I-Team: Florida senior rebuilding her life after guardianship

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (CBS12) — Jan Garwood knows she's one of the lucky ones who managed to terminate her guardianship and get her rights back. But that doesn't mean she has it easy.

At 72 years old, she is trying to rebuild her life again, after losing her house, car, and nearly all of her possessions while under a three-year, court appointed guardianship.

"I am starting to live my life again," she told the CBS12 News I-Team from her new apartment in the Orlando area. "I am trying as hard as I can and get out there and help as many people as I can to stop them from getting into guardianship."

Jan used to be a hairdresser and is the mother of three boys. She owned a home in Longwood and also practiced real estate.

A few years ago, she was badly injured in a car crash. Then, her son Adam died unexpectedly at the age of 31. Like any mother would, she struggled with her grief and went through a dark time.

In 2017, someone -- she suspects a cousin -- contacted a professional guardian and suggested Jan be declared "incapacitated."

Court documents show that the guardian was Rebecca Fierle, a woman who grew the largest guardianship enterprise in the state with hundreds of wards. Fierle was later arrested and charged in connection with the death of one of her wards.

The I-Team obtained the guardianship petition in Jan's case, which shows Fierle told a judge Jan "suffers from a seizure disorder, [has] poor insight and judgment, and is a vulnerable at-risk senior who is a victim of potential financial exploitation, and as a result, she is unable to make healthcare and other decisions or manage her finances."

A judge placed Jan in a guardianship and soon after that, Jan says she was taken from her home and placed in a memory care facility -- even though she was never diagnosed with Alzheimer's, dementia, or any other memory-related condition.

Later, Fierle was taken off of Jan's case and a new guardian was appointed: a woman named Denise Willis.

For three years, Jan was locked away in that memory care facility -- no visitors allowed.

"I was scared, but I really didn't think I'd be there that long," Jan said.

"You must have felt like you were in prison," I-Team investigator Danielle DaRos said.

"Well I was, wasn't I?" Jan replied.

Last year, Jan got a break. A friendly nurse at the facility snuck in a cellphone. Jan used it to log on to Facebook, where she posted a plea.

"I wrote on there that I'm locked in a facility I shouldn't be in," Jan recalled. "Is there someone out there that can help me? Please call a lawyer or somebody to get me out. I'm not supposed to be here."

Hillary Hogue, a guardianship reform advocate in Florida, saw the post.

"I said here's my number. Call me," she said, adding that Jan's time in isolation was shocking, but not uncommon. "Jan's situation, it's bad. But there are so many others in situations like it in guardianships as we speak," said Hogue.

Hillary referred Jan to an attorney named Vito Roppo, who has worked on several guardianship cases in the state.

"[Jan] didn't seem incompetent," Roppo told the I-Team. "There was an order that she was 100 percent incapacitated. She lost all the rights you can lose in a guardianship. In my talks with her, it did not sound appropriate."

Another attorney, Leslie Ferderigos signed on to the case and helped Jan get a second physician to evaluate Jan's capacity. She says that doctor spent six hours questioning her.

The second doctor told a judge Jan had full capacity and was deserving of all her rights back. In early 2020, the guardianship was terminated and Jan was free. But that's not where her story ends.

"I wanted to go home," Jan said. "They said, 'You don't have a home anymore.'"

Jan says she was heartbroken to learn her guardian sold her home while she was in the memory care facility. She also sold her car.

Almost all of Jan's possessions are still missing.

According to a Seminole County audit by the Division of Inspector General, guardian Denise Willis sold Jan's home without getting a proper appraisal. Jan says the price was far lower than what it was worth.

The audit also determined Willis sold Jan's car without following the conditions in a court order, for "significantly undervalue."

A number of documents, like the bill of sale for the vehicle, have not been provided to investigators, according to court records.

And the audit states 13 of Jan's social security payments that she was supposed to receive from 2018-2020 are missing.

The I-Team reached out to Denise Willis via phone and email requesting comment, but we never heard back.

Jan and her lawyers are still in court trying to get a final accounting of her assets, hoping to recover some of what she lost while under guardianship.

"I think her case is really a travesty," said Roppo. "It's a failure of the system in a lot of ways. I'm glad we were able to get her out, but it was too late. It already inflicted so much damage."