Ernest Beal knew it wasn’t his calling.
But taking the reins of Your Friends and Neighbors, a company that runs group homes for adults with developmental disabilities, was what his mother wanted before she died, he told an Allen Superior Court judge Friday.
Reluctantly, he headed the company as its chief executive officer per his mother’s dying wish nearly 20 years ago and never intended to harm anyone, he said.
Beal, 57, was sentenced to two years in prison for raiding his clients’ trust fund accounts to help his company make payroll, which included a pair of $300,000 annual salaries for him and his ex-wife. Charged with felony theft last year, Beal was convicted by a jury in April.
The trust funds of Your Friends and Neighbors clients hold money from their Social Security checks, paychecks and other income and are meant to pay for the expenses and care of residents. Over a 3 1/2 -year period, Beal “borrowed” from those accounts multiple times.
Beal testified that the money in the trust funds belonged to Your Friends and Neighbors and not the clients and that he planned to pay the money back with interest. Prosecutors acknowledged he eventually did that, but no payments were made until he was charged with theft last June.
Full Article and Source:
Ex-Disabilities CEO Gets 2 Years for Theft
Money is magnetic; good intentions can be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, monitoring and control of patient trust funds are required, by an outside agency, in connection with bank cooperation.
Most men can handle adversity but, to test a mans character...
ReplyDeletegive him authority.
I agree with Abe...
ReplyDeleteErnest Beal looks like a thief,
a man of no character!!
This might seem like a minor, isolated problem; however, many state-licensed group homes are owned and managed by corporations comprised of public guardians, attorneys, judges and other riff-raf. A judge appoints a public guardian and s/he moves the ward to the group home. Noticeably, a small to large group home might be filled to capacity with court wards.
ReplyDeleteIn essence, the guardians are double-dealing from the wards' estates - from fiduciary fees and, indirectly, room and board charges. Laws are violated. The problem can affect the community at large, when the corporate entity fails to pay property taxes and file income taxes. My relation's room and board keeps increasing, according to her legal guardian, but the large group adult foster care home in Michigan, one of several licensed through the same LLC, has state and federal property tax leins, several years running.
The more thieves involved, the harder they are to catch.
Yes, he just paid back because he knew he was caught and it might look better FOR HIM if he paid back.
ReplyDeleteI am from Indiana and this case is in my hometown where my own guardianship case can be found.
ReplyDeleteA bit of irony here --- The State's AG, the Allen County prosecutor, and even a couple of the specifically named prosecutor's and judge in this casse know me well .... and yet they cannot, will not, or otherwise flat out refuse to, investigate and prosecute my criminal complaints against my guardian and others ......
must be because --- "my guardian and others" equates to 4 different local attorneys who, since committing crime against me and my guardianship, have assumed these positions;
2 are now Superior Court judges in the county; and, 2 are part time deputy prosecuting attorneys ....
In sum, Kenneth R. Scheibenberger, Nancy Eschoff Boyer, Jack Roebel, and Steve Lerch are all theives and frauds .....
and I guess, given the circumstances, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Karen Richards and deputy prosecutor Michael McAlexander are conspirators and obstructionists of justice.
I should add too that Special Judge Monte L. Brown is likewise a conspoirator and obstructionist of justice......
ReplyDeleteIn my recent court activities Monte has allowed the Indiana AG to represent purely private individuals for their purely private conducts and crimes .... That's right --- In Indiana certain private citizens get the protection and legal services of the Indiana Attorney General's Office ---- never mind that same office owes a duty to the ward too ...
Gonna be a messy one .... but then I am big on messy ----