A guardian and a businessman were indicted in a federal case unsealed Oct. 1 and accused of stealing more than $836,000 from incapacitated wards of the court, marking the second major crackdown this year on fraud within the region’s probate court system.
The case against Tri-State Guardian Services owner Kijuana Evans and Lonnie Griffin was unsealed nine months after federal prosecutors charged a group that included probate guardian Nancy Juanita Williams and 36th District Judge Andrea Bradley-Baskin. Bradley-Baskin is accused of spending money stolen from elderly and incapacitated people on a dive bar, a luxury car and a ritzy downtown condominium.
In the case unsealed Oct. 1, Evans, 54, of Clinton Township, and Griffin, 57, of Harper Woods, are accused of enriching themselves and associates by embezzling money from the estate of wards during a conspiracy from March 2024 to April 2025. The 13-count indictment charges the duo with wire fraud and money laundering, charges that could send them to prison for more than 30 years…