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A Palm Springs fiduciary is facing discipline from a state board on accusations he bungled a senior woman's finances.
Ron Olund was entrusted by a judge with preserving an 82-year-old's estate from 2009 to 2010, but a complaint leveled by Professional Fiduciaries Bureau Chief Julia Ansel accuses him of failing to pay the woman's bills, accruing late fees and bouncing checks.
Maxine Douglas' supplemental Medicare health insurance was canceled, her TV and phone services disconnected and her home narrowly escaped foreclosure during Olund's stint as her fiduciary, the accusation states.
According to the complaint, Olund committed incompetence, gross negligence, willful violation of duty and unprofessional conduct. The state Attorney General's Office is providing legal counsel.
Olund's professional fiduciary license may be suspended or revoked and he may have to pay the investigation and enforcement fees if found guilty by the state Office of Administrative Hearings on Tuesday in San Diego.
Olund did not return several calls for comment.
The bureau took no disciplinary action in 2008-2010, four actions in 2011, 11 in 2013, 10 in 2013 and five so far in 2014, according to its website. Punishments include written reprimands, citations, two- or three-year probation and license revocation.
"They have a relatively small licensee population of about 700," said Monica Vargas, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs. "Any complaint the bureau receives is looked at and investigated, but not everything warrants a disciplinary hearing against a license."
Douglas died at home with her daughters beside her in 2011, six weeks after they agreed to be her co-conservators so they could take back control of her finances and get her out of a Palm Springs assisted living home.
Cathedral City's former Mayor Carol Joseph and her sister Janis Garcia will testify on their mother's behalf against Olund on Tuesday, after Garcia filed a complaint in June 2010.
"Most people don't go as far as I have, and most complaints don't get as far as this one," Garcia said. "It was extremely stressful for my mother, who had a phase where she couldn't speak for herself very well, and I couldn't help her — nor could my sister."
Joseph and Garcia were in San Bernardino Superior Court over their mother's care when they decided to listen to what Garcia called "bad advice" from attorneys to get a temporary conservator while a judge sorted things out.
Olund was appointed Douglas' conservator in September 2009, but he failed to notify creditors, service providers and vendors of the change, according to the accusation.
Most of Douglas' bills and invoices were not sent to Olund's office, causing a neighbor to have to fax Olund her monthly homeowner's association bill for her house in Yucca Valley's Apache Mobile Home Park — often with late fees.
The accusation says Olund was often unreachable, with a full voicemail box, and Douglas' Wells Fargo bank account incurred bank overdraft fees in September, October and November 2010.
Garcia recalls going to Olund's office and seeing peoples' checkbooks and credit cards piled on a chair. The mail was ankle-high, Joseph added.
While the sisters originally wanted a conservator to manage their mother's finances, they didn't realize they were ceding control of her healthcare, as well.
A check given to a caregiver bounced, the accusation reads, and Olund never applied for Douglas' Veterans Administration survivor benefits.
"She would fall, and no one would call us. She had horrible experiences in a couple rest homes, but when I tried to take her home, they'd say I wasn't her conservator and would be arrested," Joseph said. "It created a lot of conflict for my mom and anxiety for me and Jan. It created constant chaos."
Douglas went from living in a seven-room home next to former President Gerald Ford in Rancho Mirage's Thunderbird Estates when healthy to sharing a bathroom at Windsor Court once ill — a hard adjustment for her, Garcia said.
Holiday visitations were hard to get Olund to approve, Garcia told a judge in a written petition to have the conservator removed.
"I don't want to go back there," Garcia said her mother told her on their way back to the assisted living home after spending Christmas together. "I will die here."
A judge removed Olund as Douglas' conservator in November 2010 when the sisters agreed to be co-conservators at a hearing.
"I hope that Ron is held accountable for the responsibility he had to my mom. My mom did not get the care she deserved while he was her conservator," Joseph said. "To watch my mom go through this I thought, 'How many others are there?'"
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