Cash Landing

Two years ago, Rea was convicted on sexual misconduct charges stemming from allegations that he had fondled two women while he was serving as a judge in Taney County. Rea pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors and resigned from his post the day after voters re-elected him. He was barred for life from practicing law in Missouri. And earlier this year, Rea was the subject of a criminal investigation into allegations that he had filed a false lawsuit and false affidavits and committed perjury in an attempt to get money from a woman and her deceased husband. Rea claims he is innocent of wrongdoing in every charge ever brought against him. "It's all bullshit," he says.

On June 24, 1996, after a court approved Gaela's request to move the jurisdiction of Phil's estate from Jackson County, Judge Rea granted her access to Phil's restricted funds. Within days, Gaela withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from accounts and diverted $2.2 million to one of Rea's business partners in a high-risk, high-yield consumer paper scheme involving the acquisition of credit card accounts. Both Rea and Gaela deny charges that they brokered the deal involving Branson's John Miller, with whom Rea had been associated for years. But Miller helped Gaela establish a fund they called the "Gaela Hedrick Revocable Insurance Trust." Gaela then "loaned" the funds to a firm known as Churchill-Steele Ltd. -- of which Miller was the CEO.

Two months later, Gaela went to Europe with Hacker and her son Robert. They met Miller on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. Gaela later explained that she and Miller had been there to discuss investment matters and that Judge Rea was not involved. But evidence presented in the Hedrick probate case showed that Gaela wrote a $5,000 check to Miller from the Philip D. Hedrick Estate account in Kansas City's Commerce Bank and that Gaela had made personal phone calls to Judge Rea at about the same time.

Sources say the activities of Gaela, Rea, and Miller sparked an ongoing federal investigation into illicit offshore investment deals. Miller, who now lives in New Orleans and suffers from Parkinson's disease, denies any wrongdoing. "I just wish I was capable of giving her more help," he says. "I think she is fine people. I think she is someone that got caught in a skizzle."

"I was looking for ways to invest the money and protect the money," Gaela says. "I wanted to maximize the potential of the money."

Rea has been tight-lipped about his relationship with Gaela. In April of 1998, while at a Branson hotel to give testimony in the Hedrick probate matter, Rea and his wife, Darlene Weaver-Rea, refused to take an oath -- citing the Fifth Amendment -- or answer questions about Rea's relationship with Gaela. But last month, the deposed judge -- who also is a minister -- thumped the Bible in a rambling Sunday conversation with Pitch Weekly.

"I think I did what she asked me to," Rea says of Gaela. "She created a trust and poured money into the trust, and ultimately it was for his ultimate care. I didn't take anybody's money and didn't do anything wrong. I'm a Christian and God loves me. If he wants me to go through this, it must be good. If you learn humility, it's good. Anyone can complain about the president getting a blow job in the White House ... but Christians must not complain. They mustn't complain and they mustn't do it. If we do, we continue to stay in this position. God loves me and loves everyone on the face of this earth. We are sinners, we have sinned, and all of us have fallen short of the mark. It's simply not permitted for me to criticize anybody."

Rea says a conspiracy and a "cabal" of Missouri judges and lawyers sought to discredit and remove him from office. He sympathized with Gaela while he served on the bench because, he says, he had no reason to believe she was misappropriating funds designated for Phil's health and future well-being.

"When Phil got hurt, he became a 5- or 9-year-old for the rest of his life," Rea says. "She worked three years for him without a dime. She got screwed and that's what motivated the judge" -- he's talking about himself -- "to give her the trust agreement. You can go to the courts for the purpose of establishing the truth, but when there are allegations and more allegations, the people making the money are lawyers. I wanted to help Gaela Hedrick. Gaela is a victim of the judicial system."

Jerry and Dorothy Hedrick, a licensed nurse, were relentless in their efforts to wrest Phil away from Gaela and show that they were more fit to take care of him. Their actions led to the court's appointment of Frances Rove, Jackson County's public administrator, as a limited guardian and conservator of Phil's estate.

The public administrator serves as guardian for hundreds of adult wards -- mostly mentally disabled or elderly persons -- under county supervision. Facing emotional pressure, Gaela says, she resigned her duties as guardian and conservator in December 1996. (Phil's handlers later alleged that Gaela was worried about the embarrassment of being forcibly removed from those duties.)