Of all the possible threats to seniors’ physical and financial well-being, you might expect their children to be low on the list. But the fact is, abuse of elders is all too common — annually affecting one in 10 adults over the age of 60, according to a study by the Medical University of South Carolina — and it’s often perpetrated by a victim’s own offspring.

“People think: ‘Who would ever hit their elderly mother? Who would ever push their grandmother down the stairs? Who would ever steal their grandparents’ social security checks week after week?’,” says Dan Reingold, president and CEO of the Hebrew Home, a long-term care facility in Riverdale, N.Y. “The answer is: about 2 million people.”

To combat these crimes, a handful of nursing homes around the country have created shelters within their own walls to provide emergency short-term housing and health care services to victims.

(Click here to read the full article by US News and World Report)

Pottsville, Schuylkill County – A Schuylkill County woman is behind bars after stealing thousands of dollars from a senior citizen.  A home health care aid was charged Tuesday with using an 81 year old woman’s debit card and racking up bills in access of twenty thousand dollars.

39 year old Jennifer Ferrier of Cressona was charged Tuesday with stealing from a senior citizen.  Ferrier worked as a home health care aid, hired by an 81 year old woman who lives at Luther Ridge Nursing Home in Pottsville.  According to police, Ferrier began using the elderly woman’s debit card, making cash withdrawals and purchases at various stores in Pottsville.  In January, the victim was notified that her account was overdrawn.  An investigation proved Ferrier had stolen over 21 thousand dollars from a woman she was supposed to be helping.

Georgene Fedoriska works at the Office of Senior Services in Schuylkill County.  She says stories like this unfortunately happen way too often, “We don’t want everyone to be skeptical or paranoid or anything like that but these are hard times and there are a lot of people with financial problems.”

Here are some tips to help prevent elder abuse.  Make sure you thoroughly monitor all your accounts ensuring that all your activity is accurate.  Always tear or shred documents with personal information to protect you against dumpster diving.  Don’t hand out your pin number for your ATM card or your social security number.  Watch your wallet; the most frequently reported source of information used to commit fraud is a lost or stolen wallet.  And most importantly, be careful who you trust.  Half of all identity fraud is committed by a friend, family member, neighbor or in home employee.

“I think seniors should be very weary of someone coming to them and saying that I can do all these things for you.  Hopefully they would ask their family, neighbors or friends.  That doesn’t mean family; friends and neighbors aren’t also the ones taking advantage of the seniors,” explains Fedoriska

As for Ferrier, she was charged with theft, receiving stolen property and access device fraud.  She is currently being held at the Schuylkill County prison on 15 thousand dollars bail.

This article was written by Shannon Murphy for WBRE News.

(GEORGIA) A DeKalb County woman was sentenced to 30 years — 20 behind bars — for exploiting elderly and disabled adults in her care.

Bobbie Ward, 50, was also ordered to pay $14,229 in restitution to one of the victims, according to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. Ward, a former Cedar Grove Middle School secretary, was convicted last month on 21 charges stemming from her treatment of six adults in her care over a five-year period.  The charges included neglect of disabled and elderly adults, exploitation of disabled and elderly adults, false imprisonment of an elder person, forgery in the first degree and 13 separate counts of identity fraud.

“This sentence sends a resounding message that elder and disabled adult exploitation will not be tolerated in DeKalb County,” District Attorney Robert James said in emailed statement. “She relentlessly preyed on vulnerable adults and exploited them for her own personal financial gain.” Read more »

An East Lampeter Township woman is facing a murder charge after she failed to care for her elderly mother for nearly two weeks, causing the older woman’s death, officials said.

Janice Eileen Harmes, 66, was taken into custody Tuesday and according to court documents charged with third-degree murder, felony neglect of a care-dependent person and misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter.  She was arraigned by District Judge B. Denise Commins and committed to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail.  Harmes’ mother, 88-year-old Janet Bastendorf, died Jan. 6 at the home the two women shared on Elmwood Road.

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said officials from his office had a “high suspicion of elder abuse,” prompting an investigation of the death. An autopsy showed Bastendorf died of sepsis caused by a severe infection that officials said was the result of Harmes’ leaving her mother to sit in a chair in a diaper filled with feces and urine for 10 days.  Police said Bastendorf also had on her body a large decubitus ulcer, or bed sore.  Following the autopsy, the coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide.

Investigators said Harmes was her mother’s sole caregiver.

Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman — who oversees the county’s elder abuse unit, which assisted with the case — said being the singular caregiver for any senior in need carries with it a legal responsibility.  “To allow a person to sit motionless in a chair and essentially rot to death alive in their own filth is difficult to comprehend,” Stedman said in an email Tuesday night.  Stedman said Bastendorf “died in deplorable conditions which were easily preventable.”

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. before District Judge Commins.
This article was written by Jennifer Todd for Lancaster Online.

Alice Thurnau never left the hospital after suffering brain bleeding and a broken arm, hip, ribs, eye socket and sinus bone when she was knocked to the sidewalk in front of her Port Richmond home while being robbed of her purse.

Esther Ayodele had no signs of life when paramedics found her at her son’s Germantown home. The medical examiner found 273 bruises, and wounds on every part of her 5-foot-2, 98-pound body.

Iris Galarza looked like a homeless drifter as she walked the streets of Kensington with plastic bags on her feet and reeking of urine. She had a home, but a woman she trusted was stealing her Social Security checks, resulting in Galarza’s living in squalor and having to beg a store owner for food, authorities said.

These three women had one thing in common: old age. Thurnau was 90. Ayodele was 82. Galarza, who is deaf and has dementia, is 89.

In Philadelphia and across the nation, elder abuse – physical, financial, sexual or by neglect – is a growing problem, yet it dwells in the shadows of the better-publicized crimes of child abuse and domestic abuse, advocates say.  “Elder abuse here and everywhere is a hidden problem, and it’s only going to get bigger, given the demographics of the baby boomers,” said Joseph Snyder, of the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA), a nonprofit agency that investigates abuse allegations and works to keep the elderly in their homes.

In response to the problem, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has revamped its elder-abuse efforts into the Elder Justice Project to better prosecute perpetrators and better serve victims. (Continued)

This article was written by Mensah Dean for the Philadelphia Daily News.  Click here to read the full article.

Police have accused an Ephrata woman of stealing about $50,000 from her mother.

Theft charges against Gail Moyer, 53, of 38 Peaceful Lane, stem from an investigation into her role as power of attorney over the financial affairs of her mother, Lorraine Leisey, police said Wednesday.  A Lancaster County Office of Aging employee received an anonymous complaint and contacted police about the alleged wrongdoing in February 2012, Ephrata police Detective Graeme Quinn said in a criminal complaint.

Leisey, now 82, had been hospitalized and received rehabilitative care at Manor Care Nursing Home in Lancaster from May through October of 2011. Moyer stole about $50,000 from her mother’s bank accounts during that period, police allege. She also failed to complete applications that would have helped pay the $28,115 bill, Quinn said.  Police obtained search warrants and examined Leisey’s bank accounts. They also interviewed Leisey and Moyer.

Moyer said she received a $45,758 check from one of her mother’s accounts on Aug. 11, 2011, according to Quinn.  Moyer said she used $29,000 of it for a down payment on a home — with her mother’s permission — and the rest to pay for expenses related to caring for her mother.  Moyer also said she made various ATM withdrawals from her mother’s accounts to move the money into another account to prevent her brother, Gary Leisey, from accessing the money, Quinn said. Moyer and her brother have joint power of attorney over their mother’s affairs. Read more »

Police have charged a Lititz man with stealing nearly $200,000 from his elderly sister.  Dennis L. Hines, 58, of Kings Cross Road, was charged with 16 counts of theft by deception following an eight-month investigation of elder abuse by Manheim Township detectives.

According to police, Hines was serving as power of attorney for his 72-year-old sister, who was living in an assisted-living facility in Lancaster Township. From November 2010 to July 2012, police said, Hines misappropriated more than $195,000 of his sister’s funds.  According to an affidavit filed by Detective Sgt. Keith Kreider, much of the money was realized from the sale of the sister’s condominium property in Virginia. The money was deposited in the woman’s bank account, the report says, after which Hines began withdrawing funds and depositing them in his own account.  Over a period of nearly two years, Hines is said to have withdrawn funds in amounts ranging from $900 to $100,000.  Acting as the Tradilus Group, a trading business owned and operated by Hines, the Lititz man used the money to trade stocks and bonds, the affidavit states.

The missing money was discovered by another sibling, who also had access to the sister’s account and who told police that Hines withdrew the funds “without (the sister’s) knowledge and understanding.”  Nearly $13,000 of the missing money was deposited back into the sister’s account, police said, resulting in a net loss of almost $183,000.

Police were assisted in their investigation by Lancaster County Office of the Aging Protective Services and Temple University Institute on Protective Services.

Hines was arraigned before District Judge Mary Sponaugle and released on $50,000 unsecured bail.

Editor’s Note:  This case was a cooperative investigation between the Lancaster Area Agency on Aging, the Institute on Protective Services, the Mannheim Township Police Department and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.

 
This article was written by Tom Knapp for LancasterOnline. 

His victims were elderly, relatively unsophisticated and extraordinarily generous. Each received a phone call from someone they believed was their grandson. The “grandson” said he had been arrested in Canada for drunk driving and desperately need money to pay legal expenses.

With the story, Anthony Oluwole Ojo, 44, successfully defrauded more than 120 worried grandparents, many from the Philadelphia area. His take: $643,503.97.

Ojo, of Toronto, Canada, pleaded guilty in May 2012 to three counts of wire fraud. On Friday, a federal judge in Philadelphia sentenced him to 45 months in prison and ordered Ojo to pay full restitution.

It’s unlikely that his victims will see any money, prosecutors said. And though justice has been served, it will do little to comfort his victims.

“Some may never financially, physically or emotionally recover from being duped by his cruel scheme,” said Linwood C. Wright, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case. Read more »

The Institute on Protective Services is funded by the PA Department of Aging to deliver elder abuse prevention training seminars to financial institutions and law enforcement throughout the Commonwealth.   The rapid rise in financial exploitation of the elderly has increased the need for focus on this type of elder abuse which is often paired with other forms of abuse such as emotional abuse and neglect.

Training is being provided through county elder abuse task forces, regional bank security officer groups and organizations such as the PA Association of Community Banks (PACB).   The PACB is sponsoring a webinar for its members on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 where Linda Mill, CFE,  of the Institute on Protective Services will share her experience in running an elder abuse prevention program for one of the top 5 banks in the country.   In May, Dr. Ronald Costen, Esq., Director of the Institute on Protective Services, and Linda will offer a day long seminar in Luzerne County where the morning will be devoted to training law enforcement and the afternoon will focus on bankers.

If you are interested in training for your organization please contact the Institute at 717-221-1689.

It’s not uncommon for people to die in personal care homes. Many residents are old or ill, and their families accept when death occurs and can come to terms with their loved one’s passing.

The circumstances of June Hassler’s death at Emeritus at Allentown on Greenleaf Street were anything but acceptable to her family, which has not been able to cope.  Hassler, 86, died of natural causes shortly before Christmas and the home did not find her for “a good 36 hours,” according to Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim.

Employees at the home believed Hassler had left the premises, according to an inspection report from the state Department of Public Welfare. Sadly, there were clues that she hadn’t left.

“The home wasn’t sure where she was,” said Ron Melusky, a director at the Department of Public Welfare. “That, of course, is very serious.”

Citing a violation of a resident’s rights and other issues, the department revoked Emeritus at Allentown’s regular operating license last week and put it on provisional status. In the inspection report, the department said “inadequate progress” had been made in correcting violations discovered during an inspection. The home was inspected several days after Hassler’s death.

Click here to read the full article by Pat Muschick for the Allentown Morning Call