ADRIAN, Mich. — The husband of a missing Lenawee County woman is once again in trouble for refusing to cooperate with a court-appointed conservator of his wife's estate.
Lenawee County Probate Judge Catherine Sala ruled Wednesday that Dale Warner is in criminal contempt of court. The judge ruled Warner ignored previous court orders, sold and hid assets that belonged to his wife, Dee Warner, and refused to cooperate with the conservator.
Warner -- whom police have identified as a suspect in his missing wife's disappearance -- was taken into custody in court Wednesday on the criminal contempt charges and sentenced to 93 days in jail and six months of probation after his jail sentence is complete. The judge also fined Dale Warner $7,500 and ordered him to repay the estate of his missing wife.
Among other issues, the judge found that Dale Warner changed the name of a company he and his wife jointly owned and then sold that company despite a court order prohibiting him from selling any of Dee Warner's assets.
"In such a public venue, this egregious and flamboyant disregard of the court's orders for personal gain cannot go unaddressed," the judge wrote in her ruling. "Dale Warner's actions have devastated the conservator estate of Dee Warner. The estate is loaded with debts with no apparent way to recover due to the sale of the only profitable operation that historically sustained it. Many of the assets have been sold, or disappeared, in what has clearly been an intentional scheme conducted by Dale Warner for his own profit or gain."
Dee Warner's grown children filed a petition in 2022 to have a court declare her legally dead. In their court filing, the family said they believed Dale Warner was using his access to her finances to deplete the missing woman's assets.
The family has said they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against her husband if the judge grants their petition to have her declared legally dead. The judge is expected to make her ruling on this issue in the coming days.
During proceedings in the case last month a detective from the Michigan State Police testified that authorities believe Dee Warner is dead and that Dale Warner is a suspect in her death.
Wednesday's ruling was the second contempt finding in the case. Judge Sala first found Warner in contempt Aug. 9, ruling that Warner and his personal assistant, Mark Weisberg, did not produce financial documents for the conservator as ordered. The pair spent several days in jail on civil contempt charges before being released.
A conservator was appointed by the court in September 2021, to inventory and secure Dee Warner's assets. In her ruling Wednesday the judge said Dale Warner resisted the conservator's efforts, making it necessary for a second ruling in January 2022, that specifically prohibited Dale Warner from selling, disposing of, transferring or diminishing any asset owned or partly owned by his missing wife.
The January 2022, order also required Dale Warner to fire Weisberg, which Warner failed to do, the judge said in her ruling.
"Continuing his employment and authority in the farming operations resulted in his spearheading many of the actions that Dale Warner now finds himself responsible for, including the movement of assets and funds away from DDW Investments, defrauding the IRS, hiding of records, and the eventual sale of the largest asset of the estate, the trucking company," Judge Sala wrote.
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