Maydelle Trambarulo is
finally FREE! A resident of NJ, she has been trapped by the CT
probate system for three long years and imprisoned in a CT nursing home
away from her family
After a Superior Court judge recently ruled Maydelle could return to her
family, unbelievably, her conservator asked the judge for a stay of
Maydelle's release from his custody! The battle seemed
insurmountable, but the Trambarulos believe in miracles - and they just
got one!
Helen Fabis is Sylvia
Rudek's beloved Aunt and God Mother.
She was clothing designer and gifted seamstress. She designed and
sewed Sylvia's wedding dress, veil, purse-the entire outfit
including the apron that is customary to put on at the end of the
wedding reception. This photo still makes Sylvia smile; it always
will.
Although Sylvia lost her dear Aunt, she was instrumental in seeing
that the temporary guardian, Kathleen Simane, was held accountable
and lost her own freedom when she was sent to prison.
Woman
sentenced for
swindling
great-aunt
(Published
Friday, July 21, 2006 11:19:31 AM CDT)
By Mike DuPre'
Gazette Staff
(Note:
Kathleen Simane was Sylvia's Aunt's court-appointed temporary guardian.)
The next 20 years of Kathleen Simane's life will be either behind bars
or under the state's watchful eye. And if Simane violates either
extended supervision or probation she could spend up to 25 years in
prison.
Judge James Daley sentenced Simane, 36, St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday for
two counts of theft by bailee in a case in which her great-aunt, Helen
Fabis, and other relatives were swindled out of more than $78,000.
Simane pleaded guilty to the two charges in April.
In a barely audible voice, Simane apologized to her relatives for her
crimes and said she would pay the court-ordered restitution: $78,290.
In addition, she must pay a 15 percent surcharge-$11,743-to the estate.
"She is incredibly remorseful and never intended to do any harm to (Fabis),"
said Simane's attorney, Stephanie Ames of Woodland Hills, Calif.
Simane became Fabis' guardian because no one else in the family was
willing to help the elderly woman, not because she was after her money,
Ames said.
"This is a crime of impulse and opportunity," the lawyer said.
Fabis, an 85-year-old childless widow of 30 years, fell seriously ill in
March 2001, and Simane was named temporary guardian in what was a family
emergency.
Fabis, a rural Edgerton resident, died the next month.
Prosecutor Barbara Oswald, an assistant attorney general for Wisconsin,
painted a different picture: "This is a case about greed, not about
need. … Kathleen Simane is a financial predator. She preys on people
whose assets allow her to live a better lifestyle."
Within days of gaining access to Fabis' accounts, Simane started
spending her great-aunt's money, Oswald said.
Simane paid off one car and bought a better vehicle, Ames said.
Simane paid for breast augmentation with Fabis' money, and after Fabis
died in April 2001, Simane asked that the funeral be delayed while her
breasts healed, according to court documents.
"(Simane) also went to the effort of cashing (Fabis') Social Security
checks," the prosecutor said.
Two relatives-Estelle Hartman, one of Fabis' sisters, and Sylvia Rudek,
Hartman's daughter-asked the judge to sentence Simane to at least 10
years in prison.
"I am sad, and I feel guilty for the tragic way Helen died," Hartman
said in a statement read by Ames. "The pain became greater as Kathleen's
betrayal and treatment of my sister was revealed by my daughter,
Sylvia."
Rudek said:
"Our family of four generations was destroyed by one person, and that
person is Kathleen Simane. Kathleen Simane is not considered a member of
our family. …
"There is nothing that Kathleen Simane won't say or do to get what she
wants," Rudek said.
In levying his sentence, Daley noted Fabis' vulnerability and Simane's
speed in taking advantage of her great-aunt.
"The funds should have been used for her benefit, but you used them for
your benefit," Daley admonished Simane. "You took money from someone who
could not protect herself. You were supposed to protect her. …
"We as a people will be judged by how we treat the least in our society
and those who cannot help themselves," the judge said.
Wrenching
Story Ends With Justice Waterbury, Connecticut
by Rick Greene
July 14, 2006
(Note: Daniel Gross is NASGA Member Dee King's Father)
I could go on about the
travesty that left Daniel Gross - an 86-year-old New York man with
no legal connection to Connecticut - locked in a Waterbury nursing
home for 10 months, his freedom stolen in the courtroom of Waterbury
Probate Judge Thomas Brunnock.
Gross's shameful ordeal is a powerful lesson for our state
legislators and governor, who are unwilling to demand reform of
Connecticut's shoddy probate court system.
But Gross is now a free man. I prefer the words of the Superior
Court judge who ordered Gross freed at an emotional hearing in
Waterbury Wednesday.
"A terrible miscarriage of justice has happened here," Judge Joseph
Gormley told the courtroom as Brunnock and the lawyers who worked on
the old man's behalf hung their heads.
What happened was Gross, ailing and living alone on Long Island,
came to visit his daughter in Waterbury last summer. He was
hospitalized in August, suffering from cellulitis, as his children
bickered over his care and who should control his money.
With Gross increasingly uncooperative, the hospital asked probate
court to step in. His children agreed. Within days, Brunnock
approved handing control of Gross's life to a court-appointed
conservator.
Gross didn't want a conservator and wasn't even at the probate court
hearing at which a conservator was named.
"This case has disturbed me from day one. I kept looking for
evidence to support what was done, but I find none," said Gormley,
who freed Gross on a writ of habeas corpus, terminating the
conservatorship.
Gormley had strong words for Gross's court-appointed lawyer,
Jonathan Newman. Last September Newman urged Brunnock to name a
conservator for Gross, taking away his freedom and control over his
finances.
"It is obvious to me he grossly underrepresented and misrepresented
Mr. Gross," Gormley told the court as Gross looked on. The ruling
removes Newman, and Kathleen Donovan, his conservator, from Gross's
life. Newman was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Gormley said he was mystified how Brunnock thought his court - which
covers Waterbury, Wolcott and Middlebury - had jurisdiction over the
estate of a New York man visiting his daughter. He likened it to the
absurd notion of forcing visitors to the state to pay income taxes
merely because they spent a few days here.
Mr. Gross's plight is yet another reason to doubt the probate
courts. It is a system in which prospective judges with close ties
to the local legal community win office through election, their
campaign coffers stuffed with contributions from lawyers and
political insiders. No legal training is required to be a probate
judge. Procedures can vary widely from district to district.
I wonder how many other Daniel Grosses there are, ones whose lives
are buried in the backslapping underworld of probate court.
Were it not for two volunteer lawyers, John Peters of West Hartford
and Veronica Halpine of Greater Hartford Legal Aid, Gross might
still be in Grove Manor Nursing Home. His house, approved for sale
by Brunnock, might have been sold, and an old man forever lost.
Ambling out of Wednesday's hearing with a walker, Gross said he
couldn't wait to return to Long Island, where he will now live with
his daughter Carolyn's assistance.
"I am overwhelmed with happiness," he said.
So am I.
Rick Green's column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. He can be
reached at rgreen@courant.com