By Mary Clarkin
The Hutchinson News
Wanda Oborny is affectionately known as “The Cupcake Lady” in Hays because she can be counted on to provide cupcakes and cakes for a variety of occasions, often donating them for an event or a cause, according to her friends Carol Gotchall and Coleen Werth.
Oborny, 66, faces sentencing this month for using the U.S. mail to send a fraudulent codicil that would have made her the prime beneficiary of a $20.6 million estate — instead of the majority of the money going to Fort Hays State University.
Friends and family are submitting statements praising her character. Her legal defense also wrote in a recent federal court filing that Oborny lives with a tremor disorder “that will be better treated by her own physicians who are familiar with her medical history than by overburdened prison medical staff.”
In March, Oborny admitted guilt to one count of mail fraud, related to the mailing of the fraudulent purported codicil. Sentencing has been postponed twice. It now is slated for 1:30 p.m. June 24, before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten in U.S. District Court, Wichita.
Oborny’s defense attorney, Sal Intagliata, Wichita, is requesting the court carry out the plea agreement reached earlier between the prosecution and defense. Under the agreement, Oborny would not go to prison. She would serve 12 months of probation and donate $100 a month during the year, for a total of $1,200, to Fort Hays State University.
Oborny would have been the big winner — and the university the big loser — if the phony codicil filed in court in Ellis County in 2013 by Oborny had been recognized as the valid will for the late Earl Field, her employer.
Oborny’s defense asserted in the recent court filing that Oborny has never been charged with a felony or misdemeanor offense or any crime of violence. Also, she has accepted responsibility, the filing said.
Friends and family commended Oborny in written statements, including:
* Werth described Oborny as the “most honest, loving person I know.”
* Gotchall wrote that Oborny is “truly an asset” to her family, church, community, and friends.
* Oborny’s brother, Gary Rohr, wrote, “Wanda helps in church, she helps at the hospital, she helps at funerals, and everyone knows that they can ALWAYS count on Wanda to help out.”
Oborny previously volunteered at Hays Medical Center, often spending time in the cancer center, her defense pointed out.
“There she was known for her happy smile and positive attitude, qualities of tremendous benefit to cancer patients,” the filing said. “She has now been a hospice volunteer for the past six years (though she put this volunteer work on hold while this case has been pending), using her upbeat demeanor to help ease the last weeks of life for hospice patients and their families,” the filing said.
For the last 10 years, she has been a member of the Daughters of Isabella at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Hays, and was once named Daughter of the Year, it said.
Earl Field and his wife, Winona Field, who preceded him in death, were generous to Oborny and her husband, Paul Oborny, giving them gifts and paying off debts.
“Her helpful nature made Mrs. Oborny a good choice” for an employee of the Fields in the last years of their lives, the filing said.
The 2016 trial in Ellis County determined a 2010 will, not the codicil Oborny said she found after Earl Field’s death, was the valid document. the two witnesses who had signed the codicil, Kathy and Steve Little, had died in a murder-suicide in 2015. Kathy Little was an Oborny friend, and the Littles knew law enforcement was investigating the case.
The outcome of the 2016 trial did not result in any punishment for Oborny. Oborny’s defense says in its court filing that statements of support for Oborny by “those who know her best know her to be an honest and caring woman. They do not recognize the behavior in Mrs. Oborny’s crime of conviction as behavior consistent with her character because it is not. This act does not define who Mrs. Oborny is, and she is better than this one act, as the character letters in support confirm.”
Oborny is a devoted member of her church and has regularly provided service to the church, they say.
“She donates her time, her energy, and often her trade (cupcakes.),” the filing said.
The legal case has hindered her volunteer work, and “she hopes to resume her volunteer work and continue to offer her warmth and support to those suffering with illness,” the filing said.