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LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Four people have pleaded guilty in Nevada’s largest elder exploitation case.
Contact 13 has been investigating the case involving April Parks and others for years, bringing the situation to light.
On Monday, Parks and her co-defendants Mark Simmons, Gary Neal Taylor and Noel Palmer Simpson entered guilty pleas in Clark County District Court to felony charges arising from a scheme to financially exploit elderly wards they were appointed by the court to serve.
Parks was the owner of A Private Professional Guardian, LLC. Last spring, Parks, her office manager Simmons, her husband Taylor and her Simpson were collectively indicted on 270 counts for elder exploitation, representing the most significant guardianship indictment in Nevada’s history. They collectively committed 117 counts of perjury, 73 counts of offering false instrument for filing or record, 42 counts of theft, 37 counts of exploitation and one count of racketeering. The fraudulent acts were committed between December 2011 and July 2016.
Parks pleaded guilty to five felony offenses, including two counts of elder exploitation, two counts of theft and one count of perjury. Simmons pleaded guilty to one count of elder exploitation, one count of theft and one count of perjury. Taylor, who was named in seven counts of the original indictment, pleaded guilty to one count of elder exploitation.
Several of these defendants also pleaded guilty Monday in a second related case where Parks, Simmons, Simpson and James Thomas Melton are alleged to have exploited an elderly couple through the use of guardianship between December 2010 and May 2017. In this case, Parks, Simmons and Simpson each pleaded guilty to another count of elder exploitation.
Under the terms of the plea agreements with Parks and Simmons, the state and the defense have retained the right to argue for what sentence they will receive. Parks faces a maximum prison sentence of 84 years in prison between the two cases. Simmons faces a maximum prison sentence of 54 years. Taylor’s plea agreement jointly recommends a sentence of 24-60 months in prison. Simpson will receive the recommendation of probation in exchange her cooperation.
Parks, Simmons and Taylor have been detained in the Clark County Detention Center since their arrest in March 2017. A judge set a sentencing date of Jan. 4, 2019 for the defendants.
This case was jointly investigated by the Office of the Nevada Attorney General and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Prosecutors from the Office of the Nevada Attorney General and Clark County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case.
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