Spring Hill woman will not be tried in exploitation case
Authorities couldn’t follow the money.
That was the reason they gave for not prosecuting a woman accused last year of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from her disabled cousin while she was her guardian.
Anne K. Fisher, who was arrested in December 2009, had her charge of exploitation of a disabled person dropped last week.
Fisher could not be reached for comment. Her cell phone has been disconnected.
Assistant State Attorney Matthew Pila said there simply was not enough evidence to convict her.
“It looked like bad accounting,” he said. “Bad accounting is not enough. It’s not a crime.”
Fisher, 44, of Spring Hill, was acting as her cousin’s guardian for six years before a new guardian was appointed by the courts.
Local attorney Melanie Burpee took over in July 2009 as the court-ordered guardian and reported the financial discrepancies to law enforcement, she said.
Originally, Burpee noticed there was approximately $21,000 missing from the victim’s trust. Detectives later discovered more money and assets missing. The total was ratcheted to more than $46,000, according to arrest records.
Burpee sent letters to Fisher and her attorney requesting receipts and accounting be provided, deputies said.
Fisher, in turn, accounted for roughly $50,000 out of the $114,000 that should have been in the victim’s accounts, reports showed.
In spite of the missing money, Pila could not find any new cars, clothes, jewelry, houses or any other material things purchased by Fisher that could help prove any wrongdoing, he said.
Fisher allowed her brother, George Blasius, to live in the victim’s house to serve as her caretaker, according to arrest records.
He remained in the house for 16 months after the victim was committed to a facility and he stayed there without paying rent. His expenses were paid with the victim’s money, authorities said.
From 2005 to 2008, Fisher wrote several checks from the victim’s two bank accounts and made them payable to herself, her brother or cash, deputies said.
No receipts were provided, reports showed.
Burpee, who said she has handled several guardian cases gone awry, called it “one of the most financially convoluted” cases she’s ever known.
She said she was “disappointed” when she learned the case would not go to trial.
The victim, who has suffered from a mental illness since 1976, currently is staying in an assisted-living facility in Pasco County.
“This woman has no one,” Burpee said of the victim. “That’s the sad thing about all of this.”
