NAPLES, Fla. — For the past year, the ABC Action News I-Team has reported on the way professional guardian Kathy Johnson has handled vulnerable adults under her care.
She was removed from dozens of cases after audits revealed she exploited people and mismanaged their assets.
Now, the state is taking action to make sure she never practices as a guardian again.
“At best, this is mismanagement. At worst, it’s something more,” said Collier County Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Krier at a hearing in February.
She removed Kathy Johnson as the professional guardian in 34 Collier County cases at that hearing.
“I also am not going to allow these wards’ money to be flushed down the toilet for another minute,” Krier said.
Auditors found irregularities in Johnson's cases, including claims... which the auditors disputed... that her wards lost $85,000 because of “hacker activity.”
An audit report also included concerns that one ward’s Mercedes Benz didn’t appear in an inventory and another ward’s bank account shrank by nearly $609,000 in two years.
Report alleges multiple violations of Florida guardianship law
“You can be put in guardianship, and every right as an American citizen can be taken away with a five-minute hearing that more than likely you will not be allowed to attend,” said guardianship reform advocate Hillary Hogue.
Hogue said she complained about Johnson to the Florida Office of Public and Professional Guardians (OPPG).
That office released a 65-page administrative complaint against Johnson last month alleging “mismanagement or waste of assets," “exploitation, self-dealing or fraud," “breach of fiduciary duty," and “impeding the rights of wards."
“You've really got a bull's eye on your forehead,” Hogue said. We introduced you to some of Johnson's former wards.
“My intention was to get Johnson out”
Bridget Manning, 85, was visiting a friend in Florida when she fell, injured her leg, and wound up in a rehab center.
She was later declared incapacitated.
Manning wrote seven letters to judges complaining about Johnson and begging to get her rights back.
In the letters, Manning said she hoped to return to Ireland, where she lived most of her life.
“My intention was to get Johnson out. She did a lot of things to a lot of people,” Manning said.
We met her at the home care facility where Johnson placed her, which was previously cited by the state for its staff not having proper training or certification.
When asked to describe her living situation, Manning said, “Bad. Very bad.”
“I have to share a room. Kathy Johnson got both of us in there,” she said.
Two of Johnson’s wards shared a tiny room in the 1,400-square-foot home.
Living on the lam with burner phones and cash
“I was employed as a registered nurse. I was working two jobs,” said Karen Federighi.
When Federighi inherited money in 2016, her sisters in Ohio hired a lawyer to put her in guardianship.
She was just 56 years old.
Federighi lived independently at a LaQuinta Inn while Johnson controlled her money.
Records show Johnson charged Federighi $90 an hour to take her grocery shopping.
Federighi eventually escaped to California with help from supporters she met on Facebook.
“I literally lived on the lam for nearly a year using burner phones and cash,” Federighi said.
A lawyer got her case transferred to California and Federighi eventually got her rights restored.
“She told me his money runs out”
In June, we told you about Wilkins Vilcin, who is a former high school athlete from Haiti.
He suffered a major head injury when he fell on his head while doing a flip at a homecoming dance.
Vilcin ended up in guardianship, and Johnson was appointed as his guardian.
She was tasked by the court with overseeing his care and managing his money.
That included $614,000 from legal settlements related to the accident.
Reports say Johnson failed to help Vilcin apply for citizenship after the accident, which prevented him from qualifying for government benefits like Medicaid and Social Security disability, which would pay for his 24-hour-a-day care.
Vilcin’s sister, Fabiola Vilcin Borgelin, said she didn’t know her brother’s money was about to run out until it was too late.
“She told me his money runs out. That if he has nowhere to go, he’s going to end up in the street,” Borgelin said.
Johnson resigned as his guardian when his funds were nearly depleted, owing thousands of dollars to the facility that cared for Vilcin.
He has since gone to live with family members who oversee his 24-hour-a-day care.
His family members and supporters have worked with a volunteer attorney to set up the Wilkins Vilcin Special Needs Trust.
Donations are being coordinated by Wilkins’ former school... they can be mailed to St. John Neumann High School, 3500 53rd ST SW, Naples, FL 34116.
For more information about the trust, you can email the organizers at vilcintrust@gmail.com
The OPPG report said Johnson “at best mismanaged the financial resources and health, safety and welfare of the wards for which she was a guardian and at worst committed some criminal activity.”
Johnson’s and state’s response
We tried to talk to Johnson at her court hearing in February, but she declined to answer our questions.
Last month, the state revoked Johnson's registration as a guardian.
We contacted OPPG about the revocation of Johnson’s registration.
A spokesperson wrote in an email, “The Department of Elder Affairs expects all registered professional guardians to comply with the laws and standards governing their profession.”
According to the spokesperson, Johnson was the 15th public or professional guardian in Florida to have their registration revoked since 2019.
When we called Johnson for comment, she hung up the phone.
“What happens to these elderly people that that was their nest egg? That is their money, and a few of them are still alive. Who’s fighting to get their money back?” Hogue said.
As of now, the answers are unclear.
You can learn more about problems with professional guardianship in Florida by reading our years-long investigation, “The Price of Protection."
