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Lawsuit crumbles 10 years of trust

Two women battle in court: A 100-year-old accuses the other of stealing her savings. The defendant, 74, says she was only protecting her friend.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published July 14, 2006

DADE CITY - Euphemia Rowland met Betty Shye at church in 1994, and the women developed a bond of trust.

Shye, 74, still calls the 100-year-old Rowland "my friend."

But the two haven't spoken in more than two years, a result of a falling out over Rowland's money and property amassed through a lifetime of frugality.

Now Rowland is suing Shye, accusing her of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"She never in her life ever would give somebody $500,000," Rowland's attorney, David Sockol of St. Petersburg, said in court Thursday. "The money should be hers to do whatever she wants with it."

Shye was a signer on Rowland's accounts. Sockol presented bank transactions showing Shye moving money from Rowland's accounts into her own accounts, which named Shye's three children as beneficiaries. Sockol said Shye continued this even after her power of attorney had been revoked.

Shye, who took the stand Thursday, said she was just trying to protect her friend.

Rowland was born in Maine and moved to Florida when she married in 1931.

She worked her way through college, taught school in Pasco County for many years and lived in a big house north of town on Powerline Road. She was widowed in 1966 with no children of her own, only one stepdaughter.

In March 2003, Rowland took a fall in the house, prompting a stay in a nursing home that she referred to as prison. For 14 months, she pleaded with anyone who would listen to let her out.

Bobby Overstreet, a friend for many years, and Henry Wickett, who turned out to be her distant cousin, got her out in May 2004.

But Shye says Overstreet and Wickett are the ones taking advantage of her friend. She says they kidnapped Rowland and she has even sought the police's help to no avail. Rowland transferred power of attorney to Overstreet and Wickett and hasn't had any contact with Shye since the day before she left the nursing home in 2004.

She has lived with Wickett in his house on Clinton Avenue ever since.

In testimony Thursday, Shye said she didn't know about Rowland's money for several years. She thought her friend, who lived through the lean times of the Great Depression, got by on Social Security.

Then one day in 2001, Shye said, Rowland made a declaration.

"She says I have been watching you for years and I know I can trust you," Shye testified.

Rowland added Shye to her bank accounts and property deeds and made her a beneficiary in her will.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office investigated Shye in 2004 and 2005 and determined the case to be unfounded.

Shye said Thursday she still recognizes all of the money to be Rowland's.

But she won't give it back.

"I know my friend's wishes," Shye said, "and her wishes would not have been to remove my name."

Shye says Overstreet and Wickett have manipulated Rowland to break their friendship and get a grasp on her money themselves.

She won't turn it loose until she is convinced Rowland's true intentions are being honored.

"I have not done anything wrong," Shye said.

The trial is scheduled to continue today before Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb.

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 22:49:33]