Jared E. Shafer's Bad Laws Legalize
the Bilking of Las Vegas Retirees

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(L to R) Guardianship Commissioner Jon Norheim - 2012, Mob Lawyer Jon Norheim with
clients Ralph and Rick Rizzolo - 2007                      (Photo by Buffalo Jim Barrier)

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
September 8, 2014

LAS VEGAS - It has become very apparent that a select group of private for-hire "guardians" control at least two judges sitting on the Clark County Family Court bench; Judge Charles Hoskin, and his appointed "Guardianship Commissioner" Jon Norheim.

(COURT VIDEO of private guardian Jared E. Shafer ordering Norheim to close the court to the public during the discussion of $500,000.00 missing from his ward's estate.)

Nevada Revised Statutes permit Hoskin and Norheim to summarily approve the quasi-legal enrichment of private court appointed guardians who exploit the elderly and infirm. However, It has not yet been determined if Hoskin and Norheim personally share in exploitation of the life savings of many "wards" they assigned to an unscrupulous group of local for-hire guardians who feed off of ill-informed residents of our city's two Sun City developments (Las Vegas' Death Watch).

In an effort to find answers to the legality question, I contacted current Clark County Public Administrator John Cahill.    He told INSIDE VEGAS: "....action in all cases are reviewed in detail by the Court in a petition, and actions approved and ordered are carried out."

By his answer, Cahill obviously believes that the orders of county Family Court judges and commissioners are beyond reproach.

(Jared Shafer has ignored repeated requests by INSIDE VEGAS to tell his side of this story.)

However, an extensive investigation is underway that may determine if the jurists (and Cahill) ever profited from numerous highly questionable court rulings that favored guardians, and cost family members who dared question their power tens of thousands in legal expenses.

The following Nevada statutes may pose a serious threat to Las Vegas' second largest industry; retirement.

If these statutes and their peril are made known to wealthy people living outside Nevada who are considering a move to one of our city's posh retirement communities, they should take heed, especially if they have no relatives living in this state to care for them in the event their spouse passes away (poor people are not appointed private guardians):

Sec. 35.  NRS 159.059:  Except as otherwise provided in NRS 159.0595,
any qualified person or entity that the court finds suitable may serve
as a guardian. A person is not qualified to serve as a guardian who:
5. Is a nonresident of this State (emphasis added)

Sec. 30.  NRS 159.0487  Any court of competent jurisdiction may appoint:
1.  Guardians of the person, of the estate, or of the person and estate for
incompetents or minors whose home state is this State.

159.117  1.  Upon approval of the court by order, a guardian of
the estate may: (a) Invest the property of the ward, make loans
and accept security therefor,  in the manner and to the extent
authorized by the court. (b) Exercise options of the ward to
purchase or exchange securities or other property.

 159.1425  1.  Except as otherwise provided in this section and except
for a sale pursuant to NRS 159.123 or 159.142, a guardian may sell
the real property of a ward only after notice of the sale is published
in: (a) A newspaper that is published in the county in which the property,
 or some portion of the property, is located;

Sec. 38.  NRS 159.076   2.  If the court grants a summary administration,
the court may: (a) Authorize the guardian of the estate or special guardian
who is authorized to manage the ward’s property to convert the property
to cash and sell any of the property, with or without notice, as the court
may direct. After the payment of all claims and the expenses of the
guardianship, the guardian shall deposit the money in savings accounts
or invest the money as provided in NRS 159.117, and hold the investment
and all interest, issues, dividends and profits for the benefit of the ward.
The court may dispense with annual accountings and all other
proceedings required by this chapter.

2009 Statutes of Nevada, Page 1639
Section 1.  Chapter 159 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto
the provisions: Sec. 4.  1.  A court may find that a petitioner is a
vexatious litigant if a person, other than the ward: (a) Files a
petition which is without merit or intended to harass or annoy
the guardian; and 2.  If a court finds a person is a vexatious
litigant pursuant to subsection 1, the court may impose sanctions
on the petitioner in an amount sufficient to reimburse the estate
of the ward for all or part of the expenses incurred by the estate
of the ward to defend the petition, to respond to the petition and
for any other pecuniary losses which are associated with the petition.

NRS TITLE 13 - GUARDIANSHIPS; CONSERVATORSHIPS; TRUSTS

The above laws were custom designed by for-hire "guardian" Jared E. Shafer and his associates.

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PFSN, Inc. for-hire "Guardians" Jared Shafer and Patience Bristol, Amy Deittrick - PFSN office
manager/bookkeeper and “manager” of Signs of Nevada, LLC (political advertising signs)

NRS 159.059, and NRS 159.0487 legally prohibited a nonresident of this State, the only living child of 95 year old WWII hero Guadalupe Olvera, from moving him back to California to spend his final years in the care of his loving family. In this court video entitled Guardian Abuse of 93 Year Old WWII Vet By Las Vegas Corrupt Family Court System and Jared E. Shafer, Olvera is patronized by Guardianship Commissioner Norheim, Shafer, and Shafer's attorney Alan Freer when Olvera pleaded to be allowed to leave Nevada. Shortly after his plea was ignored, Olvera moved to California against court orders, and Shafer had Judge Hoskin issue a Contempt of Court warrant for his daughter, later saying Olvera's daughter "kidnapped" her father and she should be arrested. However, California courts refused to honor the warrant.

Three years after he escaped Shafer's custody, a California Superior Court  judge reinstated Olvera's civil rights and terminated the California conservatorship Shafer forced on Olvera as a condition to terminate his Nevada guardianship. In the meantime, Shafer and his actions led to the bleeding of over $420,000.00 from Mr. Olvera's trust and bank accounts, and Olvera is presently suing Shafer and his associates for civil RICO in U.S. Federal Court. (Las Vegas "guardian" Jared E. Shafer sued for "embezzling" $420,000.00 from 95 year old former "ward")

NRS159.117 permits the guardian to legally purchase or exchange securities with their ward's money.  In 2009, Jared Shafer and his CPAs Shawn King and  Bruce Gamett invested PFSN ward's savings into a Utah Ponzi scheme called VesCor and received commission payments for those referrals. They were sued by the receiver for VesCor who stated: "The transfers of commissions from VesCor constitute fraudulent transfers... at a time when the investors were on notice of VesCor's insolvency or fraud."  The SEC said that (defendants) "offered and sold approximately $180 million in unregistered notes to more than 800 investors, many of whom were senior citizens." To avoid criminal prosecution, Shafer, et. al. returned the fraudulently transferred money to the accounts of his PFSN, Inc. wards who were unaware their funds had been invested in a Ponzi scheme. (MORE INFORMATION about the Ponzi scheme.)

In the late Leann Peccole-Goorjain's case, .NRS 159.076 legally Authorize(d) the guardian of the estate ... to manage the ward’s property, to convert the property to cash and sell any of the property, with or without notice, as the court may direct. After the payment of all claims and the expenses of the guardianship... The court may dispense with annual accountings.

Three years before Leann  died on February 24, 2008 leaving a multi-million dollar estate, the Family Court placed her into the guardianship of Jared Shafer. That was in 2005 when Leann was deemed a “vulnerable person.”

Six and one half years after her death, Jared Shafer - without being required to file annual accountings, continues with Court approval to drain Leann's estate of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.  Her oblivious family told INSIDE VEGAS they were (erroneously) told Shafer is an attorney, and their loved one's fortune is in good hands. (Read: Grave Robbery Under Color of Law.)

NRS 159.1425 allowed Jared Shafer to legally sell the real property of a ward, Cerebral Palsy victim Jason Hanson (left).  In a video by INSIDE VEGAS photographer Mike Christ entitled Guardian Jared E. Shafer Exploits Special Needs Trust, 25 year old Hanson testifies that he never saw a penny of the proceeds from Shafer's sale of his late father's house and furnishings. (The Jason Hanson - Jared E. Shafer Story)

There are many more cases such as that of the late Marcy Dudeck who at 91 was allowed to die of dehydration under Jared Shafer's care. In her case as with too many others now coming to light, Shafer spent Dudeck's savings to pay for his own defense against her family who wanted her to live near them in California. The family could not stop Shafer until he had depleted all of Mrs. Dudeck's resources paying himself and his over priced attorney friends to make Marcy and her family miserable for taking him on.

In Mr. Olvera's case, Shafer again bled Olvera's family trust to pay himself and his attorneys to try to keep the man in Las Vegas against his will until he too would suffer a complete liquidation of his assets and real estate.

Since I began writing on this subject in 2013, I have learned that many more cases of elder abuse and exploitation have occurred in Las Vegas, but because some family members are afraid of becoming the victim of an expensive SLAPP suit, or afraid a compromised family court judge will force them to pay a crooked guardian's defense attorney under Section 1. Chapter 159 of NRS, they have hesitated contacting the media or organizations such as the National Association To Stop Guardian Abuse.  Thankfully, because of national attention being brought to this subject, many more such cases are becoming known, and witnesses are less fearful of legal threats if they go public with their stories.

I sincerely believe that based on upcoming media exposure, many of the persons identified in this article will rightfully end up in prison for their sins against the elderly and disabled.

Exemplified by the Dudeck and Olvera cases, and so many more, Las Vegas private guardians and their stooges in Clark County Family Court will not let go of a ward until the ward's fortune has been depleted in ways no ethical person could imagine. Too many families have lost their spirit fighting against crooks who used loved one's life savings to pay their shyster lawyers in a kangaroo court several miles from the glittering Las Vegas Strip. And this all happens under the color of existing Nevada law.

And if a family member dares take legal action to try to protect a loved one in Clark County Family Court, NRS Chapter 159 can be enlisted to financially sanction relatives who filed lawsuits against court appointed local guardians. The law is designed to punish family members who a judge or guardianship commissioner arbitrarily determine filed "vexatious" litigation to "harass" or "annoy" a for-hire guardian.  In all cases I have investigated, attorneys for guardians have labeled family members who attempt to terminate a Nevada guardianship as "exploiters" or "unfit." After the judge or guardianship commissioner invariably agrees with the guardian and makes a determination that the legal action was brought to harass or annoy the guardian, the family can be forced under NRS Chapter 159 to pay the legal defense fees of the crooked private guardian they sued.  No other class of private business is protected in this way.

A harassment and annoyance case is currently winding its way through the Clark County Family Court system, and Commissioner Norheim has been chosen to preside even though he also presided over the case that is the subject of the lawsuit. INSIDE VEGAS will report on this obvious SLAPP suit and Norheim's conflict of interest as soon as more information becomes available.

Many complaints have been filed against Shafer and his associates with Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto, and Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson. There have also been Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission complaints filed against Judge Hoskin and Commissioner Norheim, but all complaints have been ignored so far. Cortez-Masto and Wolfson have reportedly utilized signs from Signs of Nevada, LLC during their elections. In 1973, then-Clark County Commissioner Manny Cortez appointed Jared Shafer as the first county Public Guardian.  Cortez was the father of current Nevada A.G. Catherine Cortez-Masto. Current Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson also appears to have an alliance to Shafer. Wolfson without explanation dropped 19 of 20 felony charges against Patience Bristol, a former PFSN private guardian and Shafer protégé who is currently serving 5-8 years for exploiting PFSN, Inc. wards. You can do the math.

After a stint in the US Air Force stationed at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Shafer went to work for RomAmer Pharmaceuticals, the importer and distributor of Gerovital, a purported anti-aging drug taken Intravenously. After the Food and Drug Administration prohibited the importation of the Romanian made product saying it caused seizures, Shafer left RomAmer to be appointed Clark County Public Administrator/Public Guardian where he remained until 2003 when he opened his private fudiciary/political sign business.

Jared Shafer illegally commingles funds from a company known as Signs of Nevada, LLC, with funds from his
wards in his PFSN, Inc. bank account. Commingling of a ward's funds is a violation of NRS 159.073 (III) (IV)

Utilizing political connections and the political sign business operated out of his PFSN office, Shafer and his crew fashioned the outrageous Nevada laws custom designed to protect their ability through court-given power of attorney to completely control the lives and fortunes of wealthy transplants from other states who want to spend their remaining years living peacefully in one of our city's beautiful master planned retirement communities.

Instead, because they were not forewarned before moving to Nevada that they can lose all their civil rights if they lack a qualified relative living in this state to care for them in the event their spouse dies leaving them sizable assets, and an unelected "Guardianship Commissioner" is informed of the death and deems the surviving spouse unfit to handle his or her own affairs then assigns a private-guardian you can never get rid of. Hapless senior citizens are often forced to become wards of organized crime, and can do nothing to stop unscrupulous guardians from exploiting their wealth because such exploitation is court-sanctioned by jurists such as Hoskin and Norheim.

Unless our state's legislature, Attorney General, and Clark County District Attorney have been bought off by cheap or donated A-frame political signs, the laws that make the above described exploitation possible must be repealed from the Nevada Revised Statutes during our 2015 legislative session, or Las Vegas' second largest industry - retirement - could be adversely effected if no changes occur, and the word gets out.

MORE INFORMATION:

VEGAS VOICE - The Pitfalls of Guardianship

VEGAS VOICE - A Very Dangerous Nevada Law

GOOGLE SEARCH: Guardian Jared E. Shafer