HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-22-12IN RE: GLEN H. STONER, IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
An Alleged Incapacitated CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Person N0. 2011-1132
ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
Proceedings held before the HONORABLE ALBERT H. MASLAND J.,
Cumberland County Courthouse
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
On December 28, 2011
In Courtroom Number 5
APPEARANCES:
Mark F. Bayley, Esquire
For the Petitioners
.
,
n
•-- ~
R4
._~
rn r-,,
J. Edward Beck, Esquire -~,
t
- ~-
~ ~; ~-~
-~
For the Respondents • t ("
~u~.=
c~ (~• j ~
~
; r.; ,_;
D ~" rJ - ~F .~7
;? ch N !-
~~.,, ,
~ c -Q `
o c: -,
._
ri
F
N ~~
ORIGINAL
1
FOR PETITIONERS
Ronnie Eugene Stoner
Wayne Stoner
Dr. Christopher Royer
FOR RESPONDENTS
Dr. David R. Leaman
Priscilla M. Whitman
Janet Swope
Glen H. Stoner
INDEX TO WITNESSES
DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS
4 29 34, 37 36
38 43 -- --
43 50 -- --
REBUTTAL FOR PETITIONERS
Dr. Christopher Royer
DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS
54 59 -- --
65 69 -- --
70 77 84 88
90 98 104 --
105
108
2
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
FOR PETITIONERS MARKED ADMITTED
1 - Neuropsychological
Consultation
2 - CV - Dr. Royer
FOR RESPONDENTS
44 44
44 53
MARKED ADMITTED
1 - 11/14/11 Psychological
Evaluation
2 - POA
3 - POA
65 65
75 76
76 77
3
1 December 28, 2012
2 Carlisle, Pennsylvania
3 (The following proceedings were held at 1:42 p.m.)
4 THE COURT: We are here on the Petition for
5 Adjudication of Incapacity and Appointment of a Guardian. Mr.
6 Bayley, your clients are the moving party. I will have them
7 proceed with their case.
g I understand from counsel that Mr. Stoner, Glen
9 Stoner, is a little hard of hearing. Mr. Stoner, can you hear
10 me? You are kind of shaking your head. Let me say that I will
11 keep my voice up, and I will trust that everyone else will keep
12 their voices up, not just for Mr. Stoner's benefit, but for my
13 benefit.
14 So when the witnesses come up and I ask you to
15 speak directly into the microphone, do not assume that you can
16 be heard without a microphone. With that, Mr. Bayley, you may
17 proceed.
1g MR. BAYLEY: I will call Ronnie Stoner.
19
20 RONNIE EUGENE STONER,
21 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
22 DIRECT EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. BAYLEY:
24 Q What is your full name?
25 A Ronnie Eugene Stoner.
4
r ..~.. ~~~. tilt you
2 A 53-years-old.
3 Q Where do you reside?
4 A 24 Bedros Street, Windham, New Hampshire.
5 Q What do you do for a living?
6 A Three things: I'm an environmental microbiologist
7 for Massachusetts DEP; I also have a company with my brother,
8 Wayne Stoner, which is Stoner Environmental; and I'm a sergeant
9 major in the Army Reserve.
10 Q What is your relation to Glen Stoner?
11 A He is my uncle, and I'm his nephew on the father's
12 side.
13 Q Are you involved with a trust in relation to Glen
14 Stoner?
15 A I am.
16 Q How are you involved in a trust?
17 A I am one of the co-trustees, along with my brother,
18 Wayne Stoner.
19 Q We will get into that a little more later. Give
20 some recent history on where Glen has resided and who he has
21 resided with in the past several years?
22 A Starting in 1999 he was with his wife, which is my
23 Aunt Ella Stoner, in Frankford, Illinois.
24 From her death in 1999 until 2005, Uncle Glen lived
25 by himself in Frankford. At that time my father, Kenneth
5
1 Stoner, and myself, we went out to Illinois and moved Uncle
2 Glen from Frankford, Illinois, to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania,
3 and he has been there ever since.
4 Q What year would that move have taken place?
5 A That was September 2, 2005.
6 Q What were the reasons for that move?
7 A There were a couple major reasons. One is that he
8 was actually having medical problems. He had over 7 acres in
9 Frankford. And being both a farmer and a construction worker,
10 Uncle Glen was still active. He had a large, large garden.
11 And multiple times he was actually found out in the yard by his
12 neighbors being passed out, so there was some medical concern.
13 The second was he actually -- he was being
14 exploited. The roofer and driveway contractors that go from
15 house to house running scams had actually targeted his house
16 and he had been hit a couple times.
17 The third was the move to Shippensburg was because
18 of security. Even though he lived by himself, there was one
19 time when he allowed a neighbor woman to move in.
20 Unfortunately, she allowed her boyfriend to move in who was a
21 convicted felon, and we were actually concerned about his
22 safety.
23 Q So he moved in with who?
24 A My father and I went out in August, we did most of
25 the move. My brother, Kenny, came out to help drive everything
6
1 back in; but Uncle Glen moved by himself from Frankford,
2 Illinois, to Shippensburg.
3 Q Who did he move in with in Shippensburg?
4 A At that time it was my father, Kenneth Stoner, Sr.,
5 and Rosey Stoner.
6 Q What is his relation to Rosey?
7 A Rosey is his sister-in-law, my mother.
8 Q What type of trust are you involved with?
9 A It's an irrevocable trust.
10 Q When was that formed?
11 A The original trust was formed in March of 2004.
12 Q Why was that formed?
13 A For the reasons that I had mentioned. We had
14 noticed t hat Uncle Glen was having some financial issues. He
15 was being exploited out there. So it was determined at that
16 time that the finances -- my father, Kenneth Stoner, Sr., would
17 actually help with the finances. So, originally, my father was
18 the only one placed on the trust, along with a neighbor, Bev
19 Carlson (phonetic).
20 Q Since then, who have the trustees been?
21 A It has gone through many iterations. Bev Carlson
22 was dropped off in an amendment later in 2004. My mother,
23 Wayne and myself were picked up later as successor trustees.
24 Q Who are the present trustees?
25 A If I may look at my notes. In March of 2009, my
7
1 father signed a letter disclaiming himself, my mother signed a
2 letter; and in 2009 Wayne and I became cotrustee.
3 Q What funds are held in that trust?
4 A Originally, it was the sale of the property in
5 Frankford, Illinois.
6 Q How much was obtained from the sale of the
7 property?
8 A Prior to taxes, I would say $800,000.
9 Q So what approximate amount went into the trust
10 originally after the taxes were paid on the house?
11 A Approximately $680,000.
12 Q What is the approximate present value of that
13 trust?
14 A Including transfers that I had made recently in
15 this year, it now totals $737,000.
16 Q What transfers were recently made?
17 A There were $106,000 transferred from M&T Bank and
18 transferred to Orrstown Bank.
19 Q The funds are being held at Orrstown Bank?
20 A There are two separate banks that currently hold
21 his trust assets. The bulk is at Orrstown Bank in
22 Shippensburg, approximately $498,000; at Members 1st in
23 Shippensburg, approximately $214,000.
24 Q Are there any funds involved with that trust that
25 were not derived from the sale of the house?
8
1 A Yes, there are.
2 Q Where did those funds come from?
3 A This year the $106,000 taken from the M&T Bank was
4 taken from Uncle Glen's personal account. Since I was acting
5 as POA at that time, co-POA, co-trustee and co-executor. So
6 $106,000 was taken from his personal account and moved to
7 Orrstown; and $10,500 was taken from M&T Bank and moved into
8 checking into Orrstown.
g Q How have those funds been distributed to Glen,
10 funds from that trust?
11 A Normally, once we pay his medical bills and any
12 outstanding bills that he has, after that, any interest is
I3 actually rolled immediately back into the trust, and no money
14 is taken for administrative fees.
15 Q You allege in your petition that Glen possessed
16 $92,000 in cash assets outside of the trust at the time that
17 the petition was filed which would have been October, correct?
18 A That I was aware of, yes.
I9 Q Can you explain where you came up with that number?
20 A That is all cash that I was aware of.
21 Approximately $72,000 was held in a lock box. And I know it
22 was 72,000 because in 2008 I helped my father count the money,
23 place it into a security box. And then we stored it in the
24 roof -- in the attic, immediately above Uncle Glen's private
25 room that he has.
9
1 Q What was the reason for doing that?
2 A He actually does not trust the banks very much.
3 Q He being?
4 A Uncle Glen. And he has very often kept large
5 amounts of money on hand. In addition to the 72 that was
6 placed in the lock box, there was an approximately $20,000 he
7 had kept within hands reach that he kept in a small bureau.
g Q So that was Glen's decision to keep that cash in
9 the house then?
10 A It was.
11 Q What other property does Glen own?
12 A He has a 2008 Mercury Sable, estimated value,
13 approximately $22,000.
14 Q Does he drive that vehicle?
15 A Not any more.
16 Q Why not?
17 A In 2008 he had a bad fall. He went into a nursing
18 home at that time, and it was a doctor's decision and the
19 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that he should not be
20 able to drive any more. So in 2009 his license was revoked.
21 Q What other property does he have?
22 A He has minor household appliances and household
23 goods.
24 Q Where is all of this property at this time?
25 A He actually -- as I said, he actually has a private
10
1 room separate from the main house. The bulk of that is
2 actually in his private room. But he does have some minor
3 property, a China cabinet that is actually in the house, in the
4 current b ig house.
5 Q You are talking about the house at?
6 A 11 Whitmer Road.
7 Q Who owns that house?
8 A Rosey M. Stoner.
9 Q What income does Glen have?
10 A He has established income of $1400 that he gets
11 after 50 years of union pension. In addition to the $1400, he
12 also gets approximately 1100 from Social Security.
13 Q You are talking in monthly payments, correct?
14 A That is a monthly payment.
15 Q Does he have any other income?
16 A Beside interest off of CDs, checking and savings,
17 no.
18 Q Approximately how much interest does he earn per
19 month?
20 A Per month, approximately $250 to 300.
21 Q In your petition it states he gets $500
22 approxima tely in interest per month. Would it be closer to 250
23 or 300?
24 A Closer to 300. With the interest rates, they are
25 not what they were before.
11
1 Q How much contact have you had with Glen over the
2 past few years?
3 A I live in New Hampshire, so I try to come down as
4 frequently as I can. So that is, approximately, I spend about
5 3 weeks in the area. Of course, that is with Uncle Glen.
6 Lately, I have been down since the beginning of October until
7 December, so 60 days.
g Q What family members are there that live in this
9 area that have regular contact with Glen?
10 A I will start with my brother, Wayne, who is
11 actually also the co-trustee. He is in Mechanicsburg and he
12 visits -- he works out of state but when he is here,
13 approximately, it's about once to twice a week. He was here
14 extensively over the summer.
15 The next is my sister, Bonnie. Bonnie lives in
16 Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and she will go down once to twice a
17 week. My brother, Kenny, he lives in Mechanicsburg also, and
18 he goes down about once or twice a week.
19 Q What about Rosey, you said she owns 11 Whitmer
20 Road?
21 A Yes, up until September, my mother, Rosey, was
22 actually living there full time. Unfortunately, she took a
23 fall, and she has not been able to fully recover. In addition,
24 she is now in a phase of dementia which won't allow her to
25 return to 11 Whitmer Road.
12
1 Q So she would have left in September of this year?
2 A Yes, but up until that time she was living there
3 full-time.
4 Q What about Kenny Stoner?
5 A He lives in Mechanicsburg.
6 Q Is that another nephew?
~ A That is another nephew.
g Q What type of contact does he have?
g A As I said, he goes about once to twice a week.
10 Q What about Kirby Hockensmith, the other Petitioner?
11 A Yes, Kirby was part of this, and to offer the
12 medical guardianship. He will only see Uncle Glen on times of
13 social occasions, so we will get together.
14 Q What are Glen's medical conditions currently?
15 A According to the medical records supplied by the
16 Shippensburg Family Practice, he has approximately 6 to 8
17 significant medical conditions, if I may check my notes. He
18 has CAD.
19 THE COURT: Let me suggest, we are going to hear
20 from the doctor, correct?
21 THE WITNESS: The psychiatrist.
22 THE COURT: We are not going to hear from the
23 medical doctor.
24 MR. BAYLEY: I think that they have limited
25 information on his conditions.
13
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
THE COURT: You may share what you have.
THE WITNESS: He has CAD, cardio atherosclerosis
disease. He suffers from hypertension. He has hyperlipidemia.
He has GERD. He has osteoarthritis throughout his body
involved in his spine and his legs. He has RIS, renal
insufficiency syndrome. He only has approximately one kidney
that functions fully.
He has something called PVD. He has been diagnosed
with peripheral vascular disease, which means that he is
susceptible to blood clots. As diagnosed, he has SDAT and
vascular dementia.
BY MR. BAYLEY:
Q Who are his doctors?
A His primary care is now Nathan Petula out of Dr.
Wellmon's office in Shippensburg. He is not a doctor, he is a
PA.
Q Who else treats Glen?
A Uncle Glen, because of his cardiac condition, has a
cardiologist, Dr. Myers, out of Carlisle.
Q Anybody else?
A Yes, he has vision problems. He is having trouble
seeing. That is Dr. Stoken, who is the ophthalmologist out of
Carlisle.
Q Does he see a nurse?
A He does. There is also another doctor, I was
14
1 waiting for you. He has Dr. Golec, out of Carlisle, who is a
2 podiatrist. Uncle Glen had an injury as a young man, and he is
3 still having problems, so he goes to Dr. Golec for orthopaedic
4 shoes.
5 Q What other health care professionals see him?
6 A I arrange to have Nurse Dee Parsons of the
7 Shippensburg Civic Organization. She comes out once a week and
8 she actually helps organize Uncle Glen's medications. Because
9 he's under quite a few, it's hard for him to actually put those
10 together. Dee Parsons comes out on Tuesday and takes care of
11 that for the following week.
12 Q You have indicated that he is on more than one
13 medication?
14 A Yes, he is.
15 Q How many medications approximately is he on?
16 A I wouldn't want to say at this point because he had
17 been hospitalized at Carlisle Regional Medical. Traditionally,
18 what they do is they terminate whatever meds the patient is on,
19 and then they reintroduce.
20 Q How many medications was he on at the time you
21 filed this petition?
22 A Seventeen.
23 Q To your knowledge, how did Glen keep track of what
24 he was on?
25 A There is two ways. He relied on Dee Parsons, the
15
1 nurse; but also, she provided a little cheat sheet that she
2 would give to him, and he would put the sheet inside of his
3 wallet. So if he would go to a doctor's office, they would
4 have a current listing of what he was on.
5 Q When is the last time that you saw that cheat sheet
6 in his wallet?
7 A Probably in October.
g Q Of this year?
g A Yes.
10 Q Was Rosey assisting Glen with everyday tasks before
11 she went to rehab?
12 A Yes, she would.
13 Q What would she assist him with?
14 A He also has an eye condition that needs to be
15 treated on a daily basis, and my mother would actually help
16 him. It's a process where pads have to be heated under a
17 microwave. He's not allowed to get close to a microwave
18 because of his defibrillator, so my mother would do that. Heat
19 up the pads, place them on his eyes, and then that had to be
20 done again after five minutes. And she would help him, she
21 would actually help him, they would go shopping at the local
22 Wal-Mart. She would coordinate the trips.
23 Q As of October of this year, who else had been
24 assisting Glen with everyday tasks?
25 A In addition to the family members that I had
16
1 mentioned, the neighbors were also involved. To one side there
2 were the Perrys, which they were paid to actually mow the yard,
3 do things around that Uncle Glen could not do any more.
4 To the other side was Mrs. Shields, who actually
5 would take Uncle Glen when the family couldn't, she would
6 actually take him in for groceries, take him in for food and
7 meals.
8 Q So you are alleging that Glen is not able to meet
9 essential requirements for his physical care, his health, his
10 safety. What specifically have you observed that makes you
11 question his ability to do those things?
12 A Well, due to the fact that he has just so many
13 medical issues, there is no way that he can actually call and
14 make the appointment that's needed.
15 The other thing that we had seen was poor judgment.
16 In September when my mother fell it was actually my Uncle Glen
17 that found my mother early in the morning on the floor. We
18 don't know how long she waited there, but it could have been
19 for over an hour before the ambulance was contacted.
20 Q Who contacted the ambulance?
21 A From my understanding, Uncle Glen went over to the
22 neighbor, Mrs. Shields. She came over, contacted my sister,
23 Bonnie, and Bonnie directed them to call the ambulance and only
24 then was an ambulance summoned.
25 Q Does Glen have access to a telephone?
17
1 A He does. The question is whether he has the
2 capability to understand how to deal with emergencies and what
3 even number to dial.
q Q Are there any other observations that you have made
5 on those same lines?
6 A Yes. What Wayne and I have done since -- we try to
7 provide the best that we can, but we can't be there all the
8 time. So we contracted a 24-hour service medical guardian
9 which uses the bracelets and an alarm system that the patient
10 can activate if they are in trouble.
11 We had this system way before the incident in
12 September happened. We provided an alarm system to my mother
13 and to Uncle Glen, and even after my mother fell, Uncle Glen
14 would not use the alert system. It became a game of, I would
15 put the alarm system by his bed, and when I would come back at
16 a later time, he would move it back to the telephone.
l~ Q Is that like a button?
lg A Exactly. It's two different -- my mother actually
19 had a pendant that could be activated at the push of a button,
20 and Uncle Glen had a watch that could be used.
21 Q Why couldn't your mother get to her button?
22 A Because she had a similar issue. We provided the
23 system, they would not use it.
24 Q Any other examples that you can think of?
25 A In addition to the memory problems or specifically
18
1 medical?
2 4 Either. In relation to reasoning problems?
3 A Okay. As I had mentioned, he took a bad tumble in
4 2008, with license revoked in 2009.
5 We didn't get rid of the car because we would
6 contract with a fee for service called Comfort Keepers, we
7 tried to, which would drive him around. We didn't know until
8 later that he was actually taking the car out on his own anyway
9 around the block. So we tried to explain to him you can't do
10 that because your license is revoked and you could actually
11 endanger yourselves and others.
12 Q Comfort Keepers, do they take care of him now?
13 A No, they used to, and that would probably be the
14 other thing. We had actually had to provide services that
I5 would come in, for example, Comfort Keepers, which would take
16 him to medical appointments or shopping.
17 Wayne and I would make the appointments only to
I8 find out later that they had been cancelled, someone had called
I9 in, not us, someone had called in and cancelled. And then we
20 would find out that the neighbors had actually driven him to
21 his medical appointment or for shopping. This happened
22 numerous times.
23 Q When did you notice a significant decline in Glen's
24 abilities?
25 A If you look at the history, there has always been a
19
1 threat that has been there. That is why a trust was created to
2 protect him in 2004. But I would say we really started to see
3 a dramatic decrease after the death of my father in January of
4 2011.
5 They were very close and that is one reason why
6 Uncle Glen moved here. It was because when he was having
7 problems in Illinois, there was no family that he could turn
8 to. So that is why he relied on my father.
9 After the death of my father, who died in a nursing
10 home, Uncle Glen became more isolated. We would actually ask
11 him to go with us because he had always been a part of our
12 family, holidays, celebrations, graduations. Prior to that, he
13 had always been part of the family and participated.
14 It was after that that we started to see he would
15 totally refuse to go with us. So that sent an alarm up that
16 something was wrong.
17 Q Has there been some animosity towards local family
18 members since January?
19 A Prior to that, no. Effective January it has been a
20 distancing, and now, over the past few months there was
21 actually open hostility.
22 Q What do you believe Glen needs help with in
23 relation to health care and safety issues at this point?
24 A Well, everything that I had detailed, it's
25 basically because in regards to the medical piece, there is no
20
1 way that he can actually do that himself. It's nothing against
2 him, it's actually a complicated issue because of his multiple
3 diseases, he needs someone to actually coordinate and take care
4 of him.
5 The finances is another. I did not form the trust,
6 the trust was there long before Wayne or I, however, he still
7 doesn't understand the concept of why his money was put into
8 the trust and we have explained that numerous and multiple
9 times.
10 Q Have you observed specific incidents that make you
11 question his ability to handle his finances? I think you
12 already talked about a couple.
13 A Yeah, the big thing is the fact that he, and we
14 know this, he was actually exploited. It started in Illinois
15 and when he moved here. Wayne and I, as the co-trustees, it's
16 a delicate balance. We do not, contrary to what was put out,
17 we do not control Uncle Glen. We have actually tried to deal
18 with an easy hand because we understand this is a very
19 difficult situation for him.
20 He has been a hard working man, both construction
21 worker and a farmer, that's his money. So we have always
22 included him in the decisions as to what he wanted to do.
23 However, where we saw a poor -- in my opinion, a lack of
24 financial judgment, I think one reason that he was upset with
25 Wayne and myself is because he would approach us and he wanted
21
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
all of his money taken out of the bank, all $700,000, removed
from the bank so he could get it and keep it at the house.
Q When did he want to do that?
A That really started last year, towards the fall.
But, once again, like after the death of my father, we started
to see it accelerated. He would ask -- I was down there in May
and June, he asked me a couple times to take him to the bank to
withdraw his money.
Wayne was not working this summer, he was in
between a contract. He spent a lot of time down there. Uncle
Glen asked him on numerous accounts to actually take him in,
withdraw savings, checking and savings.
Q What about just bill paying and taking care of
everyday type of things, is he able to do that as far as you
observed?
A With some assistance. At one time if Wayne and I
would not cut the check, for example, we covered down on his
medical coverage, the Blue Shield, we pay that. If there are
large medical prescriptions, which he has eye prescription
bills, we cover down on that. But there were times when we
were not available, my mother would step in and actually write
checks for him.
Q When is the last time you think he wrote a check
himself?
A I couldn't answer that. He does have his own
22
1 private checking account, that I -- Wayne and I were not
2 involved in his private checking account prior to October.
3 Q What is Betty's condition in rehab now?
4 A That is his sister. Apparently, she did return
5 home, however, she had accelerated dementia and she is now back
6 at the Franklin County Nursing Home and she's going to be
7 there.
g Q I actually meant to ask you how Rosey was doing?
9 A Oh, my mother.
10 Q She is also in rehab?
11 A Yes, yes. Now, that would appear, as time goes on,
12 she's not recovering as we had hoped. She is not going to
13 return to 11 Whitmer.
14 Q Do you have any idea at that point what will happen
15 to her ho use if she doesn't return in the short term or the
16 long term ?
17 A Well, as the trustees, and at one time co-power of
18 attorney and co-executors, we had actually put together
19 numerous options. One of the options was to purchase my
20 mother's house where he, Uncle Glen, could remain.
21 The second was actually to purchase a home in the
22 area. I have two brothers that live in Mechanicsburg, and one
23 of the pl ans was to actually purchase a home in Mechanicsburg
24 which would be close.
25 Then the third option, which we don't want to do
23
1 but you still have to consider as an option, and that is
2 assisted living.
3 Q In your petition you and your fellow Petitioners
4 set forth a plan to potentially move Glen into a home owned by
5 his sister. What has happened with that plan?
6 A Yeah. Unfortunately, due to recent circumstances
7 and the declining health of his sister, Betty Hockensmith,
8 Betty had to be returned from her home to the Franklin County
9 Nursing Home, and she will probably remain there. So that
10 plan, as it is, is no longer going to be used.
11 Q When did you become aware that that plan had fallen
12 through?
13 A A week ago.
14 Q What have you been working on?
15 A I spoke to my brother, Kenneth Stoner, Jr., and the
16 plan is there is a home for sale literally three doors down
17 from where he lives. The plan is to purchase the home with a
18 fee for service. We have already -- we have three leads on
19 qualified medical people who would be able to help and cover
20 24/7, but no purchase and sale has been done. We had a price
21 on it, but that is as far as it went. It's based on what will
22 happen today.
23 Q That residence is next door to Kenneth Stoner?
24 A Approximately 3 to 4 doors down.
25 Q What does he do for a living?
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
A He is a Verizon systems tech.
Q How old is he?
A 57.
Q Is he married?
A Linda does live at the same address.
Q What does she do for a living?
A She is a librarian at the Mechanicsburg public
library.
Q Have you looked into what that house will cost?
A The last number we have was approximately 140 to
$150,000.
Q Is there any potential for renting that house?
A There may be.
Q Describe how much contact Glen's daughter, Janet,
has had with him historically?
A While he was in Illinois, I am not aware of any
significant visits that Janet had with her dad.
He moved here in 2005, and as far as I know, she
did not get together with him until approximately 2007. Since
that time, it's been occasional phone calls and she will come
up to visit him.
Q Before 2007, do you know what the last time was
that she did have any significant contact?
A I'm not aware of any.
Q When did the idea of moving Glen to Texas surface?
25
1 A I'm going to treat that like a two-part answer.
2 Wayne and I had been in the military also. We always plan for
3 things. This spring we had heard that Janet had offered, and
4 that is the key word, offered to have Uncle Glen move there.
5 Just like any other option, it was simply listed on the page.
6 However, Janet knew that Wayne and I were actually
7 executors and trustees. She never told us, never informed us,
8 and we found out in mid September that Uncle Glen was planning
9 to actually have Janet -- or Janet was actually planning to
10 come up in October and move him without ever having contacted
11 Wayne or I.
12 Q How did you originally find out about this?
13 A It was my brother, Kenneth Stoner, Jr., he had been
14 down talking with Uncle Glen and just casually Uncle Glen had
15 mentioned in late September that Janet had planned on getting a
16 U-Haul and was going to take Uncle Glen and the car down to
17 Arlington, Texas.
18 When I found that out, Wayne and I decided to
19 actually let her know that there were other options. On
20 September 26, we actually called her and did a three-way phone
21 conference with her. When we talked to her, we had said, you
22 are part of many options in regards to how we are going to
23 handle Uncle Glen.
24 Her response was, Well, that's up to Uncle Glen,
25 and I'm going to contact a lawyer. So when she said that,
26
1 then we knew she had actually been trying to circumvent Wayne
2 and I. So at that time we decided that she probably wasn't
3 going to be the best system or the best option for Uncle Glen.
4 Q What is your current position for Glen moving to
5 Texas?
6 A If you ask him, he will tell you he wants to go.
7 He is ready to go.
8 Q What is your position?
9 A My feeling is that the waters have been poisoned,
10 and I'm not sure that he truly understands the ramifications of
11 moving to Texas.
12 If you ask him, he probably doesn't have any idea
13 of how far Texas is or what the environment is like. He has
14 never been there, but yet he knows that he absolutely wants to
15 go.
16 I don't think it's best for many of the reasons
17 that I had mentioned. He has a history of medical conditions.
18 I am concerned about the trip down. I'm concerned about once
19 he gets down and lives in that environment. I'm concerned
20 about what I would consider to be exploitation by the daughter
21 and I am concerned about his safety.
22 Q When did Glen have his first competency exam.
23 A That was actually done by Petula in early October.
24 Q Did he have another after that?
25 A He did.
27
1 Q What prompted the first one?
2 A As I had said, Wayne and I, when we had heard, and
3 that's all it was, Uncle Glen never said a word to me, Janet
4 and Bob Swope never said a word, they never contacted us.
5 Their claim was they didn't have the phone numbers.
6 Based on that we became very suspicious. So as
7 trustees, to protect him, I requested a competency exam. I
8 felt that he was actually being exploited. I didn't want to do
9 it, but we saw that the only way to protect him was to do a
10 competency and ultimately guardianship.
11 Q How has your relationship been with Glen
12 historically and up until the present?
13 A Prior to this September, it was actually very good.
14 Uncle Glen and I had an excellent relationship. In fact, I'm
15 the one in 2005, along with my father, we came out and I took a
16 month of my own vacation to actually have final sale. So it
17 has been excellent up until that time.
18 That is one of the reasons why I think he chose
19 Wayne and I to be executor and co-trustees; however, that all
20 changed once Janet came into the picture.
21 Q How is your relationship now with him?
22 A Antagonistic, not because of me, it's not me. But
23 he has become very, very quiet, and I think it's probably
24 because he's being told not to talk to the family.
25 Q Have you still been seeing him up to date?
28
1 A Yeah, the last time I saw him is when he was
2 actually hospitalized. He was at the Carlisle Regional. He
3 was later transferred to Sarah Todd. After staying here for
4 two months, I had to return to work, which I did, but I did
5 visit him when he was actually hospitalized with bronchitis.
6 Q Other than Janet, does Glen have any other children
7 that are living?
8 A Yes, he also has an estranged son which is Glen
9 Stoner, Jr., and he lives in Illinois.
10 Q Do you have any idea where he lives?
11 A I have the address, but it's not on me.
12 Q At this point in time, who are you requesting the
13 Court to appoint as plenary guardians?
14 A That would be myself, and my brother, Wayne Stone.
15 Q So Kirby is no longer contained in that request?
I6 A He is not.
17 Q I'm assuming Wayne and Kirby both concur with that
18 position?
19 A Yes, they do.
20 MR. BAYLEY: That's all I have.
21 THE COURT: Cross-examine please.
22
23 CROSS-EXAMINATION
24 BY MR. BECK:
25 Q Mr. Stoner, you testified that when your mother
29
1 fell it was about an hour before the ambulance got there?
2 A We don't know. Like I said, we don't know, but we
3 believe she had been laying there for quite awhile.
4 Q Do you know how long after she was laying there
5 that Glen Stoner discovered her?
6 A No, we don't. We have asked and he doesn't know.
7 Q You also mentioned that you were -- in your role as
8 executors and trustees, that you and Wayne would -- were
9 entitled to know what Glen was thinking, what his intentions
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
were?
A No, not a matter that -- no, that is an incorrect
term, it's not entitled. Once again, as a trustee, it's
critical that we use, in our feeling, a gentle hand in regards
to working the trust. We always try to include Uncle Glen. As
I'm sure you understand the trust, we don't have to do that,
that's not the way we operate.
Q Who were the beneficiaries of that irrevocable
trust?
A That would actually be the four nieces and nephews:
Kenny, Wayne, Bonnie, myself.
Q You mentioned that you transferred $106,000 in a
checking account of M&T to the irrevocable trust I believe
early in 2011?
A Yes, if I can. What I said is there was $106,000
taken from a CD from M&T Bank that was transferred to Orrstown
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Bank on the 5th of October, 2011.
Q When you say Orrstown Bank, are you talking about
the irrevocable trust at Orrstown Bank or checking account?
A No, it was transferred from Uncle Glen's private
account, CD, from M&T Bank, transferred over to Orrstown Bank
under the trust. It was moved to a trust under Orrstown Bank.
Q That trust was the irrevocable trust that you
attached to the petition, that you and Wayne are the trustees
of?
A That's correct.
Q It wasn't a new trust?
A No, there is only one trust.
Q You mentioned $10,500 in another checking account
moved to Orrstown Bank, was that also into the irrevocable
trust?
A Yes, however, that was a personal checking account
by Uncle Glen at M&T that was transferred to Orrstown Bank to a
checking account under the irrevocable trust.
Q Under the irrevocable trust. I'm trying to make
that distinction because it makes a very large difference as to
whether it's under the irrevocable trust or whether it's not
under the irrevocable trust.
Did Glen have any other checking accounts other
than the CD that was with M&T and the M&T checking account that
were moved into the irrevocable trust?
31
1 A Yes. What we had done is, once again, as the POA
2 at that time and the executor, I decided because of the
3 potential threat, I took money under the Orrstown Bank, Uncle
4 Glen's private, and took approximately 18,000 and moved it over
5 to the irrevocable.
6 Q Is Glen a beneficiary under the irrevocable trust?
7 A Yeah, he is the beneficiary, that is his money.
8 Q But do you and Wayne have complete discretion as to
9 what bills that you are going to pay or not pay for Glen
10 pursuant to that trust?
11 A It's our understanding as long as it's bills that
12 are forwarded to us or are presented, as long as they are not
I3 frivolous, of course, we will pay. That's our requirement.
I4 Q After the $72,000 was moved out of the safe deposit
15 box, put into cash and put away in Glen's living area, did you
16 ever go back to count or determine whether there were any other
17 funds being added to his storehouse of cash there?
18 A Can you please, rephrase that. I didn't follow
19 your question.
20 Q After the $72,000 that you counted, did you check
21 to see if there was additional cash being added in Glen's
22 living quarters by Glen after that, the time that the $72,000
23 was put in the rafters or something?
24 A Yeah, if you are talking about 2008 when we did
25 that, that was with my father, we counted it at 72,000. That
32
1 went into the attic, and there was an additional approximately
2 20,000 that he held. It's basically like a closet, it's like a
3 coat closet.
4 Q But was it a surprise when you found out that the
5 amount of cash was over $109,000?
6 A Actually, that figure was -- because prior to that
7 I spoke with Uncle Glen and when I asked him, one of the
8 reasons that he wanted me to take money out of the bank --
9 which, by the way, we did -- was because he was telling me he
10 was down to 3,000.
11 At no time would I ever -- prior to 2008 did I ever
12 go into his personal stash at the house, that was his. So when
I3 he told me he was down to $3,000, I took his word.
14 Q Do you have anything specifically that leads you to
15 believe that Janet Swope, his daughter, was exploiting Glen?
16 A Well, what I would suggest is, in my opinion, it's
17 a transparent attempt starting from 2007. Once again, it's his
18 money, if it's not the trust, he doesn't have to explain,
19 that's not my money, that's his. But she had approached him,
20 and it was my understanding that he had actually given her a
21 large sum of money.
22 Q To your knowledge, to your personal knowledge, did
23 he give her a large sum of money?
24 A He said he gave her money in approximately 2007.
25 Q But you don't know specifically the amount of money
33
1 or what circumstances?
2 A He would not say. By the way, can I still add to
3 the question?
4 THE COURT: You will have an opportunity on
5 redirect.
6 BY MR. BECK:
7 Q Did you ever, were you ever concerned that the
8 terms of the irrevocable trust might be altered or changed in
9 any regard to the beneficiaries if your Uncle Glen went to live
10 with Janet Swope?
11 A Yes, we are, because, once again, that's his money.
12 MR. BECK: Thank you, I have no further questions.
13 THE COURT: Mr. Bayley.
14
15 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
16 BY MR. BAYLEY:
17 Q As part of the trust that was executed in 2004 by
18 Glen, Janet was specifically excluded for being a beneficiary
19 in 2004, is that correct?
20 A Yes. At that time Uncle Glen, in the original
21 trust, specifically did not make any accomodation for his son,
22 Glen Stone, Jr., and Janet Swope. At that time, not just me,
23 but he would tell other family members that Janet was actually
24 not his daughter. Janet did not show up on the trust
25 amendments until 2009 when she was actually given a token
34
1 amount of $3,000.
2 Q But going back to my question, she was actually
3 mentioned on the trust in 2004 with regard to, in writing, Glen
4 said she was excluded from being a beneficiary, correct?
5 A To my knowledge, yes.
6 Q Was there something you wanted to add about your
7 suspicion that Janet received some money recently?
8 A Once again, we don't know the exact numbers. He is
9 asking me for exact numbers, and I don't have that. I can only
10 go by what Uncle Glen told me that he had given her money.
11 Apparently, it was because of -- that he was not able to
12 provide for an earlier time.
13 But the other thing that actually raised concerns
14 by our family is at that time they had taken or were in the
15 process of taking Uncle Glen's license, and he actually had two
16 cars. And it came to our attention that they were having
17 financial, serious financial difficulty, and that the cars that
18 they owned were being taken away. They approached Uncle Glen
19 and said that they wanted the car.
20 MR. BECK: Your Honor, I object. The witness is
21 not specifically answering the question as to his knowledge of
22 events.
23 THE COURT: Overruled, I will allow that.
24 MR. BAYLEY: That's all I have.
25 THE COURT: You may certainly put her on the stand
35
1 and she can say what, if anything, she wants to about the cars;
2 but he is giving us his impression of what was happening.
3 Next question, Mr. Bayley. Did you say none?
4 MR. BAYLEY: That's all I have.
5 THE COURT: Any recross?
6 MR. BECK: I do, Your Honor.
7
8 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
9 BY MR. BECK:
10 Q I would like to go back to the events in October of
11 2011.
12 Mr. Stoner, at some point, I believe it was on
13 October 20, 2011, did you post no trespass notices around the
14 property where Glen lived?
15 A I did not. I actually issued a no trespass notice.
16 It was issued to the individuals, it wasn't posted at all, so
17 they actually knew directly, as I was directed to do.
18 Q Who did you give them to, those notices?
19 A That would be Bob and Janet Swope.
20 Q Anyone else?
21 A Yes, I did. Not that day, but on the following day
22 I gave a copy to Mrs. Shields.
23 Q Did you ever listen into any conversations that
24 Glen was having with either his neighbors; his daughter, Janet;
25 or any other folks either personally or on the telephone?
36
1 A Being more specific, you mean intentional?
2 Q Yes, intentional?
3 A No.
4 MR. BECK: I have no further questions.
5
6 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
7 BY MR. BAYLEY:
8 Q Who gave you the idea to do the no trespassing
9 notice?
10 A Actually, because of my concerns that he was being
11 exploited, I contacted the Cumberland County Office of Aging
12 and I spoke to their representative, who was Pricilla Whitman.
13 And she told me after speaking with a staff attorney, the name
14 was not provided, but hearing all the facts, their belief was
15 to do two things: In their words, isolate Uncle Glen away from
16 the threat; and, two, petition for guardianship.
17 So based on there, I went ahead -- I cannot
18 authorize a no trespassing, I had to go through my brother and
19 my sister because they had the POA for the property.
20 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
21 THE COURT: Anything more on the no trespassing?
22 MR. BECK: No, Your Honor.
23 THE COURT: Then you may step down, thank you, sir.
24 You next witness, Mr. Bayley.
25 MR. BAYLEY: I call Wayne Stoner.
37
1 WAYNE PHILLIP STONER,
2 hav ing been duly sworn, testified as follows:
3 DIRECT EXAMINATION
4 BY MR. BAYLEY:
5 Q What is your full name?
6 A Wayne Phillip Stoner.
7 Q Where do you reside?
8 A 506 David Drive, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
9 Q What is your occupation?
10 A I am vice president of Stoner Environmental.
11 Q What do you do?
12 A I do government contracting and environmental
I3 investigat ions for my government clients.
14 Q What is your relation to Glen Stoner?
15 A I am his nephew. I was the co-POA. I was
16 co-executo r. I was co-trustee for the irrevocable trust.
17 Q How much contact had you with Glen over the past
18 few years?
19 A That varied. When I became trustee, I used to try
20 to get the re once or twice a week. Sometimes that would vary.
21 I travel a lot, like my brother said, so when I was home I
22 would usua lly try to go once or twice a week. If he needed
23 more care or had more appointments that I would be able to be
24 there for him, I would be there more than once or twice a week.
25 Q How has your relationship been with Glen
38
1 historically and up to present?
2 A Up until probably September I thought we had a
3 great relationship. I can remember going out to see him in
4 1973. And I thought he was one of the best guys I had ever
5 known and a great uncle.
6 I can remember that he gave me this -- he had this
7 little duck that you would stick it in the water and as the
8 bill would get wet, it would go back and forth. And I said I
9 liked it and he had actually given it to me. It was just so
10 nice, I felt -- I had never really had a lot of experience with
11 my uncles, and it was just, I thought he was a great guy.
12 So later on in life, in the '90s I was working out
13 in Illinois, and I went out and stayed with him a little bit
14 and just had a wonderful time. I always enjoyed his company.
15 Then in 2000, the same, early 2000s, I would work
16 out there and I would, when I could, go visit him and actually
17 I stayed with him.
18 Then as, like I said, with the trustee, then I
19 would try to go down to Shippensburg once or twice a week at
20 least and to help him out with his things and his bills and
21 anything I could possibly do.
22 Q Have you been able to have contact with him in the
23 last couple of months?
24 A I had not tried. I felt -- I saw him on the 18th
25 of November when he was admitted into the ER, and I felt like
39
1 he was a different person, that what we had was no longer
2 there. So I went to see him at Sarah Todd I think in mid
3 December and we had a great talk. It was nice, I stayed there
4 probably about almost an hour and we did have a nice chat. But
5 before that, between September and then, I just felt like I
6 couldn't approach him. I felt like he didn't want me to be
7 there.
g Q Ronnie Stoner testified that he believed Glen took
9 a downturn in January of this year. What is your take on that
10 statement?
11 A I believe that is true also. I think what is very
12 significant is in the report that their doctor had done on Glen
13 for the psychological evaluation, Uncle Glen had mentioned that
14 his second wife and him moved to Pennsylvania and purchased a
15 house, and that was not true. His wife died in 1999 and he
16 moved by himself to Pennsylvania in 2005 and never purchased a
17 house. So besides everything that my brother had testified to,
18 that evidence was -- I didn't realize it was that bad.
19 Q Have you, yourself, observed other examples of his
20 decline recently?
21 A Just forgetting things. I had -- I remember we
22 were in the car the one day and we were talking about mom and I
23 was telling her -- the progression of her disease. I said, She
24 couldn't even do 3 plus 5, couldn't figure out what that was.
25 And I said, Uncle Glen, you know what that is, 3 plus 5?
40
1 And he never answered me. I said, You could tell me what that
2 is, couldn't you? And he never answered me. So I don't know.
3 One of the other incidents was whenever the day
4 that my mom fell. Actually, Uncle Glen had spoken to me and my
5 understanding was he had been over there at 5:30 in the
6 morning. And then my sister, Bonnie, called me. I think it
7 was approximately quarter to 7:00, and said that they were
8 taking -- she just spoke to Elaine, or Mrs. Shields, and they
9 were taking my mother to the hospital.
10 Afterwards, I spoke with Uncle Glen. He said that
11 he found her at about 5:30. I think he tried to move her. I
12 think he tried to get her up. Because I'm sure she wanted him
13 to help her get up. And I think he helped her, and for him to
14 try to pick up a 200 pound woman, there is no way. So he told
15 me he got in the car, drove to Ms. Shields' and got her and
16 then I guess drove back, I don't know. Then as my brother
17 testified, she called Bonnie and Bonnie told them to call 911.
18 Q Any other examples of your observations with regard
19 to his decline that weren't already stated?
20 A Yes, pretty much the ones that were already stated.
21 Q What do you think about Janet's proposal to move
22 Glen to Texas?
23 A I don't think it's a good idea. I believe -- I
24 have had concerns myself about her. Most of what I heard about
25 her has been negative. Most of it has been from Uncle Glen.
41
1 The rest of it I based on her behavior the past few months and
2 how she seems like she has been trying to isolate Uncle Glen
3 from the family. Just the way she is handling the situation.
4 As my brother said, we spoke with her in a
5 conference call, and said -- we actually requested a written
6 proposal from her because we did let her know that she was an
7 option for Uncle Glen's residence, where he could stay.
g So we said, you know, we would like to have a
9 written proposal because part of the trust will compensate
10 Uncle Glen's expenses. She didn't agree with that and implied
11 that we had -- that somebody had taken money from Uncle Glen.
12 We said that was not the case, that the money in the trust was
13 accounted for.
14 So based on those situations, I don't think it's a
15 good idea. I think her moving him to Texas isolates him from
16 the rest of the family. As far as I know, the only relatives
17 he is going to have down there are Janet and Bob, and the rest
18 of his friends are back here, his family is back here.
19 It just seems like he's going to be isolated. And
20 what happens if one of them is ill, becomes ill and the other
21 one has to take care of it, what happens to Uncle Glen? That
22 is kind of what happened with our grandfather. So that is a
23 concern, and that is a lot of the reasons why we don't think
24 it's a good idea.
25 Q I am assuming at this point you concur with
42
1 Ronnie's request to be appointed as co-plenary guardian?
2 A Yes.
3 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
4 THE COURT: Cross, please.
5
6 CROSS-EXAMINATION
7 BY MR. BECK:
g Q Mr. Stoner, the incident where your mother fell?
g A Yes.
10 Q Did you say that Glen drove to Mrs. Shields'?
I1 A That's what he told me.
I2 MR. BECK: I have no further questions, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: Any redirect?
14 MR. BAYLEY: No.
15 THE COURT: You may step down, thank you.
16 MR. BAYLEY: I call Dr. Christopher Royer.
17
lg DR. CHRISTOPHER DAVID ROYER,
19 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
20 DIRECT EXAMINATION
21 BY MR. BAYL EY:
22 Q What's your full name and how old are you?
23 A Christopher David Royer, and I'm 46.
24 Q What is your employment?
25 A I am a clinical neuropsychologist.
43
1 Q Where do you work?
2 A I have a private practice in Mechanicsburg,
3 Pennsylvania.
4 MR. BAYLEY: Your Honor, at this point I believe we
5 have a stipulation to allow Dr. Royer to testify as an expert
6 in clinical neuropsychology, and I believe we also have a
7 stipulation to enter his curriculum vitae as part of the
8 record.
g THE COURT: Is that accurate?
10 MR. BECK: That's accurate, Your Honor.
11 (Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 and 2 were marked for
12 identification.)
13 THE COURT: We will enter his curriculum vitae as
14 Petitioner Exhibit 2, and it is admitted, and he may proceed to
15 testify and give us his expert opinion.
16 BY MR. BAYLEY:
17 Q Showing you Petitioner's Exhibit 1. Can you
18 identify that document?
19 A Yes, this is a report that I produced after
20 evaluating Glen Stoner on October 11, 2011.
21 Q When did you conduct an examination with regard to
22 Glen Stoner?
23 A October 11, 2011.
24 Q Can you discuss exactly what you did as part of
25 that exam?
44
1 A Sure. I conducted an interview with Mr. Stoner. I
2 spoke with his nephew, Ron Stoner. I reviewed a note or letter
3 submitted by Mr. Stoner and his brother regarding concerns, and
4 I conducted cognitive tests as part of my evaluation.
5 Q What type of tests did you do?
6 A It's a variety of tests based upon a small battery
7 called the Cognistat battery. Looking at areas of how a person
8 is oriented, how they pay attention, certainly memory areas of
9 language skills, abilities to reason and respond to very simple
10 dilemmas, and also to be able to think abstractly and make
11 connections between things.
12 The battery is notable, and I choose to use it for
13 the type of evaluation because, frankly, it's very easy. When
14 a person has difficulty with these type of tests, the results I
15 believe carry more weight.
16 Q Can you go through specifically what type of
17 testing you did and what the results were with regard to each
18 test?
19 A Sure. If it's okay I will refer to my report as I
20 go through.
21 Q Sure.
22 A From a cognitive perspective at that time, his
23 orientation was variable, meaning that he was able to be
24 correct on some items such as the year and the month, had more
25 trouble identifying the day of the month, the day of the week,
45
1 was not able to name the current president.
2 In terms of his attention skills, he during the
3 interview was attentive from an observational standpoint. When
4 asked to do some simple equations, very, very simple math, he
5 was not able to do that. That is an intentional task based on
6 a person's ability to hold information in their head.
~ So, I mean, I took a look at his memory. On this
8 task he was simply asked to recite and recall four words over a
9 very short delay. Again, the purpose being to present someone
10 with a simple task, to see if that is a hurdle that they can
11 get over. In this case he had extreme difficulty on this task.
12 Proceeding then to look at a task of what I called
13 construction skills. The reason to do this is twofold. One is
14 that it's part brain functioning, it's looking at all different
15 areas to see what pattern of test performance might yield a
16 diagnosis of one kind or another. But in particular, for Mr.
17 Stoner it's important to evaluate him on a task that is not
18 heavily loaded in terms of, you know, verbal kinds of skills.
19 He has limited education, and it would be important to evaluate
20 him with tests that did not burden him too much with that.
21 So I gave him that test. He had a very difficult
22 time, and he made some very telltale and classic errors on that
23 test that are associated with dementia.
24 Moving on to tests of reasoning skills, both
25 looking at abstract thought, that is the ability to connect one
46
1 thing or idea to another and also to respond to vignette,
2 situations that a person might encounter, very simple ones, on
3 those tasks, he was either -- unable to respond to items that
4 were very concrete.
5 Finally, just basic things, like what would you do
6 in case of an emergency. As I recall, he was not able to
7 identify the correct emergency procedures, such as calling 911.
g Q How did you pose that question with regard to 911?
g A Well, I actually do it in, and let me check here,
10 yeah. I do it kind of successively and try to cue the person
11 to get the right answer.
12 The first way I ask is, so, if you were home alone
13 and you had a medical emergency, what would you do? That is
14 the most open ended question which should result in the correct
15 answer. If the person doesn't do that, then I ask, but tell
16 me, if you were alone and you had to get an ambulance right
17 away, what would you do? If it was a real emergency and you
18 couldn't wait to call the doctor? A lot of times people will
19 say, I would call my doctor, I would call my son, my daughter,
20 my sister, et cetera.
21 And then if they can't get that, I say, you know,
22 but there is a specific thing you do on the phone, right? If
23 they can't get that, then I say, there is a number you call,
24 right? So I do that successively to try to see how much cueing
25 it takes in order to get this. Of course, in this case it was
47
1 not able to be elicited.
2 Q Continue with what other tests you did?
3 A Well, that is generally the cognitive battery.
4 At this point, I feel I had a lot of data here.
5 Also, particularly looking at, you know, from a
6 neuropsychological respective and from a research respective,
7 what are the kinds of things that really correlate with a
8 person's ability to make decent decisions and function in life.
9 Interestingly enough, memory is only kind of in the
10 middle of that list. Memory is an important function, God
11 knows, we all need it. But in order to truly make good
12 decisions, you also have to be able to reason, you have to be
13 able to think with a certain degree of logic, you have to be
14 able to assess situations.
15 So, in addition to his significant difficulties
16 with memory, he exhibited consistent difficulties with
17 reasoning. That certainly gave me a lot of concern. Paired up
18 with the concerns expressed to me about him having lost a great
19 deal of money in scams at his previous residence, his
20 resistance to not having tons of money at home.
21 Also a concern expressed about him doing something
22 very radical, should he have to move or not get his way. I
23 forget, and I apologize which nephew said it to me, but a
24 concern that he had made a comment that he might shoot himself
25 if he couldn't do what he wanted. So with all of these things
48
1 combined, plus his kind of I guess unawareness of the impact of
2 all of these things, my opinion was that that was sufficient to
3 meet the definition of incapacity based on a PA state statute.
4 Q Specifically, what were your conclusions with
5 regard to the testing?
6 A My conclusions were that he did not have a capacity
7 to make decisions in his own best interest, that he required
8 24-hour supervision and requires 24-hour supervision, that he
9 needs someone or an entity to have oversight over his personal,
10 medical, financial, and residential decisions.
11 Q What have you diagnosed him with?
12 A Based on the pattern of test scores and my review
13 of his medical history, I believe the best diagnosis at this
14 point is of a mixed dementia. It is a very common type of
15 dementia in which both vascular factors and what they call a
16 primary process, which is Alzheimers disease, play a role, and
1~ if a person has vascular risk factors that cannot be diagnosed
18 with Alzheimers alone. So mixed dementia is my diagnosis.
19 Q Our legislature defines an incapacitated person as
20 an adult whose ability to receive and evaluate information
21 effectively, communicate decisions in any way, is impaired to
22 such a significant extent that he is partially or totally
23 unable to manage his financial resources or to meet essential
24 requirements for his physical health and safety.
25 Are you able to render an opinion with regard to
49
1 that definition to a reasonable degree of medical certainty
2 with regard to Glen Stoner?
3 A Yes, I am.
4 Q Do you believe he meets that definition of an
5 incapacitated person?
6 A Yes, I do.
7 Q Are you able to render an opinion on the likelihood
8 of whether his condition will improve or decline over time?
9 A In situations in which dementia is playing a role,
10 dementia is by definition a condition that does not improve.
11 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
12 THE COURT: Cross, please.
13
14 CROSS-EXAMINATION
15 BY MR. BECK:
16 Q Doctor, how long did you spend with Glen?
17 A I would say probably 45 to 50 minutes.
18 Q Were you alone with Glen during that period of
19 time?
20 A At least part of the time at least one of his
21 nephews was there as well.
22 Q So the information that was provided about the
23 scams and the money taken from him actually came from the
24 nephew, not from Glen?
25 A Yeah. What actually happened was that his nephew
50
1 informed me that they were concerned about him becoming upset
2 if they spoke about a lot of concerns. So they provided me
3 with a written statement of their concerns. The vast majority
4 of my interaction during that time was with Mr. Stoner.
5 Q Can you explain the process by which you diagnose
6 this mixed dementia specifically beyond the single appointment,
7 is it a progressive process?
8 A Yeah, dementia is something that progresses over
9 time. It is very difficult to identify an onset for dementia
10 given that we all have microvascular disease in our brains and
11 we all have neurofibrillary plaques and tangles in our brains
I2 that represent Alzheimers, it's just a matter of degree, and
13 some people express those impairments in a greater degree over
14 the course of their lifetime.
15 So, you know, as is almost the case, I see somebody
16 at a point in time in their life and I use confrontational
17 means, that is tests, in order to assess the pattern of
18 impairment that might lead me to believe one thing or the other
I9 exists.
20 There are certain patterns that are classic for
21 Alzheimers disease, there are other patterns that are more
22 classic for vascular dementia.
23 In this case, Mr. Stoner showed many patterns that
24 are classic for Alzheimers disease, however, yet, again, given
25 the medical history, it is impossible to render that diagnosis
51
1 alone given he has so many vascular risk factors.
2 Q Would it be unusual for a combination of
3 medications to cause some of the same symptoms that dementia
4 may give rise to?
5 A That is possible. Usually medications that are
6 oriented towards pain relief, some psychopharmacology can do
7 that. That is something...
8 Q Did you hear Mr. Ron Stoner testify that at least
9 at one point he was taking up to 17 different medications?
10 A Sure.
11 Q Would it be unusual for a patient to show signs of
12 delirium or something like dementia taking a combination of
13 that many medications?
14 A I don't believe that a person would show delirium
15 with the exception of some medications, and that is usually
16 caught in the hospital; but, certainly, cognitive impairment
17 can be seen with medications.
18 Q Did you have a list of his medications when you did
19 an examination?
20 A Yes, I did.
21 Q Did you identify any medications that might impact
22 on his cognitive ability?
23 A Not at the time of the evaluation, no.
24 Q At any time?
25 A No, that is the point in time I made the
52
1 conclusions. So, no, I haven't reviewed his current list, for
2 example.
3 MR. BECK: I have no further questions, Your Honor.
4 MR. BAYLEY: I may call the doctor on rebuttal, but
5 I don't have any more questions now.
6 THE COURT: Thank, you, doctor, you may step down.
~ MR. BAYLEY: I will move to admit Petitioner's 1
8 and 2.
9 THE COURT: Petitioner's 1, any objection to that?
10 We have admitted 2. Mr. Beck?
11 MR. BECK: No objection, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Then Petitioners 1 is also admitted.
13 You have no further testimony at this time?
14 MR. BAYLEY: No.
15 THE COURT: We will take a brief recess before we
16 get started with your first witness, Mr. Beck, five or ten
17 minutes.
18 (Recess.)
19 THE COURT: Mr. Beck, your first witness.
20 MR. BECK: Your Honor, we would like to make a
21 telephone connection with Dr. Leaman next. We have Dr. Leaman
22 on the phone telephonically.
23 THE COURT: Doctor, this is Judge Masland, you are
24 now being broadcast live in courtroom 5. Can you hear me all
25 right?
53
1 DR. LEAMAN: Yes, I can.
2 THE COURT: Before we go any further we are going
3 to have you sworn in to testify.
4
5 DR. DAVID R. LEAMAN,
6 having been duly sworn, testified telephonically as follows:
~ DIRECT EXAMINATION
8 BY THE COURT:
9 Q What is your full name?
10 A It's David R. Leaman, and my address is 131 West
11 Fifth Street, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
12 Q How do you spell your last name, doctor?
13 A L-E-A-M-A-N.
14 THE COURT: Thank you.
15 BY MR. BECK:
16 Q Dr. Leaman, could you begin by explaining your CV
17 for the Court?
18 A Licensed psychologist in Maryland and in
19 Pennsylvania. I have been in private practice since 1981.
20 Prior to that I worked in a psychiatric facility for 2 years at
21 Brook Lane Psychiatric Center in Hagerstown, Maryland. Then
22 prior to that four years as a staff psychologist in Bedford,
23 at Bedford Mental Health Clinic in Pennsylvania.
24 Q Since your time in practice, what does your
25 practice consist of?
54
1 A It's a general practice that involves offering
2 therapeutic services to teenagers and adults, consultation to
3 schools, and then a forensic piece which involves doing custody
4 evaluations, risk assessments, assessments regarding sex
5 offenders, criminal behavior, so there's a forensic aspect to
6 the practice as well.
~ MR. BECK: Your Honor, I would offer Dr. Leaman as
8 an expert.
9 THE COURT: Any questions, Mr. Bayley?
10 MR. BAYLEY: No.
11 THE COURT: We will allow Dr. Leaman to testify and
12 give his expert opinion.
13 BY MR. BECK:
I4 Q Dr. Leaman, did you evaluate Mr. Glen Stoner?
15 A Yes, I did. I met with Mr. Stoner for about two
16 and a half to two and three quarters hours and interviewed him
17 quite extensively; and also did some formal and informal
18 testing of his cognitive and functioning and have written a
19 report for that dated. November 14, 2011.
20 Q Do you happen to have a copy of that report with
21 you?
22 A I do.
23 Q Could you explain what you observed from Mr.
24 Stoner?
25 A Yes. He came to the interview and he was brought
55
1 by his daughter, Janet Swope. He walked with a cane but was
2 able to negotiate four steps into my office quite well. He was
3 oriented to times, person, place and things. There didn't seem
4 to be any evidence for psychotic cognitions.
5 He did understand the purpose for the evaluation.
6 His speech was appropriate. Mental status indicated that he is
7 functioning within normal range of appropriate cognitive and
8 behavioral patterns for his age.
9 In terms of the evaluation then I did an extensive
10 interview with him and then did some testing using the Wechsler
11 Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Memory Scale.
12 My conclusions basically were that he does manifest
13 short term memory impairment indicative of beginning stages of
14 dementia, but there was no aphasia or no apraxia; and although
15 he falls below normal in terms of his overall intellectual
16 functioning, he did not have, in my view, significantly
17 impaired ability in terms of judgment.
18 I believe that his cognitive executive functioning
19 was sufficient for him to make reasonable decisions regarding
20 his own wellbeing in spite of his limited memory capacity.
21 Q Did you apply the testing that you did to the
22 Pennsylvania statute in regard to incapacity?
23 A Yes, I did. According to the key essential aspect
24 from my understanding, the incapacitated person relates to the
25 capacity of the person to understand and make decisions
56
1 regarding his own health and regarding his financial wellbeing.
2 Based on those guidelines, the psychological testing and the
3 interview, I did not believe adequately supported a labelling
4 of incapacitated person.
5 Q How long did you spend talking to Janet Swope, his
6 daughter, that brought him to the evaluation?
7 A Probably 20 minutes. In contrast to a meeting with
8 Mr. Stoner which was about two and a half hours alone.
9 Q Did you review the report of Dr. Royer?
10 A Yes, I did.
11 Q What difference was there in the report between the
12 evaluation and the findings that you made and the evaluation
13 and findings of Dr. Royer?
14 A Let me refer to his report here in a moment. I
15 think the primary difference I think may be involved in some of
16 the data collection.
17 I did not talk with Dr. Royer, but it appears from
18 his report that a significant amount of the information that he
19 referenced did come from the interview with Mr. Stoner's
20 nephews.
21 It does appear that Dr. Royer and myself used
22 similar and variety of testing in terms of dementia
23 possibilities and aphasia possibilities. But I think the major
24 difference in Dr. Royer's diagnostic impression, he indicated
25 that there is impairment in the area of memory. I would agree
57
1 with that, there is impairment in the area of memory.
2 He said also attention and orientation. I found
3 little impairment in the area of orientation. According to my
4 assessment, Mr. Stoner seemed to be adequately oriented.
5 Then Dr. Royer also indicated that there was
6 impairment in the area of reasoning and judgment, and that
7 based on his conclusion he said he is considered to be not
8 capable of making decisions in his own best interest as defined
9 by the Pennsylvania state statute.
10 I think that is the principal area where Dr. Royer
11 and I would disagree. We are certainly in agreement with the
12 impairment and with some of the onset of dementia, and he is
13 certainly functioning below average intelligence. But from my
14 assessment, I believed that Mr. Stoner is capable of making
15 reasonable decisions regarding his own wellbeing.
16 In the interview with Mr. Stoner, he described his
17 ability to perform the functions of health care, taking care of
18 himself and getting meals and brushing teeth and going to bed.
19 He also was able to carry on a meaningful appropriate
20 conversation for two and a half hours, being questioned with a
21 lot of different questions.
22 He stayed on task, was appropriate in responding,
23 was able to follow the reasoning of the questions; and, again,
24 even though he is below average in intelligence, I believed
25 that he indicated an ability to comprehend what I was saying,
58
I what the questions were, what
2 express his own viewpoints of
3 interest. I believe he did t]
4 MR. BECK: I have
5 THE COURT: Thank
6 cross-examined by Mr. Bayley.
7
the meanings were, and be able to
what he thought was his own best
gat adequately well.
no further questions, Your Honor.
you. Doctor, you are now being
8 CROSS-EXAMINATION
9 BY MR. BAYLEY:
10 Q Doctor, based on your testin
g, would you expect
11 Glen to be able to figure out how to dial 911 if he were alone
12 during an emergency situation?
13 A I would think for the most part he could but that
14 might depend on the severity of distress and what is happening
15 at the moment. The issue is the memory because of his short
16 term memory difficulties, he might not at the moment recall
17 whether it is 911 or some other number. So to assist in that
18 it would be important to have that number posted by the
19 telephone or some other visible place.
20 Q To be able to call 911 would certainly be a
21 requirement for somebody's physical safety, wouldn't it?
22 A Yes, it would; and so, again, because we do have
23 the memory impairment, I think he understands that there is a
24 number he is to call, and I think he understands he needs to go
25 to the emergency room. It's the question of that moment, can
59
1 he access what is the number to call.
2 So, yes, both Dr. Royer and I agree there is that
3 memory impairment, but I think that can be compensated for by
4 having it posted somewhere.
5 I think he has the logic and the capacity to
6 understand that there is a number for him to call for help for
7 emergencies, it is whether he remembers what that number is.
g Q Well, we had some testimony today that suggested
9 that there was an incident in September where a person he was
10 living with fell and hurt themselves and Mr. Stoner couldn't
11 figure out to call 911 and an hour went by. If that were to be
12 true, does that affect your opinion here.
13 A It doesn't affect the opinion in terms of my belief
14 that he does have capacity to make reasonable decisions for
15 himself. It does confirm his memory impairment and his
16 inability to recall what that number is at that particular
17 time.
18 Q Would that be a short-term memory issue or a
I9 long-term memory issue, not being able to remember 911?
20 A It's both, it's both, yes. He has enough memory
21 impairment, probably, again, due to age and dementia setting
22 in. So for these individuals, expecting them to remember a
23 number or a name would be difficult for them.
24 So important information like 911 I think the way
25 to help individuals like that is to make sure that it is posted
60
1 for them so that they don't have to access in memory retrieval.
2 Q In your report you stated that during your
3 questioning Glen was not able to name any of his medications,
4 is that correct?
5 A That is correct.
6 Q Not only that, he wasn't able to specify the
7 purpose why he was taking any medications, is that correct?
g A He could state why medications were necessary, but
9 he could not state what medications were for what purpose. For
10 instance, he indicated because of arthritis and his pain, he
11 takes medication. He takes medications for his eyes. He takes
12 several medications for his heart. So he was aware of the
13 function of the medications but, again, the name of the
14 medication or the amount of the prescription, he could not
15 identify.
16 Q There was some testimony earlier that Glen carried
17 a list of his medications in his wallet. Are you aware of
18 whether he had his wallet at your interview?
19 A Yes, he did, and he did get that out and show me
20 some of the medications.
21 4 You also indicated that Mr. Stoner performed poorly
22 and much below average on the logical memory sub test. What
23 was he asked to do on that test and how did it go?
24 A The logical memory pertains to reading a story,
25 short term story of maybe 20 sentences; and then it is
61
1 immediate memory recall where he is asked to recall the
2 elements of the story, either re-tell the story or say what
3 were the important events that happened in the story.
4 So this is really a test of short term memory. We
5 call it logical memory because it's told within a story frame
6 as opposed to just throwing out numbers for them to recall or
7 unrelated word lists.
g His recall, again, it's a test of memory, was very
9 poor. So indicative of memory impairment, that is probably
10 going to be an area of dementia.
11 Q This was a simple story you told to him and he
12 could not come up with any re-telling of the story?
13 A He came up with several elements of the story, but
14 not enough to score in the average range. He was in a much
15 below average of his recall.
16 Q In your conclusion, in your report you stated that
17 the data does not provide strong support for a label of
18 incapacitated person?
I9 A Right.
20 Q That sounds like a guarded conclusion, at least to
21 me. Are you saying that there is a moderate support for a
22 label of incapacitated person? What level of support is there?
23 A The memory impairment is certainly a factor. That
24 is why I used that term. But his capacity to reason, to follow
25 instruction, to articulate his interests, his ability to
62
1 identify what is important to him, to express his own needs,
2 his ability to make appropriate decisions, I felt these
3 functions, these cognitive functions, were at an adequate level
4 for him to be able to make decisions.
5 The one that is below that level of functioning
6 would be his memory capacity. So that is why I put the data
7 does not provide strong, or maybe I should have put the words
8 strong enough support for a label of incapacitated person.
g Q For example, with his memory deficiencies, would it
10 be possible for him to make an informed competent medical
11 decision after receiving a consult by a doctor? Would that
12 even be possible if he can't remember most of the facts of a
13 simple story?
14 A It would probably have to be written down for him.
15 Again, it's the odd combination that I think he has the
16 reasoning capacity to understand. What he doesn't have is the
17 retrieval capacity, the ability to access the facts or the
18 factual data.
19 Q Don't you need to have a command of the facts to
20 make an informed decision? That is what I'm not understanding.
21 How can he make a reasoned informed competent decision if he
22 doesn't have a handle on the facts?
23 A If the facts are there in front of him, I think he
24 can make the reasonable informed decision. If the facts rely
25 solely on memory, important pieces of information may be left
63
1 out. So that is really what you are dealing with.
2 Q From my reading of your report, it appears that you
3 are in agreement that Glen is impaired to a significant extent
4 enough so that he cannot manage his financial affairs. Is that
5 correct?
6 A I think he would need assistance with that, yes.
7 Q So you think he is impaired enough to a significant
8 extent enough that he would need assistance with that, he can't
9 handle that by himself?
10 A I think the things that he can handle, for
11 instance, getting his check, taking it to the bank, cashing it
12 in, counting money, when it comes to issues of investment, I
13 think he would need advisement for that. Where would he invest
14 this money, how to distribute money, those are the kinds of
15 things that I think he would need advisement on.
16 Q You can say that to a reasonable degree of medical
17 certainty?
18 A Phycological. I'm not a physician, so a reasonable
19 degree of psychological certainty.
20 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
21 THE COURT: Any redirect?
22 MR. BECK: No, Your Honor, only to offer Dr.
23 Leaman's phycological, while he is still on the telephone,
24 evaluation, dated November 14, into evidence as Respondent
25 Exhibit No. 1.
64
1 (Respondent's Exhibit No. 1 was marked for
2 identification.)
3 THE COURT: Any objection?
4 MR. BAYLEY: No.
5 THE COURT: Respondent's Exhibit No. 1 is admitted.
6 Dr. Leaman, I have a question.
7 BY THE COURT:
g Q I believe that Dr. Royer testified to the effect
9 that the condition we are calling dementia, an individual does
10 not improve with time, that by definition dementia does not
11 improve. Is that your understanding, sir?
12 A Yes, that is correct, it's an irreversible brain
13 deterioration.
14 THE COURT: Thank you, I have no other questions.
15 Any other questions from counsel?
I6 MR. BAYLEY: No.
1~ THE COURT: Doctor, thank you for your time, you
18 are now excused and may go back to work.
19 MR. BECK: Your Honor, at this time I would like to
20 call Priscilla Whitman.
21
22 PRISCILLA M. WHITMAN,
23 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
24 DIRECT EXAMINATION
25 BY MR. BECK:
65
1 Q Mrs. Whitman, would you like to state your full
2 name.
3 A My name is Priscilla M. Whitman, W-H-I-T-M-A-N.
4 Q Where do you live?
5 A I live in Carlisle, 1890 Esther Drive, Carlisle,
6 Pennsylvania. Before I get any further testimony, I have been
7 informed I --
g THE COURT: You are directed by the Court to
9 testify in this matter.
10 THE WITNESS: Thank you, sir.
11 BY MR. BECK:
12 Q Mrs. Whitman, do you know Glen Stoner?
13 A Yes, I do.
14 Q How did you become acquainted with him?
15 A I became acquainted with him in October after we
16 had received a report in need that came into the Office of
17 Aging, and I am employed as a protective service investigator.
lg Q Did you meet with Mr. Stoner in his home?
19 A Yes, I did. I met with him on October 21 in his
20 residence by himself, and I met with him probably 6 or 8 other
21 visits since October 21.
22 Q How did you find his condition on October 21?
23 A He lives in a garage that has been made into one
24 big room. He had the bed in there, a refrigerator, a sink and
25 a toilet. It was not real clean. Dark. Not the best
66
1 situation.
2 Q How long did you spend with him that day?
3 A Probably a good 45 minutes to an hour.
4 Q Did you discuss his situation with him?
5 A Yes, I spoke to him and I explained who I was. We
6 talked about why I was there. He also told me a little bit
7 about his life when he lived in Illinois and when he was -- his
8 first marriage, his second marriage, his children.
9 He was a construction worker, a farmer, and he just
10 went on about all those different things.
11 Q Did he sound to you like someone that could make
12 his own personal decisions?
13 A Truthfully, on that day he was somewhat repetitive.
14 But after seeing him on another visit, I had seen .somewhat of
15 an improvement in him, especially after he got out of the Sarah
16 Todd Nursing Home. I believe there was a period where he was
17 quite sick and that could have affected him too.
18 Q Did he express any opinions about where he wanted
19 to live or about his nephews on that day?
20 A Yes. Every visit that I have had with Mr. Glen
21 Stoner he has stated to me that he wants to move to Texas with
22 his daughter and son-in-law. When I mentioned his nephews, he
23 gets agitated. He does not want to be near them right now.
24 Q You met with him again on Monday the 24th?
25 A The 24th I met with him because the 21st as I was
67
1 leaving -- and also a co-worker of mine was with me who had
2 spoken to his daughter and son-in-law in private. As we were
3 leaving, Mr. Ron Stoner came out with a no trespass order, and
4 that was very upsetting to Mr. Glen Stoner. I just felt I had
5 to return on Monday to see how he was because he was extremely
6 upset.
~ Q How was he when you returned?
A He felt isolated, betrayed, not happy. He didn't
8
g appear like he was really being taken care of. He just wanted
10 to go to Texas with his daughter.
11 Q Was that true in the subsequent visits that you had
12 with him?
13 A As far as going to -- he stated to me every time
14 when I asked him where he wants to be, it's with his daughter
15 in Texas.
16 Q Have you talked to his daughter at any point?
1~ A I spoke to her briefly at the Carlisle Hospital I
18 believe was the first time I actually met her. I had gone in
19 to see Glen and he thought I was her because he said, she will
20 be here in a few minutes. Not knowing -- he knew who I was,
21 but I am just saying, he was expecting her and she did show up.
22 We talked a little bit. I then met her again at the Sarah Todd
23 home when I went to see Glen.
24 Q From your observation, what kind of chemistry was
25 there between Glen and his daughter, Janet?
68
1 A The chemistry that I seen between them is very
2 good. I have not felt any or sensed any red flags. They joke
3 around. She has been there with him from the time that he went
4 into the hospital. She was there every day at Sarah Todd, I
5 had asked staff about this. She was very supportive of him
6 during this time.
~ Q Do you believe that he is capable of making the
8 decision to go to Texas to live with his daughter?
A I am not a psychiatrist or a psychologist, but,
9
10 yes, I do believe that he has the ability to make that decision
11 as he told me. He doesn't know how much longer he has to live
12 and he would like to live it with his daughter.
MR. BECK: Thank you, I have no further questions.
13
THE COURT: Cross please.
14
15
CROSS-EXAMINATION
16
1~ BY MR. BAYLEY:
18 Q So the house wasn't in the best condition on the
19 inside when you showed up?
A No, it's just kind of a big open room. It's not
20
21 homey. It was kind of dirty. I just didn't get the best
22 feeling. It's not terrible by any means, but it just wasn't as
23 nice as I thought it might have been.
Q Would you agree at this point he could use 24-hour
24
25 care or at least substantial care to remedy that issue?
69
1 A Yes, he would need 24-hour supervision.
2 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
3 THE COURT: Any redirect?
4 MR. BECK: No, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: You may step down and you are excused.
6 MR. BECK: At this point I would like to call Janet
7 Swope, daughter of Glen.
g THE COURT: You may.
9
10 JANET SWOPE,
11 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
12 DIRECT EXAMINATION
I3 BY MR. BECK:
14 Q Janet, for the record, could you please state your
I5 address?
16 A My address is 2116 Ruth Street, Arlington, Texas.
17 Q What is your relationship with Glen Stoner?
18 A He is my father.
19 Q Would you say at this point you have a good
20 relationship with your father?
21 A Yes.
22 Q Have you always had a good relationship with him?
23 A As long as I have known him, yes.
24 Q Have you lost touch with Glen during your lifetime?
25 A Yes.
70
1 Q Could you tell us about that?
2 A Well, my mother and him separated when we were
3 very, very young; and when I grew up, I didn't hear much about
4 him. He did come to visit me when I had my sons and we took a
5 trip to Illinois in '72 and we went to visit him then. Then we
6 lost track.
7 Q Was there a falling out between the two of you?
8 A No.
9 Q How did you eventually reconnect again?
10 A We were at the Green Village Restaurant and he was
11 in there. I came out, went back in, walked over to the table
12 and asked him if he knew me. He said, no. I said, well, I'm
13 your daughter.
14 Q When would that have been approximately?
15 A That would have probably been in about 2007.
16 Q What kind of contact have you had since that time?
17 A We have had phone calls. I sent him cards, I have
18 come to visit him and stay up here for a couple weeks.
19 Q A couple weeks at a time?
20 A Yes.
21 Q That has been going on since 2007?
22 A Right.
23 Q How long have you been in Pennsylvania for this
24 trip?
25 A Since October 17.
71
1 Q Why did you come up specifically at this time?
2 A Well, I had a call from Ron and Wayne telling me
3 that he had -- maybe he could come live with us. He wanted a
4 letter.
5 THE COURT: Who is he?
6 THE WITNESS: Ron and Wayne wanted a letter stating
7 how much I would charge my father for rent, for food, for
8 electric bills. And my husband and I talked it over and said
9 that is ridiculous, you don't charge your father for living
10 with you. Then he wanted to come and live with us. That is
11 why I never got back to them.
12 BY MR. BECK:
13 Q Could you give us a time frame when that would have
14 happened?
15 A The phone call?
16 Q That you were contacted by --
17 A It was around the 27th of September.
18 Q That is when you were contacted by Ron and/or
19 Wayne?
20 A Right.
21 Q Had you discussed the possibility of your father
22 living with you before then?
23 A No.
24 Q Not at all?
25 A Not to them.
72
1 Q Not them but --
A Not to them. To -- my father asked if he could
2
3 come live with me and my husband, and I said, Yes.
4 Q Do you know that approximate time frame?
5 A That would have been about a year or so before this
6 all came up.
7 Q Go on and tell us what happened with that
g development?
A Well, we had talked on the telephone, and he said
9
10 that he would like to come and stay with me. And I said, well,
11 do you want to come now. He says, no, he wanted to wait and
12 take care of Rosey which he did take care of Rosey. He said,
13 If anything happens to her, then he wanted to come and stay
14 with me. He wouldn't come at that time and he came later.
15 Q What kind of house do you have in Arlington, Texas?
16 A We have a two bedroom, two bath sort of ranch-type
17 home. Corner lot, lots of yard. A balcony on a -- a front
lg porch and a back porch.
19 Q Have you been visiting Glen at his residence at
20 Whitmer Road in Shippensburg while you have been here?
21 A Yes.
22 Q Has Glen expressed to you during those visits where
23 he would like to live?
24 A Yes.
25 Q In your home in Arlington, would he have his own
73
1 bedroom?
2 A He would have his own bedroom, he has access to the
3 whole house.
4 Q Are you presently employed?
5 A No, I am retired.
6 Q So you would have time to visit with Glen and be
7 there fairly constantly?
8 A Yes.
9 Q Would you actually came to Pennsylvania to take him
10 back to Texas, is that really one of the purposes for your trip
11 this time?
12 A That was it.
13 Q What happened when you got here?
14 A When we got here, we didn't go over on the 17th, we
15 waited until the 18th because we were drug out by the plane
16 ride. So when we went over on the 17th (sic) we were called
17 into the house and we were shown a bunch of paperwork about his
18 health and everything. And then we were told, Well, you better
19 have a nice visit with your dad because he's not going to Texas
20 with you.
21 Q Was your dad made aware of that?
22 A He was there. He didn't like it and he has been
23 upset about it.
24 Q How did you become acquainted with me?
25 A Dad asked for a lawyer. ~o we went and looked for
74
1 a lawyer, and he made his decision.
2 Q In terms of what -- actually, you made an
3 appointment with the lawyer for you or --
4 A It was for dad.
5 Q It was for dad, and for what purpose at that time?
6 A That was just to -- he wanted to change his POA,
7 his medical POA, and that was it at this time.
8 Q I'm going to show you a document, it is entitled
9 POA for heal th care and declarations.
10 THE COURT: Has that been marked as an exhibit?
11 MR. BECK: It has not yet, Your Honor.
12 BY MR. BECK:
13 Q Turn to the last page. Actually, that is the
14 health care POA. Is that the document that your -- one of the
15 documents th at your father signed that day that you came in?
16 A Yes.
17 Q On the first paragraph of that document, where it
18 says: I, Gl en Stoner, hereby appoint my daughter, Janet L.
19 Swope, is th at you?
20 A Yes.
21 MR. BECK: Your Honor, I would have this marked as
22 Respondent's Exhibit No. 2, and can this be admitted?
23 (Respondent's Exhibit No. 2 marked for
24 identificati on.)
25 THE COURT: Any objection?
75
1 MR. BAYLEY: No.
2 THE COURT: Respondent's 2 is admitted.
3 (Respondent's Exhibit No. 3 was marked for
4 identification.)
5 BY MR. BECK:
6 Q Turn to the last page of that document.
7 THE COURT: What is this document?
8 MR. BECK: This is the power of attorney. This is
9 Respondent's Exhibit No. 3. Actually, Your Honor, we missed
10 the consent page.
11 BY MR. BECK:
12 Q Is that the power of attorney under which you have
13 been acting?
14 A Yes, sir.
15 Q After we heard from Mr. Bayley, what did I tell you
16 about that power of attorney, if anything?
17 A That we weren't sure if this one would be right.
18 Q And that we would try not to use the POA --
19 A Right.
20 Q -- until the Court had a chance to review your
21 father's situation?
22 A Right.
23 MR. BECK: Your Honor, I would ask that that be
24 admitted as Respondent's Exhibit No. 3.
25 THE COURT: Any objection to admitting Respondent's
76
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
3?
MR. BAYLEY: No.
THE COURT: It is admitted.
BY MR. BECK:
Q Janet, is it your desire that your father come live
with you?
A Yes.
MR. BECK: Thank you very much, I have no further
questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. BAYLEY:
Q What kind of income do you have?
A I have my social security.
Q How much is that a month?
A $1100.
Q What about your husband, what type of income does
he have?
A He has civil service, he has government and he has
his social security and he is a pastor.
Q So he is actually currently employed as a pastor?
A As a pastor.
Q Are you aware of what his income is per month or
per year?
A Not offhand.
77
1 Q Does anybody else live with you?
2 A No.
3 Q Did you recently file for bankruptcy with your
4 husband?
5 A A long time ago.
6 Q When approximately?
7 A '07.
8 Q 2007?
9 A Right.
10 Q There was some money found in Glen's home recently,
11 how was th at found, who found it?
I2 A He told us about it.
13 Q Who found it?
14 A He found it.
15 Q When was it found?
16 A I can't give you the exact date and I can 't give
17 you the exact time. It was two days before he went into the
18 hospital, so it would have been on a Wednesday.
19 Q Were you there when the money was found?
20 A Yes.
21 Q Where was it?
22 A All over the room.
23 Q All over what room?
24 A His room.
25 Q In other words, it was just loose all ove r the
78
1 place?
2 A Oh, no. He had it locked up in boxes.
3 Q How many boxes were there?
4 A Three boxes and a suitcase.
5 Q Were you there when he retrieved those four items?
6 A When he retrieved them, no.
7 Q So you showed up and they were all sitting out?
g A No, they were in lock boxes.
g Q But the boxes were out --
10 A No, they were hidden.
11 Q Tell me about them, be more specific. How did you
12 first come into contact with these boxes?
13 A When he told us where they were.
14 Q What did he say?
15 A He said, and he showed us some and we couldn't
16 believe i t, but we thought there was only one. Then we were
17 informed later by another person that there was more in that
18 room.
lg Q So how did this subject come up in the first place
20 with your dad?
21 A Well, he was counting his money that he had in his
22 one lock box.
23 Q Did you actually lay eyes on the lock box?
24 A Yes, I did.
25 Q Is that the first box or bag of money that you saw?
79
1 A That was the first.
2 Q Where did you first see that box?
3 A On his bed.
4 Q So he took you up to show it to you in his bedroom?
5 A Well, he only has one room and the bed is in that
6 room.
~ Q Did he ask you to open the box up and show you the
8 money?
g A Yes, he did because he was showing us the title to
10 his car.
11 Q So you didn't know the money was in the box before
12 you looked into it, you thought just the title was in there?
13 A No.
14 THE COURT: In other words, you thought there was
15 just a title in there?
16 THE WITNESS: Just a title in there until he opened
17 the box, then we discovered the money in the box.
18 BY MR. BAYLEY:
19 Q How was it organized in the box?
20 A In envelopes.
21 Q How soon later was it that you learned of three or
22 more packa ges with money?
23 A Because he said he had them hidden in his room.
24 Q So at the same time those came out too?
25 A No. We just figured we better get the money out of
80
1 there.
2 Q When did you first --
3 A So when we went there on Wednesday, he told us
4 where everything was because he was so sick. And we went in
5 and took all the boxes out, except for one, and that is when it
6 was taken out by the aging home.
7 Q You said that you had no contact with your father
8 between 1972 and 2007, correct?
g A Yes, sir.
10 Q In 1972 you took a trip to Illinois to your dad's
11 house I presume?
12 A No, we were staying with my brother. My brother
13 took us over to visit with him.
14 Q But you went to his house in '72?
15 A Right.
16 Q Are you aware that he didn't -- that was the same
17 house he always lived in up until 2004?
18 A No, because that was a house, he had a farm. I had
19 no idea where the farm was.
20 Q So between 1972 and 2004 are you saying you didn't
21 know how to locate him?
22 A I did not. I have asked my brother a couple of
23 times, and I didn't get no response.
24 Q What other efforts did you make to locate him over
25 that span of 30, over 30 years?
81
1 A I didn't.
2 Q Just so I understand, you were offended by Ronnie
3 and Wayne's offer to potentially provide rent payments with
4 regard to the idea to move him to Texas?
5 A Right.
6 Q You were offended at Ronnie and Wayne?
~ A Because he was my dad and I feel that I should be
8 taking care of him. I haven't done much in my life and I have
9 tried to take care of my mother and she didn't want it; but dad
10 seemed to want to be taken care of and that was important to
11 me.
12 Q Did you realize that Ronnie and Wayne were offering
13 to pay from a trust that was actually Glen's money?
14 A Right.
15 Q That is when you had told either Ronnie and/or
16 Wayne that you were contacting an attorney?
17 A I told them that if -- dad said to come and get
18 him. I called my attorney and asked him if that would be okay
19 because he called and asked if he could come live with me and
20 that is what I did. He said he couldn't see anything wrong
21 with it. Since they called and said that I have to be one of
22 his...
23 Q What are your thoughts about Glen being removed
24 from all of his family members up here?
25 A What about my family members down there? They
82
1 haven't had any contact with him either.
2 Q What family members does he have down there?
3 A He has two grandsons which are married. He has two
4 granddaughters living down there.
5 Q These would be your children?
6 A No. Well, the two boys are mine. Ricky and Timmy
7 are my sons. Now, they're married. Ricky has one child, a
8 granddaught er. My other son has three daughters, so he has
9 four great granddaughters. Right now he has got three great
10 grandsons. So they don't deserve to have time with him?
11 Q Why didn't you ever take any of those kids to see
12 him in Illi nois over those 30 some years?
13 A We did when we could. My oldest -- my youngest
14 son's wife and him split, so they wouldn't let us have their
15 children be cause she was a mommy's baby, and they had to go
16 with mommy.
17 Q Have you ever considered moving up here temporarily
18 if you want to have contact, more contact?
19 A We thought about it; but 30 years is our home in
20 Texas, and that's where my sons are and my grandchildren.
21 Q What was the purpose behind having Glen execute a
22 health care power of attorney?
23 A That you will have to ask my father.
24 Q Well, you are claiming today he is competent to
25 make his he alth care decisions, correct?
83
1 A He is.
2 Q Why would he need to appoint you as agent to make
3 his health care decisions?
4 A This is if he is allowed to come live with me. It
5 wasn't befo re.
6 Q You recently assisted in making health care
7 decisions w ith t he POA when he was just ill, didn't you?
8 A Yes, I did.
9 Q What decisions did you make?
10 A He w anted not to be put on machines, and he has a
11 living will and I abided by it.
12 Q Glen probably recently executed a new will as well,
13 didn't he?
14 MR. BECK: I object, Your Honor.
15 THE WITNESS: Yes.
16 MR. BECK: That's for Glen and that is
17 confidentia l.
18 THE COURT: She already said yes. Overruled.
19 MR. BAYLEY: That's all I have.
20 THE COURT: Redirect.
21
22 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. BECK:
24 Q Janet, that day that you discovered, became aware
25 of the cash in the home, did you call our office?
84
1 A Yes, sir.
2 Q Do you recollect the conversation that you had and
3 the advice that you got at that point?
4 A The advice was to bring all the money to your
5 office so that you could count it and put it where it needed to
6 be put.
~ Q When you made that call, did you have any idea how
8 much money there was?
g A No, sir.
10 Q At what point did protective services get involved?
11 A They came at the last and picked up the last box.
12 Q The big box?
13 A The big box.
14 Q As far as you know, was that taken to our office?
15 A Yes, sir.
16 Q I would like to go back also and ask about the
17 power of attorney, the health care power of attorney that Mr.
18 Bayley brought up. As far as you know, was that created at the
19 advice of counsel?
20 A Yes, sir.
21 Q That is really all I have, Your Honor.
22 THE COURT: Thank you, any further recross?
23 MR. BAYLEY: No.
24
25 THE COURT: Let me go over my notes, I may have a
85
1 few questions.
2 BY THE COURT:
3 Q You say you didn't see your father from 1972 until
4 2007, correct?
5 A Correct.
6 Q How did you find out he was in Pennsylvania?
7 A I didn't -- we didn't, we just happened to be here.
8 We had been up here visiting, and he was at the Green Village
9 Restaurant, and that's where we usually go to eat.
10 Q Where is the Green Village Restaurant?
11 A Between Chambersburg and Shippensburg, in Green
12 Village.
13 Q So you just saw him by chance in this restaurant in
14 2007?
15 A Yes, sir.
16 Q Before then you did not know he was in
17 Pennsylvania?
18 A No, sir.
19 Q Who were you visiting in Pennsylvania?
20 A My mother.
21 Q No one said that he was here?
22 A No, sir.
23 Q You had not been in touch with any of the nephews,
24 the Petitio ners in this case?
25 A I didn't know any of the nephews at the time,
86
-~
1 except for one that was in the restaurant with his mother and
2 dad, with Kenny and Rose; and one or two of-the boys, I'm not
3 sure which ones.
4 Q I'm a little confused. You saw the one box on the
5 bed and found out that there was money in it. Then you said
6 something, I believe I heard you say you were informed by
7 someone that there were more boxes. You were informed by
8 another person that there were more boxes. Who was that person
9 that informed you that there were more boxes?
10 A A neighbor.
11 Q What is the neighbor's name?
12 A Elaine.
13 Q Elaine what?
14 A I don't know her last name.
15 Q So Elaine, a neighbor, told you that there were
16 more boxes?
17 A Yes.
18 Q How did you come to talk to Elaine, the neighbor,
19 about these or was she at the house at the time?
20 A She called me when I got here and told me about
21 them, but I didn't quite believe it until I seen it.
22 Q So then you knew about the boxes before you went
23 over there?
24 A Yes -- well, not when I went over the first time.
25 This was whenever I took the boxes to the lawyer, and that was
87
3 Q So after you saw the first box is when you found
4 out about the other boxes from Elaine?
5 A Shortly after that, yes.
6 Q Elaine hadn't said anything to you about the boxes
7 of money before you saw the first box?
8 A Well, she was upset about it and she kept saying
9 there was more money, there was more money. But dad wasn't
10 saying anything, so until he got the boxes out.
11 THE COURT: Any questions from counsel based on my
12 questions?
13
14 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
15 BY MR. BAYLEY:
16 Q How much total money was found out of those boxes?
17 I'm not sure if we established that on the record.
18 A I have no idea.
19 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, that's all.
20 THE COURT: Mr. Beck.
21 MR. BECK: No further questions at this point.
22 THE COURT: You may step down. We are going to
23 take a brief five minute recess. Stay seated, there is another
24 appointment that I have on my schedule that I have to take care
25 of. We will go after 5:00, we will not end at 4:30. So we do
88
1 have time for other witnesses. We will not go late. So if
2 counsel can confer as to whether or not there are any
3 stipulations that can be made with respect to other witnesses,
4 or how many witnesses are necessary from here on.
5 (Brief recess.)
6 THE COURT: Mr. Beck, your next witness.
~ MR. BECK: Your Honor, I think it is time we got
8 right to it, and we will call Glen Stoner. I would caution
9 Your Honor that Mr. Stoner has heard almost nothing of the
10 proceedings today and we have to get very close and very direct
11 because of his hearing.
12 THE COURT: That is fine, counsel. Obviously, you
13 will need to get up close and he can come up and be sworn in.
14 MR. BAYLEY: Your Honor, just in case, and so we
15 don't forget, we did reach stipulations that should stream
16 things at least a little bit.
17 THE COURT: Okay, what are they?
18 MR. BAYLEY: First of all, with regard to the cash
19 that was discussed that was found in Mr. Stoner's residence.
20 THE COURT: Why don't we stop and have the witness
21 sworn and he can be seated. The attorneys are going to discuss
22 a few things here before you start answering questions, so just
23 sit. Mr. Bayley.
24 MR. BAYLEY: The cash that was located in Mr.
25 Stoner's home was subsequently transported by Protective
89
1 Services workers to Mr. Beck's office, and then it was
2 transported to an account in Orrstown Bank. Those funds total
3 approximately $109,000.
4 Our second stipulation is, it's going to be Mr.
5 Stoner's position that he would like Orrstown Bank to be
6 appointed as guardian. For the purpose of today, it's Mr.
7 Stoner's position that the non-trust funds be managed by
8 Orrstown Bank's trust department. We are stipulating that
9 Orrstown Bank is willing and able to take on that duty at a
10 cost of 1 percent of the average monthly principle that is put
11 into that account.
12 THE COURT: Thank you.
13 MR. BECK: Your Honor, in that form, we are
14 prepared to have them be appointed guardian of the estate and
15 handling those assets.
16 MR. BAYLEY: That being said, of course, we are not
17 agreeing that that be done.
18 THE COURT: I understand.
19
20 GLEN H. STONER,
21 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
22 DIRECT EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. BECK:
24 Q Glen, would you state your name?
25 A My name is Glen Stoner.
90
1 Q Glen, where do you presently live?
2 A Well, right now I am living in not Shippensburg,
3 but -- yeah, Shippensburg.
4 Q When I ask you where you presently live, you are
5 currently staying in the Residence Inn, is that correct?
6 A Yeah.
~ Q But I'm really asking you where you lived in
8 Shippensburg?
9 A We are out of Shippensburg, (unintelligible).
10 Q At the residence in Carlisle?
11 A Yeah. It is on Route 11.
12 Q Glen, could you tell us a little bit about your
13 background, where you were born and what happened to you as a
14 young boy?
15 A Okay. I was born in Marion, about 3 miles east of
16 Marion where we farmed and dad kept me out of school to work
17 for him because he had heart trouble. So I never got through
18 -- further than fourth grade. Then after he had the sale,
19 well, I went to work for Swifter Company for 3 years. Then I
20 got married, found my wife with another man, so I left her and
21 I went on to Illinois.
22 Q Why did you pick Illinois?
23 A Well, because my wife's -- or my mother's brother
24 lived out there, and so I figured he would be able to get me a
25 job, you know. When I went out there I got my own job.
91
1 Q What kind of job did you have?
2 A I worked for -- as a laborer. I had to join the
3 union, and then I worked for them for 50 years. I got a card
4 in my pocket, a billfold to show it.
5 Q That is your union card?
6 A It is to show you that I worked. Hold that.
~ Q Do you want to show the judge?
8 THE COURT: What is this, sir? Describe what this
9 is for me?
10 THE WITNESS: Well, we did a little bit of
11 everything, tunnels under roads, put some conveyer systems in.
12 THE COURT: But I was asking what this card is.
13 Your 50 year membership card, is that correct?
14 THE WITNESS: I worked that lon
g, yes. Otherwise,
15 I wouldn't have had this card.
16 BY MR. BECK:
17 Q Glen, what other work did --
18 A I farmed on the side for awhile.
19 Q How did you do with your farming?
20 A Well, they leave me off for combine and beans; but,
21 corn I had to pick at night, so that is how I got that hand
22 messed up, I got it caught in the picker.
23 Q So you injured yourself working at night?
24 A Yep, 12:00 o'clock I got in and didn't get out
25 until 2:00.
92
1 Q So you ended up buying land then in Illinois?
2 A Yeah.
3 Q Was that the land that you sold before you moved to
4 Pennsylvania?
5 A Yeah. I only had 7 and a half acres of my own
6 ground, the rest I rented out.
~ Q How much did you make when you sold that property?
8 A $800,000.
9 Q Did you give up taxes after you sold that? Did you
10 have to pay taxes on that?
11 A Oh, yeah, I paid taxes on that, then I paid taxes
12 for the whole year where I was living.
13 Q In Illinois?
14 A Yeah.
I5 Q How much in federal tax did you actually pay on
16 that money?
17 A Well, I don't know exactly right now, but it was
18 $140,000 before I got out of there.
19 Q That formed the basis for your trust?
20 A That's how I got in there, but I didn't know
21 anything about that. My brother was with me and he must have
22 agreed to some of that because I don't know anything about that
23 there.
24 Q Glen, how well can you read?
25 A Not very good.
93
1 Q Did you depend heavily on your brother at that
2 point in your life?
3 A Well, not exactly because I could get by other
4 ways. I didn't have no help out there. I got my own jobs and
5 everything.
6 Q You talked about when you left Pennsylvania, when
7 you left your first wife. How old was your daughter, Janet, at
8 that time, do you know?
9 A She must have been 3-years-old I would say.
10 Q At that point you cut off all contact with your
11 family after you left Illinois?
12 A Yeah.
13 THE COURT: You are getting confused. You said
I4 first left Pennsylvania, now you said Illinois. Why don't we
15 have him tell us why he left Illinois.
16 MR. BECK: Okay.
17 THE COURT: You were talking about contact with the
18 family when he left Pennsylvania, then you said when he left
19 Illinois. He left Illinois in 2004, he left Pennsylvania
20 before.
21 MR. BECK: So I got Illinois, okay.
22 BY MR. BECK:
23 Q When you left Pennsylvania for Illinois, is that
24 what you meant by Janet being 3-years-old?
25 A Yeah, 3 or 4. To be exact, I can't remember.
94
I Q Why did you not have any contact with Janet and
2 your son aft er you left for Illinois?
3 A Because she went with her mother in there and I
4 didn't want her to know where I was. Because when I caught her
5 with another man, I figured I done my part because she was
6 cheating on me.
7 Q When you reconnected with Janet, would 2007 be
8 about when t hat would have happened?
9 A I met Janet one time when she come out there when I
IO was farming. That was before she was married. Then I met her
11 in on Route 11 up there on this side of Chambersburg at the
12 restaurant. I met her up there, her and her husband.
13 Q Have you talked to her frequently since that time?
14 A Oh, yes.
15 Q At some point did you decide that you wanted to
16 live with he r?
17 A Yeah, I did because for the simple reason that I am
18 getting kicked around too much. They said they was going to
19 help me and never show up, things like that.
20 Q Do you still want to live with Janet?
21 A Yep, and I count on spending the rest of my life
22 there.
23 Q Do you understand that the drive to Texas is a very
24 long drive?
25 A Yeah.
95
1 Q It's going to be very difficult?
2 A Well, I know that, but I got to go anyhow.
3 Q You say you have got to go --
4 A I made up my mind to go.
5 THE COURT: When did you make up your mind to go,
6 sir?
7 THE WITNESS: It's been maybe a year ago.
g THE COURT: Why did you make up your mind to go?
9 THE WITNESS: Well, because where I was staying at,
10 I went and mowed the yard; and then I guess I couldn't mow it,
11 so I got the neighbor to mow it, his and mine. So I paid him
12 for mowing it, so I did.
13 THE COURT: Mr. Beck will continue asking
14 questions.
I5 BY MR. BEC K:
16 Q Do you expect when you move to Texas, would you
17 expect .whe n you move to Texas that you would get help and
18 support fr om Janet?
I9 A Oh, yeah.
20 Q And from Bob, her husband?
21 A Yeah, because, otherwise, I wouldn't go if that was
22 the case, you know; but she said she is going to work with me
23 and she is going to take care of me.
24 Q You are willing to take the risk that that wouldn't
25 work out?
96
1 A Sure, I took a lot of them all my life.
2 Q Do you expect to live a long time yet?
3 A I don't think so because I got too many aches and
4 pains, and the hearing is going. The eyes are bad, I only got
5 one eye, th is one here. I can't see to drive row. But they
6 took my license away, but it wasn't for that reason, it was on
7 account of my age. At least that is what they told me anyhow.
8 Q Yep.
9 A I didn't have no accidents or anything, but they
10 still took them anyhow.
11 Q But you are willing to take all the risk and go
12 live with your daughter, the risks that that might not work
13 out?
14 A Yeah. Yep, that's where I'm going. That's where
15 I'm going.
16 Q You understand that if you do that you are unlikely
17 to have much contact with your family in Pennsylvania?
18 A Well, I ain't got my family any more, things
19 changed. Nope, I got a son, I don't have no respect for him
20 neither because he wouldn't help me when I was farming, and I
21 had to stay home and help my dad.
22 Q So you believe you have the ability to make your
23 own decision about where you want to live?
24 A Oh, yeah. I believe Janet is going to take care of
25 me because she said she would and I believe she will.
97
1 Q You think you do a decent job of taking care of
2 yourself also?
3 A Yeah, I can did that too. I done it for a long
4 time.
5 MR. BECK: Thank you, Your Honor.
6
7 CROSS-EXAMINATION
8 BY MR. BAYLEY:
9 Q Mr. Stoner, how is your relationship with Ronnie?
10 A What?
11 Q What kind of relationship have you had with Ronnie?
12 A All right, until here of late. After my brother
13 passed away, why he wasn't too good then.
14 Q How about Wayne?
15 A Well, I asked Wayne to go along with me into the
16 bank to draw some money out, and he said, Oh, leave it in
17 there, so I couldn't get any. When Ron come back there, it was
18 the last time, why, he went along with me and so I brought out
19 $2,000.
20 Q I think you said, you were saying before that
21 somebody wasn't helping you when you needed help?
22 A Well, all summer there was a couple of the boys
23 promised to come up and mow the lawn and they never showed up.
24 Q What boys?
25 A Well, Ronnie, Ken and Wayne.
98
1 Q Are there any other times they didn't show up when
2 you needed help?
3 A No, not necessarily, only when they wasn't working
4 some place, you know.
5 Q How do you feel about Ronnie now?
6 A Okay. I ain't going to hold anything against him.
7 Q What type of arrangements do you have waiting in
8 Texas?
9 A Well, Janet is going to take care of me, and it got
10 to the poin t that I can't work any more.
11 Q How do you plan to go down there?
12 A In my car.
13 Q Who will drive?
14 A His wife, Janet.
15 Q How long of a trip do you think that will be?
16 A Well, it might be about fourteen or fifteen hundred
17 miles, maybe all of it. I used to drive, and then I worked on
18 construction too; and then drove back and forth to come in to
19 see my father and mother from Illinois over a weekend or
20 something l ike that still, and that was about 500 miles one
21 way.
22 Q Have you thought about what type of doctors you
23 want to use down in Texas?
24 A No, I got doctors from up here making out the
25 records.
99
1 Q Making copies of your records?
2 A Yeah, they give me them to take along.
3 Q When would you like to go to Texas?
4 A As soon as possible.
5 Q What if things don't work out down there?
6 A Well, it wouldn't be any worse than any place else
7 I went in my life.
8 Q Do you know what type of living arrangements Janet
9 has ready for you?
10 A Well, she has got a three bedroom home and so on
11 like that . So I have a place to sleep. I guess I got things
12 fixed up pretty good.
13 Q When was the first time you met Janet after there
14 was so many years that went by and you didn't have contact,
15 where was the first place you met her recently?
16 A Well, it was out at the -- up there on Route 11,
17 this side of Chambersburg.
18 Q That would have been how long ago?
19 A Let me see. It's more than 5 years ago.
20 Q What finally made up your mind that you wanted to
21 go to Texas?
22 A Well, one thing, the weather here, the winter is
23 moving in here. I have been -- worked out all the time and
24 everything .
25 Q Aren't you concerned about leaving your family
100
1 here?
2 A No. Nope.
3 Q How many doctors have you been seeing here, how
4 many doctors do you usually see?
5 A Well, my eye doctor.
6 Q What is his name?
7 A And the one that walked in here in Shippensburg,
8 and there is one in -- well, there is two in Shippensburg that
9 I am going to.
10 Q What are their names?
11 A That I can't tell you. I can't hold the memory.
12 Q Do you remember what the name of the eye doctor is?
13 A No, but he lives in Carlisle -- I mean his business
14 is right -- maybe you know -- close to the hospital there.
15 Right?
16 Q Is there a nurse that helps you out too that comes
17 to your house?
18 A She was, yeah, until I just got out of the hospital
19 here not too long ago.
20 Q What is her name?
21 A I don't know, Janet knows. They don't forget like
22 I do. The last few years, my mind is slipping on me. I can't
23 help it neither.
24 Q We heard about some money that was in your house,
25 some cash?
101
I A What?
2 Q We heard about some cash that was found in your
3 house recently, some cash?
4 A Cats?
5 Q Cash, money.
6 A Oh, yeah.
~ Q How much money did you have in your house?
8 A I don't know exactly.
g Q Is there a reason you weren't putting cash into a
10 bank, your cash?
11 A I put cash in a freezer that I had when I was out
12 in Illinois, and it was locked; and I had them in boxes where
13 they were locked, and somebody broke into them and broke all
14 them locks and took all of my money.
15 Q Was there a reason you recently got your money out?
16 A Yeah.
17 Q Why did you do that?
18 A What?
19 Q Why did you recently get your cash out of the --
20 I'm assuming you hid this money in your house?
21 A Yeah.
22 Q Okay, where did you hide it?
23 A I hid some up above the --
24 Q In the rafters?
25 A -- in the ceiling, yeah.
102
1 4 Is that where all of it was?
2
A
No, I had some down in and put it in these cans,
3 c ans, you know, I had some in there too.
4 4 Why did you get it all out recently?
5 A Because I wasn't living there no more.
6 Q How did Janet find out about that money?
A I told her. I told her to get it out of there.
8
Q
Did you call her on the phone or when did that
9 happen?
10 A What?
11
12 Q
A When did you tell Janet about it?
Well, when, I guess about a month ago, something
13 like that, that she took it out of there.
14
15 Q
A So she helped you get that money out?
No, I got it all out. I had it up in the attic. I
16 got that out.
1~ MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
18 THE WITNESS: Okay.
19 THE COURT: Stay there for a second to see if your
20 attorney has any more questions.
21 THE WITNESS: Okay.
22
THE COURT: Do you have any more questions?
23 MR. BECK: I just wanted to straighten that out.
24
25
103
1 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
2 BY MR. BECK:
3 Q When you talked just a minute ago when Mr. Bayley
4 was asking you about getting the money out?
5 A Yes.
6 Q Did you mean taking it out of your home or just
7 taking it out from the rafters?
8 A Taking it out of the home because I already took
9 that out up on the rafters.
10 Q Took it out of the rafters?
11 A No, I took them out too.
12 Q Do you know how the money got to my office?
13 A What?
14 Q Do you know how --
15 A Yeah, Janet and her husband brought it over.
16 Q Did you know that Priscilla Whitman, Mrs. Whitman,
17 helped take money to my office too?
18 A Who?
19 Q The lady, the very nice lady from the Office of the
20 Aging.
21 A Oh, well, all right.
22 Q But you knew that the money was taken to my office?
23 A Yep.
24 Q In my account?
25 A Yep, they told me about it.
104
1 MR. BECK: No further questions.
2 THE WITNESS: Is that it?
3 BY THE COURT:
4 Q Just one question. When you took the money out,
5 what was your plan, what were you going to do with the money
6 when you first got it out?
7 A I was going to take it to the bank; but they
8 figured on taking it over to him, so that's what they done.
9 THE COURT: Any other questions?
10 MR. BECK: No.
11 MR. BAYLEY: No.
12 THE COURT: Thank you, sir. You may go back and
13 have a seat.
14 THE WITNESS: Okay, thank you.
15 THE COURT: Are there any more witnesses, Mr. Beck.
16 MR. BECK: No, Your Honor.
17 THE COURT: Any rebuttal?
18 MR. BAYLEY: I would like to call Dr. Royer briefly
19 for rebuttal.
20
21 DR. CHRISTOPHER ROYER,
22 having been previously sworn, recalled on rebuttal,
23 testified as follows:
24 DIRECT EXAMINATION
25
105
1 BY MR. BAYLEY:
2 Q Doctor, you were in the courtroom and got to hear
3 Dr. Leaman testify, correct?
4 A Correct.
5 Q Did you get a chance to review his report?
6 A Yes, I did.
~ Q Are there any issues that you take with his report
8 and his findings in general?
9 A Yeah, I just have a couple comments about it. Some
IO general and just a couple of specific comments. After reading
11 through the report, the first thing that I noticed is that he
12 talked about some review of records, including my report and
I3 some medical records, but there was no reference to those
14 findings in his report.
15 I found this particularly concerning because
16 regardless of the source, I did note some pretty significant
17 concerns that had been expressed to me by family in my report.
18 Particularly, the idea that Mr. Stoner had been taken advantage
19 of some years back to the tune of quite a bit of money. Also
20 potential emotional issues, including potentially some
21 self-harm if things didn't go his way.
22 I also just -- it's a very, I apologize it's a
23 picky detail, but in the testing, Dr. Leaman notes that he gave
24 verbal subtests. Please note that the one subtest that Mr.
25 Stoner got no items right on was not a verbal subtest. I only
106
1 say this because of what I said before that sometimes when we
2 have a person with limited education, we really want to pay
3 attention to those tests that are less susceptible to those
4 kind of influences, so I just wanted to point that out.
5 So what I saw in the beginning of the report
6 essentially were an interview with Mr. Stoner and with his
7 daughter. And, certainly, when a person may have cognitive
8 difficulties, I question that. Obviously, I'm not in a
9 position to talk about the validity of any comment that Mr.
10 Stoner might have made in the interview, I just question it.
11 Moving briefly to the testing. I also wanted to
12 say that Dr. Leaman noted some results; in his testimony, he
13 did not emphasize that Mr. Stoner also did very poorly on a
14 reasoning task. He, unfortunately, did not give any scores or
15 percentiles which would really help us to understand exactly
16 how well or poorly Mr. Stoner would have done; however, based
17 on my knowledge of the tests that Dr. Leaman gave, the ranges
18 are quite low.
19 I wanted to just let you know that these tests are
20 already based upon scores compared to a person's peers. That
21 is, when you g ive this test, it's a test that's compared to
22 another 89-yea r-old. So when you say that a person is
23 extremely low or very low, it's not very low compared to a
24 25-year-old or a 40-year-old or a 50-year-old, it's very low
25 compared to an 89-year-old. So this is quite striking to me as
107
1 well.
2 Those are some general concerns that I have about
3 the report of Dr. Leaman, and, again, certainly reinforces my
4 own opinion about Mr. Stoner's competency at this point.
5 MR. BAYLEY: Okay, thank you.
6 THE COURT: Cross.
7
8 CROSS-EXAMINATION
9 BY MR. BECK:
10 Q You indicated, doctor, that you relied -- you
11 mentioned particularly the money that was scammed from Glen
12 Stoner back in Illinois. You just mentioned the money that was
13 taken or lost in Illinois?
14 A I mentioned it in reference to it not being
15 referenced in Dr. Leaman's report, yes.
16 Q But wasn't that in your report?
17 A I did say that it was in my report; and it was a
18 component of the information I considered, yes.
19 Q What corroborative facts did you have to indicate
20 that that was the case, that the money was actually taken?
21 A Oh, I'm not an investigator. I have a report of a
22 concern and I made that note in my report.
23 MR. BECK: No further questions.
24 THE COURT: Anything else?
25 MR. BAYLEY: No.
108
1 THE COURT: Thank you, doctor. Any other rebuttal?
2 MR. BAYLEY: No.
3 THE COURT: Any surrebuttal? Then the record is
4 closed. Mr. Beck, argument. It would appear that your own
5 expert says that he can't handle his finances, so where do we
6 go from there?
~ MR. BECK: Your Honor, as we discussed in chambers,
8 we stipulated that Orrstown Bank, we propose to be guardian of
9 the estate of Mr. Glen Stoner. And the stipulation that we
10 agreed to in the recent recess is that they would manage his
11 estate, funds, his estate finances for one percent annual fee.
12 We believe -- Mr. Stoner and I have been discussing that
13 possibility for more than a month and we think that would be a
14 good result.
15 In regard to his person, we believe that Mr. Stoner
16 might be somewhat impaired. Some of that impairment is because
17 of his age, some of it is because of his education. Some of it
18 might be for other reasons, however, despite the impairments
19 that he has, we believe strongly that he is able to make
20 decisions about his person.
21 He needs assistance in dealing with physicians. We
22 believe that assistance can be filled through the health care
23 power of attorney that is held by his daughter, Janet, and we
24 believe that Mr. Stoner is -- has been consistent. It's not
25 like a dementia situation where it's lost in his mind for
109
1 periods of time and he's easily influenced where -- with one
2 person than another. He has been consistent. He testified
3 that he wanted to go live with his daughter in Texas for
4 perhaps as long as a year.
5 He has been consistent -- we have heard Priscilla
6 Whitman, who is a neutral party. There are not many neutral
7 parties that we heard from today. But Priscilla Whitman,
8 working in Protective Services, heard it from Glen that he
9 wanted to go live with his daughter in Texas from October 20
10 right through the present time, and she testified to that.
11 Finally, as far as the nephews serving in the
12 capacity as guardian as proposed by them and Mr. Bayley, we
13 have to give regard, and the statute provides that, when
14 appropriate, the Court give preference to a nominee of the
15 incapacitated person.
16 So in terms of the corporate fiduciary, the bank,
17 we have clearly expressed that Mr. Stoner's preference is that
18 it be Orrstown Bank as guardian of estate. We have stated that
19 we believe he does need a guardian for his finances. But if
20 the Court deems it necessary to have a separate guardianship
21 for person, we believe that we have to pay some attention to
22 Mr. Stoner's preference; and with the recent alienation with
23 the nephews, that they would be most inappropriate to fill
24 either role; and that if the Court deems it necessary for
25 guardianship of the person, it be, in fact, Janet Swope.
110
1 THE COURT: Thank you. Mr. Bayley, the issue with
2 Orrstown, the stipulation or the offer to have them appointed
3 as guardian of the estate of Mr. Stoner, does that answer your
4 clients' concern about what Mrs. Swope may or may not do with
5 the money?
6 MR. BAYLEY: Well, they don't want him moving down
7 there in the first place, so we don't even really get to that
8 issue. With regard to the bank, why pay one percent fee when
9 you have two brothers that have been doing this for years and
10 have been doing it well.
11 THE COURT: Conceivably, they would be able to
12 continue to do it with the irrevocable trust.
13 MR. BAYLEY: Right.
14 THE COURT: There is no impact on the irrevocable
15 trust from what we do today, correct?
16 MR. BAYLEY: Correct. They are dealing with a lot
17 more money that is at stake than what is outside of the
18 irrevocable trust. They are doing a good job with that, why
19 not let them deal with the plenary situation with the finances.
20 It looks like capacity with record to finances is
21 not an issue at this point. With regard to health care
22 decisions and safety concerns, I think it is really hard to say
23 with a straight face that Glen can make informed and competent
24 decisions with regard to safety and health care with the
25 testimony we have received today.
111
1 Basically, what Janet Swope is doing here, if he's
2 not found incompetent, she is just supplanting herself as
3 guardian down in Texas with the power of attorney. She would
4 be doing the same thing as a guardian would be doing down
5 there, and based on what is presented, I think there is
6 questions on whether she is competent to act in that capacity.
7 THE COURT: How so?
8 MR. BAYLEY: Well, over 30 some years she is
9 estranged from him, and then all of a sudden she shows up in
10 2007, four years ago, and has one or two meetings with him,
11 and all of a sudden, he has been here all these years, and he
12 wants to run down to Texas basically on a whim.
13 He is 89-years-old, he has all this family up here.
14 It does not seem that anybody, any of the family up here, has
15 done anything bad to him up here. It just seems to be an act
16 of lunacy for him to run down there.
17 THE COURT: Well, if he is estranged, as it appears
18 that even your Petitioners would acknowledge. In fact, Mr.
19 Wayne Stoner was, I believe, quite emotionally moved by the
20 fact that at one time he had a good relationship with his uncle
21 and it would appear that he no longer has that. If he is
22 estranged, and if he does go down to Texas with his daughter
23 who now may have a good relationship with him and the money is
24 in other people's hands, is there harm to Mr. Stoner?
25 MR. BAYLEY: It just seems to me taking everything
112
1 involved, taking the facts involved, he has been doing okay.
2 Priscilla Whitman hit the nail on the head. He definitely
3 needs more care than he is getting with the state of the house
4 that it was in and Rosie being out of the picture.
5 The Swopes are in their 60s, there are two people
6 down there, as opposed to all this family up here. The family
7 up here is already tried and tested. The SwnnPC havc no„or
8 been in this situation before, and we have no idea how they are
9 going to make out.
10 I'm not even sure, you can't tell from the
11 testimony whether or not they can take care of themselves, at
12 least with regard to finances, let alone take care of another
13 guy.
14 THE COURT: Well, presumably, Orrstown Bank, if
15 they were the guardian of the estate or for that matter, your
16 client, if they were the guardian of the estate, would they not
17 be able to support him or to provide money for his support,
18 which it appears they were asking for details from Mrs. Swope
19 before about. Had she given them the details and said, it's
20 going to take X amount per month, maybe we wouldn't be here.
21 But, we are here.
22 I believe the statute requires me to try to impose,
23 if I must, the most limited form of guardianship possible and
24 to, where warranted, allow the alleged incapacitated person to
25 still have some control over their affairs. Is that not
113
1 correct?
2 MR. BAYLEY: That is true. But when you have the
3 alleged incapacitated person wanting to make an illogical
4 decision, at a certain point a guardian needs to step in and
5 maybe steer them a different way.
6 THE COURT: That may be. I will say that the fact
7 that the Stoner boys may not have mowed the lawn as frequently
8 as they should have, may not be the best reason for them to be
9 estranged, but there could well be some other reasons that Mr.
10 Stoner was not able to verbalize.
11 MR. BAYLEY: He could do much better up here and be
12 in much better spirits once they do get a situation where he
13 has more attention on a day-to-day basis with regard to getting
14 some help in.
15 THE COURT: Well, I am going to take this under
16 advisement and not try to wing it right here. I will tell you
17 where I am probably headed.
18 I am concerned as to whether it is appropriate to
19 appoint a guardian of the estate, and on the same factual
20 basis, not appoint a guardian of the person where it does
21 appear pretty clear that his dementia does exist. Whether,
22 it's mild in the eyes of your expert, Mr. Beck, or more severe
23 in the eyes of your expert, Mr. Bayley, it certainly does
24 exist. There are some concerns, equal concerns I think, with
25 his ability to care for his person, as there are with his
114
1 ability to care for his finances.
2 So I will try to look and determine whether it's
3 appropriate to name one or both or different for the same and
4 how I will do so. Anything else, Mr. Beck?
5 MR. BECK: No, Your Honor. I just would add that
6 the pull of a child and the reconciliation of a child is a very
7 important element of this process. I think that if anything was
8 understated.
9 THE COURT: Well, I'm not going to minimize that.
10 Quite frankly, if I wanted to be suspicious, I could say it is
11 kind of ironic that they met in the year 2007 after she has
12 filed for bankruptcy when she had no idea he was up here. That
13 could be just a coincidence, it could be a God coincidence, who
14 knows; but it is still somewhat suspicious.
15 But that being said, 30 years of estrangement,
16 weighing that against 5 years of reconciliation, maybe that's
17 fair, I will determine that. Is there anything else from you,
18 Mr. Bayley?
19 MR. BAYLEY: No.
20 THE COURT: Thank you. We are adjourned.
21 (Court adjourned at 5:23 p.m.)
22
23
24
25
115
CER~FICATION
I hereby certif
y that the proceedings are contained
fully and accuratel
y in the notes taken by me on the above
cause and that this is a correct transcript of sa
me.
Patricia C. arrett
Official Stenographer
The foregoing record of the proceedings on the
hearing of the within matter is hereby approved a
be filed. nd directed to
~ ~~
D a e •~//~
Al ert H. Ma land, J.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the proceedings are contained
fully and accurately in the notes taken by me on the above
cause and that this is a correct transcript of same.
~_~
Patricia C. arrett
Official Stenographer
The foregoing record of the proceedings on the
hearing of the within matter is hereby approved and directed to
be filed.
/J 6
Da e Al ert H. Ma land, J.
116