## Facts

- Dana Lynn Guarscio lived with her grandmother, Helen Woichowski, who had a fixed income and had long provided financial support to Guarscio.
- Woichowski bought a Sarasota home; it was placed in a land trust naming Woichowski and Guarscio as cotrustees.
- Beginning in 2003, the home mortgage was refinanced three times over about 18 months, increasing debt by roughly $100,000 and substantially increasing the monthly payment.
- The refinancing proceeds were used largely for Guarscio’s benefit and family expenses, including funding a wedding, a painting business, and a divorce.
- In November 2005, Woichowski suffered a stroke and entered a nursing facility; she later entered a voluntary guardianship.
- The guardian reviewed Woichowski’s finances, found the home at risk of foreclosure, and identified transfers from Woichowski’s accounts to Guarscio, including checks written after the stroke.
- The State prosecuted Guarscio for exploitation of an elderly person (based primarily on the refinancings), grand theft from a person over 65, and four counts of uttering a forged instrument.
- A jury convicted Guarscio on all charged counts, and she appealed, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence on exploitation and the degree of grand theft.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove exploitation of an elderly person where the State had to show the defendant obtained or used the victim’s property by deception or intimidation.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support second-degree grand theft (value threshold) or only a lesser, third-degree grand theft.
3. Whether any reversible error required disturbing the four convictions for uttering a forged instrument.

## Decision

- The court reversed the exploitation conviction because the State did not prove deception or intimidation connected to the refinancing transactions.
- The court reversed the grand-theft conviction as to degree and remanded with instructions to enter judgment and resentence for third-degree grand theft.
- The court affirmed, without further comment, the four convictions for uttering a forged instrument.

## Legal Principles

- Elderly-exploitation liability requires proof that the defendant obtained or used the elderly person’s funds, assets, or property by deception or intimidation; voluntary, even imprudent, financial assistance is not enough without that element.
- When the prosecution seeks a higher degree of theft, it must present competent evidence establishing the statutory value threshold; failure of value proof warrants reduction to the degree supported by the record.
- Appellate courts may affirm convictions without extended discussion where the appellant shows no reversible error on the challenged counts.

## Conclusion

The appellate court held that the State proved neither deception nor intimidation for elderly exploitation despite evidence of financially harmful refinancings, and it reduced the grand-theft conviction because the record did not establish the higher value element, while leaving the forgery-related convictions intact.


Guarscio v. State, 64 So. 3d 146 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2011)