In re Sheath

1

IN THE MATTER OF SYLVIA SHEATH

No. 815-2020

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

January 31, 2022

Circuit Court for Montgomery County Case No. 160915FL

Nazarian, Leahy, Harrell, Glenn T., Jr. (Senior Judge Specially Assigned), JJ.

OPINION ^[*]

Nazarian, J.

On November 9, 2020, after a four-day trial, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County appointed the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (the "Department") as guardian of Sylvia Sheath's person and Randi Bocanegra as guardian of Ms. Sheath's property, over the objection of Ms. Sheath's only surviving child, Toney Schloss. Mr. Schloss appealed, asserting a variety of legal, factual, and procedural errors. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Department Investigation And Pre-Trial Proceedings.

Ms. Sheath is elderly and suffers from dementia. In the past, she twice had been investigated by Adult Protective Services ("APS"), first in 2017 after she fell behind on rent payments and neighbors reported concern for her welfare based on her appearance and requests for food. Ms. Sheath reported having one estranged son, but presented a plan for her care and refused the Department's services. The Department conducted a second investigation in October 2018, when a neighbor reported seeing Ms. Sheath wandering her neighborhood and alleged that Ms. Sheath suffered from "[s]ignificant memory deficits" and confusion. Ms. Sheath reported that she had reestablished contact with her son, Mr. Schloss, but she communicated concerns about her finances. As a result, the APS social worker accompanied Ms. Sheath to her bank, where they discovered unauthorized debits in "alarming patterns atypical of an elderly woman."

On April 18, 2019, the Department obtained court orders for capacity evaluations and requested guardianship over Ms. Sheath's property. Two experts, a licensed psychologist and a medical doctor, agreed that Ms. Sheath was not competent to make or communicate responsible decisions regarding her person or property. Dr. Carole Giunta in particular reported that she was "very concerned about the quality of care and oversight Ms. Sheath is receiving from her son, Toney Schloss." Dr. Giunta interviewed Mr. Schloss and found that he "presents with paranoid thoughts, believing that he and his mother are the targets of a conspiracy. The quality of Mr. Schloss's care and oversight of his mother's needs and finances are of concern . . . ." She recommended both the appointment of a care manager and institutional care.

Mr. Schloss did not dispute the Department's competency findings, but insisted on remaining Ms. Sheath's guardian. Mr. Schloss denied any "unauthorized activity" in Ms. Sheath's finances or any "alarming living conditions," and he contended that a less restrictive form of intervention would be for Mr. Schloss to continue to act as his mother's attorney-in-fact under her general power of attorney. Mr. Schloss also pointed to a service contract under which Ms. Sheath paid him $500 per week to provide routine care to her.

At that point, the Department elected not to proceed on its request for temporary guardian of the person and allowed in-home services in an attempt to maintain Ms. Sheath in her home.

B. Mr. Schloss's Competency Called Into Question.

There came a point in October 2019, though, when Mr. Schloss's conduct during the investigation and proceedings prompted the Department to pursue guardianship of Ms. Sheath's person after all. Mr. Schloss sent "very disturbing emails" to Department employees assigned to Ms. Sheath's case. These emails spanned several pages and alleged broad conspiracies of government corruption, and they included a pornographic image sent to the temporary guardian of Ms. Sheath's property. The Department requested a mental health examination of Mr. Schloss in addition to temporary guardianship over Ms. Sheath's person, and argued that his conduct was evidence that he was mentally ill and incapable of making competent decisions on behalf of Ms. Sheath.

At an evidentiary hearing on January 15, 2020, Mr. Schloss reviewed and authenticated each email and objected only on relevance grounds, arguing they did not relate to the care he gave to his mother. The circuit court overruled those objections and found that the representations in the emails were "not indicative of someone who has good judgment." The court cited Mr. Schloss's decision to send a pornographic image to a female attorney and Dr. Giunta's evaluation and found good cause to order a mental evaluation. The court found Mr. Schloss's mental capacity material to the issues in the guardianship case, specifically to his ability to care for his mother, and ordered him to submit to a comprehensive mental health evaluation.

Dr. Katherine Martin completed Mr. Schloss's mental health evaluation over the course of February and March 2020. The evaluation consisted of two interviews lasting about five hours, two-and-a-half hours of testing, multiple phone calls, and review of 112 emails and records. In her report, Dr. Martin found that "Mr. Schloss'[s] thinking was marked by pronounced grandiose and persecutory delusions, and his thinking was highly strained and illogical and characterized by significant paranoia." She found specifically that he was unable to make decisions for Ms. Sheath:

Based on the test results, and the information in this report, the following recommendations are offered:

[] Mr. Schloss has Delusional Disorder, a psychotic disorder that significantly impacts his perceptions, reasoning, and decision making. He exhibits complex delusions involving his mother, her care, her finances, and those people attempting to help her. Mr. Schloss does not have the ability to make appropriate decisions regarding Ms. Sheath's person or property.

On March 13, 2020, Ms. Sheath suffered a stroke and went to the hospital, and then was transferred to Brooke Grove Retirement Village's rehabilitation center. The Department sought to transfer Ms. Sheath to the Brooke Grove assisted living center in late April 2020. After a hearing on June 16, 2020, the circuit court permitted the sale of Ms. Sheath's home and allowed her to remain at Brooke Grove long-term.

C. Evidence At Trial.

The case went to trial on the issues of permanent guardianship of Ms. Sheath's person and property in November 2020. Mr. Schloss appeared pro se and court-appointed counsel appeared on behalf of Ms. Sheath. The Department entered Ms. Sheath's two competency evaluations and called Dr. Martin as an expert witness. Dr. Martin's psychological report of Mr. Schloss was admitted without objection. During a lengthy cross-examination, Mr. Schloss tried to attack the veracity of Dr. Martin's findings with evidence that, he contended, corroborated his conspiracy theories, including emails from family and family friends supporting Mr. Schloss's views of his and his family's persecution. Dr. Martin stated that she reviewed 112 emails from Mr. Schloss for her report and found no evidence to corroborate his allegations, and noted that APS and the government have no personal motive to lie but his family members might.

Emma DeCesare, a licensed social worker and Ms. Sheath's APS case manager, testified as an expert "in the area of geriatric social work, clinical, and adult guardianship." Ms. DeCesare was assigned to the case in May 2019 and began visiting Ms. Sheath in June 2019, finding signs of neglect:

[S]he was lacking a lot of basic household necessities. . . . [S]he did not change her clothing; she wore the same outfit for the entire month. Her clothing was dirty, old. Her shoes had holes in them. Her condo was very hot. There was no air-conditioning. She would leave the door open. There were flies. There was no food in her house except for-sometimes there would be food left on the table, I believe what Mr. Schloss had maybe brought her, but there's no refrigeration in the house; so food sitting out on the table is covered in-covered in flies. Her toilets were backed up in feces. Her showers were clearly not being used; there was clothes hanging in them.

Ms. DeCesare described her first interactions with Mr. Schloss during which he was "upset with the guardianship, that there was a lot of kind of conspiracy and criminal acts going on."

Ms. DeCesare described the services Ms. Sheath receives at Brooke Grove and that she is happy there:

Ms. Sheath receives 24/7 care and supervision, including a week overnight staff, medical intervention whenever needed, which has really proven to be a benefit to her because her blood pressure has run really high, which I suspect was a precursor to her stroke; so they've been able to control that and manage her medication. So she receives personal care as well as recreational therapy. She's able to socialize, walk around, participate in activities. She has all of her meals met. So it's quite, quite comprehensive services that she receives at the assisted living.

* * *

She's doing really well. She says that she's happy, she enjoys the food. She told me about a cat that's there that she likes. She said that she made a friend that she eats with and goes on walks with. She mentioned she's able to walk outside. It's kind of a secured area. So she can walk outside, look at the [koi] pond. She's been participating in chair aerobics that she enjoys, and she volunteered that herself. She helps out with bingo. They do reading discussions. She, she's, she's happy. She's doing really well. . . . She said that the care staff is very kind.

In Ms DeCesare's expert opinion, Ms. Sheath lacked the capacity to make reasonable decisions for her own care, the assisted living facility was "the least restrictive setting," and "the Department should serve as her guardian of...