By: Darcy Spears
\nKTNV<\/p>\n
$8.5 million dollars. It’s a figure almost impossible to fathom for 81-year-old Rudy North.<\/p>\n
“And it’s time,” North said. “It’s taken over four years.”<\/p>\n
The autumn 2013 day that April Parks came to take guardianship over Rudy and his wife, Rennie, is a day they’ll never forget.<\/p>\n
“We were kidnapped from our house,” Rudy said.<\/p>\n
After Contact 13 exposed allegations of fraud against Parks and her company, A Private, Professional Guardian, the court took her off the case.<\/p>\n
But in the time Parks controlled every aspect of the Norths’ lives, they lost their home, their car, their life savings and their dignity.<\/p>\n
“Our souls were scarred,” is the only way Rudy can describe it.<\/p>\n
April Parks is behind bars, awaiting trial on dozens of felony charges for theft, racketeering, perjury and exploitation of older and vulnerable persons.<\/p>\n
Now, in a civil case, Judge Doug Smith says Parks has got to start paying the price.<\/p>\n
“Yeah. So let’s see if she does,” says a skeptical Julie Belshe, the Norths’ daughter with whom the couple now lives.<\/p>\n
Belshe knows the road to realize that $8.5 million dollars will be long.<\/p>\n
Still, the family is looking at the positives the civil judgment brings.<\/p>\n
“It’s about giving people hope,” Belshe says.<\/p>\n
Hope for others fighting abusive guardianships, financial accountability for April Parks and validation for everything the Norths have endured.<\/p>\n
“What we want to do is bring this terrible, horrific racket down,” Rudy says. “We want it to stop.”<\/p>\n
Judge Smith awarded double damages against Parks for the abuse, neglect and exploitation of Rudy and Rennie North, who are considered special victims due to their age and vulnerability.<\/p>\n
Parks’ criminal trial is set to begin in May.<\/p>\n