If convicted Pfingston faces up to seven years in prison; she's scheduled to appear in court Dec. 15.

Full Article & Source:
Former long-term care ombudsman charged with stealing money from resident

Workers exploited at every turn

Seeking compensation for the workers

Henry's Turkey Service still owes millions

• May 2009: Iowa Workforce Development imposed a $900,000 penalty against Henry's for violating state labor laws. The penalty was later increased to more than $1.1 million.
• November 2009: The U.S. Department of Labor sued the company for federal labor law violations, resulting in a court judgment against the company for $1.8 million.
• September 2012: After the company offered no resistance or defense to allegations that it violated the fair-wage provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a federal judge ordered Henry’s to pay $1.3 million to 32 of its disabled workers.
• May 2013: An Iowa jury returned a verdict of $240 million against Henry’s Turkey Service for discriminatory employment conditions, but the jury verdict was later reduced to $1.6 million because of federal caps on damages in such cases.

Full Article & Source:
Echoes of Atalissa: Federal agency sues bunkhouse owner for exploiting mentally disabled workers

Inova Fairfax Hospital CMO Scott Betzelos, MD January 28, 2017 Meeting

 

Petition Update click here

During the January 28, 2017 meeting with Chief Medical Officer Scott Betzelos, MD, and Inova’s outside counsel Laurie Kirkland from Blankenship & Keith, PC, Inova was informed that I agreed with Anastasia’s discharge so why did Inova still pursue and take guardianship of Anastasia.  As you listen to the meeting with Scott Betzelos, MD, the discussion with Lindsey from Inova’s Palliative Care team, and read the records and notes written by Kelly Armstrong, PhD and the head of palliative care it brings certain things to light and bring the following questions to mind:

https://abductionofanastasia.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/cmo-betzelos-meeting-january-28-2017.mp3

“Pt is opioid naive” written by Mary Wheeler, NP, Inova Palliative Care Team. Naive: “not having previously been the subject of a scientific experiment, as an animal.”

Nurse Practitioner Mary Wheeler ordered increases in morphine when Anastasia came down with a hospital born infection or after the results from the pericardial effusion but decreased her morphine when she showed signs of improvement… why?

Definition of terms, we as a society work under specific definition of terms regarding social norms and morays. By inserting specific terms or language into medical charts it can and does completely change the intent and meaning. Perfect example is “irreversible” disease/condition and “terminal” disease/condition.

Do hospitals intentionally or subconsciously allow bad bedsores to justify palliative care and the ending of lives. Inova Palliative care social worker, Lindsay N. Teich, specifically stated when talking about ending life “if she had really bad wounds, maybe down to the bone, or was causing pain when you turn her” … this is almost verbatim what Labowitz claimed in his written communications. We were clear Anastasia was not going on palliative care, that we/she did not want or need to be on palliative care. Mary Wheeler, NP, pushed for comfort care.

Hospitals and nursing facilities get dinged by Medicare if patients return to the hospital within 10-30 days. So to prevent from getting dinged are hospitals and nursing facilities intentionally placing elder and disabled patients on palliative care?

How can an informed decision about discharge, a safe discharge, be made without all of the facts including if the receiving SNF is capable of providing or willing to provide all of the needed care?

Inova CMO Scott Betzelos, MD was aware discharge had been appealed to Medicare and also should have known that an appeal directly to Medicare in DC invalidates Kepro reconsideration decision.

Bottom line Inova Fairfax Hospital should not have discharged Anastasia when they did, should not have sought guardianship until after the Medicare decision was issued by the ALJ, and by doing both not only enabled and culpable in her death but also in my opinion are accessory’s to her murder.

In Fact Anastasia was discharged and sent to Dulles Health and Rehab without of all of her medications and the Lovenox was stopped right after she was admitted to DHR. If Lovenox was given by Inova as a prophylaxis and standard of care for bedridden patients and Anastasia was sent with that order why then did DHR discontinue the Lovenox?

In Fact Dulles Health and Rehab changed Anastasia’s regular nebulizer treatment to PRN. Envoy of Alexandria discontinued them entirely. They claim they were given but evidence shows they did not.

CMO Scott Betzelos states Yolanda needed to give the Inova “physicians the latitude and level of trust that they have and level of knowledge they have that they are not going to discharge somebody in an unstable condition.” Seriously??

CMO Scott Betzelos states “whatever treatment, therapy, or medication Anastasia needs we will make sure she will receive, be discharged with.” Anastasia was discharged and sent to DHR without all her needed medications. DHR tried but were unable to reach the guardians for 4 days to get authorization so they could get her medications.

I love you Anastasia and I miss you.

Your baby sister

Full Article & Source:
Remembering Anastasia Adams: Prevent Hospitals from Seeking Guardianship As Means 2 Override Patient Rights 

See Also:
Disabled woman denied food, water, and healthcare in a nursing home

States, like people, may be judged by how they treat the most vulnerable among us.

Texas presents a good but not consistently great picture of how it treats the elderly and protects them from abuse, according to a recent study by WalletHub.com, a national consumer website.

The study reveals our state rates near the bottom among the 50 in the number of eldercare organizations and services and expenditures on elder abuse prevention, atop the pack in financial elderly abuse laws, presence of elder abuse forensic centers and frequency of living facility inspections. A mixed bag, that.

Texas ranks 15th for elder abuse, gross neglect and exploitation complaints; 21st for certified volunteer ombudsmen. In all: No. 14.

All of that matters a lot, not for mere numbers but for the human impact those numbers suggest. WalletHub says the percentage of those 65 and older will only increase in the U.S., and almost double in 2060. Baby Boomers are living longer.

While we might take solace in having fewer abuse cases, at least when compared to other states, every case of abuse is painful. This statistic is lamentable: WalletHub says abuse of the elderly affects 5 million people every year. Here’s another: 96 percent of abuse cases go unreported.

Angela Goins, who lectures on social work at the University of Houston-Downtown, said elder abuse might be physical, psychological or verbal. Sometimes it involves caregivers not providing medical attention or other needed resources; sometimes it involves financial exploitation.

Sometimes, the elderly suffer because they cannot speak for themselves and there is no one there to speak for them. That causes them to neglect themselves by not eating or seeking medical attention.

Policymakers – including elected and appointed state officials – can help, Goins says. The best, first steps are to recognize the issue’s importance and to seek more information. Advocate for funds for elder abuse prevention.

Families, too – no, families first – should talk with parents and family members to chart the right course for making sure their elders are on the right course to take care of themselves and that younger, trusted family members can seek power of attorney to help their elders navigate their last years safely and happily.

Visit your elderly family members, Goins said, not only to check on their safety but to help them stave off loneliness. Isolation of the elderly opens them to abuse.

Texas’ low rankings on elder care expenditures? That’s on all of us. Taking up the cause for more, effective state and community programs will follow cogent, consistent advocacy by the public. If it’s important to voters, it will become important to public leaders.

But first, we’ve got to make it important to us.

Full Article & Source:
Taking the time to take care our elderly

Andy Allman

A hearing for those charges has been scheduled for Jan. 11, 2018.

Full Article & Source:
Former Hendersonville attorney faces more theft charges

"We fully intend to exercise all available legal remedies to contest this result,” said A. Clay Cox in a written statement, adding that no further comments would be made until the legal process was completed.

Full Article & Source:
Jury awards $5.2 million to nurse fired after reporting abuse

Wrongdoers have their methods and tactics, and it’s our responsibility to counter them at every turn. What follows is an analysis of the most common ways elderly Americans are taken advantage of.

Caregiver Abuse

When a Michigan trial judge dismissed a family’s lawsuit against a home care company for sending a caregiver with two felony criminal warrants to care for a man in his eighties, the national press erupted with questions about how this could happen.

In this particular case, the Kentucky-based home care company, ResCare, sent a woman to a retired Detroit-area businessman’s house to look after his ailing wife, who had dementia. It didn’t take long until the wife’s jewelry began to disappear—as well as the businessman’s fortune. Court filings estimated the losses to be as high as $1.5 million. The caregiver, if she could be called that, moved the businessman out of his bedroom into the basement of his lakefront home and moved her own mother into the home. The businessman’s wife died, and within a matter of months, the caretaker “married” the businessman.

When the businessman’s family members finally intervened and removed him from his home, his finances were in shambles. None of his bank accounts had positive balances, nor did he have any working credit cards. He had his monthly Social Security payment—that’s it.

The businessman and his family are sadly representative of the widespread abuse affecting our growing elderly population. I have handled a number of cases where predators, posing as legitimate caregivers, quickly took advantage of their elderly charges. This misconduct includes physical and medical neglect, and is often coupled with embezzlement and theft.

The Michigan case didn’t work out well. Then again, by their very nature, no abuse case can really ever work out well. Even with a partial financial recovery, the seismic emotional repercussions stemming from misplaced trust don’t easily recede.

Financial Exploitation

Financial exploitation takes many forms. Even though I have been counseling families for decades, I am regularly surprised by some new form of abuse. An incomplete list of malfeasance could include the sale of an elder’s medications; grocery bills more attributable to cash withdrawals taken by caregivers than bread and milk purchased for the elder; lawn services for a small yard being billed at $300 per week; money being used for gambling fees; medical care and dental care being neglected because of a theft of funds; and assignments of bank accounts into joint tenancy with a wrongdoer. (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
The Five Most Common Ways Elder Financial Abuse Happens

The owner of an Augusta personal care business accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a patient was indicted Tuesday.
The Richmond County grand jury returned a one-count indictment against Maxine Hudson Donaldson, 51. It accuses her of exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult. The crime is punishable by up to 20 years.

According to the indictment, Donaldson is accused of obtaining access to an Alzheimer’s patient’s bank account and taking nearly $28,000 between Oct. 26, 2016, and July 24.

The victim lived at Shavonna’s Place of Care on Fairview Avenue. According to the Department of Community Health, the agency tasked with regulating personal care homes, the home was in operation and had no violations cited in its latest inspection in March. The state agency’s website which provides open access to inspection reports of personal care homes was not in operation Tuesday.

Shavonna’s Place was not licensed and had not been inspected by a fire marshal when the department inspected in March. The home was licensed by the city after an April story by The Augusta Chronicle.

Donaldson operates a second personal care home, Maxi Maxi on Damascus Road.

Full Article & Source:
Personal care home owner indicted on exploitation charge

His hands trembled at first. Then his vision blurred. Finally, unable to control a malignant blood pressure condition, Tinley Park cardiac surgeon Banio Koroma lost his malpractice insurance, then his operating room privileges and finally his professional standing.

Fortunately, he lived in Illinois, where medical regulation has been so lax even the most desperate of doctors can find financial reward.

Koroma took refuge in home health care, a lucrative and growing industry rife with fraud and tainted by unscrupulous physicians who travel to patients' homes in search of profit, then bleed money from taxpayer-financed programs.

The down-on-his-luck doctor took advantage of this loosely regulated world to exploit his patients and command a central role in a multimillion-dollar taxpayer swindle that breached the homes of 15,600 older adults getting services from a Chicago company called Mobile Doctors.

For adults hobbled by disability or disease who want to stay out of nursing homes or hospitals, home health care services can be a godsend.

For criminals who want to tap into federal Medicare dollars, it can represent a loosely guarded bank vault.

A Tribune investigation reveals that Illinois public health regulators proved unprepared for a surge in new home health care companies, doling out too many home health licenses too fast and failing to provide meaningful oversight.

Even today, most anyone can own a home health care business for a $25 license fee — no criminal background check required.

Consequently, the Chicago metropolitan area is a hot spot for fraud, deemed among the most corrupt regions nationally. In the last five years, federal investigators estimate, area home-health agencies have improperly collected at least $104 million of public dollars.

Many home health companies operate lawfully and in the best interests of their customers. But fraud is so pervasive throughout the industry, federal officials say, that for every conviction like Koroma's, there are many other participants who are able to skate away.

As a result, already-vulnerable patients are put at risk.

Corrupt home health companies and complicit physicians as well as nurses secretly laced medical files with false diagnoses involving tens of thousands of Chicago-area patients, the Tribune found.

An analysis of federal court and enforcement files since 2012 shows that thousands of patients have been subjected to unwarranted procedures, therapies and tests; some were prescribed unneeded and powerful drugs.

Most victims were unaware that their medical histories were hijacked by swindlers — there is no legal requirement to notify or warn patients when fraud is uncovered, or when providers are convicted of crimes.

Case files show that a disabled man in his 80s was denied a wheelchair by a government insurance program because a Chicago-area business had falsely purchased one in the man's name and then illegally pocketed the reimbursement check, according to AgeOptions in Oak Park, a federally funded advocacy group.

In another case, a hospitalized man was denied a transfer to a Chicago rehabilitation center because a home health company had fraudulently billed the government for nonexistent convalescent care.

"These scammers are really smart," said Jason Echols, statewide director for a senior Medicare program at AgeOptions. "Anybody could be a victim."  (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
Illinois' home health care industry rife with fraud, tainted by unscrupulous physicians

by David Arnold

The United States is a Democracy. Right?

I never questioned that until 2012. Someone that I loved very dearly was subjected to severe abuse by the Probate “Court.” I was also subjected to abuse. I survived. Gretchen did not.

The lasting damage done to me by this experience was the destruction of my belief that people do not have to fear abuse by government in the United States. It was not until 2016 that I finally realized the problem. The Probate Court is not a democratic institution. It is a dictatorship. It violates all the principles on which this country was founded.

The thing I find most frightening is that only a tiny fraction of the general population realizes the truth. I think the reason is that we are all blinded by our belief that the institutions of our government function in accordance with the principles of democracy. In fact, anyone who has been involved in a guardianship case has all the information needed to know that the Probate Court is not a democratic institution. It took me four years of study and research before I finally saw the truth that was sitting in plain sight.

This is not to say that all the institutions of government violate the principles of democracy. However, the Probate Court is a glaring exception. Somehow the judges and lawyers of the Probate Court have managed to eliminate all the protections of democracy designed to prevent abuse of power by government. The result is that the Probate Court has the ability to commit crimes with impunity. The reality is that no one is safe from abuse by the Probate Court. This is a very strong statement.

However, this statement is supported by extensive factual evidence. This evidence has been accumulated primarily by organizations outside the government.

Until recently, the government has passively or actively swept the problem under the rug. The Probate Court has the ability to prevent the evidence of abuse from becoming public. Other branches of government have also cooperated in concealing the evidence. Since this happened in 2012, I have filed complaints with all three branches of government with no effect. All my complaints have ended up in the hands of a lawyer who did nothing. One of the other parties in the case has also filed complaints with no effect.

The proof that the Probate Court is a dictatorship is lying in plain sight. It is a matter of seeing the obvious.

The foundations of democracy are the following:

1. No one has absolute power. Power is distributed between three branches of government to provide checks and balances.
2. Everyone is responsible for their actions. No one has immunity.

The Probate Court violates both of these fundamental principles of democracy in multiple ways. In particular, guardianship is riddled with absolute power and conflict of interest.
The “judge” has sole control of guardianship:

1. The judge appoints the attorney for the incapacitated person.
2. The judge appoints the guardian/conservator who manages the person’s affairs.
3. The judge appoints the GAL (guardian ad litem) who investigates the facts of the case.
4. The judge decides the case without the right to a jury trial.
5. The judge is responsible for accountability of the GAL and guardian/conservator.

The judge gives immunity to the GAL and the guardian/conservator as agents of the court. Judges have judicial immunity and extend that immunity to those they appoint. The constitution does not give anyone immunity. The court has given itself immunity. The combination of absolute power and immunity has set up a system of legalized crime where GALs and guardians can commit crimes with impunity.

Marty Oakley, who runs an Internet talk radio show, has been pointing out for a long time that the Probate Court is not a court. It is an administrative tribunal whose authority is derived from the executive branch, not the judicial branch.

Because it is not a court, it is free to set its own rules as to how it operates. A person who goes before the Probate Court has no constitutional rights. The law is whatever the judge says it is. Responsibility for protecting a person’s constitutional rights rests with a court of law. The Probate Court is not a court of law.

The problem is that the Probate Court pretends to be a court and has usurped powers that can only be exercised by a court of law with due process. The Probate Court exercises the powers of both the executive and judicial branches of government. This is unconstitutional and violates separation of powers.

In December 2016, I met with my state senator, William Brownsberger, to discuss my complaints with the way guardianship is managed by the Probate Court. I pointed out that it violates separation of powers for a judge to be responsible for both appointment and accountability of guardians. His response was ,“Please trust me when I say: Your argument that the guardianship system is unconstitutional is not correct legally, however powerful it may seem theoretically.”

I said I was not willing to trust him. I asked him to prove it. He said, “You are asking a little too much of me.” He elaborated by saying, “Separation of powers is not just a philosophical idea, it is a technical legal construct.”

The issue is not whether the present system is legal. The extermination of the Jews was legal under German law. Slavery was legal in the United States. The issue is whether guardianship is consistent with basic principles of law, democracy, civil rights, human rights, and the Constitution. In my opinion, the present system of guardianship violates all of these basic principles. It is a stain on our democracy, as bad or worse than slavery. It is a danger to everyone whether or not they realize it.

I was taken totally by surprise by the way the Probate Court handled my guardianship case. I would not have trusted the Probate Court if I knew then what I know now. The problem is that there is no appropriate system for handling guardianship.

The way to stop this abuse is to take away the secrecy that protects those who are committing these crimes. That can only be done by the free press.

I wrote an article in October 2017 in the Boston Broadside, Issue #42
(Vol. 4, No. 9), describing what happened in my guardianship case. You can read it and decide for yourself whether this is the way you want guardianship to be handled.

The guardianship case is Docket Numbers 11P 2483, 11P 3682, 12R0085. The judge was Patricia Gorman. The professional guardian was Regina Bragdon. The GAL was Fern Frolin. My first attorney was Anthony Boczenowski. My second attorney was William Brisk. My first attorney developed cancer and had to withdraw from the case. My first attorney was a very honest person. In my opinion, he was the only professional involved in the case who did anything right.

Full Article & Source:
The Death of Democracy in Probate ‘Court’

Full Article & Source: 
Wise Co. caregiver sentenced in financial exploitation case

A few names/agencies to remember:

Lawyer: Wendy K. Crawshaw, Framingham, Mass.
Lawyer: Lawrence K. Glick, Needham, Mass.
Judge: Maureen H. Monks, Middlesex County Probate and Family Court
Agency: Jewish Family and Children’s Services, Waltham, Mass.
Agency: Springwell, Inc., Waltham, Mass.

If you see any of their names, on any documents related to your loved ones, run. Run as fast as you can. That’s the hard lesson Janet Pidge says she has learned. Janet is the sister of Beverly Finnegan. Earlier this year, Janet and Beverly shared a condo unit in upscale Newton, Mass. All that changed when key individuals involved with Springwell, Inc., the Kathleen Daniel Nursing and Rehabilitation facility (Framingham), Jewish Family and Children’s Service, and others stepped into their lives.

Beverly Finnegan now “faces imminent death,” according to one court filing.

When Beverly was taken under force from her home –  on an order of Middlesex County Probate and Family Court Judge Maureen H. Monks – Beverly could walk, talk, converse, argue, read newspapers, magazines, pay her bills, handle the sisters’ finances, and was able for months to plead for her release from involuntary commitment to a nursing home.

Flash forward five months and Beverly now clings onto her life. I spent hours in the Framingham hospital where Beverly is in the intensive care unit. She’s gone from one lock-down to another – locked doors again. To get in, you have to press a buzzer outside of wire-reinforced security windows on hard steel doors.

Beverly is now on life support, assisted breathing, and a feeding tube. She’s paper-thin. A photograph of her, provided by a friend from at the hospital is shown below:


[Now 69-year old Beverly Finnegan – December 2017.  In September, she was begging for newspapers and magazines.]

How did Beverly become so emaciated? What drugs was she administered (hint: antipsychotics!)? Why was she taken, and what treatment did she receive or not receive?

We’re compiling court documents, filings, and statements from many individuals associated with Beverly. What we’ve discovered thus far is that Dr. Anne McKinley, a primary care physician filed a protective order with Springwell to force the taking of Beverly from her Newton condo. Why? Because McKinley wrote that Beverly had Mycrobocterium kansasii, a lung infection which required immediate and prolonged attention to cure, and that Beverly was refusing treatment.

That was October of 2016. Right, more than 13 months ago. Why is that significant? Because that ‘taking’ and the subsequent involuntary lockdown in a nursing home by a court-appointed guardian was based on Beverly refusing medical treatment. In short, Judge Monks supported the position that Beverly was obviously a mentally incapacitated person who wouldn’t help herself to a cure from the lung infection, and needed government protection.

Hey Doc: How About a Second Opinion?

It is now more than 13 months since that diagnosis. However, according to court filings, as of the day they placed Beverly on a feeding tube and life support approximately a week ago, she had never, ever, ever been treated for the mysterious lung infection.

You did read that, right? Beverly was assigned a court-appointed guardian, her finances locked down,  her freedom eliminated, her health apparently destroyed, because she refused treatment for an infection which the State said she had, and for which they never, ever treated her.

Are We in the Twilight Zone?

Beverly’s sister, Janet Pidge is hysterically desperate: she’s fighting daily to get anyone to help. She’s spent her savings, she and Beverly have both lost their jobs. She’s knocked on every door, every lawyer, politician, every resource she could find. She said she’s been lied to along the way the same way her sister was lied to, she says. She’s called delusional and paranoid for not believing the State. Her money is gone, and she’s stuck asking for rides daily or help to pay for the trains to take her from Newton to Framingham each day where she prays at her sister’s side.

According to the first couple of hundred pages of court filings we’ve secured and reviewed (before they disappear mysteriously like others in Middlesex Probate Court – see Mary Frank article), we’ve noted a clear, delineated path where the powers-that-be managed to keep Beverly locked up on a section 12: mental order, claiming that she was “paranoid” and not trusting of the medical providers and others. Hmm, they tell her she has an ailment which they don’t treat her for, and she’s the paranoid one?

Beverly’s sister is fighting to keep Beverly alive, but her efforts may not succeed: apparently, while under the care of the nursing home she suffered a cardiac arrest, and apparently suffered from deprivation of oxygen, as noted by Dr. Aba Somers of Framingham hospital. On December 8, 2017, Dr. Somers wrote “The patient has severe brain injury. ICT brain shows swelling of the brain. EEG shows no cortical brain activity. Physical exam shows minimal brain stem reflexes. She has been off sedation for more than a week. She will require a tracheotomy by the end of next week.”

Dr. Somer’s notes conflict with Janet Pidge’s statements that just two weeks ago, that her sister was responding to stimuli, and squeezing her hand, apparently before sedation was heavy. Janet didn’t trust the diagnosis of a lung infection, and now she questions if this is true.

Full Article & Source:
68 Year Old Beverly Finnegan – Snatched from Condo by Court Order, Tossed in Nursing Home – Struggled to Get Released – Now on Life Support

Richard Cleveland

Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis has charged a Minooka man, alleging that he stole a large sum of money from an elderly relative, following an investigation by the Kendall County Sheriff's Office.

Richard Cleveland, 58, of the 3000 block of Route 52, Minooka, has been charged with felony financial exploitation of the elderly.

According to the Sheriff's Office, deputies took a report on Oct. 13 alleging that Cleveland had "unlawfully used a large sum of money belonging to an elderly relative."

Detectives began an investigation, and Cleveland was charged on Dec. 6, according to police.

Bond was set for Cleveland at $75,000 with 10 percent to apply, and Cleveland is currently at the Kendall County jail on unrelated charges, police said.

According to Kendall County court records, Cleveland was charged in 2016 with felony aggravated sexual assault, aggravated battery, and domestic battery. Those cases are still pending in the county court system.

A hearing has been scheduled before Judge Timothy McCann on both the latest charges and the 2016 charges for Monday, Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. at the Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville.

Full Article & Source:
Man charged with financial exploitation of elderly relative

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Nearly half of Americans in their 40s and 50s have both a parent age 65 or older and a child. These middle-aged couples often find themselves sandwiched in the middle, caring for both their kids and their elder parents, financially and physically.

If you fall into this category, you're not alone. It's called "The Sandwich Generation" and it's playing out in homes all around the country.

Dinner at the Belz family home in Olympia ends with a little treat and a cup of coffee. Trish Belz and her husband Aaron are both psychologists living in Olympia. They have two children, a 5th grader and a high school freshman.

But of all the plates at the dining table, the fullest by far belongs to Trish. She’s caring for her kids and also her mom and dad, John and Maureen. “This is my parenting time,” said Trish. “I want to give my kids this time yet it’s completely pulled also towards my parents.”

Trish is not alone. Middle-aged Americans often find themselves sandwiched in the middle, caring for both their kids and their parents, financially and physically.

Maureen and Jack have been married for 54 years. They don’t drive home after dinner with their daughter and grandchildren. They walk, across a gravel road. With concerns for their health and safety, Trish and Aaron build a home for her parents two years ago, just across the street from their own house. This makes it easier for Trish to care for her parents on a daily basis.

For the older generation relinquishing authority and independence to their adult children can be rough. Jack admits it’s been a transition. “I don’t know if everyone can do that,” he said.

Psychologist Jill Gross works with sandwich generation clients. She says the number one issue for caregivers is burnout. “You have all the duties and responsibilities associated with parenting,” said Gross. And then you add to that if the elderly person you’re providing care for lives in your area often there are doctor’s appointments prescriptions to fill sometimes meals to prepare.”

The Belz family faces an additional hurdle. Maureen, age 81, has Alzheimers. She now lives at a memory care facility nearby. “Its really tough,” said Trish. “I’ve felt angry before and I’ve felt resentful.” Trish picks her up most mornings so she can spend the day with her husband and grandchildren. After cleaning the kitchen and helping her kids with homework, Trish drives her mom back to the facility at night.

Gross says caregivers need to make self-care a top priority. She encourages the older generation to start discussions about how they want to live out their days. “The best gift you can give to your adult children is to be the one to bring it up and talk about your values and goals,” Gross said.

Gross encourages adult children to connect with other people in the middle of that sandwich, and to find ways to share caregiving and parenting responsibilities, whether it’s a helpful friend or a spouse.

Despite the juggling her time between her parents, her job, her husband and kids, Trish says she’s happy for the wonderful quality time she and her kids get with her parents. Her father Jack is grateful that he continues to be able to spend his days with his wife Maureen.

Full Article & Source:
‘The Sandwich Generation’: Caring for an elder parent and adult child at same time

by Lonnie Brennan

One of this newspaper’s aims is to give voice to the voiceless. From our first issue, we helped to share information and smuggled notes from Justina Pelletier, the teenage girl taken from her family by Boston’s Children’s Hospital with the complicity of the Massachusetts government. Since that first issue, these pages have focused the spotlight on questionable government actions and the subsequent horrors inflicted upon children, families, and seniors.

Perhaps, because of those stories, we are now routinely contacted by those in need and do what we can to help share their stories – give voice to the voiceless.

This is Reverend Mary Frank’s story. Recorded in her own words from the room she has shared for the past four months with two other residents at her current nursing home. She went from living in a little apartment to now sharing a 16×25 foot room with only hospital curtains providing partial privacy between each resident. Mary relates how she was snatched out of her apartment and sent to a lock-down dementia ward for 3+ years.

With the exception of our initial questions, all of these words are hers. Each and every one. With regret, the spelling of some names cannot be confirmed at this time. We explain why at the end of the article.



QUESTION TO OUR READERS: After reading this, ask yourself: Is this a person who should have been ripped from her home and confined to a lock-down dementia unit?

As dictated by Mary Frank:

Broadside:  As you know, I’m here to take your statement.

Mary: Yes.

Broadside: Could you please state your name.

Mary: Mary Frank

Broadside: And you understand that this conversation is being recorded.

Mary: Yes. Of course [as she glances at the tape recorder and camera].

Broadside: And we have your permission.

Mary: Absolutely. You can record me, take photos. I have letters. Yes. Absolutely. I want this out. People need to know.

[Mary then went on to explain her living situation before being “snatched” and placed in a nursing home, and many of the details along the way. Printed below is a just a small portion of her story. We’ll print more in future issues, as space allows.]

Mary: I loved my little apartment. You could only fit a twin bed in there. It was a 1960s walk-up garden apartment. I loved it because it was small. It was perfect. I didn’t have to go far with the wheelchair. I could do my own cooking. I could do cleaning. I could do personal care. But I couldn’t go to the drug store. I couldn’t go get food. So, I said OK, if I’m eligible [for home healthcare services], that’s good.

Minuteman Senior Services was the vehicle…they send out to Best Home and Partners [contracted home healthcare services], and so I got this wonderful girl. For a year, I loved her. I adored her. But in the end, I found out she was stealing from me. The food stamps, the money wasn’t lasting. I was too trusting. I never even saw it coming. It broke my heart. It’s indigenous to this form of work: we’re easy pickings. They steal.

And then I got a series of the worst – just the worst [caregivers]. One didn’t have a car. One walked around in sneakers saying I don’t buy white women food. I didn’t know we had white women food! It was just a disaster. And then I got a Lisa Bartlett, from Best Home. And she was good, but she would only do – they all would only do – except for the one that stole, she did the three hours – they wouldn’t do the three hours – and Lisa was like 20 minutes to 40 minutes. And I said I would like my three hours.

And, they wanted me to sign a paper that said they were doing three hours. They were getting $18.70 per hour. In my mind, that’s defrauding the federal government. What I found out later was that that money … they were giving kickbacks. That money that they were earning – they weren’t working for it – they were giving kickbacks to Michelle Coakley and Minuteman protective services. I was aghast. I mean, not that I’m ordained [Mary had explained that she was ordained as a Pentecostal minister], but it’s fraud. That’s a clear case of fraud.

I said, I can’t sign this. I can’t sign this paper. I want you to do the three hours.

Mary (cont.): Before I knew it, Michelle Coakley shows up with her fists like this [Mary holding her fists up tightly gripped], and said, ‘sign the papers.’ I said, Michelle, you’re supposed to be upset about this [the fraud]. I thought she was going to strike me. She was outraged and said to sign it, or you’ll be sorry. I didn’t understand the vitriol that was coming out of this woman. I come from a place of peace and love. I didn’t get it.

In September of 2013 there was a knock on the door…they handcuffed me. Threw me in an ambulance and took me to Mount Auburn Hospital on a Section 12 for psych.

I didn’t know it was a Section 12 then. I didn’t know what was happening. Nobody would talk to me. I have a heart condition. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I couldn’t understand what was going on. So, I’m in the emergency room in Mount Auburn. Rick Hayes was the psych guy. And he ended up being Pentecostal, which was unusual, as there’s not that many of us up here [in New England].

First, they did two hours on me getting my blood pressure down and my heartrate. That’s how upset I was. I heard a nurse say ‘she’s going to have a stroke.’ My blood pressure was sky high, my heart rate … I had monitors on. They did that first. Then he [Dr. Hayes] came in and talked to me, and after 50 minutes he said, ‘you’re not psychotic.’ I said, ‘no kidding!’ He said, well, they told me that you were in your own excrement and your urine and that you threw out your nurse. And I said, ah excuse me? As fastidious as I am. I never, I mean, I knew. He knew. He knew because the Lord is illuminating to him. He knew this was bogus.

He kept me there all day. He told me Michelle Coakley wants you put on the psych ward. I had said to her [Michelle] that I would do a thing about harassment if they didn’t stop [trying to get me to sign documents], and I would call the attorney general’s office because this is fraud, and she said I’ll put you somewhere where you won’t be able to do anything. It just never occurred to me [I would end up in the hospital].

It was the worst day. Then he [Dr. Hayes] went and talked to my cousin Norma in Connecticut, who can wipe all the air out of the room [a force to be reckoned with]. And he [Dr. Hayes] came back and told me ‘you’re going home.’

Mary (cont.): Three weeks later – in October – they knocked on the door again. And I said, ‘who’s signing these [psych] papers?’ Because she [Coakley] got somebody who never even saw me – a psychiatrist – to sign the papers. The fraud was unbelievable…and they were so mean to me. They treated me like I was some kind of a criminal. My arms were all full of bruises. They pushed me around.

[Doctor] Rick Hayes saw me. He said, ‘what are you doing here?’ And I was there, and what he did was he went and got his colleague, and she leaned over and she said, ‘we’re going to get you out of here.’ I said, what is this? Is this legal? What is going on? And the nurse came in and put her arms around me. And she said, be careful because she [Coakley] is not going to stop. She said I know people like this. They’re not going to stop…

This is insane… I don’t belong in a psych ward. So, I got sent home.

But, she [Coakley] showed up again and said, I’ll put you somewhere where you’ll never get out. I said, Michelle, you need to sit down. You need to let me help you. And she pushed my arm. And she went.

Mary (cont.): November, I got a summons to go to probate and family court for a hearing regarding guardianship. And I couldn’t, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe she was going to go this far. It’s an obsession – and obsession is a mental illness – I recognize that, it’s a very bad thing to have.

So, November 20th it was set for, and I was just going to show up and tell the judge what she did to me. That there’s just no way, no way, I’m going to get a guardian.

November 18th, I woke up [with leg problems]. I went to Beth Israel… I should explain – regarding getting my knees replaced… I wanted to get fixed. I had to get fixed. I was so proud of myself; I had lost 100 pounds on Herbalife [to get my weight down before surgery]. You take a shake in the morning, a shake in the afternoon, and you can have a cow for supper if you want! It melted off me.

And my friends were saying to me you’re so skinny, which had never happened to me before. My father was 400 pounds. My mother was 280. I’m Italian. You can’t help me, you know, it’s hereditary. But I got it off. It was nice to be chubby instead of fat … but my knees, they had exploded. I had to get to the hospital.

But first, I called Mary Kay Connelly who was the lawyer for Minuteman. A more crooked lawyer there isn’t in this world. Just a despot. I came to understand about this woman. I called her twice, because it [the court summons] said that if you needed an extension [shakes head – no response from Connelly]. And then I called the courthouse and said I needed an extension, and I got just yah, yah from the court. No answers. So, I went to the hospital.

I was getting an IV… and I’m thinking, they [the court, Coakley, and Connelly] don’t know I’m in the hospital. Then, I got a call from my neighbor who told me they broke down my door on the 19th, the day before the 20th. I never would have gotten to court. I never would have made that hearing anyway.

They must have broken the door down to take me again so that I couldn’t make the hearing. So, in a way, God protected me by putting me in the hospital, because who knows where they would have put me this time. If it wasn’t with [Dr,] Rick [Hayes], who would have sent me back, I don’t know.

But I didn’t get the extension. I wasn’t in the courtroom. I didn’t have a lawyer and I had no due process. I know about due process. I went to Yale and I have an American History degree. I taught history. I was the youngest history teacher in Connecticut. I knew that you had to be in there with a lawyer. It’s due process.

I didn’t know then about Judge [Maureen] Monks – that she was crooked, that it was all crooked. I didn’t know. I don’t think that way. But I knew something was wrong. And then this woman walks in named Robin Kosnick and proceeded to tell me, ‘I’m going to put you away.’ And I said, who are you? And she said, I’m the guardian.

Mary (cont.): Now, Minuteman Senior Services picks out the guardian. It should be an autonomous guardian, or it should be a family member, or a friend – until you can prove you’re OK. It shouldn’t be somebody who is connected with the people who did this to you. She said, Michelle told me what to do with you. I’m putting you away.

And [my] mind is spinning, like this. And you know, because she was the guardian, I had to stay here. They couldn’t move me from Beth Israel. But when I was healed, the first thing they tried to do was put me in a flop house in Everett. I couldn’t believe it. There were people on the floor. There was urine. People were urinating on blankets and thank God the ambulance driver was, oh no, you’re not staying here. They brought me back. They wouldn’t do it [leave me there]. She [Robin] had a fit.

And then she tried it again. In Cambridge…but the rector there sent me back…but I was there for two months while she was waiting for a bed to open up at Sudbury Pines in Sudbury. She put me in the dementia unit.

There should be – there’s got to be – a law somewhere.

And out of all of this, my prayer is that maybe we can get a state senator or a state rep. to have some hearings at the State House that you have to have an autonomous guardian, [and] that you have to be in that courtroom … that you cannot be put in a dementia unit. I was put in a dementia unit!

Everybody there had dementia! Everybody’s in diapers! Nobody could use a phone. Nobody could talk. And the men would come in and take off their diapers and try to get in bed with you naked.

It was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest [movie]. And I’m there for three-and-a-half years.

But they didn’t want me there, because I could see what they were doing. I have my mind. I could see the abuse: throwing people in bed at seven o’clock, not changing diapers, them crying for water and not getting water. And there was a man across the way. They said he was psychotic. He was having a heart attack and he died. So, they section-twelved me to the Carney in Dorchester. But my knees, my legs, the fluid was coming out of my legs. And so, no, they sent me back…

And the doctor there. I pray he loses his license. I made a complaint and he told me he would kill me if I made complaints. The first day he met me, he looked at my bible and he said, ‘that’s what’s wrong with you – that you’re a Christian.’ I said, that’s everything that’s right about me.

I was a mess before I went to seminary. God made this woman out of that mess. That’s what’s right about me. He [the doctor] was Hindu and he hates Christians…

There’s so much of it – I have to go back and explain to you – [in the court] they told the judge that I refused care and that I threw a nurse out and that I was in my own excrement and urine. And yes, I was sitting in my apartment with a social worker when a big tall man walked in. He didn’t knock, he just walked in. And he didn’t say much and he left, and it was him who said [through the courts] he spoke to me. I thought we were going to get raped. He never rang the doorbell. He walked right in. These people are so corrupted and underhanded – the things that they do…

The evil and the, the – it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around it – the brutality of these people.

Jesus said that we all have a mansion [in heaven]. I’ll settle for a ranch. I really don’t need a mansion. But we’ll see when I get there. Laughter’s a wonderful thing. I have a good sense of humor and I’ve kept it, and I’m glad. That’s what’s kept me [and then she teared]…”

——————————

Mary went on to give more background regarding her experience. She praised many of the nurses at her current nursing home. She related a fire at her apartment complex which she said terrorized her in 1996 and how after the fire, people had made donations to the residents, but all of her apartment contents were taken by her guardian. She has no idea where they are. She would love to have medical attention for her legs and body and find a nice small apartment where she can take care of herself again, and not have a guardian keep her as a prisoner.

Where are My Personal Belongings?

Mary requested that this newspaper try to find out where her electric wheelchair is, and her glasses and personal belongings. She provided the name and phone number of her guardian, Pam Dicolo (spelling unsure at this time) and said that she has been asking for months and gets no reply. She said that all her clothes, except one dress, as well as her personal belongings, her wig, makeup, and other items are being held by her guardian, as well as all her personal care items.

We did reach out to the guardian and got no response. However, we did receive a response from a woman explaining that she was the “spokesperson” for the guardian, and handles all reporter inquiries. After explaining that Mary requested us to find out what was up with her electric wheelchair and other items, we were told everything would be taken care of. The following day (Nov. 17, 2017), Mary left us a voice message, exclaiming her joy that “Julie showed up with three bags full of things for me.” She listed various personal care items she received, but still awaits her own clothes, wig, makeup and glasses.

A few days later, an electric wheelchair showed up, but it was “a tiny thing that I could never fit in. It wasn’t mine.” She’s still waiting.

Court Files Go Missing/Scrubbed,
Despite Electronic Log Entries

As for the court documents? Despite repeated efforts of the court clerks, all of Mary Frank’s files are reported missing. Yes, read that again. The court files are missing for Docket No. MI 3P5348GD. We even went so far as to engage the help of an attorney to attempt to view the files. All the court clerks could do is confirm that, yes, there were more than 16 entries, still logged in their computers, but all of Mary Frank’s court documents are missing. We’ve placed a written “File Search Request” with the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, and asked to be notified should the files ever mysteriously re-appear. Cue the crickets.

A Sharp Contrast: Praise for
Everyone at Marlborough Hills

Mary provided our paper with a follow-up conversation in which she added the following praise to her current providers at Marlborough Hills Rehabilitation Center: “The nurses, the calming effect of Chris, sweet Gail, my dear Sally who can handle any emergency, at any time, and we all feel very safe with her here at night; conscientious Jackie – a wonderful nurse; and Wendy, a tough veteran nurse who has a heart of gold, and will walk over a million people to get to something one of her patients needs – she’s a nurse’s nurse. Everybody in the maintenance department, Bob and Mr. Carpenter, everybody in the kitchen, everybody in the laundry, and all the aides: sweet baby James, my little Stella, Ryan and Carlos and [inaudible], and Carmina – too many to mention, all of them.
Oh, and my wonderful social worker, Logan, who gives so tirelessly, and I’ve come to love.

I have received kindness from this place, and yes, even love. I have been treated with respect and dignity, and it has put a balm of healing on my heart, and assuaged the pain that I received from Sudbury Pines – the cruelty I received there. And I have one more thank you: to the editor of this paper, for his kindness, and his caring, and his thoughtfulness, and his wanting to help people, and most of all, his courage. Him I want to thank the most.”

Mary Needs A Champion Lawyer – She Needs Funding to Get Her Life Back

Mary said she needs funds to fight back and restore her life. She has no way of raising funds, she said, without all money going to her guardian instead of helping to get her away from the guardian.

The Mary Frank Fund

After various inquires and consultations, we’ve made the decision to help in the process to establish a legal defense fund for Mary.

Please make your checks out to “The Boston Broadside” with the name “Mary Frank Fund” in the memo section. Send checks to The Boston Broadside, P.O. Box 4200, Peabody, MA 01961.

We will send you a receipt for your donation to Mary Frank’s defense fund, and provide you with updates regarding her fund, and any and all expenditures from it. All funds will be held by the Boston Broadside at this time – solely for the use of Mary Frank, and firmly held separate from Mary Frank’s guardian and others who she says are working against her. Without your help, she is defenseless.

She wants the money to be spent on a lawyer of her choosing who will set her free. Please be as generous as you can. If you know anyone of means, please consider taking on this challenging case.

Mary noted in a follow-up interview just prior to publication that people have been so generous to help a poor dog – raising $16,000 in days – and to a worthy homeless veteran, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in just days, and if she could receive help, she could fight to get her life back. Mary needs your help now. ♦

Full Article & Source:
Mary Frank: 69-Year-Old Thrown into Psych Ward by Government-Appointed Guardian

The 94-year-old woman and her hair stylist had been friends for 20 years.

Such good friends, in fact, that when the Tucson, Ariz. woman’s husband died in 2011, hair stylist Supranom “Addy” Klos was given power of attorney, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

But then, in 2014, money started to disappear from the 94-year-old’s life savings. Eventually nearly all of the woman’s savings — some $300,000 — had vanished, prosecutors said. And it was Klos who was stealing it.

It took Klos only months to gamble away nearly all of her friend and client’s life savings, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.

And it took an Arizona jury only about two hours to find Klos guilty, convicting the hair stylist on one count of fraudulent schemes, three counts of theft, one count of fraudulent use of a credit card and one count of unlawful use of power of attorney.

Brnovich described the 94-year-old as a vulnerable adult with dementia.

What Klos didn’t spend on gambling, she spent on dental implants and a new car, according to the attorney general.

Klos was taken into custody after the verdict, the attorney general said. She will be sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison.

One in six vulnerable adults is victimized to such an extent that he or she loses a third — or more — of his or her assets, according to the Arizona attorney general. Emotional damage from being the victim of those crimes can shave as much as three years off a victim’s life.

Fraud and exploitation victimizing seniors is an expensive — and expanding — problem.

“Financial fraud targeting older Americans is a growing epidemic that costs seniors an estimated $2.9 billion annually,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.), chair of the Senate Aging Committee, said earlier this year as she introduced a bipartisan bill to protect seniors from fraud.

Law enforcement became involved in the Arizona case when the woman’s bank noticed large sums of money withdrawn from the 94-year-old’s savings account, prosecutors said.

Hundreds of thousands of older Americans fall victim to fraud, financial scams and abuse each year, according to Collins.

Full Article & Source:
A 94-year-old befriended her hair stylist. It cost her $300,000.

Robert Graham

A Las Vegas lawyer who stole $16 million from his clients' trust funds has been sentenced to 16 to 40 years in prison.
Prosecutors said when Graham was indicted in January that he used a client trust fund as a personal piggy bank for his business and private bills.

Full Article & Source:
Vegas lawyer who stole $16M from clients headed to prison

See Also:
Victims want tough sentence for Las Vegas lawyer who stole millions

Ex-lawyer's theft of $16M may bring change to state legal rules to protect vulnerable  

In cash-strapped New Mexico, there really is no such thing as a “small price to pay.” There is legitimate competition for every dollar the state spends.

But in the great scheme of things, the $1 million estimated cost to finance improved oversight and accountability in the state’s scandal-plagued guardianship system that operates largely under court oversight would be money well spent.

To put the request in context, it’s abundantly clear that the current oversight system hasn’t stopped some of the state’s most vulnerable residents from having their assets stolen, their homes sold off and the wishes of families completely disregarded by commercial guardians and conservators appointed by judges around the state. There have been legitimate complaints of exorbitant fees charged by the industry and families being cut off from their loved ones simply for complaining about the treatment Mom or Dad is getting.

That’s why the State Supreme Court appointed a special commission to come up with recommendations for ways to improve the system. The commission chaired by retired state District Judge Wendy York has proposed 17 changes – separate from modifications proposed in a rewrite of guardianship/conservatorship laws by the Chicago-based Uniform Laws Commission. Among the Uniform Law Commission proposals is a change that would roll back the blanket of secrecy that shrouds guardianships in New Mexico, and allows chicanery, abuse and outright theft to be hidden away.

Nothing better illustrates the problem of a system dominated by insiders than the fact that one of the guardianship industry representatives who spoke to the commission in defense of the system is now facing federal criminal charges for allegedly draining client accounts to finance a lavish lifestyle.

The Supreme Court’s commission has some recommendations that simply require better practices for guardians/conservators and the judges who oversee them. But others require about $1 million in state money.

The appropriation would allow the state to purchase computer software that would red-flag unusual purchases and discrepancies in annual reports that guardians and conservators are supposed to file with the court.

Many of the reports have been shoddy, bare-bones documents filed late and then stuffed into court files. Software won’t fix that. But with better reporting required by the courts, the new system would allow for electronic filing with some built-in warnings. The new money also would pay for auditors who would investigate discrepancies. Equally important, it would pay for special masters or hearing officers to hear grievances from families whose loved ones are in the guardianship system. Under the current system, these family members have no effective recourse or even a reasonable way to complain in a timely fashion.

The special masters should be able to act as “outsiders” in a system dominated by “insiders” to advocate for families where their claims have merit. Just having that avenue of recourse will curb some abuses by those who now operate with impunity.

The Supreme Court can make some changes by rule. But Gov. Susana Martinez and the 2018 Legislature need to step up to the plate, enact statutory changes where necessary and fund the modest amount requested by the commission.

The state is far from rolling in dough, but it has weathered the recent fiscal crisis and now has an estimated $500 million in reserves. The latest projection estimates lawmakers will have about $199 million in “new” revenue to spend when they convene next month.

The revelations over the past year about the guardianship system in New Mexico have been shocking. The Supreme Court and lawmakers have an opportunity to change many lives for the better, now and in the future.

They shouldn’t miss the opportunity.

Full Article & Source:
Editorial: Lawmakers can’t afford NOT to fix guardianship system

State Rep. Mark Gillen

In the wake of a Reading Eagle investigation that found a shroud of secrecy around police reporting and elder abuse in nursing homes, state Rep. Mark Gillen wants state departments charged with oversight to make more information available to the public.

Last week, Gillen, a Robeson Township Republican, introduced an amendment to House Bill 1124 that would require the Pennsylvania Departments of Health, Aging, and Human Services on a biennial basis to jointly track and report to the Legislature trends on the maltreatment of care-dependent people.

The bill, introduced by state Rep. Jim Cox, a Sinking Spring Republican, would expand a state statute dealing with neglect of care-dependent people to include abuse.

"We need enhanced transparency and the ability for the attorney general to be effective," Gillen said, noting the statute doesn't allow the state's top law enforcer to investigate and prosecute abuse.Gillen's amendment also requires the creation of an investigation memorandum that makes public - among other things - the alleged violation, a summary of findings, the caretaker name and conclusions.Advocates for the elderly praised the steps by lawmakers to address growing concerns over elder abuse. But given the number of adult children caring for aging parents, they also cautioned against releasing unsubstantiated reports."We don't want to punish people who haven't done anything wrong," said Sam Brooks, an attorney with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia and an advocate for the elderly. "Absent substantiation, really publishing this publicly can do more harm to people."Gillen said he welcomed the public input."I see this as part of the process, not a finished product," he said.  (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
Gillen's bill would require regular reporting of maltreatment trends

SILVER SPRING, MD — A Silver Spring couple was convicted Monday of scamming an elderly man with dementia of over $1 million, according to court documents.

Javier and Ana "Beti" Molina were found guilty of conspiracy and exploitation of a vulnerable adult for stealing $1.2 million from Gustave Shapiro, 99, of Aspen Hill. They gambled $200,000 of Shapiro's money and sent their daughter to college, prosecutors said.

"It's elder abuse, and it's theft. This is a theft by deception, theft by defrauding and theft by coercion," Ramon Korionoff, spokesman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office, said.

Prosecutors said Beti became Shapiro's housekeeper when he was 95. She was hired shortly after Shapiro's wife of over 70 years passed away and worked for him for about three years.

Beti became Shapiro's caretaker and convinced him to sign over power of attorney to her and her husband, prosecutors said. From 2013 to 2016, the couple swindled money from Shapiro to buy a car, gamble, put down a payment on a house and pay for their daughter's college tuition.

Shapiro withdrew only $14,000 from his bank accounts in 2012, while $543,000, $37,200 and $231,000 were taken out over the following years. Bank employees noticed the suspicious transactions from Shapiro's account and tipped off authorities, prosecutors said. The fraud was not discovered until after Shapiro died at age 99.

"This is important and serves as a cautionary tale for anyone that has parents or grandparents that may need assisted-living or home health care workers or even cleaning crews coming into their home," Korionoff said. "Be careful whom you trust."

The Molinas both face up to 55 years in prison and will be sentenced in January, prosecutors said.

Full Article & Source:
Couple Steals Over $1M From Elderly Man With Dementia