No Compassion, just cash
Thousands spent in less than a month in ‘family business’

Newly appointed director Willie Antone secures the front door to Compassion Personal Care in Thoreau on Friday whil behind him dozens of employees and clients sit in their vehicles and stand nearby, waiting for their paychecks. Some of the people travelled from considerable distances to get their checks, and were stranded with insufficient money to buy gas to drive home. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Staff Photo

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan and Phil Stake
Staff writers

GALLUP — If the newspaper gets hold of this, “we will all go to jail.”

That’s what Fannie George, former director of Compassion Health Care in Thoreau, wrote to her sister recently in a family dispute that has pitted one sister against another and has divided the family.

It has also led to an investigation by the McKinley County Sheriff’s Department against George for harassment, allegations of misuse of federal and state funds by both past and current members of the organization’s board and a decision by the agency’s attorney to step down because he has no idea if the current board is valid or not.

In other words, not much has changed at the health care facility since the Independent reported some three months ago that checks were bouncing at the agency that provides home-bound care in Thoreau to some 100 elderly.

That crisis was resolved with George and her husband, Bobby, who was on Compassion’s board, being booted out and a new board being appointed. Fannie George’s sister, Clara Toledo, was appointed executive director and several members of the Toledo family were appointed to the board.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the agency’s headquarters on Aug. 1 because of concerns by current employees about Fannie George.

On one occasion, deputies were told, Fannie George came to the office, said “violent words” and then walked into a file room and left with a single file, contents unknown.

Toledo told the officers she was put in charge after board members found funds had been misused. She said she and her sisters have been harassed by Fannie George ever since she took over as director and that George not only removed items — such as a table and chairs — from Compassion, she also made threatening calls to employees.

Fannie George also ejected other family members from land that the entire family had purchased with retirement funds, Toledo said, adding that the land was not purchased, as some are saying, with funds from Compassion.

The letter

The police report also includes a letter from Fannie George to her sister, Felma, in which Fannie talks about the affect the dispute is having on the family.

“I am very concerned that our family is being torn apart by greed, jealousy, envy and bitterness,” she wrote. “I also know that somewhere deep in the hearts of my sister, there is still love towards me and my family.”

She said her husband, Bobby, has threatened to go to the Medicaid Fraud Division to talk about $70,000 in Compassion funds that were used to pay for the personal expenses of family members, including car payments, a hearing aid, plane fares and “payment for caring for Dad.”

Fannie George said she also had evidence that the current members of the board are paying themselves vast sums of money.

Between June 19, 2008, and July 14, 2008, a period of 25 days, checks were made out to Toledo totaling $16,367. Her son, Austin Toledo III, during the same period, received checks totaling $4,275. Mother and son received 14 checks totaling $20,643.51 or an average of $825.74 per day.

But they weren’t the only ones; Toledo’s sister, Christina Toledo Brown received seven checks totaling $7,032.60. Victoria Toledo, another of Clara’s sisters and a member of the board, received six checks totaling $3,520.62.

Another sister, Corinna Woody, who is the wife of Board President Allen Woody, received three checks totaling $2,580. Woody received two checks that totaled $1,506 and there was even a check for $685 that was made out to their 16-year-old son.

In all, the board members and relatives of Toledo received a total of $35,282.13 during that 25-day period.

The checks

Clara Toledo, when asked by the Independent on Wednesday about the checks, said those allegations were false.

“There were no checks,” she said.

But the Independent has received copies of the agency’s bank account for that period which showed that the checks were indeed written and cashed.

One of the checks to Victoria Toledo, on June 19 for $702 states it was for a “stipend.” Another one — marked office equipment and supplies — was for $7,000 and was made out to Clara Toledo. Another one, again to Clara Toledo, was labeled plumbing services. That one was for $875.

According to Fannie George’s letter to her sister, many of the checks to Compassion officers and Toledo family members are questionable.

For example, the check to Woody’s son came at a time he was being paid by another program.

She pointed out that Allen Woody was paid “outrageous” mileage and stipend fees for time spent on Compassion business when he was also being paid as an employee of Shundiin.

“This is not good for (any) of us,” Fannie George writes. “... anyone can take this information and take it to the local newspaper. We will all go to jail. What is going to happen to our children? When the FBI gets involved, they will use us against each other and (cause us) to testify against each other.”

At that point in the letter, Fannie George said all she wants is to get away from this whole matter and offered to sell her share of Compassion for $250,000 or $15,000 a month until that amount is paid.

It’s questionable, however, what rights, if any, she has in Compassion, since it is a not-for-profit business and is run by a board.

The lawyer

She closes by pointing out that there was a land deal — probably the one the sheriff’s department talks about — and money from Compassion was used to buy the land.

“This is more serious and without hesitation (the) state can close down the program. According to Jim Fitting, Bobby and I are no longer part of the program. All of the misuse of funds is on them,” she wrote.
Fitting, a former attorney for the Navajo Nation, is now in private practice in Albuquerque and was Compassion’s attorney. He said Wednesday he is no longer representing Compassion.

The reason, he said, is because of a lawsuit filed in Crownpoint District Court by Bobby George, who claims that the current board is illegal because it was not appointed by him. The current board was appointed by Fannie George before she was removed.

Current officials of Compassion said that Bobby George was removed from the board by Fannie George and therefore had no right to appoint anyone to the board.

Fitting said because of the dispute, he decided he could not represent the current board because of questions about the current board’s legality. To continue representing them, he said, may be malpractice. He added that he has also recommended that the board seek an attorney closer to home since it will save them money.

The sheriff’s deputies, Chavo Chischilly and Merlin Benally, attempted to find Fannie George to question her but were told by Allen Woody that he heard reports that the couple had left town.