Rick Matteson, 79, was out for breakfast shortly before Thanksgiving when his credit card was unexpectedly declined. At first, he said, he thought he had been hacked.
But Matteson, a resident of Los Gatos who has battled cancer multiple times in recent years, soon learned that he had been placed in a temporary conservatorship of his estate with no notice, he said.
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“All of a sudden, nothing was working,” Matteson said. “This whole thing is so serious – it’s as serious as a heart attack.”
In court documents, the Santa Clara County Public Guardian, who initiated the conservatorship proceedings, attributed it to Matteson’s inability to resist “fraud and undue influence,” citing his purchase and subsequent transfer of a $2.5 million Morgan Hill estate to Alma Wellness, a nonprofit Matteson co-founded with two other people.
The public guardian — the agency tasked with investigating cases and serving as conservator for some adults — alleges that Trey Kerr, 33, and Venessa Henry, 38, manipulated Matteson to donate the house and provide them with funds using the nonprofit as a front. But Matteson, a Navy veteran and retired engineer, maintains that his decision to donate the house was by choice, to establish a legacy. Both Kerr and Henry denied improperly influencing Matteson.
Richard Matteson stands in his kitchen on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Los Gatos, Calif. Matteson is accusing Santa Clara County of putting him in an unjust conservatorship that he does not want to be in. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
“Who’s got the responsibility to make a decision for you that you are being abused financially?” Matteson said. “Just give me my money back. Give me the responsibility back of taking care of my business.”
Howard Frank, the county’s counsel in the Matteson matter, declined to comment. Juliette Nguyen, Matteson’s court-appointed attorney, said that she is not authorized to speak about the case without approval from a judge and Matteson’s agreement.
Court papers show the public guardian’s request for a conservatorship — aiming to “protect property from loss or injury” — filed late in December 2024. About 10 days later, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Drew C. Takaichi appointed a temporary conservator, pending a hearing on the question of a permanent conservator, which is now set for October.
The public guardian’s office also requested an exception to the requirement to give notice to Matteson on the grounds that his knowledge of the proceedings would cause “immediate and substantial harm.” That request was granted by Takaichi.
“The Public Guardian is informed and believes that Alma Wellness is being used as a front to allow the other principals and their associates to bilk Mr. Matteson out of substantial assets by preying on his desire to operate a legitimate retreat for the elderly,” the petition continues.
The public guardian’s office filed requests for elder abuse restraining orders against Kerr and Henry in June, echoing their previous allegations of undue influence and alleging that the pair improperly influenced and isolated Matteson during the conservatorship proceedings. Temporary restraining orders were issued pending a hearing on permanent orders.
“They convinced Mr. Matteson that the Property could be developed into a state-of-the-art, holistic, residential care center for the elderly,” the public guardian’s office said in court documents. “In reality, the Property was not zoned for such a use, and also suffers from a myriad of code violations, many of which are fatal to the manner in which Defendants asserted it could be used for.”
Matteson said that the violations were already on the property when he bought it. He initially purchased the Morgan Hill house for his wife and mother to live as a more cost-effective alternative to a care home, and hired Henry as a caregiver, he said.
Though Matteson said the idea to turn the house into a “wellness center” for the elderly came after the purchase of the house, he formed Alma Wellness in May 2022 with Kerr and Henry, according to the nonprofit’s articles of incorporation, which were signed the month before the purchase of the property.
The Morgan Hill property was transferred to Alma Wellness, of which Matteson was one of three directors, in December 2023, according to court records.
The three mortgages in Matteson’s name, taken out for the purchase and renovation of the property, have payments due of about $23,000 per month, according to court records. The public guardian’s office also alleged that Matteson paid Henry about $20,000 per month to work as his caregiver.
“Mr. Matteson has commented to County personnel that he was not in his right mind when he transferred the Chesbro property to Alma Wellness, as he was recovering from a medical situation,” the public guardian’s office said in the petition.
Matteson said that his “intellect was not 100%” at the time he signed the property over to Alma Wellness because of his radiation treatments but that he stands by his decision, which he made for the tax benefits.
“As long as I’m part of the board, I see no problem with it,” he said.
Matteson added that he was not directly paying the property’s mortgage; rather, he paid Earth Angels, Henry’s company, for her caretaking services, then the company paid the mortgage and put the money back into Alma Wellness.
“Every penny that I ever make goes back to the land,” Henry said.
Kerr added: “We didn’t have to actually give (the money) to Alma Wellness because (Matteson) was sponsoring Earth Angels so that we could become a nursing home, and it could be anywhere. We could do anything we want with that money.”
The front of a house owned by Rick Matteson in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, July 25, 2025. Matteson claims that the conservatorship was imposed against his wishes and that the county’s rationale for it is entirely false. The house in Morgan Hill, which he purchased in 2022 for his wife and mother to live in place of a care home and which he later planned to turn into a wellness center, is at the center of the conservatorship battle. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
The public guardian’s office further alleged that Kerr and Henry hosted “unpermitted, large for-profit parties on the property involving rampant drug use and other disruptive behavior.” They also alleged that “several people” lived there without Matteson’s approval, and that Matteson did not receive profit from any activities held on the property.
Kerr and Henry both said that no activities hosted on the property brought in a profit, and that the gatherings were small and private. Matteson maintained that he knew everyone visiting the property.
For now, Matteson gets $250 per week for groceries and necessities, which is insufficient to purchase the supplements he takes to aid his cancer recovery, he said. He was given an additional $10,000 around March, according to court documents.
Richard Matteson at his home on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Los Gatos, Calif. Matteson is accusing Santa Clara County of putting him in an unjust conservatorship that he does not want to be in. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
A conservator of the estate is responsible for ensuring the conservatee’s bills are paid, according to court documents. Matteson claimed that the public guardian’s office had missed some payments on his power and phone bills, leading to temporary shutoffs.
To make larger purchases, Matteson must make a request to the public guardian’s office, he said. When Matteson asked for $10,000 to fix a leaky drainage system at his house, it took the public guardian’s office a month to approve the request, he said.
“A very nasty position to be in, let me tell you,” he said. “They wouldn’t release any of my funds. And that’s what really gets me. It’s my own money.”