A Michigan probate court trusted TriState Guardian Services to manage the affairs of people who could not manage them. Federal prosecutors say the company’s owner, Kijuana Evans, 54, of Clinton Township, and a manager took their money. An indictment announced Oct. 1 accuses them of keeping $180,000 from the sale of a ward’s home and spending $87,000 of a ward’s money on a van.

What the indictment alleges

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan says in its announcement that Evans and Lonnie Griffin, 57, of Harper Woods, “conspired to systematically embezzle funds from wards.” The Oakland County Probate Court appointed TriState Guardian Services as a fiduciary for incapacitated wards, the office says.

Two payments stand out. Prosecutors say Evans used $87,000 of a ward’s funds to buy a transit van used by Griffin’s transportation company. They also say Evans and Griffin took $180,000 from the sale of a ward’s home for themselves. A third allegation has no dollar figure: the indictment says the pair deposited the proceeds of a ward’s lawsuit settlement into their own bank account.

Griffin operated Key to Life, a non-emergency transportation service, and worked as a manager at TriState. The indictment charges both with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The announcement carries the standard warning that an indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt, and that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Who is handling the case

U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. and Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, announced the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Moran is prosecuting, and the FBI investigated. The announcement does not say how many wards were affected or what the maximum penalties are. It notes that guardians and conservators are fiduciaries, obligated to act in the best interests of their wards.

For a family with a parent or relative under a guardian, the question is how to tell whether that guardian is spending money on the person and what a relative can do if the answer looks wrong.

The announcement gives no court date for Evans or Griffin, so the next step in the case is the first hearing, which the court has not yet set.

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What courts can do when a guardian is accused

The Justice Department’s Elder Justice Initiative says financial exploitation is the most commonly reported form of guardian abuse. On its page on guardian mistreatment, updated in June 2026, it says courts can respond by freezing assets or restricting accounts. A court can also order a guardian to account for a person’s assets, and it can limit a guardian’s powers, appoint a co-guardian or remove the guardian.

The page says a person or agency may need to “file a complaint or petition the court” to set that in motion.

Where families report a guardian

The Justice Department lists adult protective services, law enforcement and the state attorney general among the places to report suspected guardian abuse. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s guide to reporting elder financial abuse adds that, for guardians and conservators, the report goes to the court that appointed them. It also lists the district attorney’s office, which can be asked to prosecute, and the Justice Department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311.

Local adult protective services offices can be found through the National Adult Protective Services Association site, napsa-now.org, which the bureau names. For an emergency, the bureau says to call 911.

Other kinds of fiduciaries

A court-appointed guardian is one kind of fiduciary. A representative payee, who manages someone’s Social Security benefits, and a Veterans Affairs fiduciary are others. The Justice Department page says misuse by either can be reported to the inspector general of the Social Security Administration or the VA, and the bureau lists the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 for payee concerns.

Checking on a guardian’s handling of money

The first free step is with the probate court that made the appointment, since that is where the bureau says reports about a guardian go. A relative can ask the court clerk what reports and accountings the guardian has filed and whether anything is overdue.

Families can also keep their own list: the date, amount and purpose of any large payment from the person’s money, especially a sale of the person’s home or the proceeds of a lawsuit settlement, the two kinds of money the indictment names. A van, a home sale and a settlement are the items in this case, and each one leaves a paper trail in bank statements and closing papers.

If something looks wrong, the Justice Department page recommends reporting to adult protective services or to law enforcement, and asking the court to act.

The indictment is an allegation, and the court will decide the charges. Everything above about Evans and Griffin comes from the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.