Former Public Guardian Rita Hunter Lawsuits Update

Court rulings will come later after Judge Michael Dawson on Tuesday heard a raft of motions in lawsuits involving Rita Hunter, former Jasper County public administrator.

Dawson, of Osceola, has been assigned to hear a number of the cases in Jasper County Circuit Court naming Hunter in her former role as a guardian of county residents who are unable to care for themselves.

Tuesday’s hearings focused primarily on actions that led to Emma France, an elderly Carthage woman, being made a ward of the administrator’s office in May 2007, and the expenditure of money from France’s estate.

Jasper County Probate Judge David Mouton later voided rulings that had made France a ward, citing missteps including France not being allowed to attend the hearing and relatives not being notified of the session, both requirements of state law.

France is suing McKinney, contending that the attorney did not represent her wishes in the hearing that led to her being named a county ward. Mitchell on Tuesday argued that McKinney acted properly as a court-appointed guardian, and that such guardians are immune from lawsuits. He said McKinney had spoken before the hearing with France, “who was not interested in having this ‘kid’ represent her.”

“She (McKinney) told the court she (France) wanted to be there, but she didn’t think it was in her interest,” Mitchell said. “She acted based on the doctor’s certificate and all the available information. Guardians are supposed to be an independent voice. They’re not there to do whatever the ward says, and they must have the right to report to the court without fear of being sued.”

Full Article and Source:
Court Hears Arguments, Motions in Hunter Suits

See Also:
Rita Hunter's Attorney Fees Appealed

Agency Named Woman's Guardian

Guardianship of a 96-year-old woman removed from the home where police and humane officials found nearly 200 animals in conditions described as deplorable has been given to a Trumbull County agency that specializes in providing those services.

On Monday, Probate Court Judge Thomas Swift appointed Guardianship and Protective Services guardian over the person and estate of Helen DiMarsico, removed from the Gustavus home of her daughter, Kathy Witzman, for evaluation and medical treatment.

The hearings examine the need for a guardian, competency and who should serve as guardian.

Joshua Garris, agency attorney, said the agency will oversee DiMarsico's estate, and social workers there will oversee her medical and personal decisions for an indefinite length of time.

Returning care back to DiMarsico would need court action.

At Monday's hearing, done via Web conference, interim guardian and licensed social worker, Alvin J. Weisberg, testified that DiMarsico has moments of lucidity and confusion and that she worries over her daughter's situation, but has shown no desire to return to the house with Witzman.

He said she suffers from cardiovascular and degenerative joint disease as well as hypertension and dimentia. Guardianship, Weisberg said, would be ''well advised, at least for an indefinite period of time."

Full Article and Source:
Agency Named Woman's Guardian

Ex-Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Stealing From Clients

Facing a trial in which prosecutors vowed to show that her clients' money paid for steak dinners, happy hours and resort vacations, disbarred attorney Jessica Miller avoided the spectacle and pleaded guilty to grand theft charges that could send her to prison.

The plea, which came with no sentencing deal with prosecutors, capped a three-year legal scandal that began with complaints from clients of her Port Richey law firm who said she took their money but did no work. In August 2007, after missing three months of guardianship hearings, she went to jail for 43 days for contempt of court.

The Florida Bar investigated and ultimately kicked her out.

Then came the criminal charges.

Miller, 32, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of second-degree grand theft and two counts of third-degree grand theft. She is accused of taking about $3,900 for legal services she never provided, as well as funneling some $65,000 from the trust funds of two divorce clients into her firm's operating account.

The day she learns her fate is April 6, when she will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Michael Andrews.

Full Article and Source:
Pasco: Ex-Attorney Pleads Guilty to Stealing From Clients

7 1/2 Years and Restitution For Bilking Elderly Man

A Hagerstown man has been given 7 1/2 years in prison for bilking an elderly Boonsboro man out of more than a quarter-million dollars.

Forty-year-old Daniel Meldron was sentenced for obtaining the property of a vulnerable adult with dementia. The victim had given Meldron power of attorney.

Meldron also must make restitution of about $279,00 he drained from one of the victim's accounts.

Full Article and Source:
Western MD Man Gets 7 1/2 Years for Bilking Elderly

What Nerve! Conservator's Attorney Bills Estate for Reading Victim's Blog?

[1/28/10:]





Source:
FreeDannyTate.wordpress.com

See Also:
Danny Tate Sandbagged?

Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?

Sgt. Eric Layne's death was not pretty. A few months after starting a drug regimen combining the antidepressant Paxil, the mood stabilizer Klonopin and a controversial anti-psychotic drug manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Seroquel, the Iraq war veteran was "suffering from incontinence, severe depression [and] continuous headaches," according to his widow, Janette Layne.

Soon he had tremors. " … [H]is breathing was labored [and] he had developed sleep apnea," Layne said.

Janette Layne, who served in the National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom along with her husband, told the story of his decline last year, at official FDA hearings on new approvals for Seroquel. On the last day of his life, she testified, Eric stayed in the bathroom nearly all night battling acute urinary retention (an inability to urinate). He died while his family slept.

Full Article and Source:
Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?

See Also:
NASGA: Veterans Beware!

Nursing Home Drug Use Puts Many at Risk

Nearly 2,500 nursing home residents in Massachusetts were given powerful antipsychotic drugs last year that were not intended or recommended for their medical condition, a practice that is more common here than in most other states, according to a Globe analysis of federal data.

Data collected by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that 28 percent of Massachusetts nursing home residents were given antipsychotics in 2009. Of that group, 22 percent - or 2,483 - did not have a medical condition that calls for such treatment.

That rate was the 12th highest in the nation, according to the federal data.

The use of such drugs is especially worrisome in nursing homes because a substantial number of residents suffer from dementia, a condition that puts them at greater risk of death when given antipsychotic medications.

The drugs, also known as “‘psychotropics,’’ were developed to treat people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, not dementia, which is the progressive loss of memory or other intellectual function than can result from aging or Alzheimer’s disease.

Twice in the past five years, federal regulators have issued nationwide alerts about troubling and sometimes fatal side effects when antipsychotics are taken by people with dementia, including increased confusion, sedation, and weight gain.

Full Article and Source:
Nursing Home Drug Use Puts Many at Risk

PA Judicial Conduct Board Admits Never Investigating Complaints Against Judge Michael T. Conahan

A state conduct board has conceded that it never investigated any of the complaints made against a disgraced former Luzerne County Court judge accused of taking kickbacks to place juveniles in for-profit detention centers.

The Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board said it received four complaints about former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan in 2004, 2006, and 2008, but failed to conduct interviews or review any documents related to the complaints.

Full Article and Source:
Board Says It Didn't Probe Complaints About Judge

Mother Held Prisoner by Court-Appointed Guardian

There are many things we are deeply fearful of. The death of a child is one. Being imprisoned for something we’re not guilty of is another. Losing any loved one that you can’t imagine living without is another. Unless you’ve experienced such wretched circumstances, it’s hard to imagine what it might feel like.

Growing old and not being able to care for yourself is another common fear. Large families may wonder how anyone could die alone, unprotected and uncared for. In the USA, unless you have the means to take care of yourself, you’re subjected to laws and an underground of political corruption that literally and unbelievably forces senior citizens to die. Here is just one true story.

Maggie Was a Loving Mother and Grandmother
Maggie Grover is an American 76 year old nursing home patient who is fed baby food and is usually dehydrated. Everything she owns and loved has been taken away. She was assigned a bed and some pills.

Maggie is well enough to try and fight for her right to life. She is worried at the burden this [guardianship] has created for her children. At each attempt to rescue their mother, the Guardian, in retaliation, has threatened to ban the family from visiting their mother in the nursing home, move Maggie out of state or put her into an even less desirable nursing home. In other words, the Guardian is emotionally black mailing the family.

{U}nless a situation such as Maggie’s story happens in your family, you’ll likely believe it doesn’t happen or can’t happen where you live. Research “Guardian Abuse”, “Grannynapping” (kidnapping or when families try to rescue someone), Medicaid fraud, (Maggie’s Guardian has 3 houses and several kids in college. Remember, he takes all his “Ward’s” monies) and exploitation of the elderly.

Full Article and Source:
Mother Held Prisoner by Court-Appointed Guardian

Kasler Vs. Seidlin

A wealthy, elderly widow is suing her neighbors, former Broward Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin and his wife, but doesn't seem to know why, according to a deposition transcript.

Barbara Kasler, 84, said under oath Feb. 15 that she liked the Seidlins, gave them gifts and could not remember what they did wrong to her.

A lawsuit filed in Kasler's name says the woman, whose wealth has been estimated at $5 million, is accusing Seidlin of siphoning off her money and trying to hijack her estate upon her death.

State investigators have twice cleared Seidlin, 59, of exploiting Kasler.

"There's nothing alleged in this lawsuit that has not already been fully investigated," one of Seidlin's attorneys, Theo Kypreos, said Friday. "Using Barbara Kasler's own words … they were 'like family.' "

The lawsuit alleges Seidlin feigned friendship with Kasler, who lives in the same Fort Lauderdale condo as the onetime judge and his family, and fleeced her of hundreds of thousands in checks, credit card purchases and the sale of her property.

Full Article and Source:
Elderly Widow Suing 'Judge Larry' Can't Recall How Broward Judge Wronged Her

See Also:
Carmel on the Case: Seidlin Lawsuit

CA Appeals Court Tosses $5Mil Fee Award

A California appeals court has snatched away $5 million in fees from attorneys at three top firms in a dispute over the riches of a deceased shopping mall magnate.

The state's 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the trial court erroneously "rubber stamped" requests for attorney fees by Loeb & Loeb, Jones Day and Greenberg Traurig. The law firms represented the former trustee of Daniel W. Donahue's estate. Donahue, who died in 2002, was chairman of Donahue Schriber Realty Group Inc., a Costa Mesa, Calif., real estate firm that owned numerous shopping centers in California and other western states.

Reversing the fee award on Feb. 24, the three-judge panel said that the firms' client, Patrick Donahue, had embarked on a "spare no expense strategy" by hiring the three firms at once. The panel, in remanding the case, ruled that although the client's strategy may have benefited him, it was questionable whether it benefited the Donahue trust.

"Did Patrick demand a Rolls Royce defense when a prudent trustee could have arrived at the same destination in a Buick, Chrysler or Taurus?" the court wrote.

Full Article and Source:
Court Tosses $5 Million Fee Award, Saying Trustee Overpaid for 'Rolls-Royce Defense"

One Year Anniversary of Legalized Assisted Suicide

Scores of Washingtonians “have become a victim” to the state’s one-year-old physician-assisted suicide law, said a pro-life hospice nurse.

“Thousands of others, including senior citizens and people with disabilities, have received the message that they, too, are expendable,” said Eileen Geller, founder of True Compassion Advocates, an organization that campaigned against Initiative 1000 and now provides information for those seeking good end-of-life care.

In July 2009, Margaret Dore, a Seattle attorney with expertise in probate, guardianship and elder law, wrote an article for the Washington Bar Association, in which she describes the abuse potential in the Death With Dignity Act.

Dore wrote that the Death With Dignity Act “contains potentially coercive provisions [that allow] an heir, who will benefit from the patient’s death, to help the patient sign up for the lethal dose. She stated that: “Having an heir act as one of the witnesses creates a presumption of undue influence [that] does not promote patient choice [but] invites coercion.”

She addressed the issue of “self-administering” the drug, stating that the law “does not state that ‘only’ the patient may administer the lethal dose [but] is instead defined as the act of ingesting. In other words, someone else putting the lethal dose in the patient’s mouth qualifies as ‘self-administration,’ [or] putting the lethal dose in a feeding tube or IV nutrition bag.”

The attorney discussed the issue of competency, noting that: “The act does not require that the patient be competent or even aware when the lethal dose is administered… [nor is there] language requiring the client’s consent at the time of administration. Without a requirement of competency, consent, or even awareness when the lethal dose is administered, the stage is set for undue influence and worse,” she concludes.

The Washington State Department of Health reported this week that lethal doses of medication were dispensed to 63 people between March 5, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009.

Under the Death With Dignity Act, the physician cannot list assisted suicide as the cause of death but instead must report an underlying illness present at the time of death. If the death certificate isn’t sent to the health department, there is no way of knowing if the deceased died from assisted suicide or not.

Full Article and Source:
Washington: First Year Under Legalized Assisted Suicide

IRS: Rothstein Owes $10 Mil in Taxes

Fraudster Scott Rothstein and his wife owe nearly $10.1 million for unpaid taxes in 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

In addition to filing a tax lien against the couple, federal authorities received a judge's approval Wednesday to enter all of Rothstein's 24 properties in Florida, Rhode Island and New York, including the $6.45 million Fort Lauderdale mansion where he once lived.

Rothstein, 47, has traded that big house for the "Big House," pleading guilty in January to running a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme -- the largest financial fraud in South Florida history. He faces up to 100 years in prison.

All of Rothstein's properties are subject to forfeiture as part of his plea, but those seizures won't take place until after his scheduled May 6 sentencing.

Federal prosecutors now want to enter the homes to determine who's living in them and who's paying rent. They also will be taking the rent money collected by Rothstein's wife, Kim, in recent months. Her attorney has been holding that money in a trust account.

Full Article and Source:
IRS: Rothstein Owes $10 Mil in Taxes

See Also:
Rothstein's Wife Still Controls Properties

Man Paid Too Much for Nursing Services

S. Edward Marder was told in 2003 that he was paying too much for nursing services, Marder's former accountant testified.

Michael Cottle said he believed the most flagrant extravagance was found in the salary Marder paid his former head nurse, Mary Williams.

Williams, 70, of Reno, Nev., is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person and criminal neglect of an elderly person for allegedly draining Marder's bank accounts while in his employ.

Cottle said he was Marder's accountant for many years and helped supervise the trust accounts that held Marder's estimated $40 million wealth.

Prosecutors say Williams, who was one of six nurses employed by Marder between 1999 and 2005, gradually took control of some of Marder's financial duties and supervised other nurses at the Highland Park house.

Cottle said he told Marder his nursing expenses were excessive for his particular medical needs.

Prosecutors say records show Williams went from making just over $100,000 in 1999 to $459,000 in 2004.

Marder also gave Williams gifts of money, Cottle said, sometimes as much as $17,000 over a year.

Testimony in the trial, which is being heard by Associate Judge George Bridges, is expected to resume later this month.

Full Article and Source:
Man Was Warned He Was Paying Too Much for Nurses

OH Standards of Practice for Attorney Guardians

Judge Eric Brown got an earful - and dozens of e-mails - when he asked the public's opinion on rules to protect the addled, aged and disabled from busy or unscrupulous attorney guardians.

Some examples:

• Don't require us to visit each ward personally at least once every three months, some attorneys pleaded with the Franklin County Probate Court judge. Many attorneys have only a handful of wards, but others have a large staff to work with hundreds.

That rule stays, Brown said.

• Don't require those alleged to be incompetent to open their homes to prospective guardians, who lack legal authority to visit, others said.

Got a point, Brown decided. He told guardians to ask to visit.

• Put as Rule No. 1: "Take no actions which are not in the best interests of the ward," a Texas judge suggested.

Brown agreed that would cover everything. An early paragraph now reads, "In all matters, the guardian shall always consider and act in the best interest of the ward."

Other states have embraced guardian guidelines, and Brown hopes his standards will help the Ohio Supreme Court as it works to do the same.

"These standards will improve the quality of work by the (attorney) guardians," Brown said. "They're going to be better trained. They're going to be more personally involved. They're going to be held to higher standards with regards to ethics and standards."

The rules will be mandatory starting in late summer for attorneys, who are usually paid from their ward's assets. Brown has the authority to impose rules on anyone before his court, though his rules for licensing, training and other requirements apply only to attorneys. The judge hopes relatives and volunteer guardians will still find them helpful.

Brown's rules will forbid the attorney guardians from self-dealing: They can't hire their relatives without court permission. And they must respect a ward's wishes and privacy.

Brown made guidelines a priority when he took office a year ago. As a Common Pleas judge, he'd heard the case of Milous Keith. The retired city worker lost his freedom and allegedly more than $400,000 in assets under an attorney guardianship before Brown found him competent.

Today, Keith is suing his former guardian's law firm, alleging that guardian Jim Hughes sold assets at a loss, hired his father-in-law as a real-estate agent and failed to inventory safe-deposit boxes.

Full Article and Source:
Opinions Fervent on Rules for Attorney Guardians

See Also:
Read the Standards of Practice for Attorney Guardians

WI Bill on Black Box Warning Drugs

A bill by state Rep. Dan Meyer (R-Eagle River) would require nursing homes to obtain written informed consent when an antipsychotic drug that has received a federal Food and Drug Administration black box warning is prescribed for a patient with a degenerative brain disorder.

The bill received a public hearing in late January. State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) is a cosponsor of the measure.

Meyer has pushed the legislation at the behest of Rhinelander resident Lisa MaKarrall, whose father died in 2008 after receiving the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The FDA had issued a federal black box warning in 2005 that the drug placed elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis at an increased risk of death.

However, MaKarrall and her family never received the warning when Taylor Park Nursing Home in Rhinelander put him on the medication. Neither did they receive a 2003 FDA warning that Risperdal could increase risks for diabetes and stroke, nor, for that matter, she says, did they receive any other warning of Risperdal's potentially fatal risks when the facility asked the family for permission to use the drug to treat aggression.

In fact, the Informed Consent for Medication form the family signed was out of date, having been fashioned by the state Department of Health and Family Services in May 2003, almost two years before the FDA issued its black-box warning.

Full Article and Source:
Meyer Bill Requires Written Consent For 'Black-Boxed' Drugs"

Company Must Pay Estate in Wrongful Auction

A King County judge on Friday ordered one of the West Coast's major players in the foreclosure industry to pay more than $230,000 to the estate of a disabled senior citizen whose Whidbey Island home was wrongfully auctioned off after she fell behind on payments.

Legal experts say it appears to be one of the first home-foreclosure cases to reach a jury verdict in Washington.

In court, Quality said it didn't have the discretion to postpone the auction and that only the lender, Washington Mutual, could grant a delay.

At the auction, an investor bought Halstien's house for $1 over Quality's opening bid and flipped the property six months later for $235,000, getting the equity that Halstien, a retired factory worker, had built up over decades.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Mack's order finalizes a jury verdict in late January that found Quality and its San Diego-based parent company, Quality Loan Service Corp., violated the state Consumer Protection Act and breached its contract with Halstien.

Full Article and Source:
Company Must Pay Estate in Wrongful Auction

A Most Disorderly Court:

Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary

In the 1970s, justices on the Florida Supreme Court were popularly elected. But a number of scandals threatened to topple the court until public outrage led to profound reforms and fundamental changes in the way justices were seated.

One justice abruptly retired after being filmed on a high-roller junket to Las Vegas.

Two others tried to fix cases in lower courts on behalf of campaign supporters.

A fourth destroyed evidence by shredding his copy of a document into "seventeen equal" strips of paper that he then flushed down a toilet.

As the journalist who wrote most of the stories that exposed these events, Martin Dyckman played a key role in revealing the corruption, favoritism, and cronyism then rampant in the court.

A Most Disorderly Court recounts this dark period in Florida politics, when stunning revelations regularly came to light. He also traces the reform efforts that ultimately led to a constitutional amendment providing for the appointment of all Florida's appellate judges, and emphasizes the absolute importance of confidential sources for journalists.

Source:
Borders.com

Note: This book is also available through other retail outlets, including Amazon.com

Broward Judges Need Better Judgment

The biggest problem at the much-maligned Broward County Courthouse isn't the supposed mold, rats, bursting pipes and antiquated elevators.

Turns out the biggest problem remains judges with questionable judgment.

In the past week, we've seen the state's judicial watchdog agency bring formal charges against two Broward circuit judges — Dale Cohen and Ana Gardiner — for alleged misconduct.

Each could be removed from the bench, with Gardiner likely in deeper trouble because she also is accused of giving "misleading" answers under oath to the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

And last month, we had Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow toss a death-penalty murder case after she got into a dispute with the prosecutor. Her decision seemed an abuse of discretion and a miscarriage of justice, especially for the victim's family. Her not-guilty verdict is being appealed, but at this point Lebow faces no investigation of or sanctions for her actions.

The Broward judiciary finds itself under the microscope again, nearly three years after a string of embarrassing incidents led longtime chief judge Dale Ross to step aside in the middle of his term.

Full Article and Source:
Broward Judges Need Better Judgment

Retired Judge Convicted and Disbarred

The State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board yesterday reported that retired Clinton Township Judge William H. Cannon is disbarred retroactive to September 16, 2009, the effective date of his felony conviction and automatic interim suspension.

On September 16, 2009, Cannon entered a plea of no contest to in Macomb County Circuit Court to one count of embezzlement by agent or trustee between $1,000 and $20,000, a felony. He was thereafter sentenced by Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Richard L. Carretti to serve 180 days in the Macomb County Jail. Judge Carretti also ordered Cannon to be placed on probation for five years and required him to pay nearly $75,000 in restitution.

Full Article and Source:
Retired Judge, Convicted of Embezzlement, Disbarred by Resignation

Rick Green: Another Grubby Tale From Probate Court

Shortly before 92-year-old Josephine Smoron died last June, Southington Probate Judge Bryan F. Meccariello approved a dramatic change to her will, handing her property to three local churches and bypassing her longtime caretaker.

Sam Manzo, caretaker for nearly 25 years at the sprawling Valley Spring Farm bordering I-84 not far from Queen Street, had been due to inherit what was left of the broken-down estate, valued at well over $1 million.

Instead, he was disinherited, replaced by two trusts.

Manzo, however, fought back, hiring a lawyer and filing an official complaint. The result was similar to what happens when you flip on the lights in a filthy kitchen. The roaches scatter.

Last week, I sat in Meccariello's courtroom and again watched what unfolds when the outside world peers into probate. Meccariello abruptly recused himself from the long-running Smoron saga, just days after denying a request by Manzo's lawyer to remove himself and seven months after Manzo's lawyer began challenging the judge's actions.

The Manzo odyssey is another grubby tale from our probate court system, which continues to operate within its own unique orbit. It's why probate should be part of Superior Court. It's why judges should be carefully appointed, not elected, and why misdeeds lurk in probate's dark corners.

This is not Judge Meccariello's first brush with questionable behavior. In 2007, he was admonished for co-mingling his roles as judge, private lawyer and real estate investor in a series of complicated land deals.

"I'm very upset. I have spoken to counsel regarding what my rights are," Meccariello told me. "Getting caught up in this claim of corruption, that's what bothers me the most."

The Smoron story raises additional troubling questions, not just about Meccariello, but why this court system survives while continuing to trample the rights of people it is supposed to serve.

Full Article and Source:
Inheritance Case: Another Grubby Tale From Probate Court

America's Supremes - Court Over Constitution

On October 13, 1932, in laying the Supreme Court Building's cornerstone, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes said: "The Republic endures and this is the symbol of its faith." The words "Equal Justice Under Law" adorn its west facade. Facing east is the motto "Justice, the Guardian of Liberty." Since the Court's 1789 establishment, these words belie its decisions, arguments, and "supreme" allegiance to power, not "We the people."

Since its founding, privilege always counted most in America. The prevailing fiction then and now is that constitutional checks and balances restrain government, the founders having created an egalitarian country free from wealth and poverty extremes common most elsewhere.

Like today, wealthy 18th century colonialists had vastly disproportional land holdings; controlled banking, commerce and industry; assured its own ran the government and courts; and the supreme law of the land, then and now, deters no president, sitting government, or Supreme Court from doing what they wish.

From inception, America was always ruled by men, not laws, who lie, connive, misinterpret and pretty much do what they want for their own self-interest and powerful constituents. In 1787, "the people" who mattered most were elitists. The American revolution substituted new management for old. Everything changed but stayed the same...

Full Article and Source:
America's Supremes - Court Over Constitution

Accused of Exploiting Dementia Patient

A Bismarck woman is accused of coercing an elderly man with dementia into giving her $110,000 a month before his death.

Rebecca Vandal was charged Tuesday in South Central District Court with exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The 49-year-old posted $10,000 bond.

Court documents say Vandal took 85-year-old Gerd Ebel on Jan. 6 to a bank, where he transferred $110,000 from a certificate of deposit into Vandal's account.

Court documents say Ebel was hospitalized Dec. 31 to Jan. 5, at which time a doctor ruled him incompetent to make decisions due to dementia.

Full Article and Source:
ND Woman Accused of Exploiting Dementia Patient