3 Court-Appointed Guardians Stole $1M From Elderly: Delco DA

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Three Delaware County residents have been accused of stealing more than $1 million from 108 elderly victims in six Philadelphia-area counties during their roles as court appointed guardians for incapacitated people, according to Delaware County authorities.

Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland announced the arrests of Gloria Byars, 58, Carolyn Collins, 70, and Keith Collins, 59.

The trio have been arrested and charged in an embezzlement scheme that involved stealing more than $1 million from over 100 victims.

Byars, Carolyn Collins, and Keith Collins were court appointed guardians for incapacitated people and are accused of using a shell company and a local church to launder the stolen money

Byars, of Aldan, and Carolyn and Keith Collins, a married couple from Ridley Park, are charged with multiple counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, theft by receiving stolen property, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and conspiracy.

All of their victims were over 60 years old.

Byars has been charged with 90 counts of each of the crimes listed above, which are first-degree felonies.

Keith and Carolyn Collins have been charged with 18 counts of each of the object offenses, which are a combination of third degree felonies and first degree misdemeanors.

In February 2017, Delaware County detectives met with a court appointed guardian for a 94-year-old victim who was incapacitated and lived in a nursing home. A guardian is appointed by the court to manage life decisions, including health, safety, and welfare of an incapacitated person. The court appointed guardian of the 94-year old victim had been newly appointed by the Orphan’s Court of Delaware County following a complaint by the nursing home that they were not receiving payments due to the nursing home, according to the DA's office.

Investigation revealed that the original court appointed guardian for the 94-year-old victim was Pinnacle Guardian, a corporation whose managing partners are Keith and Carolyn Collins.

At an Orphan’s Court hearing in February 2017, Pinnacle Guardian was removed by the court as the guardian of the 94-year-old victim and was also removed from all other guardianship cases they supervised, the DA's office said. Keith and Carolyn Collins were ordered to provide an accounting of all their cases, and new guardians were appointed.

Delco financial analysts reviewed the financial records of the 25 incapacitated people who Pinnacle Guardian was appointed to represent.

Of these 25 individuals, the financial records of 18 people showed numerous improper cash withdrawals and checks, the DA's office said. These withdrawals included cash withdrawals from financial institutions and checks written out to a Pinnacle staff member and to an attorney for Pinnacle, according to the DA's office. The checks were written by Carolyn Collins and were drawn on the bank account of the 94-year-old victim without the required prior permission given by the Orphan’s Court, the DA's office said.

In total, approximately $33,256.38 was improperly withdrawn from the 94-year-old victim’s account between December 2015 and June 2017, the DA's office said.

A financial forensic analysis of 65 different financial accounts of Pinnacle’s wards revealed numerous unauthorized withdrawals. An unauthorized withdrawal is one that has not been court approved, is not for the care and wellbeing of the ward, and where there is no proper documentation/accounting for the expenditure.

The forensic analysis revealed Carolyn and Keith Collins, via Pinnacle Guardian, had a total of $110,319.87 of unauthorized withdrawals from 18 separate victim wards. Carolyn and Keith Collins overbilled, logged inaccurate time entries, and paid themselves without permission of the Court.

During the investigation into, detectives learned about a case involving Global Guardian and its owner Byars, the sister of Carolyn Collins. Investigation revealed that in 2012, Byars established a bank account in the name of ICU Records and Billing (ICURB) and used this account as a shell company to move stolen money from ward accounts to other shell business accounts, the DA's office said. Financial analysis revealed that ICURB was used by Byars, Carolyn Collins, and Keith Collins to funnel money stolen from wards, according to the DA's office.

In 2008, Byars was hired as an office manager for RES Consulting. The owner of this company, Robert Stump, managed numerous guardianships in the area. In December 2017, Stump advised CID detectives that he was appointed by the Court in Philadelphia in June 2015, to be guardian of the estate of an incapacitated victim. In October 2016, Mr. Stump terminated Byars and he began reviewing some guardianship cases on which Byars worked and discovered Byars had taken guardianship files from his office. Stump advised that prior to Byars’ termination, she had been added as guardian to 10 of his guardianships; Stump contacted Philadelphia’s Services for the aging to advise Byars was going to be a guardian for those 10 wards. As a result, Byars was added as a guardian in their network.

Investigation by CID detectives revealed that Byars maintained a business called Global Guardians which was used by Byars for guardianships. Byars would deposit checks from wards which were written to other parties, such as debt collectors, medical companies, nursing homes, etc, and would funnel this money through ICURB to herself as well as to Carolyn Collins and Keith Collins, and also to the Church of the Overcomer (COTO) in Trainer, the DA's office said. Carolyn and Keith Collins are founders and pastors at COTO.

An analysis of financial records showed from June 2015 to February 2017, a total of $28,738.12 improper payments were made from the shell company ICURB to and/or on behalf of COTO, according to the DA's office. Records also reveal checks written on bank accounts of Pinnacle wards to the shell company ICURB, and that Byars and the Collins’ also used two other companies, ACC Medical and CWR Medical, to funnel the money stolen from the wards, the DA's office siad.

Detectives identified 108 victim wards from Delaware, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Lancaster, and Berks Counties.

In total, from June 1, 2015 until December 19, 2016, $855, 964.85 of ward money was deposited into the shell company ICURB from ward accounts of Gloria Byars, RES Consulting, and Robert Stump, the DA's office said.

From September 2014 until February 2016, $71,998.24 of ward money was deposited into ACC Medical from ward accounts of Gloria Byars and Robert Stump, according to the DA's office

From June 2015 until December 2015, $64,818.16 of ward money was deposited into CWR Medical from ward accounts of Gloria Byars and Robert Stump.

Financial accounting of ICURB shows the stolen money was used to pay for personal expenses, including vehicles, airline flights, high end luxury goods, and hotels, according to the DA's office.

The total, Gloria Byars and RES Consulting stole $1,009,172.01, the DA's office said.

If you know anyone who has been victimized by Gloria Byars, Carolyn Collins, Keith Collins, Global Guardians, or Pinnacle Guardian, please contact CID Detective Edward Rosen at (610) 891-4851.