TAMPA, Fla. — The trial of former professional guardian Rebecca Fierle is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Hillsborough County Circuit Court.
Fierle is charged with aggravated abuse of an aged particular person and neglect of an aged particular person, each felonies, in reference to the death of Steven Stryker in 2019.
The ABC Action News I-Team has been following the case because it first got here to gentle greater than three years in the past and led to adjustments in Florida’s guardianship legislation.
We have accomplished dozens of tales since 2013 as a part of our “The Price of Protection” sequence, specializing in issues with Florida’s court-appointed guardians.
“Rebecca demanded that his feeding tube be capped”
The Fierle case began with a report ready by the Okaloosa County Inspector General’s Office, which was launched in June of 2019. That report accused Fierle of taking actions that led to Stryker’s death whereas serving as his guardian.
Stryker, a 74-year-old Navy veteran, had a power medical situation that made it tough for him to swallow and required him to have a feeding tube.
Kimberly Stryker
“Rebecca demanded that his feeding tube be capped,” Linda Lanier stated in June 2019. Lanier was Stryker’s pal and energy of legal professional.
She was on trip in one other state when Stryker ended up in a hospital in Orlando.
A choose appointed Fierle as his professional guardian, permitting Fierle to make medical and monetary choices on his behalf. Fierle requested that Stryker be transferred to an assisted dwelling facility in Tampa.
WFTS
In May of 2019, Stryker had a medical episode and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital.
According to the investigative report, Fierle requested that Stryker’s feeding tube be eliminated and requested {that a} do-not-resuscitate order (DNR) be positioned on Stryker.
“Knowing that he’s going to aspirate, because he couldn’t take anything by mouth yet, it’s pretty much a death sentence,” Lanier stated.
Stryker’s daughter, Kimberly Stryker, despatched an e-mail to the choose in Stryker’s guardianship case on May 9, 2019, that stated “his guardian has insisted on together with a DNR… regardless of his vocal opposition.”
Orange County Court file
The e-mail continued, “he’s doing significantly better and is kind of lucid and intensely upset that this lady has full management over his medical and monetary information.”
“To see him at the end literally begging, begging for his life. He was very lucid,” Lanier said. “He knew what Rebecca was doing.”
Stryker choked to death in the hospital six days after the email was sent.
Fierle had multiple prior complaints
Fierle had been the subject of eight complaints to the Office of Public and Professional Guardians, the state watchdog agency appointed to police professional guardians.
That agency had taken no disciplinary action against her at the time of Stryker’s death.
Months earlier, the I-Team previously uncovered out of 132 complaints that the watchdog office received during its first two years, OPPG didn’t revoke a single guardian’s registration.
“You’ve had over 130-some cases and nothing has happened to anybody? That just doesn’t strike me as being acceptable,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in February 2019 after we uncovered many of the investigations opened years earlier had not even been completed.
At the time of Stryker’s death, Fierle had 450 wards from 15 counties under her care.
WFTS
“I think that there’s going to be action taken, whether it’s administratively, or legislatively or a combination because I think something needs to be done,” Gov. DeSantis stated after listening to about Stryker’s death.
The subsequent month, the manager director of OPPG resigned.
Stryker case led to adjustments in legislation
Florida legislators instantly started taking motion to handle the considerations raised by the case.
“I was horrified. I was not aware that that practice was being employed by her or any other guardian. So immediately jumped into action,” Sen. Kathleen Passidomo stated.
Lawmakers unanimously voted to amend Florida’s guardianship legislation in 2020, requiring guardians to get permission from a member of the family or a choose earlier than requesting a do-not-resuscitate order.
The laws additionally modified how guardians are appointed and what number of wards professional guardians might be assigned
In February 2020, Fierle was arrested following an eight-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
During a search of her workplace, FDLE brokers discovered unidentified cremains of 9 individuals and a canine.
Jury choice is anticipated to begin at 8:30 Tuesday morning and the trial ought to final by the week. Fierle has pleaded “not guilty” to the costs.
If you have got a narrative you’d just like the I-Team to examine, e-mail us at [email protected]