In June, Fechter's daughter, Stephanie Perlmutter, 52, required surgery because she left one or more tampons inserted weeks after HRS workers warned Mantia that Perlmutter had a strange odor and discharge and needed a gynecological exam, according to state and police records.

Mantia blames Perlmutter's incapacitated mother for the delay, saying she didn't want her daughter examined. But when Mantia's company sought guardianship of the family, she said it was partly because they had poor hygiene that needed correcting. And Mantia had the sole legal authority and duty to make decisions about Perlmutter's medical care, court records show.

Bonnie and Stanley Bloom, relatives of the family, have questioned both the mounting cost of the guardianship and the quality of care the family is receiving, court records show. They complained to Judge Johnson and various state agencies, including Mantia's employer, the Department of Elder Affairs. "To dissipate a person's life savings with superfluous 'care' and questionable financial obligations is, at the very least, inhumane," Bonnie Bloom wrote in a May 1993 letter to Judge Johnson. "Does it not negate the spirit of the Florida guardianship laws?"

Mantia said the criticisms were unfounded. Johnson agreed -- and issued an order enjoining the Blooms from criticizing Mantia or otherwise interfering with her ability to earn a living.

Johnson now says he issued the order to keep costs down because Mantia and her attorney were being forced to spend time -- and the wards' money -- defending themselves.

The Blooms are now afraid to discuss Mantia. "The judge said we couldn't, and we don't want to go to jail," Bonnie Bloom said.

Bibianna Bach was bedridden with arthritis when Mantia became her guardian and required "total skilled nursing care to survive," according to court records.

HRS decided that Mantia neglected Bach because she failed to place the widow in a nursing home with constant care, even after Medicaid agreed to pay for it, state records show.

HRS has classified Bach's death as "proposed confirmed" neglect, Maicas said. But Mantia is appealing the finding.

Mantia said she tried to place Bach in a nursing home but couldn't find one willing to take her. Instead, a few weeks before Bach died, Mantia moved her to an unlicensed private home. The owner provided only room and board, and nurses visited part-time, state records show.

A doctor visited Bach before she died, and if Bach was in danger, he should have noted that, Mantia said.

The physician, Dr. Justin May, said Bach was not in danger when he saw her, and he blames Bach's death on the person who reported Mantia to HRS. A call to the state abuse registry prompted HRS investigators, police officers and a fire truck to respond to the home where Bach was staying, May said.

"I honestly think they killed her by frightening her to death with all these men in uniforms around," May said.

Mantia said she had moved Bach out of her Tamarac home so she could sell it to raise cash for her care. Mantia said she spent her own money for Bach's care in her final weeks and still hasn't collected hourly bills she is owed.

Mantia billed Bach more than $770 -- over 22 hours at $35 an hour -- for arranging the widow's stamp collection and having it appraised, court records show. The collection was worth "$500 at best," records show.

Mantia now regrets billing Bach so much for the collection. "I was a new guardian," she said. "That's the way I thought I had to do it."

In her will, Bibianna Bach said her final wish was to be buried in a Catholic cemetery.

But when Bach died, Mantia had her cremated at a Jewish funeral home, records show.

"There was no money left," said Mantia, who adds that she cared so much about Bach that she kept her ashes. "I did the most economical thing I could do."

Waln, the woman in the Margate retirement home, is determined to break free of her guardians so she may live and die on her own terms, she said.

"This could get very depressing if I let it," Waln said. "I can't just stop and say I'm going to give up and let the whole thing go.

"I don't care about my money, and my furniture and my clothes. Those are gone.

"It's my life I want."

Herald staff writer Mary Hargrove contributed to this report.