THOMAS J. COLLINS STAFF WRITER
ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS

The life savings of some of Minnesota's. most vulnerable residents are being draine and authorities say sometimes stolen by the professional conservator and guardians who are supposed to protect them.

Court-appointed caretaker have billed people under their care tens of thousands of dollars for unnecessary and, some say, phony services. They also have sold clients property at bargain prlces and hired tbeir own relatives at their clients' expense.

And when the bank accounts finally run dry, the taxpayer most often ends up paying the bilis for their continued care.

A Pioneer Press examination of more than 250 probate cases in five Minnesota counties found cracks in Minnesota's system of conservators and guardians, who manage the financial and personal affairs of people who judges . rule are unable to make those decisions themselves.

Here are a few examples culled from court documents:

• Georgina DeMars, 69, of Lauderdale, was billed nearly 521,400 in fees and expenses for her 11-month guardianship. Part of that money, Ramsey County investigators say, went to retile her guardian's kitchen; to pay her guardian's utillty, hairdressing and jewelry bills; and to put the guardian's brother, brother-in-law and mother-in-law to work on DeMars' case.

• Lester Juehrs, an 84-year-old St. Paul nursing home resident, was billed S5,586 for repairs that county investigators say were done at his conservator's home. The conservator also charged him $8,400 in other fees over two years more than six times the amount his conservator allowed him to use as spending, money.

• Patricia Allen, 47, of Roseville, paid more than $18,600 in conservator fees over 2 years. Among the charges was a $40 monthly fee paid to her conservator for dropping off S200 in cash. She also was charged $1,321 to have her conservator's attorney look into amending her divorce decree even though she says she didn't request the search or benefit from it.

• Morris and Eva Berg of St. Paul were billed more than $15,000 in conservator-related fees, including bills for meetings, telephone calls, processing insurance claims and visits to the nursing homes where they each lived for nine months before Morris 8erg's death.

• Ellen Hanson, 31, formerly of Rochester, was isolated in a locked nursing-home ward In Minneapolis and says she lost $27,000 during her nine months under a public conservator ship in Olmsted County.

No one knows how many people are under a conservator's care in Minnesota. In Hennepin and Ramsey county alone, which account for a third of the state's population, court official estimate more than 3,000 people have court appointed caretakers making decisions for them.

Social service officials say the vast majority of those people are being cared for by honest and conscientious conservators and guardians who properly perform their sometmes gritty and demanding jobs.

That means managing the financial or personal affairs of people unable to make such decisions themselves hecause of physlcal or mental illnesses. It also can mean acting as referee in messy disputes between relatives or others who may not have the client's best interests at heart.

But in Minnesota, judges, soclal workers and lawyers are concerned that too few safeguards exist to protect the vulnersble from those who are supposed to be protecting them. And they