BRAINERD, MINN. – A 39-year-old Breezy Point woman who once oversaw vulnerable adults is now the target of a criminal investigation amid allegations that she mistreated some of the ailing and elderly wards entrusted to her.
Those complaints, by relatives of those Susan Gerber cared for, date back a year and recently prompted a Crow Wing County district judge to remove Gerber from all 13 of her cases.
Some of her wards' family members alleged that Gerber, who operated Honorable Guardian Services, rarely responded to their phone messages and failed to pay her clients' bills on time, resulting in threats to cancel services, disconnect utilities, evict the wards and cut off their medications.
"My mother has worked hard for her money but is receiving no pleasure from it," Sheila Ruling wrote Crow Wing County District Court in March, demanding an investigation of the way Gerber was overseeing the accounts of Jeanne Baardson, who has dementia. "Her health, welfare and safety are at risk."
The case against Gerber began building momentum in June, when Nathan Bertram, Crow Wing County community services coordinator, recommended she be barred from acting as a guardian after finding "gross neglect" in another case and noting that other, similar complaints were being investigated.
"Even if Social Services has not been involved, we feel that it would be inappropriate for Susan Gerber to remain as guardian on any case," Bertram wrote the court, adding that the wards' well-being was in jeopardy.
Sandra Larson, an adult protection investigator, followed up a month later with a letter stating that Gerber had been found to be mistreating vulnerable adults. Gerber did not appeal that finding, Larson noted.
Soon after, District Judge David Ten Eyck issued an emergency order stripping Gerber of her guardianship and conservatorship appointments. After she ignored an earlier order to bring overdue client financial records and an inventory of assets to court on July 18, Ten Eyck took the rare step of ordering Gerber's arrest on contempt charges.