Grand Forks County faces a lawsuit from the guardian of a man whose estate was allegedly mismanaged by a county employee.
Barb Zavala's unaccounted handling of Paul Veum's estate cost him $33,690, says the suit, which was filed by attorney Timothy C. Lamb March 23 in Grand Forks County District Court.
Zavala was the county's public administrator and veterans service officer until late January, when she abruptly resigned. The County Commission had accused her of misappropriating funds and giving false information to law enforcement.
Zavala did not return a phone message left at her residence.
Grand Forks County State's Attorney Peter Welte deferred comment on the suit, saying, "It would be inappropriate for anyone to talk about this at this time."
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The suit identifies five separate counts, each seeking at least $50,000 in damages.
BCI probe
So far there has been no criminal charges against Zavala or Cathy Westensee, her assistant who resigned at the same time she did and issued a nearly identical resignation letter to hers.
But Lamb said the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is probing Zavala's actions, though he said it shouldn't affect his suit.
The BCI refused to confirm or deny an investigation into the two women.
Unclear records
Zavala, through her position as public administrator, acted as temporary conservator of Veum's estate and his guardian from July 27 to Oct. 26, the suit says. During that time there were no accounting or reports made of his assets as required by law.
Veum's longtime friend Janie Marcotte of Salina, Kan., was granted permanent guardianship in late October. At one point Veum, 75, moved to Salina, but he has since moved to a nursing home in Lakota, N.D., according to Lamb, who was hired by Marcotte.
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Among the charges the suit makes are:
- From Aug. 3 to Nov. 3, there was $5,407.40 in unaccounted withdrawals made from Veum's Gate City Bank account.
- In early 2011, Veum bought a 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 pickup for $8,400 with a trade in. There is no record of the vehicle being sold, but the suit assumes a deposit into Veum's bank account on Sept. 14 for $4,000 was the proceeds of its sale. That's $7,075 below the vehicle's market value of $11,075.
- Veum also had $21,215 in personal belongings, still unaccounted for, taken from his property at 4088 Pioneer Drive in Grand Forks.
Lamb said he doesn't know whether there was actual theft from Veum's estate because of the lack of accounting.
"As we go through this process, there's some discovery we've asked for," he said. "We've asked for some accountability for some property that's missing. We don't know where it's at. It's yet to be determined where those items are, but they're gone."
Reach Bieri at (701) 780-1118; (800) 477-6572, ext. 118; or send email to cbieri@gfherald.com .
