Saturday, May 17, 2025

Woman Arrested for Elder Abuse after Two Family Members Hospitalized

by Leslie Williams, Nevada County Sheriff's Office (NCSO)

Penn Valley, CA – On Sunday, May 11, 2025, Nevada County Sheriff’s Office Deputies arrested Tiffany Wright, age 43 of Penn Valley, for two counts of elder abuse and battery with serious injury following an investigation into her alleged assault of senior-age family members at a Sun Forest Drive home.

75-year-old woman and 87-year-old man were transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries described by deputies as “substantial” after contacting the victims at their residence, which is shared with Wright, in response to a 9-1-1 call reporting a disturbance just before 8:00 pm. The victims advised that Wright had arrived at the home shortly before engaging them in a physical altercation that left them with numerous lacerations and contusions. Wright remained on scene and was contacted outside the home by CHP officers that had arrived with NCSO to assist. Wright initially gave deputies a false name and date of birth, before being correctly identified and subsequently arrested on assault charges.

Victims have since been released from the hospital following treatment.

Wright was transported to the hospital for treatment of a laceration before being booked into the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility with an enhanced bail of $250,000.

Full Article & Source:
Woman Arrested for Elder Abuse after Two Family Members Hospitalized

Powers woman arrested after elder abuse investigation

by Robert Desaulniers


POWERS, Ore. – A woman is facing charges including criminal mistreatment after allegedly hitting a 70-year-old man with a knife and threatening to shoot him, according to the Coos County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, on May 8, Adult Protective Services heard a report from a caregiver at a home in Powers that said a woman had threatened a resident with a 4-inch knife on April 29. The caregiver allegedly told APS the woman had hit the 70-year-old victim with the knife and threatened to buy bullets to shoot the resident and others. Deputies said a conversation with other caregivers at the residence on May 9 confirmed the victim’s need for sustained care, and revealed additional details about the incident, including the alleged assailant’s possession of a small revolver.

According to the CCSO, the assailant was identified as Dorothy Shaw, 69, of Powers, who had previous convictions for felonies. On May 10, deputies carried out a search warrant at the home and seized the knife and 15.9 grams of methamphetamine from Shaw’s purse. Shaw was arrested and sent to the Coos County Jail on charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, and unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

The CCSO said the senior resident was relocated, and the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Aging and People with Disabilities agency arranged for new care.

Full Article & Source:
Powers woman arrested after elder abuse investigation

Friday, May 16, 2025

Torture charges filed against 3 family members accused of abusing 6 children

Officials said the children involved in this case were in guardianship care.

By Jeffrey Cook and Jon Haworth

Torture charges filed against family accused of abusing 6 childrenThree family members in California have been charged with torture in connection with the alleged abuse of six children who were in their care, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Three family members in California have been charged with torture in connection with the alleged abuse of six children who were in their care, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Kenneth Michael Key, 60, Tina Marie Sheffield Key, 60, and their daughter Kaitlynn Marresa Key, 23, were arrested Monday and later charged with six felony counts of torture and one count of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death, according to the an Bernardino County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors also filed a special allegation of personal infliction of great bodily injury in the case.

The investigation that led to the arrests was launched after authorities received a tip from a caller to a child abuse hotline, officials said.

“After an extensive investigation conducted by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Crimes Against Children Unit, and Loma Linda University Medical Center Children’s Assessment Center, it is alleged that Kenneth and Tina Key, and their adult daughter subjected all six children (aged four – sixteen), to years of physical, emotional, and mental abuse,” officials said. “The abuse included daily beatings, strangulation to the point of unconsciousness, and punishments of withholding food and water from the children for a period of days.”

Prosecutors did not detail how long authorities think the alleged abused had been going on for, though officials did say that the children involved in this case were in guardianship care.

The co-defendants will be arraigned on Thursday via video at the Rancho Cucamonga Superior Courthouse in California.

The investigation is currently ongoing. 

Full Article & Source:
Torture charges filed against 3 family members accused of abusing 6 children

Why Estate Plans Need Dementia-Specific Advance Directives

Takeaways

  • Standard advance directives may not adequately address the gradual decline experienced by Alzheimer’s patients, necessitating dementia-specific directives.
  • Dementia-specific directives allow individuals to express their wishes for medical interventions at different stages of the disease, helping patients and caregivers in decision-making.


Advance directives are an estate planning must-have, helping to guide medical decisions for someone who becomes incapacitated and can no longer communicate their preferences. However, they may not be helpful for patients who develop dementia and gradually lose the ability to decide what medical care they want.

In addition to standard advance directives, such as a living will and a health care power of attorney, you might consider a dementia-specific directive for yourself or a loved one. With more than 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, having a “dementia directive” as part of one’s estate plan can serve as a way to help improve their care at the different stages of disease progression.

Alzheimer’s Growing Burden

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that slowly unravels the mind and the self, leaving a patient in a state of severe cognitive decline that may be accompanied by behavior and personality changes.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2025 Facts and Figures report, over 7 million Americans aged 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer’s, a number projected to nearly double to 13 million by 2050. About one in nine seniors in this age group are affected. Women face a higher lifetime risk (one in 5) than men (one in 10).

With all Baby Boomers reaching at least 75 by 2040, the incidence of Alzheimer’s is expected to surge, doubling annual diagnoses from 514,000 in 2020 to 1 million by 2060. The risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's, increases substantially after the age of 75.

Genetic and lifestyle factors, underlying health conditions (e.g., diabetes and high blood pressure), advancements in diagnostic tools, and greater public awareness have also led to earlier and more frequent Alzheimer’s diagnoses.

Considered a fatal condition, the disease itself doesn’t cause death, but the progressive decline in brain function leads to complications like dehydration, poor nutrition, and infection that can be life-threatening. Alzheimer’s-related deaths more than doubled between 2000 and 2022, making it the sixth-leading cause of death among people age 65 and up.

While there’s no cure to reverse or stop Alzheimer’s, treatments that that include medication can help manage symptoms and potentially slow its progression.

However, researchers say that understanding how it progresses is more complex than they previously thought, which is hampering the development of effective therapies and exacerbating the caregiving burden faced by family members of Alzheimer’s patients.

In the late stages of the disease, individuals with Alzheimer's typically require 24-hour care and assistance with activities of daily living — including basic personal hygiene, eating, and mobility — due to memory loss, confusion, and difficulties with language, problem solving, and physical coordination.

The physical toll of Alzheimer’s is reflected in the societal and economic impacts of the disease. In 2025, health and long-term care costs for Alzheimer’s and other dementias are projected to reach $384 billion, with Medicare and Medicaid covering 64 percent and out-of-pocket expenses totaling $97 billion.

Total lifetime care costs for a person living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias are estimated to be more than $400,000. Seventy percent of these costs are borne by family caregivers in the forms of unpaid caregiving and out-of-pocket expenses.

Unpaid caregivers — nearly 12 million Americans — provide over 19 billion hours of Alzheimer’s care annually, valued at $413 billion, often at the cost of their own health and financial stability.

And in many cases, caregivers are flying blind about the types of care that a loved one with Alzheimer’s would like to receive, because that individual never completed advance directives that express their health care decisions and treatment preferences if they become incapacitated.

The most systematic review of its kind, conducted by UPenn researchers, found that most Americans had not completed any advance directive. Fewer than 30 percent had a living will and just one-third had designated a medical power of attorney.

But even if someone has completed these documents, traditional advance directives may fall short when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease.

Advance Directives and Alzheimer's

People age 65 and older survive an average of four to eight years following an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but some live as long as 20 years. This shows the slow, uncertain progression of the disease — and the need to have advance directives in place well before it reaches more advanced stages and incapacity sets in.

Advance directives outline the kinds of medical care a person would like to receive and name a surrogate decision-maker (i.e., a health care proxy) to act on their behalf if they become incapacitated and unable to state their medical preferences. However, they’re typically used in an emergency or for end-of-life care, situations that may not reflect the unique challenges and difficulties faced by Alzheimer’s patients.

Dr. Barak Gaster, who came up with a new type of advance directive specifically for people living with dementia, explains that, because the disease progresses slowly over many years, and the point at which a patient can no longer direct their own care isn’t obvious or predictable, standard advance directives don’t usually cover it.

“Advance directives typically address scenarios such as a terminal condition or a permanent coma, but they generally do not address the more common scenario of gradually progressive dementia,” he wrote in a JAMA article.

This shortcoming poses a problem for both patients and caregivers, Dr. Gaster says. Many patients view living with advance cognitive decline as “an unacceptable loss of meaning and dignity” and would not want life-extending medical interventions, while health proxies “often experience enormous anxiety trying to guess their loved one’s wishes.”

Working with experts in geriatrics, neurology, and palliative care, Dr. Gaster came up with a dementia-specific advance directive that carefully and clearly lays out the different stages of dementia and the potential effects on the patient. At each stage, the patient identifies in the document the types and levels of care they would be willing to accept.

“Patients stumble into the advanced stage of dementia before anyone identifies it and talks to them about what’s happening,” Dr. Gaster told the New York Times. “At what point, if ever, would they not want medical interventions to keep them alive longer? A lot of people have strong opinions about this, but it’s hard to figure out how to let them express them as the disease progresses.”

How a Dementia Directive Works

A standard advance directive specifies medical actions when a patient is too ill or incapacitated to express them. For example, it usually includes decisions about life-sustaining treatments like feeding tubes or artificial ventilation for patients who are dying or in a vegetative state.

While such scenarios might apply to an advanced Alzheimer’s patient, a patient’s goals and preferences could change over time as cognitive changes occur along the disease continuum.

During the early stages, they might still enjoy life, despite some memory problems or difficulties with daily tasks. It may only be toward the very end that they are bedridden, unresponsive, dependent, and would want a “do not resuscitate” directive.

An Alzheimer’s or dementia-specific directive allows patients to choose among several options for three different disease stages — mild, moderate, and severe. It gives brief descriptions of the stages and under each stage it provides options where someone can indicate which medical interventions they’d want at that stage.

The Dementia Directive website recommends that the directive be filled out before someone develops symptoms of Alzheimer’s or dementia. Once signs of cognitive impairment appear, it may be too difficult to complete the paperwork.

It notes that the document is not legally binding but intended more as a way “to record your wishes” and “help guide those who might need to make medical decisions on your behalf.”

Many people do not understand this about advance directives: They are legally recognized, but not legally binding. Health care providers and proxies do their best to respect advance directives, but they cannot cover every situation. Circumstances may arise in which a patient’s wishes are unclear or cannot be followed exactly.

This is why it’s so important to have conversations about Alzheimer’s with family members who might later be tasked with making medical decisions for you. They need to understand, as clearly as possible, what your wishes would be and what types of treatment you would want to receive.

The Dementia Directive is framed as a “communication tool” that can be used as a stand-alone document or included as a supplement that’s attached to an advance directive form. Like other advance directives and estate planning documents, it should be regularly reviewed to reflect current circumstances and your most up-to-date wishes. Share copies with your closest family members and your provider(s).

Download the form and bring it to your next meeting with an elder law attorney to discuss questions you have about aging, Alzheimer’s, and advance directives.

Additional Alzheimer’s and advance directive resources can be found at the Alzheimer’s Association and The Conversation Project. You can also find state-specific advance directives online.

Full Article & Source:
Why Estate Plans Need Dementia-Specific Advance Directives

Thursday, May 15, 2025

NV lawmakers look to promote less restrictive alternatives to adult guardianship


Alex Gonzalez, Producer

A Nevada bill would make changes to adult guardianship by prioritizing less restrictive approaches.

Sen. Melanie Scheible, D-Las Vegas, the bill's sponsor, explained Nevada law promotes "supportive decision-making," a contract between a protected person and a supportive partner. She said the approach allows people to keep a level of independence and power when making important legal, financial and health care decisions.

Scheible pointed out the new measure would require Nevada courts to first explore the option or other less restrictive alternatives before a guardian is appointed.

"It requires the judge to put on the record, why, if they are going to appoint a guardian, they are doing that in lieu of a supportive decision-making agreement," Scheible outlined. "What about this person's capabilities makes them unfit to be in a supportive decision-making arrangement?"

The legislation would also require the review of guardianships being transferred from outside the state into Nevada. Backers of the bill said state standards are not all the same and want to ensure guardianship is truly warranted. The bill was heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee this week and has not faced opposition so far.

Jonathan Norman, advocacy, outreach and policy director for the Nevada Coalition of Legal Services Providers, said he supports the measure because he wants people in the state to retain as many rights as they can when receiving medical care.

"SB 346 will lead to fewer unnecessary guardianships," Norman contended. "Many adults and seniors with disabilities find themselves facing the rest of their lives in a court-ordered guardianship, not because they need it but because less restrictive alternatives were not fully explored."

Ellen Marquez is the mother of Alysa Marquez, 22, who has Down syndrome. She said guardianship has been "the default" for too long. She believes while guardianship has its place, it can also strip people of their rights.

"If we all rely on guidance from trusted sources, why shouldn't individuals with disabilities and older adults have the same opportunity?" Marquez asked.
 
Full Article & Source:
NV lawmakers look to promote less restrictive alternatives to adult guardianship

GA judge resigns while being investigated for using county funds for vacation


By WSBTV.com News Staff

UPSON COUNTY, Ga. — An Upson County judge who was under investigation over misconduct allegations has resigned from her position.

According to the Judicial Qualification Commission, Probate Judge Danielle McRae was under investigation over allegations that she had misused county funds.

She was accused of using a county-issued purchasing card to pay for a personal trip and lodging.

The JQC says they were also investigating several instances between 2018 and 2025 of McRae voiding payments made to the probate court for traffic citations, as well as her not being truthful with the JQC’s investigators.

Last week, she submitted a letter of resignation to Governor Brian Kemp.

On Monday, he formally accepted her resignation effective immediately.

McRae signed a consent agreement with the JQC, saying she will not seek elected or appointed judicial office in the future. In exchange, charges will not be filed against her.

Full Article & Source:
GA judge resigns while being investigated for using county funds for vacation

Investigation Uncovers Food Insecurity in Nursing Homes

Takeaways

  • A recent investigation found many nursing homes spend less than $10 per day on food per resident, raising concerns about malnutrition and food quality.
  • There has been an increase in food-related sanctions, dietary complaints, and disease outbreaks in nursing homes.
  • Residents report unappetizing food and inadequate portion sizes, highlighting a lack of accommodation for dietary needs.


Nutrition plays an essential role in the healthy aging. The American Medical Association (AMA) reports that healthy eating reduces mortality by 20 percent. Adequate nutrition is of particular importance for older adults with complex medical needs who reside in long-term care facilities.

Yet, a recent journalistic investigation has identified problems with food in nursing homes across the United States. The report raises concerns that many long-term care residents are at risk of malnutrition, foodborne illness, and neglect that manifests as limited access to quality food options.

Many nursing homes — acquired by private equity firms in the wake of the pandemic — cut food costs, with more than a quarter of nursing home operators spending less than $10 per day on food per resident and some spending as low as $4 a day, according to the report published by NewJersey.com.

Long-term care facility operators may be cutting food costs because there is no federal minimum standard for food spending per resident. Operators may see food as a less-regulated area to reduce spending.

Nursing Homes

Many people rely on nursing homes for 24-hour care, as these facilities provide housing, medical assistance, and meals. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KKF) reports that over 1.2 million individuals reside in nursing homes in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of the 15,300 nursing homes in the U.S., 70 percent were for-profit in 2020.

Nursing homes are expensive, with costs representing a significant financial responsibility for individuals and their families. In 2024, the national median cost of a private room in a nursing home ranged from $9,733 ($320 a day) to $10,645 per month. While Medicaid covers the cost of a Medicaid-certified nursing home care for individuals who qualify based on need, these individuals often reside in lower-quality nursing homes, per research published by the National Library of Medicine.

People residing in nursing homes constitute a vulnerable population with complex medical needs that make independent living more challenging. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, almost half — 48 percent — of nursing home residents have Alzheimer’s or related dementias.

Given the vulnerability of those in nursing homes and the high cost of long-term care, it is surprising and heartbreaking that food insecurity is a real concern in nursing homes across the country.

Highlights From the Investigation

Reporters reviewed thousands of federal cost reports filed with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They worked with Rutgers University academics and data experts to identify several troubling findings in addition to low food-spending in nursing homes:

  • Writeups for food-related sanctions tripled from 2021 to 2024.
  • Dietary complaints to ombudsman offices increased by more than 50 percent from 2020 to 2023.
  • Disease outbreaks, such as E. coli, listeria, and salmonella, are on the rise in nursing homes nationwide. This is worrisome as foodborne illnesses can be especially harmful to older adults
  • Residents interviewed commonly complained that the food was unappetizing — even when it met nutritional standards. One resident commented that the food in prison tasted better. Another resident stocked up on canned goods in his room.

Food access was another concern the investigation highlighted, with facilities offering small portions — such as a single ravioli or a rationed cup of milk. This is particularly troubling as individuals who live in nursing homes already face a greater risk of malnutrition and dehydration.

The investigation also found a pattern of facilities not accommodating residents’ needs, such as failing to provide soft food for those without teeth and not providing bananas to a woman who needed more potassium per her doctor’s orders.

The report suggests that many nursing homes have significant room to improve in how they feed residents. For those navigating long-term care options, these findings are concerning. Older adults considering long-term care and their families may wish to consider how much a nursing home spends per resident on food, whether fresh fruits and vegetables are available, and how the facility accommodates dietary needs and restrictions.

Work With an Elder Law Attorney

If you have concerns about a loved one in a nursing facility, be sure to reach out to a local elder law attorney or the long-term care ombudsman in your state.

An elder law attorney can assist long-term care residents by advocating for their rights and helping to ensure they receive quality care. They can address issues such as substandard treatment, lack of access to food, and financial exploitation. Attorneys also can help navigate complex regulations, resolve disputes with the facility, and ensure compliance with care plans. If abuse or neglect is suspected, they can file complaints and pursue legal action to protect the resident.

Full Article & Source:
Investigation Uncovers Food Insecurity in Nursing Homes

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Separating Belief From Suspicion in Elder Abuse Investigations


by Jeff Ziesman and Andrew Adams

The Bottom Line

  • Financial institutions have a responsibility to intervene when they suspect their services are being used to facilitate elder financial exploitation.
  • Deciding whether to place transaction holds or file suspicious activity reports requires evaluating the facts and using subjective and objective standards.
  • The best defense for an institution is to carefully document investigative steps they have taken in cases of suspected elder financial exploitation.

Elder financial exploitation, or EFE, is on the rise, with vulnerable adults losing more than $28 billion annually, according to a recent AARP study. Whether these frauds are perpetrated by family members and acquaintances or professional criminals unknown to the victim, financial institutions may find themselves in trouble if they don’t respond appropriately to being caught in the middle of a fraud scheme.

Financial institutions providing services to, or holding accounts for, a vulnerable adult have a series of steps to consider when suspicious underlying circumstances involving the individual are present: placing a transaction hold on transactions within the account and/or disbursements from their accounts, and/or filing a suspicious activity report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN.

The standard in many states for effecting a transaction hold is synonymous with whether the financial institution “reasonably believes,” after initiating an internal review, that the transaction will result in financial exploitation. If so, the institution may (but isn’t required to) place a hold on the transaction, pending further review and providing appropriate notification to specified state agencies.

A financial institution is required to file a SAR if it has a reasonable suspicion that a transaction (or attempted transaction) through the financial institution is an effort to facilitate criminal activity.

Placing a Hold

A “reasonable belief” is a term that connotes both objective and subjective components. A belief is “a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing”—or what a person subjectively believes. Reasonable, as a legal requirement, has long been identified as an objective standard.

The North American Securities Administrators Association Inc., created a “NASAA Model Act to Protect Vulnerable Adults From Financial Exploitation,” which has been adopted in various forms in nearly 40 states. The commentary to the Model Act states reasonable belief is “intended to be both a subjective and objective standard – i.e., a qualified individual must have a subjective belief in the existence of financial exploitation, and this belief must be objectively reasonable.”

This blended standard is intended to be flexible and capture instances of actual knowledge of exploitation—as well as instances in which the reviewer has a belief of exploitation, and a reasonable person armed with the same information would reach the same conclusion.

Further adding flexibility to the Model Act standard (and permitting a transaction hold under appropriate circumstances) is the inclusion of the word “may”—that is, “the requested [transaction] may result in financial exploitation of the eligible adult.” With this additional modifier, financial institutions only have to rationally believe that financial exploitation could take place.

A shorthand way to describe this standard is: “Do I believe, after a review has been commenced, that a transaction may be exploitive, and would a hypothetical co-worker agree with me?”

Although not necessarily explicitly embodied in cases or statutes, this operates similarly to a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard that exploitation could take place. Under those circumstances, a financial institution is permitted (but not required) to put a transaction hold in place.

This careful balancing makes sense when it’s understood that a vulnerable adult’s funds are at issue, and potentially being held for weeks. Many vulnerable adults rely on their retirement and investment accounts to meet periodic and other living expenses. However, there is a collective societal interest in putting measured, appropriate safeguards in place to protect the most vulnerable from theft, fraud, or other illegal activity.

One other significant safeguard for financial institutions is the availability of immunity for reporting suspected exploitation to state officials and putting transaction holds in place, as long as the financial institution acted in “good faith.”

In one of the few reported cases on the scope of statutes designed to protect vulnerable adults and financial institution responsibilities, a North Carolina federal district judge gave a broad interpretation to immunity provisions for financial institutions.

Given the overall purposes underlying these statutes and their paternalistic nature, financial institutions have broad space to make judgment calls and, at minimum, buy time to more fully and completely investigate the underlying facts.

In some circumstances, the investigation of the underlying facts and the consequent judgment call will result in no transaction hold (or anything else) taking place. Other instances may result in law enforcement and protective services’ involvement, potentially leading to legal proceedings.

Filing a SAR

In stark contrast, if a financial institution has a reasonable suspicion a transaction (or attempted transaction) is being used to facilitate criminal activity, it is required by law to file a SAR. This includes instances of EFE. As FinCEN has explained in the context of EFE, financial institutions “are uniquely situated to detect possible financial exploitation through their relationships with older customers.”

The reasonable suspicion prong for SAR-filing appears, on its face, to be an objective standard. Analogizing to the well-developed body of criminal law under Terry v. Ohio—which applies a similar standard in the context of brief law enforcement interaction with a suspect—such a legal threshold is lower than probable cause.

Along the same lines, reasonable suspicion requires something more than a mere hunch, but a showing of a reasonable belief isn’t required. Applying a rough percentage range for the reasonable suspicion standard, something like a 33% to 40% likelihood (and certainly well short of 51%) that criminal activity may be occurring seems generally reasonable.

In determining whether a reasonable suspicion is present, all surrounding facts and circumstances must be considered. This will consist of, among other things: the unique characteristics of the customer, the historical and known transaction history in the relevant accounts, other assets and income that the customer may have, and the customer’s risk tolerance and investment objectives.

While there can’t be a precise formula for finding reasonable suspicion because it is inherently fact-based, regulators have identified the following examples of red flags supporting a reasonable suspicion:

  • Unusual types of account activity (for the customer, the type of account, or similarly situated customers)
  • Customer appears distressed or fearful
  • Caregiver shows unusual or excessive interest in the customer’s business or accounts

Enforcement cases against financial institutions for failing to file SARs have been prevalent in recent years. However, because there are a wide range of judgment calls in this space, enforcement cases typically involve instances in which financial institutions have done little in terms of either SAR filings or documenting the underlying investigative steps and reciting why a filing a SAR wasn’t appropriate.

At bottom, a SAR filing is mandatory in instances when the financial institution evaluates a set of facts and merely has a reasonable suspicion it is being used to facilitate criminal activity through the financial institution.

Suggested Steps

As noted above, the same set of facts of suspected EFE will, in many instances, necessitate both a transaction hold and a SAR filing. However, other instances may require one step or the other—or maybe neither step. A non-exhaustive list of suggested practices to consider in these circumstances include:

Immediately contacting the financial professional responsible for the accounts or investments. This should be among the first steps considered, unless the professional is suspected of being involved in the EFE. The financial professional likely will know the vulnerable adult well and be able to shed light on financial, personal, and physical situations.

Attempt to contact the customer. What the customer says (or doesn’t say), and how the customer reacts, may provide clues as to what is occurring in their personal and financial life.

Attempt to contact a trusted contact person or third party reasonably associated with the vulnerable adult. Many financial institutions have been encouraging customers to identify a trusted contact person, or TCP, for the account. Several states also permit contacting a third party reasonably associated with the vulnerable adult (in addition to or instead of the TCP) if there is a reasonable belief exploitation may be occurring. However, neither the TCP nor any other third party associated with the vulnerable adult should be contacted if they are suspected of being involved in the EFE.

Conduct a comprehensive review of the account activity and documents. Review the recent transactions giving rise to the concern against historical transaction data and the account’s investment objectives. An email review using the customer’s known email address may provide additional clues, such as other people who are suddenly being copied on the vulnerable adult’s communications.

Document investigative and evaluative steps considered and taken. A well-documented file will be the best shield against any potential regulatory or civil liability. A broad continuum of gray area exists for transaction holds and SAR filings. Documenting findings, as well as investigative steps taken and steps considered, will be the best support for whichever “reasonable” standard is at issue.

After these steps have been taken, stress-test the facts. The findings and steps should be discussed with at least one other person to assess whether the findings and conclusions are objectively supportable. If the conclusion is debatable, additional investigation may be necessary.

In the case of a transaction hold, once a hold is put in place, continued communication will remain key. Communication with the customer about the status of their funds and any communications with law enforcement or regulators should be frequent and well documented.

Outlook

EFE will keep rising given the continued aging of the US population, coupled with overall investment returns since 2010. The nature and types of EFE also will be dynamic as technology rapidly advances.

Financial institutions will continue to face facts in which EFE may be occurring. Investigation of the underlying facts will often result in concluding that both the “reasonable belief” and “reasonable suspicion” standards were or weren’t met, though in limited instances, one or the other actions may be appropriate. Above all, financial institutions should document their investigative steps and conclusions to make the decisions defensible down the road.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Jeff Ziesman is partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, assisting financial institutions with regulatory matters brought by the SEC, FinCEN, FINRA, and state securities regulators.

Andrew L. Adams is counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright, focusing his practice on securities litigation and regulatory investigations involving broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, international banks, insurance companies, and other financial services clients.

Full Article & Source:
Separating Belief From Suspicion in Elder Abuse Investigations

Senior living facility owner arrested for exploiting the elderly in Jemison

by Lynne Keenum

Jemison Police Department

JEMISON, Ala.The owner of a senior living facility in Jemison has been arrested, accused of exploiting the elderly, according to police.

Taneshia Brown, 39, of Birmingham, is the owner and operator of Bella Wood Senior Living located at 149 First Avenue, according to police.

Investigators say that Brown received and spent several thousand dollars without authorization from the bank account of a 76-year-old resident of the facility. 

Police say there is the possibility that there are other victims.

Brown is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person, which is a felony.

Police ask anyone with information about this case, or any other suspicious incidents concerning Brown and the facility, to contact Deputy Chief Marc McMinn at 205-576-6773 or marc.mcminn@yahoo.com.

Full Article & Source:
Senior living facility owner arrested for exploiting the elderly in Jemison