By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A former Jasper County probate case now among those being probed by the state was the subject of a hearing Monday in the Probate Division of Greene County Circuit Court.
While John Hinnah was a ward of former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter, more than $7,000 was sent as refunds from his estate to federal and state agencies, according to records.
That was part of the overview offered by Gretchen Long, attorney for Angie Casavecchia, the new Jasper County public administrator, in a status hearing on the case. Carol Aiken, Greene County probate commissioner, continued the case for 90 days to give attorneys time to sort out financial issues.
“It sounds like a mess,” Aiken said.
Long told the court that Hinnah’s estate is among those being looked at in an investigation into Hunter’s office operations by the Missouri Department of Social Services.
Hunter was not at the hearing, but in a telephone call later Monday, she said the money was paid from Hinnah’s estate to keep him eligible for veterans benefits and other assistance.
While Hunter said she would discuss only Hinnah’s case, she said that also was the case with money sent from other wards’ accounts. In addition to the Hinnah case, at least $80,000 was sent from five wards’ estates, most to state health-care agencies, court records show.
Hinnah, a former Joplin resident, became a ward of the Jasper County public administrator’s office in 2005. His case was transferred for oversight by the Greene County probate court last December, at the request of attorneys for Edward Jones Co., the investment firm that oversees a family trust providing some of Hinnah’s income.
St. Louis attorney Micah Huff said the request to move the estate to Greene County was made because Hinnah had moved to Springfield. He said trust officers also wanted the estate moved because communications with the administrator’s office under Hunter were “very difficult.”
“They never answered our questions or returned phone calls,” Huff said. “The only thing we received from her were invoices from her attorney with charges we thought were inordinately high.”
Hunter said her office did communicate with the trust, and that the difficulties were because “we were trying to get them to spend money for Mr. Hinnah.”
“I fought with them because the family left a trust for his care, and they didn’t want to spend any money out of it,” she said.
Huff said the trust officers may want to look into legal action on behalf of their client to recover some of the money they believe was lost.
Long said her office already has recovered the $2,115 paid to the state from Hinnah’s account.
“We requested that back,” she said. “There was no request asking for any of those payments and no court order approving them.”
She said attempts still are being made to recover a $2,567 payment made to the Department of Veterans Affairs and a $2,697 payment made to Social Security.
Long appeared at Monday’s hearing to answer questions about the Jasper County case and to represent Carolyn Little, former longtime Greene County public administrator who is now Hinnah’s guardian.
Investigations
The Missouri Department of Social Services has started an investigation into some operations of the Jasper County public administrator’s office under Rita Hunter. An investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, under the direction of the Missouri attorney general’s office, also is under way, along with a financial audit of the office’s records.
