While the number of violent crimes in the U.S. is decreasing, financial crimes against the elderly are increasing as a result of the aging of the population and greater concentration of wealth among older people.Since 1990 I have investigated more than 1,000 cases of exploitation of the elderly during my former career as a detective with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. During this time I've realized that reports that address financial crimes against the elderly usually conflate two types of crimes, fraud and exploitation.
Fraud is based on deception, but exploitation of the elderly is a much subtler and much more often ignored crime. Justice Potter Stewart's famous definition of pornography applies equally to exploitation crimes: I may not be able to define it precisely but I know it when I see it.
Full Article and Source:
Financial Abuse: Fraud Vs Exploitation of the Elderly
Note: Joe Roubicek has investigated over a thousand exploitation crimes and provided training for universities and law enforcement agencies since 1992. He is the author of "Financial Abuse of the Elderly."
See also:Why Exploitation Crimes Are Misunderstood by Government and the Public
Guardian Abuse: Keeping It In The Family
The OPPAGA Report
The Immoralities of Jennifer Smith
19 comments:
We need more people like Joe. When I talk to the police, I just get a blank stare.
Would you agree, Mr. Roubicek, that guardianship abuse is both fraud and exploitation?
I appreciate Joe Roubicek's perspective and his sharing with us.
"Would you agree, Mr. Roubicek, that guardianship abuse is both fraud and exploitation?" ....
Absolutely, and good call. For example, while the culprit(s) is exploiting the elder/ward, he or she is defrauding the courts, with false statements, documents, etc. If a culprit victimizes an elder by falsely making it appear the elder is mentally disabled, then this would be fraud since the victim is in fact not disabled. (Some type of disability is required for exploitation to apply.)
Thank you Joe Roubicek for your ongoing efforts to share your findings based on your personal experiences as an investigator.
Your book and articles are a wake up call, a warning to society; I hope people are paying attention.
Investigating and prosecuting crimes against the vulnerable, the elderly in our society is a challenge for the investigator for a host of reasons, leaving this group of people an easy target.
The financial predators who prey on the elderly are aware:
1) the statute of limitations is on the offenders side,
2) the age and health of their victims will almost ensure that the victims will not be around or able to testify at trial,
3) if the offender is prosecuted, convicted and sentenced, the sentence is usually weak; probation, no prison time or minimal prison/jail with early release and to many with criminal minds, the criminal action is worth the risk,
4) restitution (if ordered by the court)is most often ignored, paying back the money most often is too late for the victim to benefit,
5) enforcing the court order for the defendant to pay restitution to the victim or the victim's estate leaves many victims of crime with no recourse (other than to file a civil lawsuit) when the defendant fails to comply with the order of restitution.
I agree with you absolutely that the bad guardian exploits the ward and defrauds the courts to do it.
Except this - the courts many times participate by turning the other way and allowing the exploitation, ignoring and shutting down family.
I guess I'm saying if it were just guardians exploiting and defrauding, victims and their families would have a chance. But, it goes much deeper than that.
One of the problems we face in guardianship is that family starts out behind in the eyes of many judges.
If an attorney makes a false statement in court, he/she only has to repeat it two or three times and that false statement becomes perceived as fact. (Perception is reality)
But if family makes an allegation about a guardian exploiting their loved one, the family is "dismissed" and sometimes even labeled as troublemakers.
It's easy to do either - fraud or exploit if you're a lawyer or a guardian.
Joe, in your career and experience, what would you say is the biggest category of exploiters of the elderly?
Family, caregivers, friends, scammers, financial advisors.....
Mr. Roubicek, thank you for commenting on an earlier post. I am glad to know you also read our blog!
Can you give us any tips on how we could do a better job of getting authoritites involved in our cases where we have direct evidence of guardian theft? A number of us have tried to get the FBI interested and they don't seem to want to be involved.
Another informative article by Joe Roubicek!
Thanks very much - I appreciate these.
"Except this - the courts many times participate by turning the other way and allowing the exploitation, ignoring and shutting down family."
(The following comment is intended as a response to several of the most recent posts to save time :)
Probate court is a civil entity. The police, prosecutors office and criminal court are all criminal entities that interact directly.
If someone has probable cause or evidence that an attorney or anyone in the civl entity (probate court as we call it down here) they could go directly to the appropriate police agency or if they are not satisfied, directly to the prosecutors office, with this evidence with a criminal complaint. If there is satisfactory probable cause/evidence in the body of the complaint then the prosecutors office would issue records subpoenas to the accounts in question to see if in fact assets are being stolen... especially in violation of a court order.... I know, easier said than done, but this is the way it works. Remember, in the criminal arena a person is alwys presumed innocent until proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt" and this can often be difficult. My point here is that the criminal entities do not need permission to pursue a valid criminal complaint from the civil entities. (Excuse my spelling, I'm rushing this.)
"Joe, in your career and experience, what would you say is the biggest category of exploiters of the elderly?"
Mike, I honestly believe that there is no one catagory but a "type" of person. This is why I enjoyed my career so much... there were always "surprise perps" and from all catagories.
I believe that awareness has increased over the years and so exploiters and categories of exploiters have become more careful but the problem is still epidemic. I also believe in INDEPENDANT regulatory bodies to oversee any exploition complaints that involve a government agencies behavior as suspect or inappropriate.
These type of articles are so informative. Thank you NASGA.
It's great to have a fearless freedom fighter aboard!
joe is quite a guy my type of stand up and shout guy glad to meet him via nasga website the best place in town to get the real news not this fluff stuff they call news on local tv news :-)
Joe, ok let me ask you this one -- do you think that people who take advantage of the elderly have any empathy for their victims? Are they mostly sociopaths?
There was an article posted on the blog the other day called "Neglected to Death" or something like that -- the woman who died, died from terrible bedsores. Those in charge of the facility knew she had them and didn't have them treated -- and let the suffer to death.
Think there was an ounce of empathy for the woman with bedsores? Think there's much difference between a person who would neglect someone to death and someone who would fraud someone out of their life savings?
And thank you for interacting on this blog!
I'm not Joe anon, but my opinion is there is a certain element in society who do not have a conscience, no empathy, they feel nothing! They do whatever it takes to get what they want, yes these people fit the profile of a: sociopath.
A sociopath with a crimina mind is a very dangerous person who feels he/she is the real victim always blaming others for their failures, mistakes.
Once a person comes face to face with a socipath or a psychopath or has a situation with one, believe me, you cannot forget or go on with life as it was - impossible - because it changes a person - forever.
Mike,
Yes, the people who I have arrested for taking advantage of the elderly, clean out their assets, neglect and abuse them, are sociopathic. Their behavior, rationalizations and responses to my interviews are surprisingly similar and this consistency has been a help in putting together good cases for prosecution. Those who use their professions to exploit the elderly may not be sociopathic because the process may be more impersonal, but they are still greedy and evil. Those of us who see it and take no action to stop it are personally responsible. The final sentence in my book … “The way that we deal with elderly crimes today reflects on the type of people that we are now and will have a direct bearing on our own personal safety tomorrow.” … is really a message to the reader that they have a responsibility when they put the book down and inaction is unacceptable.
Reference your question reference the difference between a person who would neglect someone to death and someone who would defraud someone out of their life savings … as you know abuse and neglect are almost always motivated by greed/fraud/exploitation. I have always presented financial exploitation as being a “crime against persons” rather than a “property crime” to law enforcement agencies because exploitation crimes; taking advantage of disabled seniors, affect the quality of life of the victims.
(And thanks to all of you "NASGA Folk" for your kind comments.) Joe
You're Welcome!
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