screw it, here it is....lol
Reporter-Times.com
Mother charged with stealing trust money
Keith Rhoades krhoades@reporter-times.com
April 2, 2012
MARTINSVILLE
A Martinsville mother has been charged with two counts of theft after an investigation alleging she stole between $350,000 and $500,000 from a trust account belonging to her daughter.
Joy Lynn Williams, 44, was charged with two counts of theft, as a Class C and Class D felony. Williams is alleged to have taken between $350,000 and half a million dollars from a trust account belonging to her daughter Tasha Massey. The investigation has stretched for more than two years.
If convicted of the C felony, Williams could receive up to eight years in prison. Her case is pending in Morgan County Superior Court II. In lieu of an arrest warrant, a criminal summons to appear for an initial hearing was issued by the court. The hearing date is 1:45 p.m. April 19.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Morgan County Sheriff’s Department Detective Sgt. Dan Downing, Williams allegedly said she took the money to maintain her family’s standard of living. While Downing said Williams was “aided and abetted†by her husband, Mark Williams, she told him that neither her husband or daughters knew what she was doing.
According to Downing, the investigation began in March 2009 when Morgan County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hanson noticed a possible problem in a trust account belonging to Tasha Massey that was filed in his court.
According to Downing and court records, Todd Massey, Williams’ first husband and father to Brittany and Tasha Massey, was killed in a traffic accident on March 10, 1992 at the intersection of Ind. 37 and County Line Road. In February of 1993, Williams received an unspecified amount from the insurance company of business who owned the vehicle that struck and killed her husband.
The daughters each received $408,750. At that time, Brittany Massey was five years old and Tasha Massey was six months old. The money was to be placed in separate trust accounts under the control of the circuit court. Williams was appointed guardian over the accounts and was limited to spending money only with approval from the court.
The guardianship for Brittany Massey was terminated in October of 2004 and all expenses were paid.
According to Downing, from July 2, 1996 to May 10, 2006, the court allowed $16,025 to be withdrawn from the account of Tasha Massey for her expenses.
Expenses questioned
In May of 2007, the court received a letter from “a concerned citizen†alleging that Williams had taken control of Tasha Massey’s account and was using the money for unintended uses.
According to court records, a financial report was to be filed with the court on a yearly basis. A financial report was to be filed in May of 2007, but for unspecified reasons was delayed until August 2007. In October, the report was filed and approved by the court.
In May 2008, the court ordered a hearing due to tax warrants being issued to Massey. Williams allegedly had not filed an accounting report with the court that had been due that month. After the hearing, that report was filed with the court.
In November 2008, the court received another letter alleging the possible misappropriation of money from Massey’s account. The court set a hearing for Dec. 16 of that year to review the financial statement of that account.
During that hearing, a Guardian Ad Litem was appointed to represent Massey and William K. Blaschke was appointed to review past financial transactions.
On January 29, 2009, Williams was removed as guardian over the account and Blaschke was appointed to pay any expenses approved by the court.
That order stayed in place until June 2010 when Massey turned 18 years old. The guardianship was terminated and the file was closed. The amount of money Massey received from her trust was not specified. In October 2011, the file was sealed by the court.
Financial actions
According to Downing, the primary accounts established in 1994 for Massey’s trust was at Dean Whitter Reynolds, now Morgan Stanley and Edward Jones Investments.
From April 31, 1994, when it was established, to Nov. 20, 2008, $414,565 was withdrawn from the Morgan Stanley account and placed in other accounts. Around $148,000 was withdrawn from the Edward Jones account and placed in other accounts. Those accounts included a guardianship account for Massey, personal checking accounts for Williams and her husband and Williams’ bank account for her business at the time, Discount Paper Mart. The total amount withdrawn by Williams, according to Downing, totals approximately $545,000.
Downing said due to the case being involving accounting, a forensic accountant — Marion Siara of Siara Associates — was hired to review the financial records. Siara determined that of the total withdrawn, only $16,000 went to Massey.
The balance of the money went into personal checking accounts for Williams and her husband, and to her Discount Paper Mart business checking account, Massey said.
Downing’s probable cause affidavit listed numerous transactions made over a period of years. Several times, money from Massey’s trust was used to pay for vacations, car repairs, vender payments for Williams’ business and other personal expenses. On numerous occasions, Downing said, the personal checking accounts and the business accounts had negative balances and money from the trust was used to pay checks that had been returned for non-sufficent funds.
Wants to “maintain lifestyleâ€
On Feb. 28, Downing and Siara met with Williams to discuss the results of their investigation.
Williams allegedly admitted that after she had spent the money received from her husband’s death, she began taking money from Massey’s account to “maintain the lifestyle of which the family was accustomed to.â€
When asked if she knew how much money was involved, Williams allegedly said $200,000 to $250,000. Downing said she was in disbelief that is was as much as they said.
Williams said her and her daughter had made amends in regards to the money and she was attempting to pay Massey back for the money she took.
Court history
According to Downing, Williams and her husband filed bankruptcy in September 2008. At least two mortgage foreclosure lawsuits have been filed on their home on Legendary Drive. Those cases have been closed. The Williams’ have been sued several times by the school district for non-payment of school fees and there have been 34 tax warrants filed by the state against her business. Nine of those warrants are still open and have not been paid.
Copyright: Reporter-Times.com/MD-Times.com 2012
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May the bridges I burn light my way
Isolated in defiance, I will remain
May the bridges I burn light my way
I will never comply, I'll forever defy
ou'll rue the day you crossed me Trebek!"