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Hi everyone, this is Hannah. I

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have a mini episode for you today and I'm so excited

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about it. But first, an announcement

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slash request. We have two episodes

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left this year. We have an episode

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next week. It's a standalone episode. It's

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about an MLM that is really

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wild, so make sure to tune into that. But

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then we have another episode coming

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in a few weeks. And for that final

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episode for the year, I would love to hear

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from you. I want to do follow-ups

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on some of our past episodes, which

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I'm working on currently. But if you have any

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questions about your favorite Opportunist episode,

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send it in to me because I would love to answer

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it. Additionally, if you have

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a story of your own, an Opportunist

0:43

in your life, I would love to hear

0:45

it and play it on the episode. You can

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send me a voice note or

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if you don't want your voice to be on

0:52

the show, you can send it to me in

0:55

an email or on social media. I'll

0:57

put all of that in the show notes, but you can

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send it to me on social media at

1:01

Hannah Podcasts on Instagram

1:04

or Twitter. Yes, I still say Twitter. It

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can be short, it can be long, it can be whatever

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you want it to be. It can be a question, it can be a story.

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I can't wait to hear from you. So please

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send in your stories and do it sooner than later because I'm

1:17

trying to get this episode out in the next couple of weeks.

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Okay, I already have a listener

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who has sent in her story. I actually hopped on a

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quick phone call with her because she emailed in

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and I was really intrigued by her story. And

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so I'm going to play that for you today and

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hopefully it's inspiration for you to send in your own

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story.

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Okay, here we go.

1:36

Her name is Lindsay Dominguez

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and to set up the story a little bit, when

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Lindsay was in her early 20s after college,

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she got a job in Albuquerque at this

1:46

non-profit called Ayudando Guardians.

1:49

This non-profit provided guardianship,

1:52

conservatorship, and financial management

1:54

to hundreds of people who

1:57

were wards of the state. So, you know, whenever...

1:59

Lindsay was explaining it to me, she said, kind of like

2:02

Britney Spears. I think a lot

2:04

of people are familiar with Britney

2:06

Spears' situation with the conservatorship,

2:08

but the people that this nonprofit served

2:10

were actually

2:11

wards

2:12

of the state. So the nonprofit

2:14

provided guardians, kind of like case

2:16

managers, to come in and

2:18

help them with their finances, pay

2:21

their bills, get them groceries,

2:23

things like that. And it was run by this woman,

2:25

Susan Harris, who

2:28

ended up becoming Lindsay's boss.

2:30

Lindsay started at a super,

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you know, entry level, but quickly that promoted.

2:36

So here we go.

2:38

And so I took over for the previous

2:40

guardian because she had to leave. So

2:42

I took on this caseload of clients, and like

2:44

I said, a lot of them had different needs. Some

2:46

of them had dementia, some of them were

2:49

in nursing homes, some of them

2:51

just had family that couldn't or didn't want

2:53

to be responsible for them. So

2:55

I had a bunch of people all over the

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board, really.

2:58

And so with being a guardian,

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a lot of the responsibility falls on managing

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their money.

3:05

But I just noticed some things

3:07

were off and I couldn't really put my finger on

3:09

what those things kind of added

3:11

up to at the time. But I'd

3:14

go and I'd look for a client needed something

3:17

like some groceries, and I'd go to

3:19

their account and the money

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wouldn't be there. And I'm thinking, okay,

3:24

well, that's really strange. It's

3:26

the state, it's the government, the money comes in

3:28

on time every month, it should be there.

3:31

And so I would ask Susan about it, hey,

3:33

this person is short, or this person's check

3:35

doesn't look like it's been deposited. I'm

3:38

kind of wondering why, because I'm the only one that should have access

3:40

to this money to take care of these things. And

3:42

there would always be a reason, oh, sometimes

3:44

the state runs behind, sometimes they get

3:46

these things confused. Oh, maybe it got

3:49

lost in the mail, that was a big one. And

3:51

so then it's like a couple of days later, oh,

3:53

magically the money would be there. But

3:56

it was always like that, there was always these clients

3:58

where,

3:59

you'd look for something and it just magically wouldn't

4:02

be there and then when you called it out,

4:05

then all of the sudden, oh hey, the money you showed

4:07

up, there it is, you know. And

4:09

then there was these little things

4:11

that kept coming up that just sort of kept nagging at

4:13

me and made me realize like maybe,

4:16

you know, maybe there's more going on than I'm

4:19

totally aware of or maybe there's more under the

4:21

surface that I'm not seeing. She

4:24

would go and have meetings a lot

4:26

of the time in the afternoons and then the

4:28

receptionist, we were really good friends. So

4:30

she would come in and say, well,

4:33

Susan's in a meeting and you know what that means

4:35

and I'm like, I don't know what that means, you know, please tell

4:37

me. And she'd say, oh, well, she's going

4:39

to get Botox. And it's funny because

4:41

at the time, again, this is, you know, early

4:43

2000s, Botox was still something that was

4:46

sort of expensive for people. So it wasn't something

4:48

people just did all the time.

4:50

You know, it wasn't like a common procedure. It was like,

4:52

if you have the money, then you do that.

4:55

It wasn't just Botox. There were also times

4:57

when Susan wouldn't come back to work and

5:00

Lindsay would hear that she had spent the afternoon

5:02

at the casino and then there were the luxury

5:04

vacations and the nice cars.

5:07

And then Susan started hiring her family

5:10

members and Lindsay noticed that they

5:12

were all driving nice new

5:14

cars and living in really nice houses.

5:17

And

5:18

Lindsay just said all of this was a little surprising

5:20

because they

5:21

all worked at a nonprofit and it wasn't

5:23

like they were making loads of money.

5:27

It's not the kind of career

5:29

where you're going to make a lot of money

5:30

or you're going to have all this extra income

5:32

to put towards

5:34

living like a really lavish lifestyle, which

5:37

is what she was doing. You

5:40

know, there was box tickets,

5:42

I think, to the final four even is something

5:44

that she had paid for at one point.

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Finally, you know, because I kind of started to keep track on

5:49

my own. She

5:51

had asked me one day, hey, I need you to

5:53

sign these case notes. And

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I went back and I was looking at them.

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And I was like, these

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aren't my notes. I didn't write

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this. And she was like, well,

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I know, I know. But just in case we get audited,

6:09

just sign them. And I was like, no, I'm

6:11

not going to do that. But it was really odd because

6:14

even the dates on the case notes that she wanted

6:16

me to sign were dates that I hadn't

6:18

even worked there yet. They weren't even my

6:21

clients yet. And so she got

6:23

a little flustered with me. And then she

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said, fine, fine. I'll just take care of it.

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And I remember thinking that was really odd, that

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she would ask me to do that, but then she would

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get upset that I wouldn't. Because

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I feel like,

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ethically, why would you ask

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that of somebody?

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Lindsey told me, Susan had a

6:39

way of

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making you feel like she was smarter

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than you, while simultaneously

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trusting you with great responsibility,

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bringing you in on something. She made you feel

6:49

small, but at the same time, like

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you were special.

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And Susan always had an excuse

6:55

or an explanation when things

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went wrong.

6:58

But after being there about a year, Lindsey

7:00

says she was reaching her breaking point.

7:02

She started to just feel sick to her stomach

7:05

with some of the things that had happened. And

7:07

then there were two instances that were

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basically the final straw for her, and she

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decided to walk away. The first

7:15

one was when one of her clients,

7:17

an elderly woman in a nursing home, passed

7:19

away. I still remember this. It

7:22

was kind of traumatic. She had

7:23

passed away, and the nursing

7:25

home called me, and they said, we need

7:28

you to send us some money because we

7:31

can't get her account

7:33

cleared out. And I was like, well,

7:35

there should be money in her account. The

7:37

last time I checked, there was

7:39

enough.

7:40

And they said, well, there's not. There's nothing in here.

7:43

And it was very odd, because I had been over to

7:45

see her maybe a week prior, and

7:47

her account was fine. And then this

7:50

Saturday, not even a week later, everything

7:53

was cleaned out, which I thought was really strange,

7:55

because she's an elderly woman in a nursing home.

7:57

She's not spending money. There's no reason for that.

8:00

it to be gone. And so I had

8:02

called Susan about that and I said, Hey, you know, this

8:04

person passed away the nursing home is calling

8:07

me and they're telling me we need to finish paying out

8:09

her bill and they're really upset.

8:12

And she kind of just shoved me off

8:14

like, Oh, well, we'll just deal with it on Monday. And I'm like,

8:16

No, I don't think you understand like they're

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calling me and because I'm her guardian,

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they're wanting they want their money. And she

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just kept giving me you know, excuses, we'll deal

8:25

with it on Monday, it must be a huge,

8:27

oh, you know, maybe they had an error in their accounting

8:30

and in

8:30

every excuse, right.

8:32

And I just remember thinking, No, that's, that's

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not right. And I know that's not right. And so do you. And

8:38

then this happened again with another client who

8:40

had passed away. And the really

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sad thing is this woman was an incredible

8:44

woman. She was a Holocaust survivor. And

8:47

she was in a nursing home and she was elderly

8:49

and she passed away. And again,

8:51

I had to deal with some things I was trying

8:53

to put together a memorial service for her. And

8:57

the nursing home said, Well, there's no money. And

9:01

I was like, What, like, what do you mean there's no

9:03

money? Like, there should be

9:05

money in the account. I'm the only person

9:07

managing that account. And I haven't taken it out. So

9:09

like, what do you mean? Lindsay

9:13

told me they were finally able to get

9:15

money for this woman's memorial service. But

9:17

it was the last straw for her. She put in her notice

9:20

and walked away. Then a few years later,

9:22

she was watching the news and she saw

9:25

her old boss, Susan Harris.

9:27

I was watching the news and I saw

9:29

her face pop up. And I was like, Oh my God,

9:32

that's Susan. Like, that's my old boss. And

9:34

my husband was like, Oh, wow. What

9:36

she doing on the news? And I was like, Hold on, like, let me just listen.

9:38

I can't. And so I was listening

9:41

and they were saying, you know, that she had been arrested for

9:43

money laundering and fraud and stealing

9:45

like $11 million from

9:48

victims. And

9:49

it was her and her husband who also

9:51

worked at the guardianship firm

9:52

and then her partner as

9:54

well and her son who actually I did work

9:56

with. He was a guardian as well when I

9:58

was. he was arrested for

10:01

some fraudulent activity too. So

10:04

it was really interesting because I saw it on the news. Wow.

10:08

It's a good thing you didn't sign those forms that

10:11

she wanted to sign. I think about that all

10:13

the time, actually. I mean,

10:15

I would never do that, but I just think about

10:18

like, what if my name was on that or, you know, like,

10:20

no, thanks.

10:21

In 2017, all of this came

10:23

crashing down for Susan Harris, who was running

10:26

this fraud.

10:27

It turns out that she and her husband,

10:29

William Harris, were doing this, along with another

10:31

woman, Sharon Moore. They were embezzling

10:34

money through Ayudondo, Guardians,

10:37

and they had taken more than $11 million of

10:40

their client's money over a 10-year period.

10:43

An indictment was filed in December

10:45

of 2017. It charged Susan and William

10:48

and Sharon, along with

10:50

Susan's

10:51

son, Craig Young,

10:53

with various financial crimes,

10:55

including conspiracy to defraud

10:57

the United States, mail fraud,

10:59

aggravated identity theft, and money

11:02

laundering.

11:03

Susan pleaded guilty in 2019, but then in 2020,

11:05

she

11:08

and her husband did not show up to their

11:10

sentencing hearing, and it turns

11:12

out they were on the run. They left

11:14

New Mexico, and they were hiding out in

11:17

my home state of Oklahoma. They

11:20

were in Shawnee, Oklahoma, but

11:22

they were found and arrested in April

11:24

of 2020.

11:25

It basically came out that Susan

11:28

was the brains behind this whole operation.

11:31

She was CEO, and she came up with this whole

11:33

plan. She was 95% owner of Ayudondo,

11:37

and then Sharon Moore was the chief

11:39

financial officer and

11:42

a 5% owner, and evidence showed that

11:45

they engaged in a pattern of criminal conduct.

11:49

They commingled client money

11:51

with their money. They were just taking

11:54

money out of clients' accounts, willy-nilly,

11:57

they were writing bad checks. They were fabricating.

12:00

forms and they

12:03

were living extravagant lifestyles. A

12:05

lot of this money was going toward the purchase

12:07

of homes, vehicles, luxury

12:10

RVs and cruises, as well as

12:12

they had a private box at

12:14

the pit at the University of

12:16

New Mexico and they were racking

12:19

up bills there. The

12:21

stolen funds were also used to pay for

12:23

more than $4.4 million in American

12:25

express charges incurred by the defendants and

12:27

their families. This is from justice.gov. And

12:30

then finally in July of 2021, Susan

12:34

who was 74 at the time was sentenced to 47

12:37

years in prison, followed by three years

12:39

of supervised release. And

12:42

her husband, William Harris, who

12:45

was also charged, not as steeply, because he

12:48

wasn't as involved with the

12:50

scheme, although he

12:51

knew about it and he did help, he

12:54

was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed

12:56

by three years of supervised release.

12:59

They're supposed to pay the entire amount of stolen

13:01

funds as restitution to the victims,

13:03

but that has not happened.

13:07

After we spoke, Lindsay sent me a follow-up

13:09

voice note, which I wanna play part of because

13:11

she said the reason

13:13

that she wanted to tell the story and thinks it's

13:16

important for people to hear it is that

13:19

it's not an isolated incident that

13:21

people who are under guardianship

13:23

or conservatorship get taken advantage

13:25

of and they're

13:27

a vulnerable population. And

13:29

so we all need to be aware. And

13:32

if you think something's wrong, report it.

13:35

Even when these clients do come forward and

13:37

they say something like, I

13:40

think I'm being taken advantage of or something doesn't

13:42

make sense, society is not

13:44

likely to believe them because,

13:47

oh, they have a mental illness. Oh, they have a guardian.

13:49

Oh, they can't take care of themselves.

13:52

So why would we believe them? So we automatically

13:54

assume that these people are either making it

13:57

up or they're not sure

13:58

or maybe they're mistaken.

13:59

But the reality in this situation is that they were

14:02

being taken advantage of and

14:03

people didn't listen.

14:05

Thank you so much, Lindsey, for sending

14:07

in this story. Um, it

14:09

was a really interesting one. If you want

14:11

to check out Lindsey's podcast, it's called

14:14

What's Up ABQ. And it's a podcast

14:16

all about Albuquerque. I hope

14:19

you enjoyed this mini episode and

14:21

I hope that you will write to me, send

14:24

me your voice notes. Let me know if you

14:26

want your voice to be on the podcast

14:28

or not. And if you want your name included at Hannah

14:31

podcasts on Instagram or

14:33

Twitter. Thank you so much and

14:35

keep an ear

14:36

out for two more episodes.