As shock waves, initially engendered by the revelations of abuse in the high-profile conservatorship of pop star Britney Spears, begin to subside, another guardianship case has emerged of equally disturbing proportions. Seated in Nevada, this case reveals a level of relentlessness by the state as it strives to imprison two men who attempted to free a woman from a nursing home.

A writ of habeus corpus is circulating concerning the felony charges against Roger Hillygus and his associate, former Mineral County Sheriff and 30-year law enforcement veteran Stewart Handte. The charges stemmed from their trip to Stone Valley Alzheimer’s Special Care Center on August 8, 2019 and their subsequently escorting Susan Hillygus out of the facility, where her guardian had forcibly and non consensually placed her.

Handte was originally arrested in August of 2019 and released without bail. Initially charged with a number of felonies, the charges against him were subsequently reduced to a sole charge of “conspiracy.” Handte was rearrested on January 19, 2022 after apparently failing to adhere to an order to wear a GPS monitoring device and after allegedly violating a gag order, denying him any rights to discuss the case against him and against Roger Hillygus. The gag order was signed by Judge Barry Breslow. Stewart Handte has been in Washoe County Jail for over 80 days, subsequent to his re- arrest on January 19 and pending a possible trial in July of 2022.