Guardianship Fraud (Part 2 of 2)

Summary

The Knife: A True Crime Podcast — "Guardianship Fraud (Part 2 of 2)"

Hosts: Hannah Smith & Pasha Eaton
Guest: Julie Belshee
Release Date: July 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode concludes Hannah and Pasha’s two-part series investigating the real-life nightmare of guardianship fraud in Nevada, centering on Julie Belshee’s tireless fight to rescue her elderly parents, Rudy and Rennie, from the control of notorious private guardian April Parks. Through in-depth interview, the episode uncovers systemic issues in the guardianship system—including unethical legal maneuvers, overmedication, theft, and callous disregard for autonomy—while showing how family advocacy and media exposure helped bring perpetrators to justice and spur legislative reform.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. Recap & Setting the Scene

• [02:48] Recap of Part 1: Julie discovers her parents missing and learns April Parks was granted legal guardianship.
• Julie initially believes it’s a misunderstanding that can be easily resolved.

2. The Nightmare of Guardianship Begins

• [03:26] September 2013: Julie investigates her parents’ sudden relocation to an assisted living facility.
• April Parks claims permanent guardianship after an emergency, ex parte hearing—without Julie’s involvement.
• Julie’s parents, “of sound mind,” lose all legal rights.
  • “We’re seeing probably, I would say two or three attorneys a week at least, but nobody wanted to touch this case. ... Being told things like, ‘Do you have a gun?’ ... ‘Just for protection.’” — Julie Belshee [06:29]

3. Legal Dead Ends and Intimidation

• Julie is unable to secure representation, as attorneys are afraid or unwilling to take on the “monster case.”
• Even court officials seem unsympathetic, and the system appears stacked in the guardian’s favor.

4. Losing Everything: Property and Dignity

• [09:06] Julie learns her parents’ home has been cleaned out; April claims belongings are in storage “for safekeeping.”
  • “Nothing is done in these people for their best interest.” — Julie Belshee [10:07]
• Julie helps her parents compile an inventory, later crucial in exposing fraud.

5. Subdued in Court by Overmedication

• [11:52] Julie attends the guardianship hearing and finds her parents heavily sedated; their courtroom statements support April’s claims, likely unintentionally.
  • “They were over medicated. They were subdued.” — Julie Belshee [12:42]
  • “Yesterday you said you’re going to go out fighting... and now she got to them.” — Julie Belshee [13:49]

6. Escalating Health Crisis & Overmedication

• [15:25] Julie’s mother rapidly deteriorates in the facility, gaining weight and developing blood clots.
  • “She was over medicated. I came to find out they had her on fentanyl, pain medication, antipsychotic medication, anti anxiety medication, sleeping pills.” — Julie Belshee [15:59]
• Julie recounts heartbreaking calls from her mother, begging to be saved.

7. Reaching Out for Help

• [17:47, 20:05] Through advocates and with the help of the Vegas Voice (a local senior newspaper) and later TV coverage, Julie brings attention to her parents’ plight.
  • Media coverage exposes the epidemic of guardianship abuse cases in Nevada.

8. Media Exposure Sparks Action

• Public outrage and detailed inventory of her parents’ belongings disprove April Parks’ false financial filings in court.
• Increased scrutiny shifts the legal tide against April.
  • “April Parks had submitted my parents case as a summary administration... they had all their belongings, their new car... it was not under $10,000.” — Julie Belshee [22:45]

9. The Turning Point: Legal Aid, Investigations, and Indictment

• [24:18] Media, advocates, and mounting evidence lead to legal aid intervention and a criminal investigation into April Parks.
  • Julie: “We reached out to the Attorney General. They assigned two investigators to the case... [We did] a formal presentation of violations.” [24:18]
• April’s criminal indictment comes as a welcome surprise.

10. Freedom Restored

• [26:40] Julie secures letters from doctors testifying to her parents’ competence and, with mounting media/legal pressure, regains her parents’ freedom in 2015.
  • “We picked them up. It was a very hot summer day and I finally got the court order.” — Julie Belshee [28:25]
• Most possessions have been lost; some sentimental items like their wedding album and artwork are saved.

11. How Widespread Is This?

• April’s operation targeted dozens, if not hundreds; cases uncovered similar patterns nationwide.
  • “They isolate, over medicate, fleece the estate, accelerate the death, and cremate. She had 27 urns... found in a storage unit.” — Julie Belshee [35:15]
  • Discussed legislative reforms in Nevada and ‘the playbook’ of abusive guardians nationwide.

12. The Legal Reckoning

• [31:42, 40:40] In 2017, April Parks and several accomplices are indicted, charged with theft, racketeering, perjury, exploitation. Parks eventually pleads guilty and is sentenced to 16–40 years.
  • “Guardians have a duty to protect their wards, not steal from them and destroy their lives. These individuals violated their duty, and they will be punished for their crimes.” — District Attorney Steve Wilson (quoted by Hannah Smith) [41:08]
  • Julie’s father Rudy yells in court: “They’re pathetic.” [41:30]

13. Systemic Change and Lingering Questions

• New laws guarantee due process, require legal representation, and mandate searches for family guardians.
  • “Prior to this happening, it was easy for someone to be put under guardianship without even being given the option of having an attorney.” — Hannah Smith [53:52]
• Many private guardianship companies quietly close; similar reforms are needed across other states.

14. Other Victims: The Story of Adolfo

• Adolfo, another victim found at Lakeview, was imprisoned under guardianship despite being self-sufficient, targeted for his home equity and insurance.
  • He warned: “Don’t let your parents get the shot,” referring to sedative drugs. — Recapped by Pasha Eaton [44:50]
  • Julie helps secure his release by contacting his attorney.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Nothing is done in these people for their best interest.” – Julie Belshee [10:07]
• “They were over medicated. They were subdued.” – Julie Belshee [12:42]
• “Guardianship 101 is isolate over medicate, fleece the estate, accelerate the death and they cremate.” – Julie Belshee [35:15]
• “They’re pathetic.” – Rudy (Julie's father, in court) [41:30]
• “Prior to this happening, it was easy for someone to be put under guardianship without even being given the option of having an attorney.” – Hannah Smith [53:52]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:48] – Recap of part 1 & setup for this episode
• [06:29] – Julie describes searching for attorneys and being warned to “get a gun”
• [10:07] – Julie discusses property theft and dismissiveness of guardians
• [12:42] – Description of parents being overmedicated in the courtroom
• [15:59] – Julie recounts her mother’s medical decline under overmedication
• [22:45] – Divulging financial fraud regarding belongings and court filings
• [24:18] – Legal aid and criminal investigation begin
• [28:25] – Julie brings her parents home; emotional reunion
• [35:15] – Julie explains the typical pattern of exploitative guardianship fraud
• [41:30] – Rudy’s impactful courtroom outburst
• [44:50] – The story of Adolfo, another victim, comes to light
• [53:52] – Hannah details the significance of legislative reforms in Nevada

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Tone & Style

The episode is empathetic, unflinching, and deeply solution-oriented. Both hosts and Julie Belshee speak candidly yet compassionately, emphasizing the personal and systemic harms, as well as the dogged fight for change. There’s righteous anger but also inspiration in collective action.

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Conclusion & Takeaways

• Guardianship fraud is a devastating, often invisible abuse—with legal, financial, and personal costs.
• Family advocacy and journalism can bring hidden exploitation to light and drive reform.
• Nevada has passed new protections, but guardianship abuse remains a threat in other states.
• Julie Belshee’s story is both a warning and a call for vigilance, advocacy, and reform nationwide.

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Additional

• Mention of the documentary The Guardians (dir. Billy Mintz), which follows Rudy, Rennie, and Julie.
• Resources: If you have a loved one in a guardianship—or fear they might be vulnerable—it’s critical to know state laws and advocate for their rights.

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For more stories and advocacy, follow The Knife on Instagram @theknifepodcast and check out the Vegas Voice’s reporting on guardianship reform.

Transcript

[Pasha Eaton]

This is exactly right.

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[Hannah Smith]

day [e-mail] Colin this story contains adult content and language. Listener discretion is advised.

[Pasha Eaton]

The claims and opinions in this podcast are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the knife or exactly right media

[Julie Belshee]

My cell phone rings. It's my mom crying. Honey, honey, you've got to help us. You don't get me out of here.

[Pasha Eaton]

Welcome to the Knife. I'm Paisha Eaton.

[Hannah Smith]

Hi, I'm Hannah Smith. This is part two of our two part series. If you haven't heard part one yet, we recommend you stop and go listen

[Pasha Eaton]

to that first on last week's episode. Julie Belshee showed up to her parents house the Friday before Labor Day in 2013 only to find her parents were missing. After an agonizing weekend, she located them in an assisted living facility about 45 minutes away and was shocked to find out that a woman named April Parks had been granted Legal guardianship over them.

[Hannah Smith]

At first, Julie believed that there had been a misunderstanding and that she would be able to get her parents out of this unnecessary guardianship easily. She quickly realized that was not the case.

[Pasha Eaton]

Let's get into it.

[Hannah Smith]

In September of 2013, Julie was fighting to get her parents back. Her parents, Rudy and Rennie, who were in their mid-70s and of sound mind, had disappeared from their home one day without a trace. Three days later, their daughter Julie discovered they'd been relocated to an assisted living facility without their consent. A woman named April Parks claimed to have legal guardianship over both her parents. And as ridiculous as this all seemed to Julie, when she spoke with multiple attorneys, they assured her that this was legal. Her parents were, in fact, wards of April Parks, and they no longer had legal rights to make decisions about their own lives. Julie began looking for ways to get her parents out of this guardianship that she felt was completely unnecessary and was not helping her parents at all.

[Julie Belshee]

So I started doing my own research, actually, and looking at different foundations that had information of people who were taken and put into these guardianships. And they're crying out, get me out of here. Get me out of here. And I actually get very close to a couple of different advocates in the United States. So I'm looking at all of this, I'm trying to understand it and take it all in, and I start reaching out to people in different foundations and asking them questions of what I do need to do and telling them about my parents.

[Pasha Eaton]

And as this is going on, initially, your parents are told they're just going to be there for two weeks.

[Julie Belshee]

Correct.

[Pasha Eaton]

So as you're making all these phone calls to different advocacy groups or people, attorneys, people that potentially could help you understand how and why this happened and help you connect to the right attorney that could bring your parents home. How much time has passed?

[Julie Belshee]

Oh, so she had the emergency, the ex parte emergency. Temporary guardianship was already granted without me being there. That was the ex parte hearing. And so in September, she was granted permanent guardianship. It was like, September 30th, the end of September. So that's already, like a month.

[Pasha Eaton]

So it wasn't two weeks. She went on to apply for permanent guardianship of your parents.

[Julie Belshee]

Oh, yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

And she got it.

[Julie Belshee]

And she got it.

[Pasha Eaton]

Despite the fact that you were presently visiting your parents, trying to figure out how you could either take them in yourself or get their rights restored and bring them back to their own home.

[Julie Belshee]

Right.

[Pasha Eaton]

So they're taken on Labor Day in September of 2013. By the end of September. Their two week stay is now indefinite. April is granted permanent guardianship. And you're still looking for an attorney to fight all of this?

[Julie Belshee]

We're seeing probably, I would say two or three attorneys a week at least, but nobody wanted to touch this case. And I was getting comments like, this is a monster case. And, you know, like, basically being told things like, do you have a gun? I'm like, what are you talking about? You know, oh, just for protection. Just saying. And this attorney has gone on to be a judge, so, you know, just, just signs. Because I have all of these papers from both hearings. I am still trying to piece it together. I'm getting information from other advocates.

[Hannah Smith]

This was an incredibly stressful time for Julie. She had spoken with multiple attorneys and none of them wanted to take the case. Julie had a hard understanding why it was so complicated. If her parents were placed into this guardianship because they were deemed to be mentally or physically unfit to care for themselves, couldn't all of this be easily cleared up by a doctor's assessment that showed that they were actually fully capable of living on their own? And even if there was a reason why the court thought that maybe Rudy and Rennie should have a guardian, wouldn't it make more sense for their daughter, who lives in the same town as them and is very close with them, to step into that role and not a stranger named April Parks? But Julie quickly realized that none of this was going to be easy to clear up and that April Parks knew her way around the court system and she had no intention of giving up this guardianship. Julie, on the other hand, showed up to each court date and fumbled her way through things since she could not find an attorney to help her.

[Julie Belshee]

Finally, the hearing master, he had kept telling me that you have to, you know, have an attorney, have to have an attorney. I am looking for, you know, an attorney, but my parents, they need their rights restored. I wanted them to have a doctor medically examined them, A neurologist, a psychiatrist, a forensic psychiatrist. Anybody come in and help me, because my parents are not incompetent. And so the hearing master had assigned a legal aid to us, but prior to that, we didn't have an attorney. Prior to that, I was going in and fighting for it myself as best as I could.

[Hannah Smith]

In the midst of all of this, trying to navigate the court system, driving 45 minutes to visit her parents as often as she could, Julie got a call. Her parents home had been completely cleaned out.

[Julie Belshee]

I told Doug, their landlord, and he said, could you keep an eye on it you know the house and let me know what's going on. And you know when you see any kind of move, people moving their furniture out or what have you. And so he told me, Julie, there's like 3ft trash bags on their driveway.

[Hannah Smith]

And had you ever asked Doug to let you into their house before this?

[Julie Belshee]

I did.

[Hannah Smith]

And what did he say?

[Julie Belshee]

And then he did. And their stuff?

[Hannah Smith]

He did?

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah, he did. Their stuff was already gone.

[Hannah Smith]

Really?

[Julie Belshee]

Everything was already removed? It was within probably the first month. Their furniture, everything was gone.

[Pasha Eaton]

Where had it been taken? I mean, were you in contact with April Parks? Were you like, April, where are all of their things? Like, were those conversations between you and April happening?

[Julie Belshee]

Oh, yeah, I was in constant contact with her and I had already met her.

[Pasha Eaton]

What did she say when you said, where are all of their belongings and why did you take them?

[Julie Belshee]

Well, she said that they are in the storage for safe keeping and it's just keeping them safe and it's all done in their best interest. And if you talk to anybody that's gone through this, that's the one thing we hate. They're telling you they're doing it in their best interest. Nothing is done in these people for their best interest.

[Hannah Smith]

So she says their stuff is in a storage facility. It's all being kept there.

[Julie Belshee]

Right.

[Hannah Smith]

In response to her parents home being cleaned out, Julie made a decision that would end up being very helpful to her later. During one of her visits, she, Rudi and Rennie sat down and compiled a list, to the best of their memories, of everything that had been in their house, including a car they had recently purchased. And Julie was clear with us during the interview that this wasn't about her parents stuff or about their money. It was the principle of the matter. How could this stranger swoop into their lives, relocate them, and then take all of their belongings, everything they owned and had collected over the course of their lives, and then lock it all away in a facility that they didn't have access to. Even though Julie had been told that all of her parents stuff was fine, it was all just in storage, she didn't trust that because she did not trust April Parks. In fact, Julie recalled the court hearing. This was before she had an attorney. She showed up to this court date and it was supposed to be to determine if April Parks would be granted permanent guardianship over her parents. This is one of the first times that Julie realized that something truly sinister was going on. She attended that court hearing and she tried to fight April Parks for guardianship.

[Julie Belshee]

The first motion I filed. I didn't really know what I was doing at all. You know, here I am, she's getting permanent guardianship. I go up and I'm standing at the table opposite of where my parents are. And April Parks has her hands around my mother and, like, her armor, and my dad, like, they're her parents. And I had to fight for them to be there. They weren't going to even let them be there at their own permanent guardianship hearing. And the day before, my father said, don't be surprised if they hold me in contempt of Fart because she's not taking us permanently. And I'm like, okay.

[Hannah Smith]

Did they let your parents speak at that hearing?

[Julie Belshee]

Yes, they did. But when they came in, I looked at them and I'm like, oh, my God. Like, they got to them. They weren't there.

[Hannah Smith]

What do you mean when you say they weren't there?

[Julie Belshee]

They were over medicated. They were subdued.

[Hannah Smith]

Julie had seen her parents the day before. She knew they were unhappy and consistently distressed about their situation. They wanted to go home. They were looking forward to the court hearing, actually. They planned on explaining everything to the judge and insisting that their rights be restored. So Julie was shocked that day in court. Her parents were so drugged, she barely recognized them. And I want to note that a guardian is able to make personal and medical decisions for those under their guardianship. This means that Julie's parents, Rudy and Rennie, had no legal ability to refuse any medication that April Parks gave them. So it would follow that they were only given that much medication that day for the court hearing because April Parks had approved it, potentially even ordered it. And the result, when they were finally given their chance to speak in court, it didn't make a lot of sense and likely only confirmed April's story that they were not of sound mind.

[Julie Belshee]

My father said the most important thing to me here on Earth is my wife in her care. We want to make sure she's okay. And anything that we ask April park for, she has gotten us. And I'm, like, looking at him like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Like, okay, so you have to respect the decorum. Decorum. I'm standing there looking at all this like, dad, wait a second. Yesterday you said, you're going to go out fighting and you're going to tell them, I want to go home. And now she got to them like, it was a different scenario entirely.

[Pasha Eaton]

It's tricky, though, because you can understand how or at least, you know, obviously there's a lot of layers to this that we'll get into, including judges and all of that. But you know, if you hear someone from their own mouth say, she's taking great care of us, this is where we want to be, then that seems like, okay, maybe I can wrap my head around why we're doing this. Not knowing everything, but okay. So April gets permanent guardianship at that hearing. Jumping back ahead. So you're still fighting this because you're sensing that something is very wrong. Their belongings have been taken. They're all of a sudden on a lot of medications they weren't on before. Their behavior has changed. They don't seem like they're being well cared for physically. When does the real sort of fight for their freedom happen?

[Julie Belshee]

It was the beginning of 2014. The real shift starts happening. My mom is in and out of the hospital with blood clots. Her health is deteriorating rapidly. She gained 60 pounds. She was 185 pounds in there. She's 5ft 1. She would say she's like 5ft tall. And she's tiny. She was always tiny. So she could like barely, you know, open her eyes.

[Hannah Smith]

What do you attribute to that weight gain?

[Julie Belshee]

She was over medicated. I came to find out they had her on fentanyl. They had my mother on pain medication. They had my mom on antipsychotic medication. They had her on anti anxiety medication. They had my mom on sleeping pills.

[Hannah Smith]

And this is a woman who has fought cancer and has had this very tenuous health situation and they're suddenly just putting her on all these different medications. Of course there's going to be issues.

[Julie Belshee]

Oh, she did not know where she

[Hannah Smith]

was mentally, but also just physically, like physically putting someone like that on all those medications, is that what was causing the blood clots?

[Julie Belshee]

Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure. I took her to the bathroom. I remember one time tapped her when I was visiting. You know, I'm like, oh, mom, I'll help you. And so I took her in. I noticed like her leg, her ankles, her socks were like so tight on her. Her legs were huge. I was like, mom, like what are they doing? She's like, oh, I don't know. Like she didn't want me to worry. And she knew, she goes, but my legs really hurt, honey. You know, they really hurt, you know, and you know, you gotta get us out of here. Like she's calmy crying, you know, you gotta get us out of here. After the hearing that my dad says, you know, as long as my wife's okay. Yeah, we perceive, we go to a football game, we're Eating dinner with our friends. We're at an Italian place. The phone, my cell phone rings. I jump out of the restaurant. It's my mom crying, honey, honey, you've got to help us, you know, get me out of here.

[Hannah Smith]

Ugh, heartbreaking. So take us to 2014 when things start to turn around. So your mom is in and out of the hospital.

[Julie Belshee]

So, yeah, I just, I just do it desperately. We need to get them out of here this time. I'm looking on the Internet and I reached out to a gentleman here in town, Steve Miller. He wrote about guardianship years and years and years ago. And I'm like, I need help. Like I don't know what I'm doing. I need help. I want to get my mom and dad out. They were taken by a private guardian and so he put me in touch with people at the Vegas Voice.

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[Hannah Smith]

Desperate for help and worried that the court do nothing to help Rudy and Rennie Julie decided to turn to the press. Maybe if she made enough noise, she could change something.

[Julie Belshee]

Ronna Goodman and Dan Roberts who own have the Vegas Voice. It's a small senior newspaper here In Las Vegas, my husband and I meet with them and we're like telling them that they need to come and meet my mom and dad. I want them to write a story, do something, because I need help. I think if, maybe if I go public, an attorney will help me. So they came out. We met them at a casino near the Sister Living facility. And they came to meet my mom and dad. And they fell in love with my parents. And they were like, oh my God, Brianna says, your father, you know, he speaks so eloquently. What are they doing in there? So they did a story. So that helped tremendously. And from there, Darcy Spears on channel 13, she had picked up and she asked me if I would do an interview. And she did a story.

[Hannah Smith]

The story ran in the Vegas Voice and it outraged people. It was a real life horror story. American citizens who'd worked their whole lives and just wanted to enjoy their retirement had their rights stripped away and were being held against their will. And somehow all of it was legal. This article led to more articles and more outlets covering the issue. There was a Channel 13 investigation that revealed that this was not a singular unusual mistake. What happened to Rudy and Rennie was happening to others in the state of Nevada as well. It was starting to look like the work of some corrupt guardians.

[Investigative Reporter]

We're talking about adult guardianship cases in Clark County Family Court when a person can no longer take care of him or herself, and when there' no family to step in to help, the court can assign an outsider to do the job. We found little to no oversight of those outsiders, private professional guardians who gain absolute access and power over their clients. With the court rubber stamping nearly everything the guardian asks for. Families trying to speak out and trying to care for loved ones are devastated as the court casts them aside.

[Hannah Smith]

Julie connected with other people whose family members had also been stolen away from them, locked away in facilities without their consent. After fighting for her parents freedom for over a year, this exposure in the press finally gave her hope that something would be done. And it turns out that list that Julie made, the inventory of all of her parents possessions that had been taken from their home, ended up being very useful in her legal case.

[Julie Belshee]

So legal aid did pick up and help us. The turning point in my parents case was a combination of things. It was the media, it was also the inventory. It was very crucial because April Parks had submitted my parents case as a summary administration, which meant that they had $10,000 or less to their name. They had two bank accounts, had all their belongings, their new car And I don't know the exact amount of everything, but it was not under $10,000. So being that the reporters were in the courtroom and that was exposed, that's when the hearing master. The tables were turned on her. Basically, it was now time for her to prove that she was fit, serve as their guardian. And I thought when he started to speak in the courtroom that it was me, me, you know, like, he's going to ask me for more information because it's the family member, you know, isn't fit enough and they cannot be their guardian.

[Pasha Eaton]

Okay. And so now all eyes are on April Parks because she has submitted financial findings for your parents that are inaccurate.

[Julie Belshee]

Correct. It's called a summary administration.

[Pasha Eaton]

Okay. And now the media is picking up the story locally, and so there's even more scrutiny. So how does this then play out once she's under the spotlight? She's clearly not gonna want.

[Julie Belshee]

Just to kind of summarize it, you know? Yeah. So during all of this, with the help of the media locally, but then it also. I'm starting to get emails from national reporters. I'm starting to get asked if I want to do a documentary. And at the same time, I'm now becoming more vocal. I'm meeting up with people who are victims. They're the family members. Their parents are taken by April Parks. Because I had posted something on social media of my mom and dad. We were taken. We were put in a car. So everything's playing out together. Legally, there's about three or four of the wards. I hate that term. But the elderly person, our parents, that were now taken by April Parks. And I've already met with the district attorney, Steve Wilson, twice. He's told me that you have enough evidence. You have to go to the lvmpd. You have to call APS and told me, you know, what I needed to do, how I needed to do it. The guardianship compliance officer helped me. We reached out to the Attorney General. They assigned two investigators to the case. They had four of us go in the family members and do, like, a formal presentation of what we felt the violations were, how April Parks was violating her wards. So a combination of all of that came together. We didn't know there was a criminal investigation going on. I had no idea that a grand jury had indicted her until I got a call from the foreman of the jury. He was legally allowed to, you know, say, hey, Julie, you know, I can't believe this. You know, what your parents had to go through.

[Hannah Smith]

There was an ongoing criminal investigation into April Parks that Julie had been unaware of it would still be over a year until a grand jury indictment. But it was good to know that something was being done to try to stop April. But Julie couldn't wait for the criminal proceedings to try to get her parents out. She could see their health declining the longer they stayed at Lakeview Assisted Living Facility. And then finally, Julie was able to get her parents released from the guardianship.

[Julie Belshee]

How? I got my dad and mom out. I ended up going to visit my dad and mom, and I took my father to his old interness. And I told her, you know, and she said, oh, where's Rudy been? Acting like she didn't know. I had a feeling she did. You need to go to the inquiry, you need to go to the FBI. You need to go here or there. You know, you play along with these people. But all in all, when it came down to it, I told her, I said, I need a letter that he's confident and that he can handle his life again. I'm trying to get my parents rights restored. He's been taken and I accept. Explain this horrible guardianship. She wrote the letter. I submitted that letter. We also got a forensic psychiatrist, did an evaluation on both of my parents and deemed that they were competent. I think with the help of the media being there, the documentary being there, the laws being changed, people started speaking just with everything, like coming together, not only for my parents, but for, you're talking, hundreds of people, if not thousands here in Nevada were helped by the media in having them present and by all these different advocates coming and exposing what was going on here and the government actually doing something. I mean, the attorney general was cooperating with the district attorney and the sheriff's office, and that's how they came down with the grand jury indictment.

[Pasha Eaton]

When did you get your parents back and where did they go?

[Julie Belshee]

We had them back in 2015. They came to my house, we picked them up. It was a very hot summer day and I finally got the court order saying I could bring my mom and dad home and their rights were restored. I was not their guardian and we took them home and I was thrilled.

[Hannah Smith]

Were you able to get your parents items back?

[Julie Belshee]

We were able to get a couple of their items back.

[Hannah Smith]

Just a couple?

[Julie Belshee]

A couple. But we were able to actually keep the majority of their artwork. The most important thing for me was their wedding album and a picture of my sister and brother that was done by a Disney artist because they're no longer with us. So that was important to me.

[Hannah Smith]

What ended up happening to the rest of their stuff. I'm just curious, like what April did with it.

[Julie Belshee]

What I was told by the investigators is that a lot of times the private guardians or public guardians, they put it in for auction.

[Hannah Smith]

So April had just taken that money?

[Julie Belshee]

Oh, yeah. In my parents case, it's interesting because they didn't really have that much money when they were taken. They have had a lot of money in their lifetime. But in these other cases, these people, she was taking their homes and selling them for pennies on the dollar and keeping that money. She was leaving their cat in the house for three months and saying to the people, your cat's okay.

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[Hannah Smith]

they remain active on the Boost 24 Unlimited plan. In 2017, a grand jury indicted April Parks along with three others, alleging they exploited over 130 victims, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were all arrested in March of 2017. The indictment is massive. 270 pages detailing the scheme April Parks was running, along with her office manager, Mark Simmons, her husband Gary Neal Taylor, and an attorney, Noel Palmer Simpson. They were all charged with theft and racketeering, among other charges. From what I can tell, this is how April Parks ran her operation and got away with it. Until, of course, she didn't. She owned a company called a private Professional Guardian llc. She was appointed by the court to serve elderly wards. I want to note quickly that later in Nevada, there was a movement to change the word from a ward of the state to a protected person of the state. But in 2017 on the indictment, people under April Parks guardianship were called wards. April Parks had between three and seven employees at her guardianship company at various times. April Parks and her office manager, Mark Simmons, were both accused of theft through fraudulent billing. They were in charge of managing their ward's assets and they exploited this by overcharging and over filing for their services. And they also charged for things that never occurred, such as shopping trips and visits to living facilities. The indictment accuses both April Parks and Mark Simmons of engaging in this fraudulent activity, as well as instructing employees to do the same. April also worked with an attorney, Noelle Palmer Simpson. And on at least one occasion, April is accused of having Simpson change the life insurance policy of one of her wards to reflect April as the beneficiary. She was also charged with a false billing scheme in which she applied to have her ward's Social Security benefits sent directly to her. There are so many examples in the indictment of money that April and her co defendants stole from people under her guardianship. Too many to list here. Most of the amounts they're accused of stealing are between $1,000 and $10,000, although one person is listed as having had over $150,000 stolen from him. But what I want to point out is that the amounts listed in the indictment are not necessarily representative of how much was actually taken. It's just what could be proven in court. For instance, Julie's parents, Rudy and Rennie, they are also mentioned in the indictment. They are listed as having lost about $3,000 collectively to April Parks. But we know from speaking with Julie that they lost so much more than that. They never got the majority of their belongings sent back to them. They lost access to their rental home, and they lost about two years of their lives to being trapped in an assisted living facility against their will. This doesn't even include the lasting health implications of being over medicated and poorly cared for. And this type of fraud is not isolated to Nevada.

[Julie Belshee]

So basically, April Parks, you know, she's a low bearing fruit here and she's a private guardian. So this is all over The United States, they have a playbook. So what they are doing in general, the ones that are corrupt, they are isolating, they're overmedicating, they defame the family in court. By the time you get your loved one home, they're Stockholm syndrome. If they can talk, if they haven't had a stroke or they're not a vegetable, they're very rarely returned as whole as when they went in. If they've spent years in a guardianship, the average guardianship is six years and people do not make it out alive. So I have a saying. Guardianship 101 is isolate over Medicaid, fleece the estate, they accelerate the death and they cremate. She had 27 urns that were found in a storage unit. So you asked me at one point if I had spoken with April Parks in my communication with her and I did. And I was very professional with all of these people because I had to for my parents. I kept my eyes on my mom and dad. Getting them home was the most important thing. I spoke to so many people all over the United States. I just kept hearing my dad's voice. Let me go to the top, go to the top. I just was like, I've got to get them out of there. And not only just them, I was looking at per wards, you know, these people have less rates than a prisoner. And this is for real.

[Hannah Smith]

And they never signed a document. I think that's what gets me is like, it's not even like someone came into your parents home as a guise of a caretaker and tricked them into signing over their estate. Like your parents never signed anything for this to happen to them.

[Julie Belshee]

Never nothing. They were never notified. You're supposed to be notified. So, you know, we have passed some legislation here now that they have to notify family members. That's one lie. They have to have 30 days to respond that everybody that is going to be a potential ward for these guardians now they have to be assigned a attorney. Now they have one system that they work, not two different systems for accounting. There's one system for the courts because she was defrauding the court system by using a different system like having cooking the books, two sets of books.

[Pasha Eaton]

It's very scary that this was able to happen without them having to consent to it happening. For me, one of the additional, like very striking things about this case and others like it is that you have a family member saying, wait a minute, we can help, we can step in, they can come to us. And when we think about whether it's with the elderly or in the foster care system with children. I've heard so much about, like, next of kin or if there's a family member available. And so to hear that you were there, like, waving your arms like, I'm here. I want my parents. And they were just moving forward with granting permanent guardianship and, you know, just steamrolling you, that is like a nightmare.

[Julie Belshee]

Absolutely. A nightmare. So they create a false narrative, and they said I was a drug addict.

[Hannah Smith]

April Parks created that narrative.

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah, she said that, you know, I had a drug dependency of my own, and meanwhile, all your constitutional rights and your civil rights, that we love our country, and I never knew this about it. So this really took the wind out of my sail. I have cases of disabled children. You talk about heartache kids, your babies, you know, and these are good parents. So we have a systemic problem, but it's intentional because they're making money. And if they keep these cases going, the more money they're making.

[Hannah Smith]

You kind of explained April's scheme and what she was doing. Did you learn anything about her personally, just, like what she was doing before she got involved with this, Anything about her as a person?

[Julie Belshee]

I did. I learned that she was married four or five times. She had three children, or she has three children, and her two sons were working and helping her. One of them was helping her in the business. I learned not so many good things that I liked about her. I don't understand like a human being that would resort to stealing and killing people for a living and honestly genuinely think they have done nothing wrong. Her whole team thought that. Mark Simmons the same thing at his probation hearings. We spoke up, my husband and I, and he said, they asked him, they said, you're here for somebody because you did commit a crime, and do you have anything to say about that? What do you have to say about that? And he said, that's a hard one. I really didn't, you know, and that was it. He didn't say, like, I committed a crime.

[Hannah Smith]

In 2018, April Parks pleaded guilty to three counts of exploitation, two counts of theft, and one count of perjury. Her co defendants also entered guilty pleas. District attorney Steve Wilson later made a statement saying, quote, guardians have a duty to protect their wards, not steal from them and destroy their lives. These individuals violated their duty, and they will be punished for their crimes. Julie's dad, Rudy, was also present in the court that day. After the guilty pleas, he yelled out, they're pathetic. And then he added to the court, I want you to put that in. They're pathetic. He finally had his chance to speak his mind about April Parks in court. In January of 2019, there was a sentencing hearing. Victims were able to provide impact statements talking about what they endured under April's care. Some called it a prison. April Parks spoke that day claiming that her heart was in the right place and she didn't mean to cause harm. But Judge Tierra Jones responded to her by saying, you told us you never meant any harm. But after hearing these stories of people scotch taping their shoes, people being charged for Christmas gifts and nothing to eat, how is that not harm? April Parks was sentenced 16 to 40 years in prison. Her former office manager, Mark Simmons, was sentenced seven to 18 years, and her husband, Gary Neal Taylor, was sentenced two to five years. Attorney Noel Palmer Simpson was disbarred in the state of Nevada. And then your dad's doctor, that's the internist that you said, you later ended up being able to bring your dad back. And that doctor, you sort of confronted them. And they did agree to write another document that said your dad was of sound mind. Did anything ever happen to that internist? Like, did they face any consequences for writing that initial doctor?

[Julie Belshee]

I just put it like this for you. She's no longer practicing.

[Hannah Smith]

Okay. You can't say anything else.

[Julie Belshee]

Legally, she's no longer practicing. That's about it. Yeah. April Parks and Mark Simmons were partner and the husband went to jail. And Noel Palmer Simpson, the attorney, was disbarred and she went home to Utah to take care of her mother.

[Hannah Smith]

Okay.

[Julie Belshee]

She was the one who was stealing the estates from people and, you know, taking millions of dollars, but she got to go home, you know.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

April certainly wasn't working alone.

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah. Oh, no.

[Pasha Eaton]

So obviously there's so much to talk about with this story.

[Hannah Smith]

I mean, I had just never heard anything like this before. And Julie did such a good job telling the story.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. I love stories like this because even though it is this nightmare, you have this person talking about it who her story with this is so far from over because she's still fighting for change within, you know, court appointed guardians because this impacted her life in such a big way. And her parents, of course. One thing we didn't close the loop on in the interview just because of time or in the episode. Was Adolfo.

[Hannah Smith]

Right. He was the guy that they. It was like a horror scene kind of where they go into this assisted living facility. She's looking for her parents, and this man stops her in the hallway and says, help me, help me, April Parks.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah, he Grabs her arm as she's walking to her parents room and it's like, help me. And she said, you know, she was so just frantic trying to find her parents in that moment that she was like, I can come back, but I have to just go find my parents. So she did go back and develop a friendship with Adolfo. But essentially what Julie came to understand about Adolfo's situation was that it was very similar to her parents. So she got to know him. She noticed that he wasn't medicated at all. He was able to take care of himself just like in her parents situation. She could not make sense of why he was there.

[Hannah Smith]

Wow.

[Pasha Eaton]

Like, why did he need a court appointed guardian? Why did he need to be in assisted living? Adolfo, you know, immediately warned Julie upon, like, I think it was on her first visit to Lakeview that he said, don't let your parents get the shot. Which was like a medication that April Parks was that he said that she was giving him that. I think she also did try to give Julie's parents, but essentially it was like a sedative. Oh my gosh. And he was, you know, adamant, like just so afraid. And Adolfo was a self sufficient person until his autonomy was taken away from him. He had a long career actually at the MGM grand in Las Vegas where he was a maitre d. And coincidentally he worked with Julie's grandparents. So not her parents, but her grandparents.

[Hannah Smith]

Wow.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. So that was just like a small world type of thing that had nothing to do with the story, but I thought it was interesting. But he then became good friends with Julie's parents while they were both in this terrible situation at Lakeview. And they had a lot of meals together. And Julie and her husband, when they would visit her parents, would visit Adolfo, he is from Spain and he loved like nice coffee and cookies and they would like bring him things that made him feel more like himself and he just really appreciated that. So they built this bond. Julie couldn't recall exactly how Adolfo came to Lakeview, but it was something similar to her parents situation where he had a caretaker that was maybe in communication with April Parks in some way. But she did say that she believes that Adolfo was targeted for two reasons, which was one, that he had a paid off house and two, that he had really good insurance. So two things that if you're trying to commit fraud, you're seeing dollar signs like, I can take advantage of this person's home, I can utilize all these insurance benefits they have to my advantage. And you know, April was charging many of her people that she had guardianship over for just ridiculous things. And Adolfo was no exception. He said that he would ask for money, like, his own money to spend.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

And she would then charge him, like, the same amount of money just to give him in fees, to give him his money. She would charge him $100 a week for her sons to go take out the trash at his house that he wasn't able to live at, where, you know, supposedly no one's living there. Right. So why is the trash need to go out every week? Like, what's really going on there? Charged him for everything to open his mail. Just egregious charges, too. Like, we're not talking, like, five bucks because I went through your mill. We're talking 50, $100 for just stupid things.

[Hannah Smith]

It's just so blatant. She's just stealing so much money and

[Pasha Eaton]

really, like, keeping these people as prisoners.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. I mean, it's just awful. And drugging them.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. And this guy had a long career there. He saved his money. He was well prepared for this chapter of his life, and she took so much from him. How he ended up getting out was he did have an attorney. And once Julie figured out what was going on and got her own attorn, he was unable to reach his attorney.

[Hannah Smith]

Adolfo was.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yes, Adolfo was unable to reach his own attorney, which I don't know. We haven't spoken with the attorney, but I suspect, just from what we know about this case, that April Parks was painting a picture of Adolfo to these people that maybe could potentially stand between her and Adolfo's resources. Like, he's not well. If you need anything, come to me. So once Julie gets ahold of his attorney's information, she gets ahold of his attorney, and she's like, here's what's really going on. Once that attorney found out, he immediately was able to get Adolfo out of Lakeview and back into his home. But once Adolfo went home, it was so similar. They had taken almost everything from his home. He had had a boat in the driveway. They took the motor and sold it. He had art, he had furniture. It was gone.

[Hannah Smith]

Did he get any of that back?

[Pasha Eaton]

I don't think he got any of it back. He had some belongings left, but, I mean, it was dismal. He had lived in that house a really long time, and he's an older person who's accumulated belongings that were important to him and meaningful from different chapters of his life.

[Hannah Smith]

So sad.

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

It was devastating. And Julie was just so distraught that he had been in the same situation with no one there advocating for him.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. I'm glad he was finally able to go back to his house.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah.

[Hannah Smith]

And that they didn't sell his house, because we did hear about that happening to some other people where their house was sold when they were under April Parks guardianship. So then they wouldn't have a home to go back to.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. And in one of the indictments, it essentially said that investigators alleged that Parks and Simmons charged Adolfo's estate for services that were exaggerated, unnecessary, or never actually performed. You know, fees for, like, taking him shopping to get basic needs. Like, I assume there is some reasonable fee that can be charged in these situations, but when you're talking about a person living off of a fixed income that should be so heavily regulated and overseen so that these things don't happen, because you could easily deplete someone of their entire savings.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

And I think she would have happily done that if she had not been caught.

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

I mean, these charges were for things like visiting him, taking him on shopping trips, handling banking matters, gardening. Yeah. Prosecutors claimed that approximately $1,500 was taken from his estate through these billing practices. So, like, that's not that much, but that's what they were able to, like, find.

[Hannah Smith]

Right.

[Pasha Eaton]

And then there were so many things missing from his house that he was not able to, of course, like, prove. The grand jury indictment included charges of exploitation related to Adolfo and exploitations of his estate theft. Allegations of. It also helped build this larger picture of a criminal case where multiple people were involved because it was April Parks and Mark Simmons.

[Hannah Smith]

Right.

[Pasha Eaton]

So, yeah, he was ultimately a part of the bigger case brought against April Parks. And without Julie contacting his lawyer, I think he would have been there a lot longer.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah, for sure.

[Pasha Eaton]

Because she was. She got on the phone, she was like, no, no, no, something is wrong.

[Hannah Smith]

I have to. And I don't know, but I have to question what was going on with that attorney.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. I mean, someone's trying to call you and you're not taking their calls.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. And this was such a big scheme that there were all these different people involved. Right. And obviously some people didn't know what was going on. April Parks was really good at navigating the court system, so maybe the judges, maybe people in the courtroom didn't know, really know what was happening. But I do think that there were a lot of people that knew what was going on, including some attorneys who were helping. Everyone was scratching each other's backs. I Mean, we never heard about what happened with Rudy North's doctor, who signed that form and said that he was not mentally fit to take care of himself when he clearly was.

[Pasha Eaton]

And isn't he the one who went to the house?

[Hannah Smith]

The doctor? I think it was a woman. Yeah. She went to the house, but she

[Pasha Eaton]

went with her husband, I think.

[Hannah Smith]

Right. Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

They both went, looked at all of

[Hannah Smith]

their art and were sort of, like, creepy, you know, assessing what kind of stuff they had scouting.

[Pasha Eaton]

They were shopping.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I don't think that doctor ever got charged with anything that we could find, but there's no way that she didn't know what was going on in some way. And so I think there were a lot of people in on this scheme.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah.

[Hannah Smith]

And looking at that indictment, it's clear that the amount of money, as you said, listed for each of those people there were so many victims listed, is really a fraction of the amount of money that was taken from them.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. Look, if you're committing fraud, how good of records are you keeping?

[Hannah Smith]

Right.

[Pasha Eaton]

Like, you're probably getting more money out for Adolfo and then just taking it.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. So there is a documentary. I have not watched it, but it stars Rudy and Rennie north and Julie Belshee. It's called the Guardians. It was directed by Billy Mintz, and you can watch it on YouTub. And in the interview, Julie talked about taking her story to the Vegas Voice. And from what I can tell, the Vegas Voice did the story on Julie's parents and on guardianship, and they ended up continuing to do a lot more reporting on guardianship laws in Nevada and specifically how things were happening in Las Vegas. Raina Goodman sort of became known as the Guardian Gladiator because she was so enraged by this and really took this upon herself and became an advocate. And the Village Voice is really credited for helping change some of the laws in Nevada.

[Pasha Eaton]

That's Great.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. In 2017, Nevada enacted the Guardianship Bill of Rights, which explicitly recognizes that people under guardianship retain fundamental rights whenever possible. So there's just a lot that they put into place to try to protect people from being exploited. So courts are now required to consider the least restrictive options and preserve as much autonomy as possible. Prior to this happening, it was easy for someone to be put under guardianship without given the option of having an attorney or being present even in the courtroom to decide their own fate. And now you have to offer them an attorney. They need to be able to be given the chance to be in court, speak for themselves or have an attorney represent them before they. Their rights are taken away.

[Pasha Eaton]

It's like, that's great. And it's shocking that that wasn't always the case.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah, shocking.

[Pasha Eaton]

I mean, think about working your entire life to retire, and maybe you have money to leave to your children that you've probably also, you know, worked hard with that in mind. Then someone like April Parks just comes in and takes it.

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[Hannah Smith]

And is able to do it without you ever even knowing, without your family members ever being told. I mean, that was a huge deal, too. That's now changed. The courts must look for family members.

[Pasha Eaton]

Good.

[Hannah Smith]

And family members must be given an option to first step in and become guardians. If someone does need a guardianship, which does happen. Right. There are situations where someone needs to be under a guardianship for their own safety or care. But it's such a tricky decision to make. So it sounds like Nevada has made a lot of changes to try to make sure that someone like April Parks can't go in and just, like, scoop up all these people and put them basically in prison and take all their resources.

[Pasha Eaton]

Yeah. I mean, even to think of, like, Julie and the situation and the fear not knowing where her parents were, and to think of Julie in a courtroom being like, I'm right here. I can take my parents. I'm right here. I live close by them. I go over there often. And April just being like, no, yeah, it's gonna be me, this complete stranger to them.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. And I don't know if there still are private guardianships in Nevada, but one of the things the Vegas Voice reported on was that when all of these laws started changing, all these private guardianship companies just sort of quietly closed down.

[Pasha Eaton]

Oh. Like, maybe they weren't doing the right thing.

[Hannah Smith]

It's just. I mean, I don't know if they were created because there weren't enough public guardianship programs, but a private guardianship is just sort of like, what are you talking about? Like, what kind of oversight is happening here? It just. It feels like, you know, ripe for fraud. And it was. So, anyway, good changes have been happening in Nevada, but that's not necessarily, like, nationwide. So some of the laws are different state to state. So something to look into.

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

If you have elderly parents. And maybe it's worth looking into the laws where they live and informing yourself. I feel like if Julie had known, she would have had a different level of watch on her parents. I mean, and she was a very involved daughter.

[Hannah Smith]

Yes. Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

And that happened even to her.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. Both of her parents have passed away. At this point. But Julie is still really involved in the community and people that she's met who also went through similar things as she did. People reach out to her who are dealing with that currently in different places. And she's a real advocate in trying to spread the word that this is happening to try to protect protect people's rights.

[Julie Belshee]

Yeah.

[Pasha Eaton]

Big fans of Julie.

[Hannah Smith]

Yeah. Well, that was our episode for today. Those are two episodes that was our miniseries.

[Pasha Eaton]

Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week. If you have a story for us, we would love to hear it. Our email is the knifexactlyrightmedia.com or you can follow us on Instagram Henife Podcast or bluesky at the Knife Podcast.

[Hannah Smith]

This has been an exactly right production. Hosted and produced by me, Hannah Smith

[Pasha Eaton]

and me, Pasha Eaton. Our producers are Tom Breyfogle and Alexa Samarosi.

[Hannah Smith]

This episode was mixed by Tom Breyfogel.

[Pasha Eaton]

Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain.

[Hannah Smith]

Our theme music is by Birds in the Airport.

[Pasha Eaton]

Artwork by Vanessa Lilac.

[Hannah Smith]

Executive produced by Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Kramer.

[Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador]

When Kohler, global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, asked me to be their ambassador for timeless, elegant, durable cast iron, I said, I'm in. Soon after, I was in their Kohler Wisconsin foundry watching molten iron poured, enamel applied by hand, and the beautiful finished pieces ready to ship. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron has been crafted by incredible artisans, and seeing it firsthand gave me a whole new appreciation for their craftsmanship. Now I'm proud to lend my stamp of approval to my favorite Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and enduring style. Shop my curated [e-mail] as the Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador, I say long live cast iron.

[Pasha Eaton]

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