Editor’s note:  The following is an excerpt from an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by Chris Mondics. Staff from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, the Institute on Protective Services, and the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging were all interviewed for and mentioned in the study released by the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO).  The full study can be obtained at www.goa.gov.

Banks and other financial institutions are an important line of defense against scammers seeking to defraud the elderly, but too often tellers and branch managers are not trained to recognize the warning signs, says a Government Accountability Office report issued Thursday.

The study, which looked at programs aimed at fighting fraud that targets the elderly in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York, said that out of misguided concern they might breach federal privacy laws, banks and other financial institutions are sometimes reluctant to share information with agencies that work to protect older people from financial crimes.

“Banks are well-positioned to recognize, report, and provide evidence supporting investigations,” said Kay E. Brown, director of Education, Workforce, and Income Security at the GAO. “However, many social-services and law enforcement officials we spoke with indicated banks do not always recognize and report exploitation or provide evidence needed to investigate it.”

The report was released at the outset of a hearing Thursday before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in Washington on efforts nationally to combat elder financial abuse.  (Click here to read the full article)

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – A 58-year-old Knox man was sentenced to serve time in state prison in connection with the theft of over $250,000 from his elderly aunt.

David Lynn Patton, of Knox, was found guilty on September 18 in Clarion County Court of Common Pleas on over 90 counts of Theft by Unlawful Taking and Failure to Make Required Disposition in connection with the theft of over $250,000 from 88-year-old Betty Wetzel between January 2007 and May 2010.

This morning in Clarion County Court of Common Pleas, Judge James G. Arner sentenced Patton to 2.5 to 5 years in state prison.

“This case was a collaborative effort of Clarion Area Agency on Aging; William Craddock, Pennsylvania State Police; Drew Welsh and Alexis Rupert, District Attorney’s office; and the Pennsylvania Department of Aging.”, said Toni Forsythe, an investigator who worked on the case for Clarion Area Agency on Aging.  “I spent months gathering financial statements and adding figures. Thanks to funding provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging I was able to contract a Fraud Examiner.”  The investigation was initiated in March of 2010 when Ms. Wetzel, who lives in Clarview Nursing Home, contacted the Clarion Area Agency on Aging after she was told that her account with the assisted living facility was overdue. Read more »

A former Wells Fargo Bank “personal banker” Thursday admitted that he bilked almost $9,000 from six elderly women from the Pottstown area last summer.  Jon Dugan, 29, of Berks County, entered an open guilty plea to six charges of theft by deception for the scam.  An open plea means there is no agreement on a sentence between the prosecutor and defense lawyer.  Montgomery County Judge Gary S. Silow, who accepted the plea, postponed sentencing until he receives a report telling him more about Dugan’s background.  Dugan, who remains free on $25,000 unsecured bail, could receive a maximum sentence of 16 to 32 years in prison. Read more »

BLAIRS MILLS, Pa. —

State troopers arrested a personal care home provider after a blind dementia patient wandered away from her room and was found dead in a nearby creek Wednesday morning. According to a criminal complaint obtained by 6News, Connie Ann Souders was charged with felony neglect of a care dependent person and involuntary manslaughter.  Troopers said 70-year-old Sally Jean Fultz, who moved into the Sleepy Hollow Personal Care Center in Blairs Mills last month, was found dead in a creek about 100 yards away from the building. Read more »

The wife of a former York City police officer has pleaded guilty to one count of theft for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from her elderly aunt.

Rita L. Wynegar, 52, of 431 Dartha Drive in Dallastown, remains free pending her sentencing hearing, set for Dec. 31.

Court records indicate she must return to court on Monday. That’s because the judge has questions about the remaining unresolved charges against Wynegar, according to the state Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the case.

Those include counts of theft and forgery.

She pleaded guilty on Monday to one third-degree felony count of theft by unlawful taking, records state.

Must repay $240K: Her guilty-plea form states there is no agreed-upon sentence with prosecutors, but that both sides agreed she must pay $240,000 in restitution. Read more »

BEDFORD – No job. No money.

What about Mom and Dad’s bank account?

It’s an increasingly common – and illegal – cash supply for those with elderly parents, as evidenced by the recent theft charges against former Bedford County jail warden Donald Orr Jr. and his wife, the county’s aging-care executive said Tuesday.

“We have a couple of those cases going on as we speak,” said Alan Smith, director of the Huntingdon-Bedford-Fulton Area Agency on Aging. “It’s becoming much more common.”

While many might imagine unscrupulous telemarketers and mail scams when they think of seniors’ financial exploitation, Smith said the sluggish economy has encouraged more Pennsylvanians to turn to their relatives’ savings as a source of income.

“When I first started doing this … a lot of the problems we confronted were neglect cases. What’s flooding in the door now, though, is theft,” state Institute of Protective Services Director Ronald Costen said. Read more »

(Clearfield County) WOODWARD TOWNSHIP – A 46-year-old Ramey man has been accused of theft, access device fraud and forgery during the timeframe of Oct. 21, 2010 and Nov. 4, 2010 in Woodward Township, according to the Clearfield-based state police.

The man allegedly misused his power of attorney to take $120,000 from two Curwensville women. In addition, he allegedly forged one victim’s signature to secure the funds. Afterward, the man used the funds to pay off debt.

State police said the incident remains under investigation with assistance from the Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging Inc. Charges are currently pending further investigation.

Editor’s Note:  This case was investigated by the Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging with consultation assistance from the Institute on Protective Services.

This is an article that was written by the Gant Team for Gantdaily.com

He embezzled the money through a variety of tricks and schemes, and the victims were his elderly parents.

Such cases aren’t all that unusual, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said this morning, but what set the case apart was the amount involved – over $500,000.

A Chester County Court jury on Monday convicted Boyd C. Davis Jr., a member of a county heating-oil dynasty and former West Chester councilman, of 80 counts of theft and fraud in what District Attorney Thomas Hogan called a “shocking abuse of trust.”

Continued here

This is an article written by Anthony R. Wood and published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) –A 58-year-old Knox man has been found guilty on charges related to the theft of over $250,000 from his 88-year-old aunt.

David Lynn Patton, of Knox, was found guilty yesterday in Clarion County Court of Common Pleas on a total of 95 counts of Theft by Unlawful Taking and Failure to Make Required Disposition in connection with the theft of over $250,000 from 88-year-old Betty Wetzel between January 2007 and May 2010.

The investigation was initiated in March of 2010 when Ms. Wetzel, who lives in Clarview Nursing Home, contacted the Clarion Area Agency on Aging after she was told that her account with the assisted living facility was overdue.

After an initial investigation, Clarion Area Agency on Aging with assistance from the Pennsylvania State Police Trooper William Craddock began to look further into the matter.Investigators determined that Patton, who was appointed as his aunt’s power of attorney, cashed in his aunt’s investment accounts and a life insurance policy and deposited the money into her checking accounts.

It was then determined that Patton unlawfully cashed several checks written out to himself and also wrote several checks out to businesses.

“I always trusted him and thought he was a good nephew, but today I wouldn’t trust him at all. When I gave him Power of Attorney, I never thought he would do this to me. He took all the money I had.”, Ms. Wetzel told exploreClarion.com today.

Patton is scheduled for sentencing on October 24.

This article was posted by J.P. Galt on exploreClarion.com

Editor’s Note:  This case was a joint investigative effort of the Clarion County Office of Aging, the PA State Police, and the PA Department of Aging’s Institute on Protective Services at Temple University.

This training is filled. No registrations are being accepted at this time.

On April 5, 2013 we are offering the training Long Term Care Investigations in State College. This training is open to Area Agency on Aging staff and provides protective services enrichment credits.

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