FAIRFIELD — Some people won’t wait until their parents or grandparents are dead.
That’s the hard and ugly message that Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy revealed as she discussed prosecuting Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, of defrauding his famous mother’s estate.
Loewy spoke Friday on preventing elder abuse at the Connecticut Triad conference at Fairfield University. More than 65 social workers, law enforcement officials, bankers and seniors attended.
“These are the toughest cases to go forward with,” said Loewy, explaining that prosecutors and social agencies face many of the problems that thwarted those trying to combat domestic abuse a couple of decades ago. She said one excuse that comes up time and again in elder abuse cases is that the person doing the stealing says, “I’m in the will. I’m getting it anyway.”
Victims often feel a sense of guilt that they are being abused, Loewy said. After all, the abusers are often children or grandchildren, so the victim feels somehow responsible for their behavior, she said.
There is also the issue of mental capacity, as some victims, because of Alzheimer’s disease or other medical issues, are not able to testify in court.
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Los Angeles elder abuse is on the rise, and the statistics are as staggering as they are unconscionable. According to EADaily.com, more than 25% of all cases of elder abuse in California occur in Los Angeles County, representing approximately 160,000 cases each year. It’s difficult to know the exact extent of Los Angeles elder abuse because it often goes unreported.
How do we save our seniors from being taken advantage of physically, emotionally, financially, or otherwise? How can we stamp-out Los Angeles elder abuse?
Signs of Los Angeles Elder Abuse:
Preventing elder abuse in Los Angeles begins with recognizing the many warning signs. In general, sudden changes in behavior and/or personality are common signs that a senior is being abused in some way. Elder abuse includes:
•Physical Abuse: The physical abuse of seniors, who are among the most defenseless among us, is far too common. However unfathomable it may seem to most of us, Los Angeles elder abuse occurs every day and has many symptoms. Physical abuse ranges from unexplained scars or bruises to sprains and even broken bones. But it also includes misusing prescription drugs (too much or too little), marks on wrists indicating the use of restraints, and other tell-tale signs of Los Angeles elder abuse.
•Emotional Abuse: Psychological abuse can be just as damaging as physical abuse. Emotional abuse can be both verbal and nonverbal. For instance, verbal elder abuse of a Los Angeles senior could include intimidation through constant threats and yelling to the use of humiliation and ridicule. Nonverbal emotional abuse can include ignoring basic needs and isolating him from family and friends.
•Financial Abuse: Another common Los Angeles elder abuse crime is taking advantage of an elderly person’s condition to steal money. Since most seniors are on a fixed income, this type of abuse can be especially devastating. Signs include suspicious changes in insurance policies, wills, titles, and power of attorney, as well as large amounts of cash missing from the senior’s bank accounts or home.
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DANVILLE — It was December 2009 and Christmas was fast approaching. John, a 67-year-old Danville resident, had lost his wife almost a year ago, but he had a seemingly nice gentleman who was now renting a room from him in his modest home.
The renter — a man just under 50 years old — was good for John, who faced feelings of loneliness after his wife of 46 years died.
“(The renter’s) money was good and he helped out,” John said. “He was pretty nice to start out with. He would vacuum and cleaned the bathroom real good one day. He was friendly and nice and so forth.”
All of that changed, however, less than a week before the holidays when John encountered his renter early in the morning.
“He’d been drinking beer and about 6 o’clock in the morning, he threw me down in the bed and pinned my arms back and said, ‘Give me your debit card and your correct pin number or I’ll come back and kill you,’” John recalled. “Then he hit me in the jaw and made my face look like a Mack truck hit it. I gave him my debit card — I was afraid for my life.”
John, who has a two-year order of protection against the offender, asked that his real name not be used for the story.
The fear didn’t end with the threat, however, as the man went on a rampage in John’s home, pulling out telephone connections throughout the home and tying the elderly man to an office chair with one of the longer cords. The renter gagged John by stuffing toilet paper in his mouth and then left.
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The explosion that had ravaged Audree Hopkins’ face, burning off both earlobes and the end of her nose, was a mystery.
Seattle police Detective Suzanne Moore had her suspicions. But by the time Moore was called to the West Seattle elder-care home to investigate, five days had passed since the blast and nearly every shred of evidence was gone.
The detective questioned workers who had cared for Hopkins, a stroke- and emphysema-hobbled 68-year-old who had lived in the TLC Adult Family Home for six months at the time of the March 2007 accident. The caregivers’ stories, all seemingly synchronized, shot down Moore’s theory.
No, they said, none of them had handed the partially blind Hopkins a lit cigarette, though she was a smoker and unable to light one herself.
No, they said, Hopkins was not connected to an oxygen pump at the time, though she used one at night for breathing.
Moore left the adult family home on Southwest Thistle Street determined to get answers. She caught a break when she learned from Fire Department reports that responders saw an oxygen pump on the deck. And then she discovered that Hopkins’ husband, Larry, had retrieved his wife’s melted wheelchair, damaged oxygen pump and burned clothing for safekeeping.
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If you don’t use credit and never go online, you don’t have to worry about identity theft, right? Many seniors may feel that philosophy applies to them – and they couldn’t be more wrong.
The very qualities that make some seniors feel safe – a tendency to not use credit much, operating on a cash basis and avoiding technology – make identity thieves view seniors as very appealing targets, credit experts warn.
“Anyone with a Social Security number needs to be aware of the risk of identity theft,” says Jennifer Leuer, general manager, ProtectMyID.com. “Seniors, however, should be especially vigilant about identity theft protection, because they are often a preferred target of identity thieves and scammers.”
While identity theft can happen to anyone at any age, seniors may be at greater risk for a number of reasons, including:
* Many states display social security numbers on Medicare cards. Even if your card is never lost or stolen, enterprising thieves may be able to snatch the number when you show your card for a legitimate purpose.
* Seniors often have more to steal than people of other demographics. They tend to carry higher cash reserves and home equity than other age groups.
* Seniors may be less technologically savvy, and may be more likely to respond to scams because they haven’t researched them online.
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“Beware and be aware,” recommends a Toronto-based wills and estate lawyer, who has seen more than his fair share of financial elder abuse.
“That’s really what it’s about when it comes to protecting yourself in the area of wills and estates,” says Les Kotzer, who has co-authored three books on the topic.
Sadly, the elderly are often abused by their own children, he points out.
“It’s the people that they’re not expecting — like being … blindsided for a lot of people … the thinking is, ‘My kids would never do this to me!’ ” Kotzer says.
But, during his more than 20 years working in the field of wills and estates, he has seen countless families torn apart by greed.
“I just have to shake my head,” Kotzer says.
“It’s very, very sad,” he says. “We’re seeing an explosion of families fighting over inheritance. (We’re) constantly getting calls from family members suing each other.”
Emphasizing that he’s definitely not anti-family — in fact, quite the opposite — Kotzer points out that his mission is to educate people, to make them aware of what can happen, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls others have experienced.
“I’m not saying don’t trust your family,” Kotzer is
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Under the weight of the evidence against him — including phone calls recorded from jail — Stephen Lee Brown decided to forgo trial this week on allegations he phoned or wrote half a dozen people pretending he was a grandson who needed cash to bail himself out of jail.
Brown, 44, pleaded no contest to multiple counts of identity theft for pulling off the so-called “Grandma Scam.” His crimes included impersonating the 20-year-old grandson of an 86-year-old Northwest Portland couple in March. The grandparents weren’t comfortable driving to the Multnomah County Justice Center because of downtown’s one-way streets and parallel parking. So they took a cab. But jail employees caught on to the scheme before the couple could deposit $1,500 in Brown’s jail account.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Henry Kantor ordered that Brown pay their $50 cab fare.
The judge also sentenced Brown to 6 2/3 years in prison and recommended that prison officials keep him away from the phone. Brown could be locked away until 2028 because he’s already serving time for a carjacking conviction and for fooling half a dozen other people from jail.
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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Clay Greene and the estate of Harold Scull, Greene’s deceased partner of 20 years, reached a $650,000 settlement July 22 resolving their lawsuit against the County of Sonoma and other defendants for the damages the couple suffered due to municipal employees’ discriminatory and unlawful conduct.
Greene and Scull lived together for 20 years and had executed both mutual powers of attorney for medical and financial decisions and wills naming each other as beneficiaries. In April 2008, County employees in the Public Guardians Office separated the couple after Scull fell outside their shared home. In the next three months, County officials ignored the couple’s legal documentation, unlawfully auctioned their possessions, terminated their lease and forced Greene into an assisted living facility against his will.
The County did not consult Greene in Scull’s medical care and prevented the two from seeing one another. In August 2008, before the partners could be reunited, Scull passed away after completing a photo album of the couple’s life for Greene.
In August 2009, Greene and the representative of Scull’s estate, the couple’s longtime friend Jannette Biggerstaff, filed a lawsuit alleging elder abuse, elder financial abuse, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and other claims.
Biggerstaff stated, “There is no possible justification for what happened to my friends Harold and Clay, and I still feel outraged and heartbroken that they suffered such a terrible tragedy, which was made worse by the County spreading such terrible lies about Clay. But I am pleased that their rights have been vindicated, and I’m hopeful that their story will help to prevent this from happening to other vulnerable people.”
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The Quad City Times recently highlighted the widespread problem of elder financial abuse and the various forms in which it occurs.
Elderly residents remain vulnerable to being taken advantage of in many circumstances. For example, Brian Lovett was startled to discover that his 94-year old mother had written various checks to public safety organization, a rodeo, and police organization hundreds of miles from her Iowa home. Mr. Lovett’s mother died this year, suffering from dementia for several years before her passing. He believes that these organizations kept soliciting his mother because she mentally wasn’t aware of where her donations were going, even though she had no connection to their services.
While Ms. Lovett’s example may exist on the borderline of financial exploitation, thousands of other seniors each year are purposefully targeted and swindled out of the savings that they spent their lives earning. Estimates suggest that $2.6 billion each year is taken from vulnerable seniors due to elder financial abuse.
In fact, many elder service professionals report that cases of financial abuse are much more frequent than direct neglect and abuse. One bank officer explained one common form of the problem, noting, “In my experience, we have to be careful of what we call ‘professional beneficiaries.’ These are people who gain a senior’s trust and then get control of their finances.”
Illinois recently passed a new law intending to help train bank employees to recognize the red flags that suggest elder financial abuse. However, even with that training, elder abuse is still likely to occur, because only a fraction of cases is ever reported. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are well aware of the financial abuse of many elderly residents. We have seen the abuse occur at the hand of family members, friends, and at nursing homes. We encourage everyone to remain vigilant and active in rooting out the problem. Contact nursing home legal experts if you know of any elder abuse or neglect.
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Five Fall River family members face charges of neglecting an 80-year-old grandmother, who for more than a month was left alone on a recliner, painfully soaking in her own bodily fluids, prosecutors said.
When paramedics and police found her while responding to a 911 call Saturday, the woman was covered with severe bed sores to the point that her skin was decomposing, exposing tendons and bone, according to prosecutors.
The victim was on life support at St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River yesterday, the eve of her 81st birthday.
Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne said during bail arguments yesterday in Fall River District Court that the case against the woman’s relatives could turn into a murder or manslaughter investigation.
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The 30th Judicial District Domestic Violence-Sexual Assault Alliance is working to end elder abuse by offering training sessions across the far western counties of North Carolina.
Statistics from the National Center for Elder Abuse state that between one and two million Americans 65 or older have been injured, exploited or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.
In January 2008, Det. Jeff Haynes of the Waynesville Police Department began working on a federal elder abuse grant with Sybil Mann, an assistant district attorney in the 30th Judicial District. Since that time, Haynes has trained numerous groups, including law enforcement, medical personnel, victim advocate groups and others who wanted to know more about the problem of elder abuse.
Call the 30th Alliance at 828.452.2122 or the Elder Safe Hotline at 866.496.5406 for help.
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Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill today which seeks to limit senior financial exploitation across the state. Abusing the finances of elderly residents is often cited as the most common form of senior abuse. Many seniors are especially vulnerable to financial exploitation, because they lack the ability to adequately defend themselves.
The abuse can take many forms and occur at the hands of various individuals. Earlier this month we posted on the financial abuse of an elderly couple by a fraudulent individual who claimed to provide necessary roofing work on their home. Instead of provided any home repair, however, the individual took the several thousand dollar payments from the couple without doing any work.
Also, elderly financial exploitation often occurs at the hands of nursing home staff members. Providing care to these vulnerable residents, nursing home staff members maintain a dominant and potentially abusive role in the lives of nursing home residents. Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have decades of experience in dealing with all forms of elder abuse, including financial exploitation. Through the years our attorneys have seen many cases of nursing home staff members gaining access to their residents’ funds and stealing thousands of dollars from the weak and vulnerable individuals in their care.
The bill signed by the governor today to combat these abuses seeks to train bank employees to recognize the warning signs associated with elder financial exploitation. Those warning signals include sudden changes to an account or the banking practices of seniors, unauthorized ATM withdrawals, sudden changes to a will, and other similar activities.
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