ElderAbusehelp.Org
If Adult Protective Services (Elder Protective Services here in IL) was actually focused on protecting vulnerable adults, they have only to look to our streets that are littered with homeless, hungry and many times disoriented adults of all ages who desperately need help and protection. But…. these people have no money, and no estates to loot. APS steps over these individuals in order to get to those who have assets.
In every state organized crime rings are operating involving the same judges, predatory guardians, attorneys, Adult Protective Services personnel, medical personnel, and participating facilities who will violate the rights of an elderly or disabled victim in exchange for payment or personal profit.
“This system of theft will continue until the entire estate has been stolen leaving the victim penniless. At this point, Medicare and Medicaid are used as the cash cow to cover medical expenses and the inflated charges of nursing, the doctors’ visits and vast amounts of medications are charged off to these services costing these services millions each year in padded billing. ”
If predatory guardians were actually concerned about the health and welfare of their victims, there would be no need to physically kidnap, isolate and forcibly medicate these people and then to proceed on to steal their life’s savings.
Of wills, trusts and other legal instruments
Overseeing the looting of an estate is a probate judge who is well aware that what is happening has nothing to do with the health, wellbeing, or welfare of the victim, but who can be depended upon to facilitate the predators. It is all about the estate, how much it is worth and who will gain access to it.
Advance planning instruments for retirement dictate the victims plans for their property such as wills, trusts, insurance benefits, savings accounts, investments, land titles and other assets. These instruments are routinely discarded by the probate judge and declared void even though the judge has no actual lawful authority to do so.
This is done after the victim has been forcibly medicated with drugs such as Zyprexa or Seroquel in doses so high that the victim is unable to function even minimally. It is in the state, and known to the judge to be drug induced dysfunction, that the victim is declared [incompetent]. [Even if the victim was in actuality at that moment in time, incompetent, the judge has no authority to void or discard previously created legal instruments. This would assume, without any factual basis, without hearing or relevant testimony and evidence that the victim was always incompetent and unable to judiciously construct their own estate; a determination clearly not possible.]
Several techniques are used to coerce the victim and to blackmail the family members or friends into silence. Emotional blackmail, consisting of isolating the victim and then accusing family and friends of being a danger to, or having abused the victim is most common.
Multiple abuse charges are levied against family members or friends of the victim who might attempt to rescue them from their kidnapers. In many instances which have been documented, the predators have no knowledge of any abuse, of any kind, by anyone. Still, the charges are made and the cooperating probate judge for some reason needs no evidence to be supplied by the predators to support these allegations. In most cases, the predator is a stranger not only to the family and friends, but to the victim themselves.
In these same situations when actual investigations into the charges determines the charges are unfounded, these stay on the probate court record as if they were in fact, true. They are then repeated as if they were fact at every opportunity causing further defamation and personal injury to the family members.
[In one particular county in Florida, one predatory guardian has made the same ver batum charges against 18 various family’s and friends of 18 guardiansized victims from whom millions in estate assets have been looted. At no time has the predator produced anything other than their own personal testimony to support the charges levied].
None of this benefits the “ward”
Adult Protective Services (APS) operates on either a quota system or on a commission system, just as Child Protective Services does. This means X number of bodies must be processed in order to garner federal grant monies, and reimbursements as well as state funding. Projected annual budgets for operating APS include a projected number of victims, rising with each year of projection. Job protection and security are necessarily factored into these projections.
APS must adhere to various performance indicators that will meet the minimum return needed to qualify for funding. Failing to do so will result in the withholding of payments and could eventually find them in non-compliance and out of funding altogether.
An APS goal is to insure that all older Americans have the opportunity to live independently, with dignity, in their homes and communities for as long as they are able and choose to do so. This is the goal possibly, but the reality is that this will most likely not happen if these same older Americans have amassed any sizeable estate. Once identified as having assets they are targeted by the predators. Various offices of APS in several states and communities, have been implicated repeatedly in the flagging of potentially wealthy individuals whose estates could be exploited.
Preying on the elderly who committed the crime of aging/with assets, has become a lucrative and government sanctioned vocation. Across the country, in every state and community are rings of professional predators who make their living targeting elderly individuals whose estates can be looted under the guise of guardianship or conservatorship. Akin to a flock of vultures picking the bones of a dead carcass, professional predatory fiduciary’s, unethical lawyers and a host of government agencies and personnel begin chipping away at the estate, each of them billing the victim’s estate for supposed services rendered.
Any and all assets of the victim [now a so-called ward of the state], are immediately transferred to the victims new owner…..the guardian. Titles to homes are transferred to the guardian and quickly sold for pennies on the dollar to friends and co-predators or they might be sold at market value. Either way, the proceeds go directly into the predators private accounts supposedly to benefit the ward, of course.(sarc) Stocks, bonds, investments, savings, personal items are now all in the possession of the predator to dispose of and profit from.
In the meantime?
The victim is held in a participating facility that is willing to isolate, medicate and violate the rights of the victim in exchange for payment. This forced imprisonment of elderly victims amounts to torture.
Who ya gonna call?
You might as well call “Ghostbusters” on this one. There is not a federal or state representative or senator who will address this issue. Most will not even admit to having any knowledge that these criminal rackets are operating right under their noses.
The Department of Justice has been made aware, along with the FBI, states attorney’s general, governors, and all levels of local law enforcement. Not one of these agencies will act to protect the victims from these criminal rings.
“Law enforcement agents, social workers, and judges have all been trained to maintain a watchful eye over exploitative family members. Yet no one seems to be guarding the guardians. Family members have complained to local law enforcement, the state attorneys’ office, and even the F.B.I.”
Judicial oversight boards have been notified, and have been sent court documents clearly exposing the civil rights violations, judicial indiscretion and abuse, and the ongoing harassment and intimidation perpetrated by probate judges on behalf of and to protect the predatory guardian against family’s and friends of the victim. In several instances, family members are threatened with jail, told they cannot file any charges, cannot call the police, cannot report the abuse by the predators. Predatory guardians have been given immunity from prosecution for failing to report accurately and timely, for falsifying court documents and reports, for emotionally and physically abusing the victim and for violating state and federal regulations and statutes regarding the rights of the victim.
In every instance of the submission of evidence showing the blatant corruption of the probate court and the collusion of the judge, predatory guardians, attorney’s and others, the boards have upheld the corruption.
In my opinion, what is happening to the elderly in this country is government sanctioned human trafficking. Our elderly are being treated as commodities and are referred to as “units” or “human property”. This is nothing less than organized criminal racketeering operating within government agencies and offices and with the full knowledge and cooperation of every level of government.
I'm publishing this because Janna Dutton, Josh Mitzen, Rick Block and Devon Bank's response in their defamation lawsuit against me, they wrote something about the "Elder Protection Services Scam" like that's shocking. It's happening all over the country and even though I had the best elder abuse investigators, doesn't mean that they're not hooking them up with clients instead of calling family members. What's more shocking is the fact they're pretending they don't know about it. I know Janna Dutton is well aware of the problem by her online video.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Strengthening Efforts to Combat Elder Financial Exploitation
What GAO Found
We found that state and local social services, criminal justice, and consumer protection agencies face many challenges as they work to prevent and respond to elder financial exploitation. For example:
•Officials in each of the four states we contacted cited the need for more safeguards to prevent exploitation by financial services providers, power of attorney agents, and paid in-home caregivers;
•Officials told us that older adults need more information about what constitutes elder financial exploitation and how to avoid it, but social services and law enforcement agencies do not always have the resources to promote public awareness in this area;
•Banks are well-positioned to recognize, report, and provide evidence supporting investigations in elder financial exploitation cases; however, many social services and law enforcement officials we spoke with indicated banks do not always recognize and report exploitation or provide the evidence needed to investigate it; and
•According to experts, collaboration between the social services system--which protects and supports victims--and the criminal justice system--which investigates and prosecutes crimes--can be an effective means of combating elder financial exploitation. However, officials in three of our four states noted that this collaboration can be difficult to achieve. These two systems do not respond to exploitation or carry out their work in the same way, so there can be difficulties communicating across disciplines and different views regarding limits on information sharing.
In many of the locations we contacted, state or local agencies are actively pursuing solutions to at least some of these challenges and there are some federal initiatives as well that could help address them. When it comes to preventing the sale to older adults of unsuitable or fraudulent investments, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), have each taken steps to help older adults avoid being exploited. SEC and CFPB have conducted research related to investment fraud that targets older adults, and there is a link on SEC's website to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) information consumers can use to check a financial services provider's qualifications and to understand the many designations used by securities professionals. CFPB also plans to issue a report in early 2013 addressing how information about financial advisors and their credentials should be provided to older adults. To prevent exploitation by power of attorney agents and paid in-home caregivers, 13 states have adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in its entirety, and Napa County, California, now requires paid in-home caregivers to submit to a background check and obtain a permit before they can be hired. (What I have enlarged and underlined was requested the most by everyone. That financial institutions be required to prove credentials not just in regard to bank trustees but because of mortgages.)
We found that law enforcement authorities in some locations have devoted resources to promoting public awareness of elder financial exploitation. For example, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has published a guide on how seniors can avoid scams and fraud, and in Cook County, Illinois, the Senior Law Enforcement Academy within the Sheriff's Department instructs older adults in how to prevent elder financial exploitation. In addition, each of the federal agencies we reviewed independently produces educational materials that could help prevent elder financial exploitation.
We also identified state, local, and federal activities encouraging banks to work with social services and law enforcement, and activities to promote and support collaboration between the social services and criminal justice systems. Illinois, for example, requires bank employees to receive training in how to report exploitation. (It's my personal opinion that it's not working or some banks are being overlooked in the program.)
Why GAO Did This Study
This testimony presents some of the results from the latest study in our body of work on elder justice issues. According to experts, the illegal or improper use of older adults' funds, property, or assets is reaching epidemic proportions in this country and has far-reaching effects on its victims and society, in general. The money older adults lose in these cases is rarely recovered and this loss can undermine both the health of older adults and their ability to support and care for themselves. One study estimated that financial exploitation cost older adults at least $2.9 billion in 2010.
Older adults can be exploited by family members and friends, home care workers, legal guardians and other fiduciaries, as well as those in the financial services industry. They also often fall prey to mail, telephone, and internet scams that offer substantial lottery or other winnings in exchange for so-called taxes or fees. Because elder financial exploitation can take many forms, combating it involves state and local agencies, and their federal counterparts, across social services, criminal justice, and consumer protection systems.
This testimony today is based on our November 2012 report, which is being released to the public today. It describes the challenges states face in combating the many types of elder financial exploitation and the actions federal, as well as state and local agencies, are taking to overcome these challenges.
For questions about this testimony, please contact Kay Brown at (202) 512-7215 or brownke@gao.gov.
A link to this article and full report here.
We found that state and local social services, criminal justice, and consumer protection agencies face many challenges as they work to prevent and respond to elder financial exploitation. For example:
•Officials in each of the four states we contacted cited the need for more safeguards to prevent exploitation by financial services providers, power of attorney agents, and paid in-home caregivers;
•Officials told us that older adults need more information about what constitutes elder financial exploitation and how to avoid it, but social services and law enforcement agencies do not always have the resources to promote public awareness in this area;
•Banks are well-positioned to recognize, report, and provide evidence supporting investigations in elder financial exploitation cases; however, many social services and law enforcement officials we spoke with indicated banks do not always recognize and report exploitation or provide the evidence needed to investigate it; and
•According to experts, collaboration between the social services system--which protects and supports victims--and the criminal justice system--which investigates and prosecutes crimes--can be an effective means of combating elder financial exploitation. However, officials in three of our four states noted that this collaboration can be difficult to achieve. These two systems do not respond to exploitation or carry out their work in the same way, so there can be difficulties communicating across disciplines and different views regarding limits on information sharing.
In many of the locations we contacted, state or local agencies are actively pursuing solutions to at least some of these challenges and there are some federal initiatives as well that could help address them. When it comes to preventing the sale to older adults of unsuitable or fraudulent investments, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), have each taken steps to help older adults avoid being exploited. SEC and CFPB have conducted research related to investment fraud that targets older adults, and there is a link on SEC's website to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) information consumers can use to check a financial services provider's qualifications and to understand the many designations used by securities professionals. CFPB also plans to issue a report in early 2013 addressing how information about financial advisors and their credentials should be provided to older adults. To prevent exploitation by power of attorney agents and paid in-home caregivers, 13 states have adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in its entirety, and Napa County, California, now requires paid in-home caregivers to submit to a background check and obtain a permit before they can be hired. (What I have enlarged and underlined was requested the most by everyone. That financial institutions be required to prove credentials not just in regard to bank trustees but because of mortgages.)
We found that law enforcement authorities in some locations have devoted resources to promoting public awareness of elder financial exploitation. For example, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has published a guide on how seniors can avoid scams and fraud, and in Cook County, Illinois, the Senior Law Enforcement Academy within the Sheriff's Department instructs older adults in how to prevent elder financial exploitation. In addition, each of the federal agencies we reviewed independently produces educational materials that could help prevent elder financial exploitation.
We also identified state, local, and federal activities encouraging banks to work with social services and law enforcement, and activities to promote and support collaboration between the social services and criminal justice systems. Illinois, for example, requires bank employees to receive training in how to report exploitation. (It's my personal opinion that it's not working or some banks are being overlooked in the program.)
Why GAO Did This Study
This testimony presents some of the results from the latest study in our body of work on elder justice issues. According to experts, the illegal or improper use of older adults' funds, property, or assets is reaching epidemic proportions in this country and has far-reaching effects on its victims and society, in general. The money older adults lose in these cases is rarely recovered and this loss can undermine both the health of older adults and their ability to support and care for themselves. One study estimated that financial exploitation cost older adults at least $2.9 billion in 2010.
Older adults can be exploited by family members and friends, home care workers, legal guardians and other fiduciaries, as well as those in the financial services industry. They also often fall prey to mail, telephone, and internet scams that offer substantial lottery or other winnings in exchange for so-called taxes or fees. Because elder financial exploitation can take many forms, combating it involves state and local agencies, and their federal counterparts, across social services, criminal justice, and consumer protection systems.
This testimony today is based on our November 2012 report, which is being released to the public today. It describes the challenges states face in combating the many types of elder financial exploitation and the actions federal, as well as state and local agencies, are taking to overcome these challenges.
For questions about this testimony, please contact Kay Brown at (202) 512-7215 or brownke@gao.gov.
A link to this article and full report here.
Monday, November 5, 2012
I-Team investigates Santa Clara County public guardian
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- It's a simple regulation - you get a reverse mortgage and you must live in the home. So how come one Bay Area county moved a 92-year-old woman out more than two years ago and then took a reverse mortgage out on her home?
It's an issue more and more baby boomers are facing, as their parents age -- a county's public guardian taking over a person's affairs, selling their home against the family's wishes. No matter the circumstances, the county is supposed to follow the rules. The ABC7 News I-Team found one case where they did not.
"My aunt loved that house, loved being home; it gave her memories of her husband," Montye Puma said.
Puma says her aunt -- 92-year-old Lillie Scalia would never want to move out of her house. Scalia suffers from dementia, but she and her husband, Sam, planned to live out their last days there. Sam died in 1995.
"My aunt would tell me that, 'Your uncle said, if anything should happen to him, live in this house, stay in this house,'" Puma said.
That's a promise Scalia has not been able to keep. Puma says Santa Clara County took her aunt from her home and eventually moved her into an assisted living facility.
"It started as a family quarrel and Adult Protective Services came in," Puma said.
Some members of Puma's family didn't like that she and her father were living with Scalia after her husband died. The Santa Clara County Public Guardians Office and Probate Court investigated and determined that Puma and her father, Scalia's brother, were taking advantage of her by living in her home rent-free, using her money and neglecting her medical needs. They are also accused of harassing the public guardian and Scalia's healthcare providers.
Puma and her father deny the accusations but the two still got evicted from the house and Scalia was conserved by the county.
"Our aim is to protect them from any financial or physical abuse that they might have been experiencing," Director of Santa Clara County Aging and Adult Services Lee Pullen said.
Pullen says the public guardian's office is the conservator for about 800 people -- making financial and healthcare decisions for the conservatees like Scalia.
"We want to ensure that they have a comfortable lifestyle to the degree that their able and that we can make the decisions that they are not able to make for themselves," Pullen said.
One questionable decision the public guardian's office made for Scalia was taking out a reverse mortgage on her home in order to pay for her care.
Dan Noyes: "Is it proper in your mind to take out a reverse mortgage, the county to do that, when the person is not living in the home?"
Lee Pullen: "My understanding of the requirement a reverse mortgage is that you need to be in the home and be there in order to have a reverse mortgage."
Pullen is right. According to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person getting a reverse mortgage must live in the home, and if the borrower is gone for more than 12 consecutive months, the loan becomes due.
Scalia has been out of the house for two years now.
"We certainly wouldn't want to violate any HUD or banking regulations," Pullen said.
It appears the county is in violation. The reverse mortgage was taken out in November 2010. Scalia was moved out of the house in October 2010 and she hasn't been home since.
When the ABC7 News I-Team first visited the in September, faded tags over the doorjambs indicated no one had been inside for a while.
The I-Team has also learned HUD is reviewing the case.
"You're telling me is in your conversations with HUD there's been some violation of procedure or process or regulation that I absolutely want to look into," Pullen said.
"She said I want to go home from Day One," Scalia's court-appointed attorney James Sullivan said.
Sullivan says he objected to the reverse mortgage and doesn't believe Scalia's brother abused her. Even more important, a year ago, a probate judge order states talks to begin to move Scalia back into her home. Sullivan claims he reached out but the county didn't act.
"The county doesn't listen; you know, the judge can't micro-manage these people, the judge leaves it to the professionals and the professionals are supposed to do their job," Sullivan said.
"If a person or an organization chooses to ignore a court order they could be held in contempt and damages could be applied," Santa Clara Superior Court spokesperson Joe Macaluso said.
Macaluso points out someone would have to tell the judge an order isn't being followed before the court would act. No one has told the court the Scalia order has been ignored.
"I think that's fantastic," Puma said.
After the I-Team started asking questions, the public guardian's office has decided to move Scalia back into her home. Sources say she should be back by Thanksgiving.
Puma says she's heard it before.
"I'm very skeptical; when I see it that she is here at home, then I will believe it," Puma said.
The I-Team will stay on this story and tell you if the public guardian keeps its word and moves Scalia back home. If HUD finds a problem with the reverse mortgage, the loan may come due and that could lead to her being forced out of her home again -- through no fault of her own.
Dan Noyes , Chief Investigative Reporter
It's an issue more and more baby boomers are facing, as their parents age -- a county's public guardian taking over a person's affairs, selling their home against the family's wishes. No matter the circumstances, the county is supposed to follow the rules. The ABC7 News I-Team found one case where they did not.
"My aunt loved that house, loved being home; it gave her memories of her husband," Montye Puma said.
Puma says her aunt -- 92-year-old Lillie Scalia would never want to move out of her house. Scalia suffers from dementia, but she and her husband, Sam, planned to live out their last days there. Sam died in 1995.
"My aunt would tell me that, 'Your uncle said, if anything should happen to him, live in this house, stay in this house,'" Puma said.
That's a promise Scalia has not been able to keep. Puma says Santa Clara County took her aunt from her home and eventually moved her into an assisted living facility.
"It started as a family quarrel and Adult Protective Services came in," Puma said.
Some members of Puma's family didn't like that she and her father were living with Scalia after her husband died. The Santa Clara County Public Guardians Office and Probate Court investigated and determined that Puma and her father, Scalia's brother, were taking advantage of her by living in her home rent-free, using her money and neglecting her medical needs. They are also accused of harassing the public guardian and Scalia's healthcare providers.
Puma and her father deny the accusations but the two still got evicted from the house and Scalia was conserved by the county.
"Our aim is to protect them from any financial or physical abuse that they might have been experiencing," Director of Santa Clara County Aging and Adult Services Lee Pullen said.
Pullen says the public guardian's office is the conservator for about 800 people -- making financial and healthcare decisions for the conservatees like Scalia.
"We want to ensure that they have a comfortable lifestyle to the degree that their able and that we can make the decisions that they are not able to make for themselves," Pullen said.
One questionable decision the public guardian's office made for Scalia was taking out a reverse mortgage on her home in order to pay for her care.
Dan Noyes: "Is it proper in your mind to take out a reverse mortgage, the county to do that, when the person is not living in the home?"
Lee Pullen: "My understanding of the requirement a reverse mortgage is that you need to be in the home and be there in order to have a reverse mortgage."
Pullen is right. According to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person getting a reverse mortgage must live in the home, and if the borrower is gone for more than 12 consecutive months, the loan becomes due.
Scalia has been out of the house for two years now.
"We certainly wouldn't want to violate any HUD or banking regulations," Pullen said.
It appears the county is in violation. The reverse mortgage was taken out in November 2010. Scalia was moved out of the house in October 2010 and she hasn't been home since.
When the ABC7 News I-Team first visited the in September, faded tags over the doorjambs indicated no one had been inside for a while.
The I-Team has also learned HUD is reviewing the case.
"You're telling me is in your conversations with HUD there's been some violation of procedure or process or regulation that I absolutely want to look into," Pullen said.
"She said I want to go home from Day One," Scalia's court-appointed attorney James Sullivan said.
Sullivan says he objected to the reverse mortgage and doesn't believe Scalia's brother abused her. Even more important, a year ago, a probate judge order states talks to begin to move Scalia back into her home. Sullivan claims he reached out but the county didn't act.
"The county doesn't listen; you know, the judge can't micro-manage these people, the judge leaves it to the professionals and the professionals are supposed to do their job," Sullivan said.
"If a person or an organization chooses to ignore a court order they could be held in contempt and damages could be applied," Santa Clara Superior Court spokesperson Joe Macaluso said.
Macaluso points out someone would have to tell the judge an order isn't being followed before the court would act. No one has told the court the Scalia order has been ignored.
"I think that's fantastic," Puma said.
After the I-Team started asking questions, the public guardian's office has decided to move Scalia back into her home. Sources say she should be back by Thanksgiving.
Puma says she's heard it before.
"I'm very skeptical; when I see it that she is here at home, then I will believe it," Puma said.
The I-Team will stay on this story and tell you if the public guardian keeps its word and moves Scalia back home. If HUD finds a problem with the reverse mortgage, the loan may come due and that could lead to her being forced out of her home again -- through no fault of her own.
Dan Noyes , Chief Investigative Reporter
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