafer, et. al. by ignoring complaints and not prosecuting unscrupulous guardians with a first misdemeanor per NRS 200, which would then allow them to be cited with a felony if they repeated the crime a second time. And we know that until Commissioner Jon Norheim and Judges Charles Hoskin and Art Ritchie are removed and better judges put in place, nothing will improve as far as the family court overseeing the shenanigans of their court appointed thieves.

Too many attorneys in Nevada have made a good living off of family court, and they have become generous judicial campaign contributors (an argument often used to appoint judges). If they work for the guardians, they can get away with excessively billing ward's estates. If they work for the exploited families, they keep billing and dragging things out knowing their clients will never achieve success in the courts of the above mentioned family court judges or commissioner, yet the attorneys continue making lots of money.

In the meantime, if you have a net worth of over one half million dollars, retire somewhere else because Nevada is the home of the Perfect Crime.

CURRENT NEWS COVERAGE:

EDITORIAL: Guarding the guardians
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
April 26, 2015
http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorial-guarding-the-guardians

Clark County Commissioners, Nevada lawmakers move to reform ‘appalling’ guardianship program
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FRONT PAGE
April 21, 2015:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/clark-county-commissioners-nevada-lawmakers-move-reform-appalling-guardianship

Clark County Commissioners demand answers from Guardianship Court
KTNV TV Ch 13 LEAD STORY with VIDEO
April 21, 2015:
http://www.scrippsmedia.com/ktnv/news/contact-13/contact-13-investigates/Clark-County-Commissioners-blast-guardianship-system-300866441.html?lc=Smart

County Commission probing ‘frightening’ abuses in guardianship system
LAS VEGAS SUN FRONT PAGE
April 21, 2015:
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/apr/21/county-commission-probing-frightening-abuses-guard/

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS OBTAINED FROM JARED SHAFER'S OFFICE:
http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/ShaferFinancialRecords2.html

VIDEOS:

24 year old cerebral palsy victim and exploited ward Jason Hanson whose house and inheritance was taken from him under guardianship: "Jared Shafer is a thief, a crook, and if I believed in the devil, he would certainly look a lot like Jared Shafer."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tgqmyKb8WI&feature=c4-overview&list=UUb-68h7cH-eioNdzUZ_EUMg

90 year old WW2 hero and exploited ward Guadalupe Olvera who was forced to stay in Nevada after the death of wife while his assets were being looted: "I'm going to go to California no matter what. Im not going to live here. I don't need that man either. I don't need Jared."  Commissioner Jon Norheim: "Yeah, they knew this was coming."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZixHgeOzko4