Former guardian defrauded AdventHealth of millions, report says

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has received additional evidence in its criminal investigation of a former guardian accused of filing “do not resuscitate" orders for patients without consent.

The evidence comes from another investigation by the county auditor that found AdventHealth had been defrauded of nearly $4 million by Rebecca Fierle.

The investigation began when a judge required AdventHealth to turn over records of its payments to Fierle.

The investigation found in more than 70% of cases, Fierle controlled a patient’s assets without being named their guardian or even petitioning to be.

“It's appalling,” said Phil Diamond, the Orange County comptroller. "We were just shocked by the depth of what we saw."

Diamond said his team worked for weeks on the extensive audit and found AdventHealth paid millions to Fierle.

The audit also found AdventHealth was often fraudulently double-billed for the same services at double the court-approved rate.

The money was never reported to the court.

In total, 682 patients were involved, and auditors found 70% were not under a court-supervised guardianship.

Additionally, Channel 9 found among 80 backlogged complaints to the state, Fierle was accused of seven violations, including abusing a ward's special-needs trust.

Diamond said the results of this investigation were turned over to the state attorney general, FDLE and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.