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Community Corner

APRIL 15 SMELLS AT RITZ COVE

April 15 to most people's minds is a bitter day, as its the day one writes those tax checks to the State and Federal government. 

I have a different view, since I no longer have to pay income taxes.
 
It was on this day last year that dozens of OC residents had prepared for: the opening day of the months-long fraud trial of Dan Harkey, husband of Assemblywoman Diane Harkey.

 I was the first to testify in the $40m trial.  

The couple watched me slowly approach the stand in my polio crutches and adjust to the seat.  My attorney wanted the jury to realize that Harkey's faithful investors were not top-hatted fat tuxedo-ed powerhouses who could write off 100% losses. 

 In the end, they found the Ritz Cove, Dana Point resident guilty of Elder Financial Abuse and  acting with "malice, oppression or fraud" in breaching his fiduciary duties to investors. They awarded me my $150,000, and later the judge agreed with their decision.  

 But Dan Harkey had declared bankruptcy, and I was not to receive one cent.  I continue to try to live on my Social Security retirement of $654 a month.

 The collection agency we had to hire said it will be between two to eight years to collect the award.  

 So did all the jurors and potential jurors and stand-by jurors waste their time doing their civic duty? 

You decide.

I am getting my Palm Desert house of 25 years ready to sell.   Yes, a bitter anniversary for me, indeed.  

Sipolski is a Palm Desert resident and author of 'Too Early for Flowers, The Story of a Polio Mother.'   

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