Ethel Hill, 93, is a clever saver, a once-proud registered nurse who squirreled away more than $312,000 to help her retire with dignity.

Martha Wright, 49, is a big spender, a former maid with a ready supply of cash -- enough to buy a Mack truck, a bulldozer, an eight-ton trailer, a dump truck and a $35,000 charter bus to start a business with a married gospel singer she fancied.

Now Ethel Hill's money is gone. And the big spender is in big trouble.

As a professional guardian for Hill and 10 other elderly South Floridians, Wright swore to protect her frail charges and their assets -- a total of more than half a million dollars. Instead, she has emptied some of her elderly charges' bank accounts, leased herself a car in the name of a man who couldn't drive, and sold the home of another ward to her own brother, records show.

"She's supposed to be a church lady," said Shadie Cross of Fort Lauderdale, whose gospel-singing husband, one of the Smiling Jubilaires, had a now-defunct business partnership with Wright.

"Looks to me like she fooled people."

State elderly-abuse investigators have determined that Wright financially exploited one of her elderly wards. The state social work agency -- which is still investigating Wright -- has asked Broward prosecutors to consider criminal charges in that case.

As a result of the exploitation allegation, a Broward probate judge has scheduled a hearing Monday to determine if Wright can continue to serve as a guardian, with almost total control over vulnerable people's lives.

Wright declined to discuss her guardianships with The Herald.

"I don't have to answer anything," she said. "I'm not on a criminal case.

"If I wanted my business published, I'd publish it myself."

The lawyer who helped Wright build her guardianship business, Marc J. Gold of Plantation, recently audited some of her wards' accounts. Then he withdrew as her attorney, saying her conduct made it impossible to represent her, court records show.

In a document asking the court to let him resign as attorney for Wright's guardianship cases, Gold quoted several Florida Bar rules, including one that says a lawyer may withdraw if the client "has used the lawyer's services to perpetrate a crime or fraud."

Wright is one of a growing number of professional guardians in South Florida who make a living watching over elderly or disabled people judged incapable of taking care of themselves and their money.

Since 1990, Broward County judges have repeatedly appointed Wright as a guardian. Although guardians make complicated, crucial decisions on every aspect of their wards' lives, Wright came to the job with no college degree and no experience in either social work or financial management.

Her record as a guardian has brought accusations of betrayal and exploitation -- of old people's lives ending badly while under the care of a woman who promised to look out for them.

According to court, county and state records:

* Wright became Hill's guardian over the retired nurse's protests, then left her broke. The 93-year-old Hill is in a Plantation nursing home, listed as indigent and waiting for taxpayers to start paying her bills through Medicaid. Wright has sold Hill's two homes and closed her bank accounts without the required court approval.

In April 1991, several months after Wright became Hill's guardian, the retired nurse had more than $312,000 in cash. The court required Wright to deposit Hill's money in special restricted bank accounts, which is standard practice in guardianships. To pay for Hill's care, Wright was supposed to withdraw money from her accounts at Glendale Federal Bank in Fort Lauderdale only under court orders. Based on the court orders included in Hill's court file, Hill should have about $200,000 remaining.