The final defendant in the guardian embezzlement case was sentenced

The latest defendant in an embezzlement scheme involving court-appointed guardians was sentenced Thursday to one day in jail with three years of supervised release.

Alesha Mitchell, 44, of Suffolk, Va., was also ordered to pay restitution of $85,974 and a special sum of $100, according to the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Joel H. Slomsky of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mitchell, represented by attorney Heather Mattes, was charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud federal indictment in June 2021. In March 2022, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud for her role in the scheme.

Co-defendants Carlton Rembert, 70, of Hampton, Va., and Gloria Byars, 63, of Aldan, were also charged with wire fraud and conspiracy at the time, as well as five counts of wire fraud. Byars was indicted on additional charges of money laundering, but she died in August before the sentence could be passed.

Bayars bldg originally charged in 2019 with former Democratic County Council candidate Keith Collins and his wife, Carolyn Collins — Byars’ sister — as part of the same scheme. Byars faced hundreds of state charges before the eight-count federal indictment was filed.

Keith and Carolyn Collins, of the first block of Princeton Avenue in Ridley Park, were indicted on 18 state charges each of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and receiving stolen property and three counts of conspiracy.

A married couple who serve as pastors at the Church of the Victor in Trainor, admitted his guilt before Delaware County District Court Judge Mary Alice Brennan on one summary count of theft by unlawful taking in March. Each of them was sentenced to four years of probation and ordered to pay over $54,000 in restitution.

According to information from the indictment and affidavit in the state charges:

Byars, who was also Rembert’s sister, worked from 2008 to October 2016 at Havertown, which cares for state-appointed wards. In her position, she assisted the owner of the company in managing the assets of the wards, had access to their check books and bank accounts.

Byars was appointed guardian of several wards in 2015, giving her access to their assets as well. In August 2016, she formed her own corporation, Global Guardian Services LLC, shortly before leaving Havertown.

Byars, Rembert and Mitchell fraudulently obtained more than $1.2 million in unauthorized checks from 120 incapacitated wards and deposited them into accounts they opened at local banks, then split the proceeds.

Byars opened bank accounts for Global Guardian and “ICU Records & Billing,” while Rembert and Mitchell opened accounts for shell corporations “CWR Medical Services” and “ACC Medical Billing LLC.” Rembert also opened bank accounts in the name of a company he previously ran called Grace Home for Children.

Byars stole money from the ward’s accounts by writing unauthorized checks to ICURB, Global Guardian, ACC Medical Billing, CWR Medical and Grace Home to make the transactions appear to be legitimate medical expenses incurred by the ward.

According to a preliminary report by U.S. Attorney Jacqueline S. Romero, Rembert deposited more than $695,000 in checks into the entrepreneurs’ bank accounts and then withdrew more than $388,000 in cash.

He also received $217,082 in certified checks that he sent to Byars, keeping some of the ward’s stolen money for himself.

Bayars pleaded guilty in November 2023 on charges of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and filing a false income statement. The Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled that the cause of death was a “combined toxic effect of various drugs” and that the cause of death was suicide.

Rembert, who is representing himself along with Bala Cynwyd attorney Vernon Chestnut, was convicted in court last year of conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud charges. His motions for acquittal and a new trial were later denied.

Rembert was sentenced earlier this month to 5 1/2 years in federal prison with five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a special sum of $400 and restitution of $534,335.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiwana Wright and Samuel Dahlke prosecuted the case.

“The greed and callousness here is off the charts,” Romero said in a release following Rembert’s sentencing. “It is despicable that criminals are targeting the elderly and infirm to take advantage of their vulnerability. My office and our partners will continue to do everything we can to bring these fraudsters to justice and protect our seniors from greed, fraud and abuse.”