EMBEZZLEMENT CASE: Couple sought guardianship of ailing doctor

Jan. 19—TRAVERSE CITY — A married Peninsula Township couple, accused of stealing money and valuables from a retired doctor, tried in 2021 to have the doctor declared incapacitated and themselves appointed as the man's guardians.

David Michael Martin, 73, and Ellen Lynne Martin, 68, were arraigned Tuesday on felony embezzlement charges, after prosecutors say they used their friendship with retired radiologist Jay Ambrosini to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Martins both have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Ambrosini, who died Dec. 12, 2021, owned airplanes, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, as well as houses in California, Illinois and Grawn on the Duck Lake Peninsula, where he retired after experiencing end-stage Parkinson's disease.

Court records show that, when the Martins took over Ambrosini's care, he couldn't drive or walk, used a scooter for mobility, he had no close family and his longtime partner, Diane Ford, had died.

Witnesses, during a preliminary hearing Tuesday in 86th District Court, gave accounts of how they said David Martin controlled Ambrosini's life, commandeered his finances and threatened to put the doctor in a nursing home if he didn't comply with David Martin's wishes.

"Dave would watch over Jay very closely," Art Busby, the doctor's longtime financial adviser testified during a dramatic retelling of how Busby and the owner of a home health care agency once rushed Ambrosini to a local attorney's office.

This was on March 11, 2021, when records show David Martin was listed as Ambrosini's power of attorney, health care advocate, successor trustee and a beneficiary of Ambrosini's $11.5 million estate — roles Busby told the court Ambrosini did not agree with.

"I picked a time when they (the Martins) wouldn't be present and we can get Jay into a car and over to the offices of Parker Harvey," Busby said from the witness stand. "Essentially, that's what we did."

An estate attorney at Parker Harvey law office helped Ambrosini remove David Martin's name from official documents.

Busby said there was a heated telephone exchange when he informed the Martins their responsibilities were "severed."

"They were extremely upset and loud," Busby said.

The next day, on March 12, 2021, records show the Martins filed an emergency petition in Grand Traverse County Probate Court, seeking immediate guardianship of Ambrosini.

"Confusion, putting in harm way daily, he is like a 5-year-old, fighting with the ones that care about him," the petition, signed by the Martins, states.

In Michigan, guardians are appointed by the court after a judge determines a person is no longer capable of making their own medical, housing and other important decisions because of illness, age or accident.

Probate Judge Melanie Stanton, who has since retired, declined to label the case an emergency and, instead, on March 16, 2021, appointed an outside attorney, Marie Walker, to investigate and report back.

Walker, according to her report, visited Ambrosini at his Duck Lake home, found him able to speak clearly, pass a mini mental exam and express his preferences — which, Walker's report stated, included not having David or Ellen Martin be his power of attorney or his caregivers.

"He said Mr. Martin is violent, and has thrown him around on a few occasions," Walker said. "Dr. Ambrosini said that Mr. Martin 'scares him' and has been 'very nasty' to him."

David Martin was a "snake in the grass," Ambrosini told Walker, saying he was a man who'd abused him emotionally and threatened to put him in a nursing home.

Walker's report, filed with the probate court March 23, 2021, also stated that the Martins expressed a fondness for the doctor and regret over how the friendship deteriorated, but there was scant evidence Ambrosini was incapacitated.

Walker, however, did express concerns that Ambrosini, because of his age, limited mobility and significant assets, could be vulnerable to financial exploitation.

The Martins withdrew their guardianship petition the next day, court records show.

"It's my opinion that they looked at the cards they were holding and didn't like what they saw," said Peter Boyles, an attorney hired by Ambrosini to fight the guardianship petition.

"I've seen cases before that have been called elder abuse," Boyles said Thursday. "Not this brazen, in my opinion."

Boyles, in April 2021, sent a letter to David Martin demanding the return of valuables, including two silver bars Ambrosini inherited from his parents, silver coins, a watch and a luxury motorhome that Boyles said Martin had in his possession.

Martin returned the motorhome, court records show, while the fate of the other valuables remained a mystery. The Martins signed affidavits stating they didn't have the silver bars, the coins or the watch and didn't know where they were.

In 2022, Boyles was again brought into the case, this time to represent Busby, the financial adviser, in a civil lawsuit filed in 86th District Court by David Martin.

Martin said Ambrosini had signed over a 2017 Chevy Silverado pickup truck to him, and that Busby failed to turn it over after the doctor died.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit, but not before Boyles filed a 191-page legal brief, detailing what he said was evidence that the Martins breached their fiduciary duties.

They forced Ambrosini to change his estate plan, Boyles said in his brief, abused the doctor financially and emotionally and, between August 2019 and March 2021, enriched themselves by $472,942 in fees — $406,198 for David Martin and $66,744 for Ellen Martin.

Grand Traverse County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Olsen deployed similar evidence this week during a preliminary hearing on the embezzlement charges.

On Tuesday afternoon, Olsen called Don Declercq, a retired Bloomfield Hills jeweler, as a witness for the prosecution.

Declercq testified by video he'd once been friends with the Martins and purchased a Mercedes SUV from David Martin in 2022 for $60,000 in cash.

Declercq said he brought the money to the Martins' residence on Old Mission Peninsula and drove home with the car.

The SUV, prosecutors said, belonged to Ambrosini and had been stored in the garage of Ambrosini's California residence until David Martin booked a flight to California, then drove the vehicle back to Traverse City.

Declercq testified that, once he learned the car was worth about half of what he paid for it, he asked David Martin for his money back, but Martin declined to return it.

Sometime during the transaction at the Martin residence, Declercq said David Martin went outside and Declercq later heard a noise at the window.

It was David Martin, Declercq testified, holding a silver bar in his hand and tapping on the window with it to get Declercq's attention.

"It had some dirt on it, or a piece of a leaf or something," Declercq said. "I figured out later he probably took them from the doctor. In fact, I think he told me he took them from the doctor."

The preliminary hearing is currently adjourned, although 86th District Court Judge Robert Cooney is expected to hear further arguments before the end of January.

On Thursday, Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg declined comment on plea negotiations.