The State - News from Dec. 11, 1988

The public guardian of San Francisco, whose job it is to protect the estates of people who die without known heirs, has pleaded innocent to bribery, conflict of interest and other felony charges for allegedly selling information about available estates to a Sacramento-based heir search firm. James Scannell, who resigned from his $63,000-a-year job effective Jan. 30., was ordered to reappear in court Jan. 5. In addition to Scannell’s accepting money, prosecutors also allege that he was promised a $500,000 home by the owner of the heir search firm. Scannell’s defense attorney called the charges “creative prosecution.”