Nashville banker arrested, charged with financially exploiting two elderly customers

A four-month investigation led to Karl Richardson’s arrest on Tuesday afternoon.

The man allegedly stole more than $60,000 from one customer and more than $70,000 from another.

By Tony Garcia

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A 39-year-old man is facing serious charges after fraud detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department tied him to years of financial theft involving two of his elderly customers.

The report from MNPD states that fraud unit detectives were contacted by Bank of America about one of its employees, Karl Richardson, in early February 2026, after the bank noticed some irregular withdrawals.

From July to November in 2025, Richardson had allegedly made 19 counter withdrawals from a 75-year-old woman’s account, often involving the woman herself requesting money but not receiving the full amount.

Detectives also found 11 instances where Richardson made unauthorized ATM withdrawals from the same woman’s account.

In all, he’s accused of stealing $68,400 from the woman over those four months in 2025.

During this investigation, the fraud unit was alerted to another elderly customer related to Richardson. This 86-year-old woman had reportedly been targeted by Richardson over the course of four years, according to Adult Protection Services.

Once fraud detectives dove into these allegations, they uncovered more than 100 unauthorized ATM, in-branch withdrawals, debit card use and Zelle transfers totaling nearly $71,000.

These transactions occurred from April 2022 to April 2026.

Richardson eventually left Bank of America in November 2025, but allegedly continued to make unauthorized withdrawals from the woman’s accounts. MNPD reported that he stole $4,500 from January to April of this year.

This woman even followed him to his new employer, Simmons Bank in Bellevue, where he convinced her to open a new account at his branch. MNPD reported that the woman’s son closed this account before any fraudulent activity could occur.

Detectives arrested Richardson at Simmons Bank on Tuesday. He was booked on two counts of financial exploitation of an elderly adult, two counts of computer fraud, two counts of felony theft, two counts of identity theft, and two counts of credit card fraud.

His bond is set at $370,000.

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Nashville banker arrested, charged with financially exploiting two elderly customers 

Boones Mill personal care attendant pleads guilty to stealing from Vietnam War Veteran

by Jazmine Otey

Court documents show that Melissa Diana Simmons, 50, left the elderly victim in soiled clothes, drained his bank account, and forged his veterans’ checks

(KSAT)

A personal care attendant in Boones Mill has pleaded guilty to stealing from a Vietnam War veteran she was hired to care for, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.

Court documents show that Melissa Diana Simmons, 50, left the elderly victim in soiled clothes, drained his bank account, and forged his veterans’ checks. Simmons pleaded guilty to forgery of government checks after she and co-defendant James Patrick Brown were indicted in 2025.

Here’s a timeline of the events, based on court records:

• May 2022: Simmons met the victim when she was assigned as his in-home care provider through a contract between her employer and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• December 2022: The victim began making significantly larger withdrawals from his bank account, often through checks made out to Simmons and her boyfriend, Brown.
• June/July 2023: After Simmons was fired from her job in June, she convinced the victim to move in with her and Brown. By July, bank staff grew suspicious as Simmons and Brown frequently brought the victim to the drive-through for increasingly large withdrawals, eventually totaling tens of thousands of dollars. Staff also noticed the veteran’s health was declining and said he appeared “hunched over, confused and fearful,” according to court records.
• Mid-August 2023: Simmons had the victim add her as a signatory on his bank account. Within a month, about $30,000 was withdrawn, officials said.
• Mid-September 2023: When Simmons tried to make another large withdrawal, bank staff asked her to come inside. There, staff noticed the victim had a burned nose from smoking while using an oxygen tank, was confused, and smelled of urine and feces. He reportedly could not remember when he last bathed, ate, or visited the VA Medical Center. Staff persuaded him to open a new account without Simmons, but as they questioned him privately, Simmons began banging on the office window and shouting until police arrived.
• Shortly after, Brown visited the bank with the victim, asking how to get VA benefits and Social Security checks deposited into the account. Brown also tried to have the victim withdraw between $60,000 and $70,000. At that point, the victim’s condition had worsened, and he seemed confused as to why he was withdrawing money.
• Following these incidents, Franklin County Adult Protective Services launched an investigation. A staff member found that the victim was suffering from dementia after conducting a mental status exam.
• Nov. 18, 2023: Simmons and Brown reported to Roanoke County Fire and Rescue that the victim was non-responsive. He was hospitalized with acute respiratory failure and critically low oxygen. Medical records showed methamphetamine in his system, though he had no history of drug use and could not travel on his own.
• January through April 2024: While the victim recovered in the hospital and later at a rehab center, Simmons received four of his VA benefits checks by mail, totaling nearly $8,000. The indictment claims she forged his signature and deposited the checks into his new account. Simmons and Brown then used his debit card for personal expenses, including thousands spent at a casino.
• Oct. 22, 2024: Simmons admitted to VA Office of Inspector General agents that she forged the checks and, along with Brown, spent the victim’s money while he was hospitalized.

The VA Office of Inspector General, with help from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, continues to investigate the case. At this time, information regarding a sentencing date has not been provided. 

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Boones Mill personal care attendant pleads guilty to stealing from Vietnam War Veteran  

Six Months in, Probate Reform Coalition Marks Progress in Protecting Elders From Financial Abuse

By Tanya Dennis

The National Probate Reform Coalition, a loose-knit national coalition of advocates, victims, and families dedicated to protecting elder rights, especially within the probate court system, was formed by the Post Newspaper Group (PNG) after more than a decade of reporting on the mistreatment of elders and the plunder of their estates.

In response, PNG Publisher Paul Cobb set in motion a series of monthly town halls to address the problem and propose workable solutions, designating it a “year of action.”

At six months, the coalition has attracted families, advocates, and experts across the nation whose strategies have proven effective in their respective states, and who are moving forward collectively with the mission of engaging judicial, legislative, and enforcement agencies to ensure elders are not exploited or abused.

“The issue of elder abuse is multi-layered”, says NPRC planning committee member Venus Gist.  “Elders are our most vulnerable population, next to children, and they are easily exploited by strangers, their own family members, and the judicial system designed to protect them.”

Since January, NPRC has, via monthly virtual meetings held on the first Thursday of each month, clearly defined the issues and formulated workable solutions that can be implemented nationwide.

“There are amazing laws on the books that protect elders and their assets,” said NPRC member Zakiya Jendayi. “The problem is they are ignored, and that lack of oversight has led to systemic abuse in the Probate Court system, not just in Alameda County, but nationwide.

“The scary part is the collusion and wall of silence NPRC has encountered when reaching out to the Judicial Council, legislators, and the State Bar for assistance.  It’s so obvious that one hand is washing the other, that they’re protecting each other, that it’s difficult to initiate any type of meaningful reform much less dialogue.”

Despite the cited obstacles, NPRC has made some promising inroads towards their mission.  NPRC has identified that nationwide the Attorneys General must be engaged and encouraged to implement oversight, protection and enforcement of the law; members find support from each other as they advocate for redress via “letters of compassion” sent to judges, nursing facilities and law enforcement agencies and members are instructed on their rights, how to take constructive action to protect those rights through access to resources that allow them to intelligently represent themselves in court.

Stacy Drake, a Texas member, says, “I’ve been looking for help for over 10 years with my situation, and I finally found it within the NPRC coalition.  God answered my prayers.”

Broadening its reach within Alameda County, NPRC has invited Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee to assist with outreach, education, and resolution.

“We hope to host an elder abuse/elder protection symposium annually, if not twice a year, to let our elders know that Alameda County and the City of Oakland are a safe place, a place where in their golden years they have no worries regarding exploitation and abuse,” said Cobb. “Society is defined by how the care for its children and elders.”

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Six Months in, Probate Reform Coalition Marks Progress in Protecting Elders From Financial Abuse 

Disability agencies push back against Department of Justice memo

By Ben Singson

Disability agencies are frightened and angered by a federal memo they say rolls back protections for disabled residents.

The Department of Justice issued a memo Thursday arguing states are not required to provide in-home or community care for their disabled residents. The memo, a legal opinion from the department's Office of Legal Counsel, goes back on what many legal scholars had considered settled.

In the memo, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit argued states are not subject to an "integration mandate" making them provide non-institutional care. Pettit's memo questioned the results of the 1999 Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C., which had been interpreted for years to mean states are required to provide programs that integrate people with disabilities into their communities.

Pettit argued the case "held only that a state cannot institutionalize such patients without justification."

"What counts as adequate justification remains an open question," she said.

West-central Illinois disability agencies see the memo as a frightening move on the part of the federal government.

Brooklyn Knapp, executive director of Jacksonville Area Center for Independent Living, said the memo was unsurprising but still "disheartening" to hear from the government.

The center at 15 Permac Road provides a variety of services for hundreds of clients, Knapp said, including Social Security benefit access, personal assistants, accommodations for students, and support groups, among other things. Losing those programs would be "devastating" for JACIL clients, many of whom no longer would be able to live in their own homes if the programs went away, she said.

"All of these disability services feel like they're at threat with what's going on, so it's scary," Knapp said.

Ryan Dowd, executive director of Pathway Services Unlimited, mirrored Knapp's sentiments, saying it is a "concerning" position for the federal government to take. The nonprofit at 1905 W. Morton Ave. provides services to about 120 clients, 65 of whom live in group home settings, Dowd said.

Pathway's group homes are aimed at providing clients an unrestrictive setting in which to live, Dowd said. State-run institutions would provide the exact opposite environment, putting them in "a community prison," and should only be used as a last resort, he said. Should disabled people begin to be returned to institutions, Pathway and similar organizations would have to close, he said.

"I read a comment that this memo, should it come to light, would set us back 50 years in terms of advances made for people with disabilities," Dowd said. "I tend to agree with that."

Pushback from other disability advocacy groups was swift and critical. American Association for People with Disabilities said Thursday that the department's interpretation of Olmstead is incorrect but still will be used "to hurt disabled people, lock us away, end our autonomy over our lives and, in many cases, end our lives altogether."

"The (Department of Justice) just gave the White House and other federal entities a green light to take disabled people back to a time when the state could, at any time, strip us of our homes, families, autonomy and our lives," the association said.

Gov. JB Pritzker's administration has taken steps to keep Illinois' disability programs up and running.

The day before the Department of Justice issued its memo, Pritzker signed into law the creation of the Illinois Department of Disability Advocacy and Guardianship. The department, which will begin operating on July 1, 2027, aims to protect the rights of the state's disabled residents by providing legal counsel and serving as a guardian of last resort, among other things.

"By establishing the Department of Disability Advocacy and Guardianship, we are making it crystal clear that disability rights are a priority in Illinois," Pritzker said. "I am proud to establish this agency, and I will continue to fight hard to empower people with disabilities and their families all across our state."

Neither Knapp nor Dowd are concerned about Illinois recalling its disability programs, they said. Both cited the Pritzker administration in their reasoning, with Dowd saying the current state government, the Jacksonville area and Illinois as a whole have been friendly toward disabled residents. There also are "checks and balances" in place to prevent those programs from going away, he said.

"I'm not terribly worried that this will come to fruition," Dowd said.

Knapp said she has faith in Pritzker's administration to maintain Illinois' current services for disabled people and she is more worried about such programs being rescinded at the federal level.

"We have a governor that believes in providing these services to his constituents," she said. "That's been my saving grace right now." 

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Disability agencies push back against Department of Justice memo 

Elderly abuse cases rising in nursing homes

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Elderly abuse cases rising in nursing homes 

Rep. Greene supports guardianship reform package to protect vulnerable Michiganders from abuse, exploitation, and neglect

State Rep. Jaime Greene today voted to strengthen oversight, licensing, training, and accountability for professional guardians and conservators in Michigan.  

“When the court gives one person authority over another person’s life, that power must come with accountability,” said Greene (R-Richmond). “A guardian or conservator can make decisions about where someone lives, what medical care they receive, how their money is handled, and whether they are able to maintain basic personal independence. That is too much power to hand over without clear standards, proper vetting, and real oversight.” 

The bill package, made up of House Bills 4727, 4728, 4729, and 4959, creates a licensing structure for professional guardians and conservators, requires background checks, establishes education and continuing training requirements, requires professional liability insurance, and creates a public list of licensed professional guardians and conservators. It also makes clear that courts should look first to family members, trusted nominees, patient advocates, or other suitable individuals before appointing a professional guardian or conservator.  

“This is not about attacking families who step up to care for loved ones,” Greene said. “This is about making sure that people who serve as professional guardians and conservators meet a basic standard of trust, training, and transparency.”  

Across Michigan, vulnerable adults have been financially exploited by people entrusted with their care. In Mason County, a Scottville woman was convicted on multiple counts of embezzlement from vulnerable adults and caregiver commingling of funds after taking advantage of individuals who depended on her. Cases like this demonstrate why Michigan must be serious about protecting people who may not be able to protect themselves. 

The Michigan Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Task Force has also identified long standing concerns in the guardianship system, including inconsistent practices across the state, limited safeguards, unnecessary or overly restrictive guardianships, and lack of accountability when individuals lose control over major life decisions. Disability Rights Michigan has reported receiving thousands of calls from people with disabilities seeking help, including individuals reporting abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation by guardians. 

“Some of the people impacted by guardianship are seniors with dementia,” Greene said. “Some are adults with developmental disabilities. Some are people recovering from illness or injury. Some are simply in the middle. They are not fully independent, but they are not helpless either. Those are exactly the people who can be overlooked by the system. These bills say their dignity still matters. Their property still matters. Their voices still matter. Their safety still matters.”

 Greene said she will continue working to ensure the legislation protects vulnerable people while also making sure courts, especially in rural communities, have access to qualified guardians when no family member or trusted individual is available.  

“We need to raise the standard without creating a shortage of good people willing to serve,” Greene said. “The goal is simple: remove bad actors, protect vulnerable people, and make sure those who truly need help can still receive it.”

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Rep. Greene supports guardianship reform package to protect vulnerable Michiganders from abuse, exploitation, and neglect

Osceola couple denied bond in alleged elder abuse case

By Amy Diaz

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — An Osceola County couple accused of operating multiple unlicensed assisted living facilities appeared before a judge Thursday, where both were ordered held without bond.

Ronald Pack, 60, and Marie Carenan, 56, face charges including scheme to defraud, aggravated elder abuse, and elder neglect.

According to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the arrests followed a multi-agency investigation into several facilities in Osceola and Polk counties. Authorities said they shut down three locations in Osceola County, while the Polk County Sheriff’s Office closed three additional homes.

Investigators said they received more than 300 calls for service at the Osceola County facilities since the beginning of 2024. The investigation also uncovered repeated complaints to the Florida Department of Children and Families alleging physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as fraud involving public assistance benefits.

The arrest affidavit alleges investigators found padlocked doors, locked refrigerators, and unqualified staff administering medication. At one home on Gillingham Court, investigators said they found deteriorating conditions, including ceiling leaks, and a bedridden patient being cared for without the required licensing.

Channel 9 was at that home as investigators executed a search warrant and watched as nine patients were removed. The sheriff’s office said a total of 38 patients were transported from the three Osceola County homes. DCF has not said where the patients were taken.

The affidavit also details a March 13, 2025, call from a resident at one of the facilities reporting that patients were being left on the floor for hours. A responding deputy found one elderly woman yelling in pain and another lying on the floor under a blanket. The second woman told deputies she had fallen the previous day and had been left on the floor for hours, according to the report.

Both suspects are expected in court again on June 29 for a pre-trial hearing.

The investigation remains ongoing. 

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Osceola couple denied bond in alleged elder abuse case 

Zavein Blue Wright, free on mental health diversion for violent assault of elder, has attacked another elder

With over a dozen arrests, the violent repeat offender recently struck a 93-year-old woman in the head.  

by Susan Dyer Reynolds

On May 24, 2026, at 8:30 a.m., a 93-year-old woman was walking her little dog, Princess, on Cayuga Avenue in San Francisco’s Mission Terrace neighborhood when she felt something hit her incredibly hard on the back of the head. Her fall was broken by a parked car, but when she looked up, she saw a large Black man walking away. The woman’s daughter, Janet Avila, says had her mother not fallen on the car, her head would have hit the concrete pavement. “A neighbor called 911 and an ambulance took her to San Francisco General Hospital,” Avila says. “She has a fractured clavicle, stitches on her knee, and a bump on her head. If that car didn’t break her fall, it would have been much worse.”

Avila, who works for the City and County of San Francisco’s behavioral health department, thought it was a random attack, and that she may never know who harmed her elderly mother. Then one day Avila’s cousin was watching her mom and saw a man walking by who fit the description both her mother and a neighbor had described. Avila’s cousin took a video and sent it to the neighbor, who confirmed it was the same man. Another neighbor also recognized the man as someone who lived nearby at 252 Tingley Street. Avila sent the video and the address to the police sergeant on the case. “He said, ‘O.K., but we can’t go in the house. If you see him on the street, call us.’ So, I waited three hours in my car until he came out of the house. I called 911, gave them the case number, and said I was following him. The dispatcher told me to put my emergency flashers on, and the police came and picked him up.”

On May 28, the attacker, 32-year-old Zavein Blue Wright, was arrested and charged with battery with serious bodily injury, elder abuse, and grand theft. Avila’s mother received a subpoena in the mail for a court hearing on June 10, but when Avila called her mother’s victim advocate, Clara Nowinski, at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, she was told there was no need for her mother to come to court because they would be “determining Wright’s competency.” Avila found all of this unsettling. “Is he going to be released near my mom again?” she asked rhetorically. “I know he’s not going to do hard time. I work in mental health here and this is never going to change.”

When she searched the Internet for the unusual name of her mother’s attacker, Avila was even more alarmed. “Your article in the Voice of San Francisco came up, and I couldn’t believe what I read.”

Wright out on mental health diversion for another elder attack

On Oct. 5, 2023, at approximately 7:45 a.m., 80-year-old Ken Majer was walking his little dog, Daisy, at the corner of Baker and Bay streets across from the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco’s Marina District when he was confronted by a large black male. Ken, who is the husband of my longtime editor for the Marina Times and now for The Voice of San Francisco, Lynette Majer, told me that he didn’t know the person and only saw his face briefly before the man forcefully knocked him to the ground and his head hit the sidewalk. Officers from the San Francisco Police Department and an ambulance soon arrived, and Ken was taken to the emergency room at Saint Francis Hospital. He received a CAT scan to determine his injuries, and he required 17 staples to close the wound in his head.

The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Wright of elder abuse, battery with serious injury, criminal threats, and assault with bodily injury. At an arraignment held Nov. 6, 2023, Wright pleaded not guilty to three of the counts. The fourth count, criminal threats, was dropped. Wright was ordered held without bail at County Jail No. 3 in San Bruno. At a court appearance in December, there was a plea of mental incompetency.

On June 26, 2024, I attended a hearing for Wright at 850 Bryant in Department 15, which is San Francisco’s Behavioral Health Court. According to their website, the Court’s mission is to “enhance public safety and reduce recidivism of criminal defendants who suffer from serious mental illness by connecting these defendants with community treatment services, and to find appropriate dispositions to the criminal charges by considering the defendant’s mental illness and the seriousness of the offense.” The presiding judge, Charles Crompton, is known among critics for his leniency. Like the majority of defendants in Behavioral Health Court, Wright’s appearance was waived. After a brief conversation and a glance at a May 2024 report, Wright was judged incompetent to stand trial. The public defender wanted him released. The district attorney did not. The judge pointed out that he was admitted to the Department of State Hospitals on April 4, 2024. “He is already placed and he’s doing fine where he is,” Crompton said, and closed the file. “Next case …”

In January 2025, Oscar Gonzalez, a victim advocate for elder abuse in the Victim Services Division of the District Attorney’s Office, updated Ken on the latest decision by Judge Crompton, and it wasn’t good news: “There is no disposition in this case, rather a Mental Health Ruling. Criminal proceedings have been suspended, not terminated,” Gonzalez wrote in an email. “As for the residential treatment program, I will continue to monitor the case. Next court date is scheduled for 2/19/25 for status of placement. I will update you after the hearing.” 

Judge Harry Jacobs was sitting in for Crompton at the Feb. 19 hearing. Wright was in the courtroom and Ken appeared on Zoom. When asked if he wanted to make a statement, Ken pointed to Wright’s long, violent record, making him a clear danger to the community. The public defender recommended 90 days at Baker Street House, a residential treatment facility “dedicated to providing comprehensive mental health and substance use disorder treatment services.” 

Ticking time bomb with a long, violent history

Public records list an address for Wright in Bakersfield, Calif., from Oct. 6, 2020, to Jan 31, 2024, but he was a fixture in the Marina for most of that time, where he was well known by residents for his erratic and threatening behavior and for following young females. One person described seeing Wright trap two young girls in the doorway of a building, refusing to let them go until she shouted at him and called police. Between 2019 and 2023, Wright was arrested in San Francisco 11 times for crimes including kidnapping, peeking and prowling while loitering on private property, attempted burglary, grand theft, vandalism over $5,000, assault, trespassing, contempt of court, disorderly conduct, false imprisonment by violence, unauthorized entry of a dwelling, and threats of violence. Wright was also arrested for assault with any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury on May 23, 2018, in Marin County, and four times for that same offense in San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2020, Nov. 8, 2020, Oct. 23, 2022, and Aug. 9, 2023. He was also arrested four times in San Francisco for false imprisonment by violence, on Oct. 14, 2020, Nov. 8, 2020, Sept. 9, 2020, and Oct. 23, 2022.

When I informed Lynette that Ken’s attacker had assaulted another elder in a nearly identical manner, she was shocked. She also said the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office had not notified Ken about the latest case. Ken remains fearful of Wright, a ticking time bomb who clearly has more rights than the people he has injured both physically and psychologically. 

When I asked Avila how her mother was doing, she said she is healing physically but she hasn’t come out of the house. “The PTSD is my worry — walking is her thing and she walks two to three hours a day. I fear she won’t do that again. It takes away her independence, and she is fiercely independent. When I first started taking Princess on her walks, she was barking when we went by the area, which I’ve never seen her do, so she’s traumatized as well.”

Wright is being held in San Francisco County Jail 3. No bail has been set at this time. 

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Zavein Blue Wright, free on mental health diversion for violent assault of elder, has attacked another elder 

Lauderdale Co. woman arrested for elder abuse

By Aria Pons

LAUDERDALE CO., Ala. (WAFF) - A Lauderdale County man is in the hospital while his daughter is charged with elder abuse.

Investigators say the man was not being properly taken care of. Now he’s in the ICU waiting on multiple surgeries to fix what’s wrong.

Lauderdale County investigators tell me this is up there with one of the worst cases of elder abuse that they’ve seen.

“The sooner you can say something, the more we can probably help out the victims,” Sergeant Jordan Craig said.

On around June 10, investigators were called to the hospital to check in on an elderly man.

When they got there, they could clearly see someone who needed help.

“Some pretty severe infections from some bed sores and what appear to be other injuries,” Sgt. Craig said. “Nothing that appears to be actual physical abuse just lack of care. Which can be just as bad. Yes.”

Court records state that the man fell and got stuck between furniture for almost an hour before someone other than his caregiver took him to the hospital.

He’s bedbound so he relies on his caregiver for everything: bathing, eating and using the restroom.

And his caregiver was his own daughter and power of attorney.

“Unfortunately a lot of the time these cases go unreported because of that,” Craig said. “Because the only people that see them is their caregiver.

And to combat that, Lauderdale County Sergeant Jordan Craig suggests checking in on them yourself or calling for a welfare check.

There are some things to look out for.

“Lack of proper care, malnourishment, lack of treatment,” Craig said. “A lot of time these patients are bedridden so they need to be turned so they don’t get bed sores. They need to have their food to be brought to them.”

According to court records, the person who found the victim made sure to stop at multiple ATMs to withdraw money for the victim’s daughter, before dropping him off at the hospital.

Sergeant Craig said they are still investigating further to see.

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Lauderdale Co. woman arrested for elder abuse