The Vegas Voice 4-21

I Care a Lot
By: Rana Goodman / On My Soapbox
When the Netflix movie “I Care a Lot” came
out, publisher Dan and I received dozens
of emails and telephone calls from readers,
friends and family. They all suggested we tune in to the new film.
We did and were amazed how accurate the first 45 minutes were. It
truthfully mirrored the situations we found while investigating private
guardians. It brought to life why The Vegas Voice worked so hard to stop
these things from happening to seniors.
Rosamund Pike, the star of the film who played the private
guardian recently won a Golden Globe award for her role. Although
listed as “a dark comedy,” to us it was no laughing matter.
Everything you need to know about the guardian system was
summed up by Ms. Pike when she received the award, “I want to thank
America’s broken legal system for making it possible to make stories
like this.”
For more than 6 years, Dan and I worked tirelessly to inform Nevada
seniors about the guardianship process and what the full impact of
guardianship meant to those victimized by it… and their families.
We were also privileged to assist and were even profiled in an excellent
award-winning documentary called The Guardians. That film is
airing on Amazon Prime.
Just like the I Care a Lot movie and in The Guardians, if a private
guardian went into court and requested guardianship of someone, the
family rarely knew anything about it until it was too late. The deal was
done, and the wards (now called Protected Persons) were no longer in
control of their own lives, property, or day-to-day existence.
If the family did know what was happening and appeared in court,
the guardian would convince the judge that the family member, for
one reason or another, was not fit to care for their relative. The truth
did not matter.
And if the guardian were faced with a family member objecting
to her services - just like in the Netflix movie, the guardian would
Lights, Camera, Action
Rana Goodman reviews her script as she prepares for her “Rana’s
Rants” YouTube segment.
block the family, including
children and siblings from
visiting or speaking with
the “wards.”
The Vegas Voice zeroed
in on the “poster child” of
abusive private guardians
- April Parks. What she did
to her wards went beyond
monetary gain. Her evil in
literally destroying families
knew no limits and her
actions cost her 8-20 years
in prison.
Now, two years later and
last month, she had a court
hearing claiming that her
sentence should be reduced due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
Along with Dan, I attended the “virtual hearing.”
Rana appearing in a scene from “The Guardians.”
Parks objected to us attempting to take pictures of her in handcuffs
while in prison clothes. Although she was able to prohibit The Vegas
Voice from taking and publishing the (rather unflattering) photos, I
admit her knowing that we were watching her was a point of satisfaction.
As for the I Care a Lot
surprise ending? No, we
never witnessed such an
episode, but family victims
sure did fantasized about it.
As for April Parks’ attempt
in getting her sentence
lessened for the crimes she
committed? Stay tuned, but
for The Vegas Voice, the
answer is No, not as long
as we have anything to
say about it.
24
April 2021