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 3-18-13
Inside Vegas - Steve Miller

Steve Miller is a former Las Vegas City Councilman. In 1991, the readers of the Las Vegas Review Journal voted him the "Most Effective Public Official" in Southern Nevada. Visit his website at: http://www.SteveMiller4LasVegas.com


For-hire guardian Jared Shafer, and
racketeer Rick Rizzolo head to court

.
          Jared Shafer, Ralph Rizzolo, Jon Norheim, and Rick Rizzolo

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
March 18, 2013

LAS VEGAS - They're both "Pillars of the community," both donate to "the youths," and both have deep pockets, but one operates under the color of law, and the other is a convicted outlaw  I'm talking about for-hire guardian Jared Shafer, and his fellow Youth Charities of Southern Nevada board member Rick Rizzolo.

On January 19, 2011, Shafer appeared before Clark County Family Court Judge Charles J. Hoskin and successfully obtained a "Without Bail" warrant for the arrest and incarceration of Rebecca Schultz. Then at Schultz' father's expense, Shafer hired California lawyer Tom Dwyer of the Grunsky Law Firm who billed the Olvera trust over $10,000 to unsuccessfully try to get Olvera's daughter's warrant transferred to California where Schultz and her 93 year old father reside.

INSIDE VEGAS spelled out the compelling details of this case in the February 25, 2013 AmericanMafia.com column "GUADALUPE OLVERA'S WAR! ? Elder Abuse Likely - Under Color Of Law."

It tells how Rebecca Schultz in September 2010 fulfilled her then-91 year old father's ignored request, and after the death of his wife removed Guadalupe from Jared Shafer's appointed guardianship so he could spend his final years with his family in his home town. (Video of Guadalupe pleading for his freedom in Family Court before Judge Jon Norheim.)

"I'm going to go to California no matter what! I'm not going to live here. I don't need that man either. I don't need Jared," was stated by Guadalupe to the disinterested judge.

Several weeks following Guadalupe's testimony and after being "kidnapped under the cover of night" as Shafer described Olvera's departure from Las Vegas, Guadalupe was back in Santa Cruz living happily with his family and has been thriving there for over thirty months since, while Shafer -- at Olvera's expense -- played every legal (and possibly illegal) trick in the book to try to force him to return to Vegas where he has no family or friends.

Since moving back to California, Shafer has drained over $300,000 from Olvera's family trust to pay himself and his attorneys to compel the WW2 veteran to return to his guardianship in LV.

Meanwhile, against Shafer's wishes, Rebecca Schultz succeeded in having her father's carpenter union pension, VA, and Social Security checks sent to his California conservator instead of Shafer.

"Getting the conservatorship here guaranteed the carpenter checks came back to Dad. Working directly with the VA and Social Security, I was able to get Dad's checks sent to him in California. I did that working directly with these federal agencies, which is why Shafer is so angry. No one has ever done that to him! Dad does receive the VA and SS money directly into his bank account, but the conservator, by court order, has to control it. However, he is ethical and Dad gets what he needs," stated Schultz.

On July 31, 2012, after Guadalupe was honored as a WW2 hero in the Aptos, California 4th of July Parade, an article about his escape from Shafer's custody appeared in the Santa Cruz Weekly. Shafer responded by suing Rebecca Schultz for libel and defamation and included the Weekly article as EXHIBIT 10 (something the ACLU should look into) claiming that in the article she referred to dozens of anonymous Internet blogs allegedly defaming him and his associates, articles that did not identify the blogger by name.

Schultz told INSIDE VEGAS that had she been served notice of the hearing, and if the warrant for her arrest had been terminated so she could face her accusers without fear of going to jail, she would have testified that she has no knowledge of who wrote the blogs, and that she had every First Amendment right to tell her story to the Santa Cruz Weekly.

According to Schultz, she was never served legal notice of Shafer's libel lawsuit.  In Shafer's complaint, his attorney states: "Schultz has not revealed the location of herself or Mr. Olvera to the Court or Mr. Shafer."

"My husband and I have used that P.O. Box for over 20 years, long before my parents even moved to NV! We have never hidden from anyone and as you know, it?s easy to find someone's residence via a local assessor," stated Schultz.

Not having been served notice, Schultz says she only learned about the lawsuit after receiving a call from a Las Vegas reporter. Knowing that she could not step foot in Nevada to respond to the lawsuit without being arrested and held without bail, Schultz waited to be served with the complaint.

None followed.

On February 27, 2013, a hearing was held in Clark County District Court in Schultz' absence. Judge Joanna Kishner (left) carelessly gave Shafer and his associates a Default Judgment against Schultz for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Schultz again learned of the judgment from a Las Vegas reporter. The reporter sent Schultz a copy of Shafer's libel complaint stating that she had been personally served at her home address with all legal notices.

"How could they have served me when Shafer didn't even know where I live? And had I been served, I could not have attended the hearing without being arrested," stated Schultz.

"They filed a fraudulent affidavit of service."

On March 15, Schultz filed a complaint with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department against the process server who signed notarized documents saying he had personally served her. The Sheriff determined that it was a civil matter, and Schultz is considering further action.

At this juncture, and with Schultz unable to face her accusers in a Nevada courtroom without being arrested on the spot, I believe Shafer's recent libel action is clearly a SLAPP suit to try to silence her, and cause her to have to expend additional money to explore legal options.

While Rebecca and her father's fates are in limbo, most of Guadalupe's fortune has been squandered by Shafer. Olvera's Sun City Anthem home sits empty as Rebecca and her father wait for Shafer to follow the orders of a Santa Cruz County Family Court Judge and terminate Olvera's guardianship and squash the arrest warrant so they can return to Henderson, Nevada to put the half million dollar house on the market.

The ORDER APPOINTING PROBATE CONSERVATOR that Shafer has ignored since last July stated: ?If Schultz creates a conservatorship with a professional fiduciary as conservator of estate, Mr. Shafer will terminate the NV guardianship.?
 
Judge Volkmann
Hearing date: 7-16-12
ATTACHMENT 29; OTHER ORDERS:
Jared Schafer shall take the necessary steps to terminate the Nevada (guardianship). There is currently an arrest warrant in Nevada for Rebecca Schultz for failure to appear in the Nevada guardianship (case). In the event the warrant survives the Nevada Guardianship, Mr. Shafer shall make reasonable efforts to assist in the withdraw of the warrant.

The judge then gave Shafer 60 days to comply with the ORDER, but eight months later, the guardianship remains in effect.

According to Schultz, "The judge let us have our choice of Bill Chaddock as conservator in California, and that has really angered Shafer. We got an 'ethical' fiduciary that Shafer couldn't control."

Robert and Rebecca Schultz were appointed conservators over Mr. Olvera's person in the same ORDER signed by Judge Volkmann, something that has also infuriated Shafer et. al.

I believe that the last thing Mr. Shafer wants the public to know is, based on Rebecca Schultz' example, family members can successfully terminate his "guardianships" when a higher quality of life is offered within a family structure.

But, in Olvera's case, Shafer has so far refused to abide by the California judge's ORDER and terminate the guardianship of Guadalupe Olvera, while continuing to drain funds from "the Ward's" trust.

Jared Shafer has not responded to three written requests by INSIDE VEGAS to tell his side of this story.

In contrast to Judge Volkmann's ORDER, a February 4, 2013 letter from Shafer's lawyer to "Guardianship Commissioner" Jon Norheim (Rick Rizzolo's former attorney) asks the court to continue the Bench Warrant "contingent upon all outstanding guardian issues being resolved." The letter refers to Shafer's "Final Account of Guardian" document filed on October 9, 2012 stipulating that "the Guardian has paid all sums of money due from the Ward's Estate" before the guardianship can be terminated.  In other words, Guadalupe will not be released from Shafer's "guardianship," and Rebecca's bench warrant will stand until all of Shafer's cronies are paid in full.

The plight of Guadalupe Olvera and his daughter are a text book example of a quasi-legal Catch- 22.
 
2:08-cv-00635-PMP-GWF 
Henry et al v. Rizzolo et al
Philip M. Pro, presiding

Full docket text for document 665:
JOINT PRETRIAL ORDER: Jury Trial set for 3/26/2013 09:00 AM in LV Courtroom 7C before Judge Philip M. Pro. Calendar Call set for 3/20/2013 09:30 AM in LV Courtroom 7C before Judge Philip M. Pro. Trial Briefs due by 3/20/2013. Proposed Jury Instructions due by 3/20/2013. Proposed Voir Dire due by 3/20/2013. Signed by Judge Philip M. Pro on 10/15/12. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - MMM)

And regarding the other "Pillar of the community" Rick Rizzolo, the long awaited Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (UFTA) jury trial is set to begin on March 26.

So far, a portion of the $10 million dollars Rizzolo agreed to pay beating victim Kirk Henry in restitution for Henry being beaten into quadriplegia over a disputed bar tab at Rizzolo's former Crazy Horse Too strip club in Las Vegas, has been deposited into Henry's attorney's trust account. These funds include most of the $3 million Rizzolo received from the sale of his interest in the Philadelphia Crazy Horse Too, money he illegally transferred to his step mother Kimtran Rizzolo several years ago, and an undisclosed amount his ex-wife Lisa agreed to pay Henry from money she stashed in the Cook Islands for her husband.

Not much more is known as to what will be addressed at Rick Rizzolo's UFTA trial next week. Nor is it known whether Jared Shafer will abide by the California judge's Order to terminate Mr. Olvera's guardianship. But in both cases, INSIDE VEGAS will be there to report the results.



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