Monday, February 23, 2026
Lee County man arrested on elder abuse charges
Sheriff’s office investigation leads to arrest of Keith Michael McEvoy
By Na'Khalia Frazier
LEE COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) - The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Keith Michael McEvoy Thursday, Feb. 19, on charges of exploitation and intimidation of disabled adults, elder persons and residents.
The investigation began when Adult Protective Services notified police about allegations involving elder abuse in Lee County, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office Criminal Investigation Division completed an investigation into the accusations and secured an arrest warrant for McEvoy.
Full Article & Source:
Lee County man arrested on elder abuse charges
Sunday, February 22, 2026
New calls for elder abuse accountability after Mesa assisted living settlement
 |
| Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the settlement last month with the California-based company following allegations of elder abuse and fraud. |
By Jason Barry
MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — The owners of Heritage Village Assisted Living facility have been permanently banned from operating healthcare facilities in Arizona.
As part of the settlement with the Arizona Attorney Generals’ Office they also must pay a $100,000 fine.
Arizona AG Kris Mayes announced the settlement last month with the California-based company following allegations of elder abuse and fraud at the Mesa facility. The agreement prohibits the owners from providing healthcare services to vulnerable adults in Arizona.
The case began after multiple reports in 2023 and 2024 exposed issues at Heritage Village that led to a state investigation and lawsuit. Families reported incidents of mistreatment and abuse of residents at the facility.
Family says settlement is insufficient
Renee Caruss said her mother, Carol, was among the residents who were mistreated at Heritage Village. In one incident, Carol was reportedly attacked by another patient.
“You expect with all the money they get that she would be taken care of properly - she wasn’t - she wasn’t taken care of,” Caruss said.
She believes the settlement does not provide enough accountability for what happened at the facility.
“The people that were running that facility knew exactly what they were doing the person the director at the time she’s working at another facility right now,” Caruss said.
Attorney General defends actions
The Attorney General’s office said its priority was protecting Heritage Village residents and preventing similar issues at other long-term care centers.
“Protecting Arizona’s most vulnerable residents has been one of my top priorities since taking office,” Mayes said in a statement. “In the Heritage Village case alone, we seized control of the facility, replaced its management, forced the sale to responsible ownership, and removed the prior owners from operating two other Arizona facilities.”
The Attorney General’s office noted that when Heritage Village faced foreclosure and potential license revocation, their intervention prevented mass displacement of elderly residents.
Legislative changes follow case
Dana Kennedy, state director of AARP Arizona, said the Heritage Village case led to important legislation that better protects vulnerable adults.
The changes include stiffer penalties on care facilities, with fines increased from $500 per day to $1,000 per day per resident per infraction. The legislation also increased training for memory care, added hiring restrictions for caregivers accused of abuse or neglect, and expanded oversight.
“One important thing is it closed a licensing loophole so it prevents bad actors from evading oversight and it doesn’t allow DHS they cant transfer license to another person it holds them accountable,” Kennedy said.
Case continues against other defendants
The case remains active against several other defendants despite the state settlement. An attorney for one of the victims said that families are unlikely to receive money in civil cases they have filed.
The former manager of Heritage Village can still work in the industry, but her license has been revoked, and she will never again be able to manage a long-term care center.
Attorney Jennifer Wasserman represents the former owners who reached the settlement.
“This agreement ends strongly-contested claims without any admission of wrongdoing,” Wasserman said. “Regardless of the Attorney General’s self-serving statements in their press release on this topic, the health and safety of the employees and residents at Heritage Village have always been a high priority to the defendants.”
Gary Langendoen, representing the defendants, said they disputed the validity of the Attorney General’s claims.
“We have always disputed the validity of the Attorney General’s claims, particularly after some of the assertions stated in their press releases were proven to be false based on incomplete and inaccurate information from the receiver’s office,” Langendoen said. “Putting this litigation behind us allows these defendants, the dedicated employees and valued residents to move forward.”
Full Article & Source:
New calls for elder abuse accountability after Mesa assisted living settlement
San Antonio to examine ways of enhancing fraud and abuse protections for senior citizens
Texas Public Radio | By Joey Palacios
San Antonio’s Department of Human Services is committing to increase its support for senior citizens at risk of scams and neglect after a request by a council member was filed last month.
During a Public Safety Committee meeting this week, city staff told council members the department would beef up its preventative messaging and initiatives and report back regularly to the council about neglect, abuse, and scams.
The Council Consideration Request (CCR) filed by District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo calls for creating or enhancing initiatives that could protect seniors from fraud.
A CCR is similar to introducing a bill in the legislature to create new city policies. It requires getting the support of four other council members and going through a committee process before going for a vote in front of the full city council.
Castillo's requests include:
- Auto-enroll seniors in the federal and state do-not-call registries
- Provide access to legal aid which can help seniors assign a trusted guardian, create a living will, and/or other legal mechanisms to protect themselves from fraud and abuse.
- Create and provide seniors with COSA-sponsored No Soliciting yard and door signage for seniors to ward off scammers and unwanted salespeople.
- Create guides for seniors which show them how to use their mobile phone to ward off scam calls.
Castillo said her request was born out of a trend of scams in her district where elderly residents had fallen victim to fraudulent door-to-door sales.
“They're going under the guise of being part of CPS energy, or a trustworthy solar company, and essentially were signing on to $95,000 loans, which then would result in a lien on their property, and then, oftentimes, solar panels that were not even connected,” Castillo said.
In Bexar County there’s about 316,000 people over the age of 65 out of more than 2 million residents. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said there were 1,120 allegations of exploitation against seniors; there were also 5,558 investigated allegations of neglect and abuse in Bexar County in 2024.
Jessica Dovalina, deputy director of the city’s Department of Human Services told the city council’s public safety committee that of the more than 5,500 investigations, about 92% were identified as self-neglect.
“Of those cases, 81% were physical neglect, and 19% were medical neglect. And so that is something that we continue to see at our senior centers, as well as something that our providers continually lift up as part of the discussions about what's happening in our community, given the high rate of self-neglect as well as poverty in our community, which also has increased, those are important factors,” she said.
Self-neglect is when a person is no longer able to take care of themselves and provide for their basic needs. She said the city’s senior centers serve about 22,000 active residents annually. “There we're addressing things like social isolation, food insecurity, access to preventative screenings for medical care, as well as caregiver training and resources and benefits navigation and financial counseling.”
Later this summer, the department has plans to release a “Status of Older Adults in San Antonio” report that would focus on elder fraud, neglect, abuse and exploitation, housing insecurity and cost burden, food insecurity, social isolation, community, healthcare, and transportation. That’s scheduled for September
Among the initiatives planned by the department, it’s committing to create printable door and yard signs to deter solicitors, develop metrics, cost estimates and resources needed to expand the city’s services beyond senior centers, and create resource guides regarding senior rights and tailored guides for cellphone users.
Full Article & Source:
San Antonio to examine ways of enhancing fraud and abuse protections for senior citizens
Saturday, February 21, 2026
Missouri teacher seeks guardianship for former student
Special education teacher Rita Richards is advocating for guardianship of her former student, Zack
by Matt Flener
CLAY COUNTY, Mo. — Rita Richards showed up with a group of people to speak at a Clay County Commission business meeting last month.
The special education teacher had one mission: to ensure the county commission knew her concerns about her former student, Zack.
Zack became a ward of the state in 2014.
Richards invited him to her family get-togethers and holiday celebrations to stay in touch with him when he was put under public guardianship.
During that time, she started noticing concerns about his living conditions, hygiene, and safety.
His current guardian is Clay County Public Administrator Alexa Summit. Summit has held the office since 2021. Before then, two other public administrators oversaw Zack’s care.
A judge has reviewed Zack’s case multiple times and kept him under public guardianship through the Clay County Public Administrator’s office.
Richards told the county commission about her experience advocating for her former student.
"I was pushed out,” she said. “I was not allowed to visit anymore. They didn't want to hear my concerns.”
After Richards spoke to commissioners, KMBC 9 Investigates asked Summit to comment on Zack's case.
An attorney responded on Summit’s behalf.
"We do have to respect the confidentiality of the individuals that the public administrator's office is tasked to serve as guardian and conservator for,” said attorney Paemon Aramjoo. “We are therefore unable to provide comment on a specific case or the individuals involved."
PAPER PRISONS: Public guardianship in Missouri under investigation
Richards contacted KMBC 9 Investigates after seeing KMBC’s “Paper Prisons” investigation last year. The ongoing investigative series explores problems and solutions for Missouri’s public guardianship system, which serves as a societal backstop for people who struggle to find safe care with friends or family.
The work of Missouri’s public administrators, who act as public guardians, often goes unnoticed in probate courts, phone calls, and long trips to visit wards across the state. They are tasked with heavy caseloads in Missouri’s 114 counties and the City of St. Louis.
Often, those wards are placed into facilities hours from where they once called home.
In Clay County, a recent performance audit found the Public Administrator was responsible for 309 wards, as of 2023.
More than half of those live within the radius of Clay, Platte, Ray, Jackson, Cass, Lafayette, Pettis, Saline, Johnson, and Carroll counties, the audit found.
But at least 117 wards live in other counties across the state.
“It would be my preference to place all individuals in Clay County but due to the lack of resources, this cannot be accomplished,” the public administrator’s office told the Clay County Auditor. “We will continue to evaluate all wards to ensure they are in the most suitable and least restrictive environment. We will also continue to stay aware of resources in our community and advocate for quality care for each person.”
Public administrators are assigned caseloads from judges when hospitals, nursing homes, family, or friends recommend court-approved placement for individuals to keep them safe, fed, and housed.
But public guardianship has also come under fire in Missouri from the United States Department of Justice for unnecessarily institutionalizing people in nursing homes.
Judges give Missouri public administrators wide control of wards' lives when they believe family or friends can no longer care for them. They are required to file yearly reports with the court about care plans for their wards.
Clay County public guardianship oversight next steps
The county commission began appointing the public administrator after the 2020 general election changed it from an elected to appointed position. Circuit court judges now recommend a person for the role.
Richards told the commission she could serve as Zack's guardian, noting that she has not had response from Summit in years.
"I've sent 33 emails and I've had zero responses," she said.
Richards told the commission she found in court documents that Zack was stabbed by his roommate in 2025.
During the meeting, she also asked people concerned about public administrator guardianship om Clay County to stand in support. Dozens of people stood behind her.
"Zack's survival should not be the end of this story,” Richards also said from the podium. “It should be the beginning of accountability.”
After the meeting, she told KMBC she felt the commission listened to her concerns and hopes commission members will establish an independent review board to keep the public administrator's work in check.
If you know of someone going through struggles with Missouri’s public guardianship system, or if you have a case to highlight that exposes solutions for Missouri’s public guardianship system that could teach lessons to others, please email investigates@kmbc.com
Full Article & Source:
Missouri teacher seeks guardianship for former student
See Also:
Missouri woman shares journey of restoration from public guardianship
3 charged for allegedly stealing thousands from 87-year-old Hamilton County woman
by Matthew Dietz
CINCINNATI — Three people have been charged after investigators alleged that they financially exploited an 87-year-old Hamilton County woman.
Hamilton County prosecutor Connie Pillich’s office announced charges against Thomas Dukes, Fray Chaney, and Jennifer Smith on Wednesday.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the suspects befriended the 87-year-old victim at church and targeted her for exploitation.
Investigators said the suspects obtained power of attorney and withdrew $70,000 from the woman’s bank account for personal use.
Investigators said Dukes and Chaney bought a Tesla online through Carvana in the victim’s name, pretending to be the victim, while Smith allegedly stole her Cadillac.
The prosecutor’s office said the victim’s total losses are estimated to be more than $122,000.
“These charges reflect the calculated exploitation of an elderly victim,” Pillich said. “My office will seek accountability for the harm that was done. This is exactly why I strengthened the Elder Justice Unit. We will make sure seniors are protected.”
Dukes, Chaney and Smith were indicted on charges of theft from a person in a protected class, identity fraud against a person in a protected class and telecommunications fraud.
Full Article & Source:
3 charged for allegedly stealing thousands from 87-year-old Hamilton County woman
Friday, February 20, 2026
Missouri woman shares journey of restoration from public guardianship
Mackenzie Garton, a former ward of the state in Missouri, shares her story of independence after more than 13 years under public guardianship.
by Matt Flener
MARSHFIELD, Mo. — Mackenzie Garton used a small applicator at her dining room table last month, picking up tiny pieces of diamond art to create a picture of a wolf. The do-it-yourself craft project — a mix between cross-stitch and paint by numbers — takes perseverance and determination.
Garton recently started the hobby to help her patience and mental health after years of guardianship in Missouri.
“I gotta get them on the end of this pencil,” she said, as she picked up a magnifying glass to see.
Asked if she could have done a similar project a few years ago while a ward of the state in group homes, she said, “No probably not. I didn’t take the time.”
Garton, who lives in a small apartment in Marshfield, Missouri, has gained several skills since living independently for the past couple of years.
"Sometimes it wasn't easy," Garton said. "Just because I have a mental illness, and just because I was on guardianship, doesn't mean I was evil, or I wasn't a human being."
Garton attends a day program. She has counseling, medicine and a support team. She still needs help with her finances.
Danielle Boggs, the county’s public administrator, remains her conservator to help with budgeting and spending.
But Boggs believed Garton could manage life on her own, away from group homes. She encouraged Garton to seek a medical opinion in 2023, leading to a judge’s decision to restore her right to live independently.
"I give praise to Danielle a lot. I really do. She has been there for me through all of it," Garton said. "I would say my years of guardianship was awesome, really."
Restoration and risks under public guardianship
Garton is one of tens of thousands of people who have interacted with Missouri's public guardianship system since the turn of the 20th century.
People like Garton in Missouri are often referred to public administrators, elected or appointed officials, to act as court-appointed guardians when a judge decides family or friends can no longer care for them.
Garton contacted KMBC 9 Investigates after Boggs told her about KMBC’s investigation called Paper Prisons. KMBC is exploring ways to systemically improve the care of those under guardianship by telling stories of people struggling to navigate a tangled system of legal paperwork, medical records, and court orders. KMBC is also seeking answers, perspective, and context from those in charge of keeping wards of the state in their care for their recommendations on how to improve the system.
"I see it is something much different than a Paper Prison,” Boggs said. “I see it as someone needs help and there's a resource connector put into place to help connect them to those resources."
Boggs let Garton speak for herself to respect her privacy but did speak to KMBC about her work as public administrator. She has around 100 people in her caseload and is the former president of the Missouri Association of Public Administrators.
"When people realize we're all interconnected and we all need to rely on different people at different times to help us with different things in our lives, that's what makes restoration so beautiful," Boggs said.
Public administrators ask for help to take care of wards better
Still, Boggs believes Missouri's public guardians and wards need more help from state lawmakers.
A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report highlighted how Missouri "unnecessarily institutionalizes" people inside nursing homes. Boggs said those facilities are often the only places available to send people who need highly specialized help.
“It's something that public administrators have said for a long time,” she said. “We don't have anything else. The state does not provide any high-level structured setting for people to have oversight, counseling, medication management.”
Boggs believes the state needs to add capacity for highly structured behavioral health settings with Department of Mental Health involvement and counseling.
She also emphasized those facilities must not solely focus on medication management but life skills training, counseling and things that can help them reintegrate once they get to a lower level of care.
“But in the meantime, there's nowhere else for these individuals to be placed in our current system,” she said.
Boggs also spoke to KMBC last year as part of a leadership group with the Missouri Association of Public Administrators. She emphasized more education is needed about the role of guardians and said issues within Missouri’s public guardianship system should not be attributed solely to public administrators.
Private guardians, multiple state agencies and courts all have a role to play, they said.
Meanwhile, KMBC has fielded calls, letters and emails from multiple wards of the state across Missouri asking to share their stories about being trapped in that system. KMBC continues to investigate their claims, seeking accountability and insight from public officials, judges and attorneys in charge of their care.
Garton, meanwhile, is grateful for her time in guardianship, believing it was important for her to set her life on the right path.
“It wasn't all easy,” she said. “That's what I had to do is take responsibility and, and own up to my own actions, and take care of things for myself.”
If you know of someone going through struggles with Missouri’s public guardianship system, or if you have a case to highlight that exposes solutions for Missouri’s public guardianship system that could teach lessons to others, please email investigates@kmbc.com.
Full Article & Source:
Missouri woman shares journey of restoration from public guardianship
See Also:
Paper Prisons: Missouri woman seeking release from public guardianship
Ronan woman admits to stealing from family trust
by
JEFF SMITH
Ronan resident Lindsay Montgomery Polchies, 38, admitted to stealing funds from a family trust account.
She entered a plea of guilty in District Court in Polson Feb. 11 to felony theft as part of an agreement that calls for sentencing being deferred for six years. It also calls for Polchies to pay restitution of $12,904.18. The judge is not bound by the agreement.
According to court records, in March 2018, a woman with the initials M.M., hired a Polson attorney to prepare a will on her behalf. The charging documents show she wanted to set up a trust fund for her grandchildren and named Polchies as the trustee.
M.M. passed away before setting up the trust fund, so the attorney set up the trust fund on behalf of the grandchildren.
After one of the grandchildren died, the attorney began receiving calls from friends of the family. They had concerns that other family members were trying to gain control of the trust.
That’s when the attorney took over the trust and discovered Polchies had withdrawn $5,000 from it. Records show she also spent another $7,904.18 from the trust between March 11, 2024 and June 28, 2024.
Judge Molly Owen set sentencing for April 15.
Full Article & Source:
Ronan woman admits to stealing from family trust
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Paper Prisons: Missouri woman seeking release from public guardianship
Chiro Richey released a YouTube video last year pleading for help with guardianship
by Matt Flener
FARMINGTON, Mo. — Inside a wing of a nursing home in Farmington, Missouri, Chiro Richey has answered the facility’s phone multiple times over the past six months. She cannot leave without permission from her court-appointed guardian.
"This is nothing like prison," she said in one of her phone conversations with KMBC 9 Investigates. "This is way worse than prison."
Richey is not under a criminal sentence.
She lives in the Farmington care facility as part of her public guardian’s care plan for her life.
"We go outside to smoke break, and that's about it," she said.
Buchanan County Public Administrator Brad Haggard, Richey’s guardian, told KMBC he could not speak about Richey’s case due to privacy concerns. But Haggard invited KMBC to learn more about the work he and five other staff members inside his office do every day.
Haggard, court records indicate, has also agreed for Richey to seek an independent psychological evaluation that could determine if she could be released from public guardianship.
Missouri public administrators like Haggard are mostly elected, sometimes appointed, to serve as court-approved public guardians when people cannot care for themselves or lack family support.
The phone rings an average of 70 times a day in his office. More than half of the callers are wards under his care with questions. Others are medical providers, attorneys or people seeking his consent for something. To keep up, he just got approval from the county commission for two more staff members in his office.
As a former nursing home administrator and state-level leader for the Missouri Veterans Commission Homes program, Haggard said it catches his attention when he hears one of his clients feels like they are in prison.
"Because we certainly don't want that," he said. "We don't want anyone to feel like that."
Paper Prisons: Public guardianship in Missouri under investigation
Chiro Richey is one of more than an estimated 11,000 people in Missouri under public guardianship.
Richey spoke to KMBC 9 News for an ongoing investigation called "Paper Prisons," highlighting the difficulties of wards of the state and their families under Missouri’s system of public guardianship.
KMBC is investigating ways to systemically improve the care of those under guardianship by telling stories of people struggling to navigate a tangled system of legal paperwork, medical records and court orders. KMBC is also seeking answers, perspective and context from those in charge of keeping wards of the state in their care for their recommendations on how to improve the system.
"I’m locked up and trapped in a system that is not fair," Richey said on the phone with KMBC.
In 2016, Richey became a ward of the state of Missouri. She had a drug problem, she said.
"I asked the judge to take my rights away, so that I could get clean," she said in a YouTube video released last year. "Well, after I got clean, they would not let me go."
Every year since 2017, a judge has reviewed a year-end status report from her public guardian about her living conditions and her finances. Richey appeared before Buchanan County Judge David Bolander in September of last year. She thanked him for reviewing her case.
Bolander ordered an independent psychological evaluation for Richey to help him review her request for restoration. But the evaluation has faced multiple delays since then.
Bolander, in court paperwork, has indicated the evaluation will now take place in early March, and he will review Richey’s case again on March 25.
Richey said she has taken classes, seen doctors, written letters to the court, but remains under the state’s care.
"It puts you in a place of loneliness," she said.
Public administrators face challenges with clients across the state
Brad Haggard must travel five and a half hours across the state if he wants to visit Richey.
Haggard has become a road warrior since taking office in January of 2025.
He has 297 clients. About half of the people in that caseload are in 34 different nursing homes across the state. A Missouri map hangs in his office with push pins for every Missouri town with a client, reaching all the way down to Missouri’s southwest bootheel. Buchanan County is in the northwest corner of the state.
Proximity is a common challenge for Missouri guardians and their wards.
People like Richey are spread out in facilities, group homes or other living arrangements across the state’s 114 counties and the city of St. Louis due to few resources close to home.
"We'd be able to be more engaged with people if our clients were close to us," Haggard said.
Often, the safest and quickest option for food, medical care and shelter for public guardians is Missouri’s 486 skilled nursing facilities.
However, in 2024, the United States Department of Justice found that Missouri "unnecessarily institutionalizes" too many people with mental health disabilities in skilled nursing homes, improperly relying on guardianship. The report said Missouri used "guardianship as a pipeline" to nursing homes across the state.
A 2020 report from the Missouri Association of Public Administrators mentioned several opportunities for improvement, saying a "lack of state funding and coordination leaves Missouri with a fragmented public guardianship system."
The report highlighted how public administrators often do not have enough resources, "while navigating complex systems to provide care for their wards — while also facing increased pressure from the state and stakeholders to ensure all wards are placed in their least-restrictive alternatives."
Haggard said it is always his goal to get people to the least restrictive setting or placement. Proximity is important in that conversation, he said. Haggard would tell lawmakers that Missouri needs more available housing placement and community resources for wards.
"Particularly closer to you," he said. "So, you could be more involved in them," he said.
Still, Haggard said he and his staff work nonstop trying to communicate with his clients or caregivers every day.
Chiro Richey’s next steps
Meanwhile, Chiro Richey waits for her next steps.
She wants to move back to St. Joseph, find a job and reconnect with family.
Until then, she remains in the skilled nursing facility in Farmington.
Richey wanted her story to be public so it might help her and others get out of guardianship.
"Just get the word out," she said. "There's people like us that are stuck in these places that need to be released."
If you know of someone going through struggles with Missouri’s public guardianship system, or if you have a case to highlight that exposes solutions for Missouri’s public guardianship system that could teach lessons to others, please email investigates@kmbc.com.
Full Article & Source:
Paper Prisons: Missouri woman seeking release from public guardianship
See Also:
Judge: Missouri public guardian’s felony financial crime case can move forward
Missouri public guardian pleads not guilty to eight felony counts
Missouri elected guardian charged with 8 felonies for stealing from ward
Paper Prisons: Missouri woman details struggle to leave public guardianship after husband's death
Paper Prisons: Missouri man continues fight to free his mother from public guardianship
Sullivan County elected official accused of stealing thousands from disabled person
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)