Saturday, June 4, 2011

Man's Treatment Shocks Critics

The court order authorizing electroshock treatments for Ray Sandford says that when he arrived at a psychiatric hospital early last year, he was “grossly psychotic” and violent toward staff and other patients.

Sandford, who has been declared legally incompetent, said he agreed to the treatments at first, but after more than 40 of them, he finds it hard to remember names and other things. His bipolar disorder is under control, he said, and he should have the right to say no.

The court disagrees, but advocates of the mentally ill who call themselves the “Mad Pride” movement have rallied to his defense.

“This is worse than waterboarding,” said David Oaks, executive director of MindFreedom International, who led about two dozen people in a rally at the Minnesota Capitol this month to draw attention to Sandford’s case.

“Offer somebody the choice between waterboarding or forced electroshock, and a lot of our people who know what it is will say waterboarding,” Oaks said.

The Mad Pride movement includes groups and individuals that seek not only an end to forced treatment but to redefine their conditions as something to be respected instead of diseases to be suppressed.

Full Article and Source:
Man's Treatment Shocks Critics

See Also:
Worse Than Waterboarding

YouTube: NJ Guardian and Three Lawyers Admit Elderly Financial Abuse

Guardian Vanessa D. Taylor, attorneys James Boutillier, Lawrence N. Meyerson, and Shawnda Floyd admit elderly financial abuse based on their failure to respond to an order to show cause and complaint filed in Essex County Probate Court.


Source:
YouTube

Friday, June 3, 2011

Jeffrey Schend Denied Court-Appointed Lawyer

The court will not hire an attorney for a former guardian accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from disabled and elderly clients.

Outagamie County Court Commissioner Maureen Roberts Budiac told Jeffrey M. Schend at an indigency hearing Thursday he has too many assets to qualify.

Schend, 44, told Budiac that his only assets are a boat, a car and about $1,000 in a bank account he can’t access. He said his family is trying to sell the boat and car to pay for an attorney.

“Until then, my hands are tied,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”

Budiac said Schend can ask to postpone his June 15 preliminary hearing if he’s unable to hire an attorney by then.

The biggest transaction unaccounted for among Schend’s Outagamie clients involved a trust account worth almost $168,000 when it was closed in 2010. The money was transferred to JMS. In another case, JMS did not document where nearly $145,000 from a client’s two certificates of deposit was spent after the accounts were cashed out in 2010 and transferred to JMS accounts.

Investigators continue to pore over the records of Schend’s former clients.

He is being held in jail on a $100,000 cash bond.

Full Article and Source:
Shend Denied County Appointed Lawyer

See Also:
Red Flags Raised for Years Over Vulnerabilities in Guardianship Program

Former Atty Pieter DeJong Gets 5 Years for Theft From Deceased Woman's Estate

Chastised by a judge for dishonoring the legal profession, a now-disbarred lawyer from Long Valley was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for stealing $265,552 from a deceased woman’s estate.

Pieter DeJong, 63, was first disbarred by the state Supreme Court in 2009 for misappropriation and his prosecution followed. He pleaded guilty in state Superior Court, Morristown, in March to theft by failure to make required disposition of property received between 2005 and 2008 from an estate.

DeJong, who mainly practiced real estate law, in 2005 represented the buyer of a piece of property. He issued two checks totaling $265,552 from his attorney trust account to the seller, Jane Davis, but she died within a month of the closing so the checks were never cashed. Instead of notifying Davis’s estate, DeJong used the money as his own over a three-year period until estate executors noticed sale proceeds were never deposited into Davis’s account, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Weber said.

Weber called the theft “a crime of opportunity.” DeJong apologized, saying he has lost the respect of his family and a career he loved. He said he accepted blame but attributed his actions to negligent bookkeeping.

Full Article and Source:
Washington Township Lawyer Gets 5 Years for Theft From Client's Estate

See Also:
Former Atty Pieter J. DeJong Charged With Stealing From Client's Estate

Former York (PA) Mayor Supports Older Americans Act

Elizabeth Marshall has lived on her own for 10 years. She remains in the home she and her husband, Howard, bought in York in 1954. With the help of family and the York County Area Agency on Aging, the 92-year-old has been able to live comfortably and independently.

[May 25], Marshall, the first elected female mayor of York, traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak to members of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging to support reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, which was first established in 1965.

The act has helped give about $1.8 million or 20 percent of the budget used by the area agency on aging, according to a news release from the York County Area Agency on Aging.

Marshall told the senate she has experience in government and understands the tough decisions they must make. Marshall receives meals three times a week from the agency, and told the senate she enjoyed the visits of those who deliver the food.

"We can't forget the senior centers," Marshall said in her testimony. "They give seniors what they need and are far cheaper than nursing home care."

Full Article and Source:
Former Mayor of York Supports Older Americans Act

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Red Flags Raised for Years Over Vulnerabilities in Guardianship System

A nonpartisan federal report released in the fall warned of flaws in the guardianship system that leave vulnerable people open to exploitation similar to that detailed in a criminal complaint against an Appleton man accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients.

The report from the Government Accountability Board is the latest to raise a red flag about the system. A 2007 study released by U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., suggested improvements to safeguard people who rely on guardians, and a 2006 report by the AARP Public Policy Institute cautioned that checks on guardians were lax.

Jeffrey M. Schend, who owns the company Outagamie County hired to serve as guardian for 48 people, hasn't told investigators where about $500,000 went after disappearing from some clients' accounts. But there were signs Schend wasn't properly reporting financial transactions, including a $4,700 judgment Shawano County won against him in 2010 for his mishandling of a client's account.

Confidentiality concerns
Sylvia Rudek, a director of the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, says Wisconsin's system is weighted so heavily in favor of confidentiality that it prevents adequate oversight of guardians, who are hired mostly by counties after a court has determined a person cannot make safe and sound financial decisions. Most of the people represented by guardians are mentally ill, disabled or old.

Rudek said she ran into roadblock after roadblock after learning that a guardian had stolen more than $78,000 from her great-aunt, a Wisconsin resident. Though the guardian, Kathleen Simane, ultimately was sentenced to two years in prison on two theft convictions by a Rock County judge, Rudek said getting the case into the criminal justice system took Herculean efforts.

"We had no idea of what was going on," Rudek said. "I couldn't get any information."

In many states, she said, families can examine a guardian's books, but Wisconsin keeps those records sealed.

"The legislators will tell you the files are closed to protect the ward," she said, using a term often applied to a person represented by a guardian. "In reality, closed files protect the guardian team from oversight."

The report released in September by the federal Government Accountability Office backs up Rudek's contention that guardians are not properly supervised.

The office wasn't able to determine whether abuse by guardians is widespread, but researchers found hundreds of cases in 45 states between 1990 and 2010. Researchers thoroughly reviewed 20 of the cases to try to find commonalities.

"In 12 of 20 cases, the courts failed to oversee guardians once they were appointed, allowing the abuse of vulnerable seniors and their assets to continue," the report says.

Schend was required to file annual reports with Outagamie County's register in probate, Sue Lutz, but she declined last week to discuss his record keeping, citing confidentiality provisions. In all, Outagamie County has 1,065 people served by guardians.

Clients suffer
Sorting out the finances of clients represented by Schend likely will be a long process. Investigators searched his home as well as two rental storage complexes at which Schend rented space and seized several documents from one storage unit. Schend at a Thursday hearing said police took all of his financial documents.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Kyle Sargent said last week some of Schend's clients had limited assets that can make it hard to tell the difference between legitimate expenses and thefts, while some clients had sizable estates that vanished.
"It could get bigger," Sargent said. "It all depends."

Schend has been unable or unwilling to tell investigators where the money went, but two former employees say Schend lived a luxurious lifestyle, taking expensive vacations, buying expensive cars and gambling frequently.

Schend was bonded, which means that his clients might get some of their money back, but Rudek, the director of the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, said those victimized by inept or criminal guardians bear the weight of the problem for years.

"I still feel it, mentally and physically," she said. "My aunt saved; she was frugal. (She was) a good woman who worked all her life."

Full Article and Source:
Red Flags Raised for Years Over Vulnerabilities in Guardianship System

See Also:
Read the GAO report: GUARDIANSHIPS - Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect and Abuse of Seniors

NASGA: Helen Fabis, Wisconsin Victim

Remembering a Treasured Aunt 10 Years Later

Guardian System Flaws Allow for Exploitation

Ohio Atty Sentenced to Prison, Restitution for Theft From Trust Fund

An attorney was sentenced in Cuyahoga County to prison time and ordered to pay restitution after he pleaded no contest to charges of theft amounting to more a million dollars.

Judge Michael Astrab handed down an eight-year sentence to 61-year-old Charles Manning of Chesterland on Friday. He also has to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution to the victims and pay a $20,000 fine.

Manning entered the no contest plea to two counts of theft on February 15, 2011.

According to the Cuyahoga Prosecutor’s Office, Manning stole more than $1.5 million from two clients’ trust funds and used the money to invest in a failed water, sewer, pipeline, and a communications and power line construction business operating in southern Ohio.

Full Article and Source:
Attorney Charles Manning Sentenced to Prison Time, Restitution for Theft

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Jury Awards $2.5 mil to Widow in False Elder Abuse Case

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded $2.5 million Wednesday to a widow who alleged her mentally impaired spouse was removed from her care based on lies motivated by greed.

Jurors deliberated nine days before finding in favor of Robin Rodriguez, who maintained that Robert Acciani, a former deputy city attorney in Torrance, used his influence with law enforcement to build a false case of financial and elder abuse against her.

The jury found a conspiracy existed to inflict emotional distress upon Robin Rodriguez and to commit trespass.

Robin Rodriguez wept as the verdict was announced in her favor. She later joined her attorneys to thank jurors in the hallway.

Her suit alleged that Acciani and his wife helped remove Rami Rodriguez from his Rolling Hills Estates home after he developed dementia, prompting Robin Rodriguez to wage a lengthy court battle to get him back, which she did some 15 months later in January 2005.

Rami Rodriguez was a millionaire real estate investor and nightclub owner. His widow filed her suit in June 2008 in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Accianis, the county and four members of the Sheriff's Department: Detectives Curtis Henderson and Christina Moreno-Anderson, Sgt. Barbara White and Deputy Kwan Chow. All denied any wrongdoing and also said Robert Acciani did not influence any aspect of their work in the Rodriguez case.

Chow was exonerated of all allegations against him.

"We all were just trying to do our jobs," Chow said outside the courtroom.

Henderson testified he did not believe Rami Rodriguez's removal from his home was motivated by greed and that he would have taken action against the Accianis if he thought they did anything illegal.

Henderson and White are now retired.

Rodriguez maintained the members of the Sheriff's Department pursued a meritless criminal investigation against her after she won her husband's return. He died in August 2006 at age 66.

Full Article and Source:
Jury Awards $2.5M to Widow in False Elder Abuse Case

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Guardian System Flaws Allow For Exploitation

A nonpartisan federal report released in the fall warned of flaws in the guardianship system that leave vulnerable people open to exploitation similar to that detailed in a criminal complaint against an Appleton man accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients.

The report from the Government Accountability Board is the latest to raise a red flag about the system. A 2007 study released by U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, and Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., suggested improvements to safeguard people who rely on guardians, and a 2006 report by the AARP Public Policy Institute cautioned that checks on guardians were lax.

Jeffrey M. Schend, who owns the company Outagamie County hired to serve as guardian for 48 people, hasn't told investigators where about $500,000 went after disappearing from some clients' accounts. But there were signs Schend wasn't properly reporting financial transactions, including a $4,700 judgment Shawano County won against him in 2010 for his mishandling of a client's account.

Sylvia Rudek, a director of the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, says Wisconsin's system is weighted so heavily in favor of confidentiality that it prevents adequate oversight of guardians, who are hired mostly by counties after a court has determined a person cannot make safe and sound financial decisions. Most of the people represented by guardians are mentally ill, disabled or elderly.

Rudek said she ran into roadblock after roadblock after learning that a guardian had stolen more than $78,000 from her great-aunt, a Wisconsin resident. Though the guardian, Kathleen Simane, ultimately was sentenced to two years in prison on two theft convictions by a Rock County judge, Rudek said getting the case into the criminal justice system took Herculean efforts.

"We had no idea of what was going on," Rudek said. "I couldn't get any information."

In many states, she said, families can examine a guardian's books, but Wisconsin keeps those records sealed.

"The legislators will tell you the files are closed to protect the ward," she said, using a term often applied to a person represented by a guardian. "In reality, closed files protect the guardian team from oversight."

The report released in September by the federal Government Accountability Office backs up Rudek's contention that guardians are not properly supervised.

Full Article and Source:
Study: Guardian System Flaws Allow for Exploitation

See Also:
Read the GAO's (Government Accountability Office)report: GUARDIANSHIPS - Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect and Abuse of Seniors

Court Wants Proof of Jeffrey Schend's Inability to Pay Lawyer

'Guardianship Abuse'

Source:
KidnappingTheElderly

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Thought

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

It is a sad state of events when we learn that many disabled veterans are kept in miserable circumstances while under the control of a guardian, whether under the VA guardian program, or through our own state courts.









See:
NASGA: Veterans in Peril

HelpBringGaryHome

Instead of Helping, VA Trustee Program is Hurting, Families Say

CT Legislation Review

The 2011 Legislative Session is winding down and along the way a number of bills that could dramatically improve the care of elderly citizens while simultaneously decreasing the costs of that care are up for consideration.

The State Commission on Aging has taken a proactive stance on several bills among which is Senate Bill 1185: An Act Concerning State Payments to Nursing Homes and the Duties of Nursing Home Receivers.

Julia Evans Starr, Executive Director of the Commission on Aging commented during a public hearing on this bill that the Commission on Aging “the Long-Term Care Advisory Council and others have recommended this initiative as a key component to rebalancing our state’s long-term care system, while helping nursing homes maintain and retain financial viability.

“Rebalancing” our long-term care system means shifting the balance between the amount of people receiving services in institutions versus community settings. Currently, our state spends about 65% of its Medicaid long-term care dollars on institutional care, like nursing homes – about $1.6 billion annually. Our dollars stretch further when providing home- and community-based care: while only 35% of the dollars goes to community-based care, we serve 53% of the people that way.

According to Connecticut’s 2010 State Long-Term Care Plan, rebalancing the system will cost our state $900 million less in 2025 than leaving the balance as-is.

But, rebalancing is not just about dollars and cents. It’s about choice, independence, dignity – and the law.

Importantly, the experts indicate that if we achieve the rebalancing goals set in the state’s Long-Term Care Plan, we can actually reduce the number of nursing home beds we need in 2030 by 25%.

Full Article and Source:
Granny-Snatching: Legislation and Jail Time

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Huguette Clark's Will: Who Will Get Her Fortune?

The reclusive copper heiress died on Tuesday in the Manhattan hospital she's been calling home, leaving people to wonder about the fate of her estimated $500 million fortune.

With questions about her mental health and an ongoing investigation into the attorney and accountant that have been handling her affairs, the answer to the above question can mean the difference between a drawn out court battle and a quiet ending.
Huguette Clark came back into the limelight last year after media began inquiring about her self-imposed isolation. She had been living in different hospitals for years despite owning palatial homes and employing a staff of aides.

About six years ago, her family members, who had continued contact with the heiress, were cut off at the behest of her attorney, Wallace Bock, reports MSNBC. They were also denied access to her funeral on Thursday.

In light of such suspicious activity, Manhattan prosecutors have been investigating whether Bock and Clark's accountant have been mismanaging her affairs, notes The New York Times.

This investigation is incredibly important for the fate of Huguette Clark's will.

If a decedent is not competent--or lucid--at the time that a will is created, it is unenforceable. The same goes for when she is improperly influenced by third parties.

There is evidence that both of these things may have occurred with respect to Huguette Clark's will. In October, prosecutors found Clark to be "not lucid" and found evidence that she had donated millions of dollars to Wallace Bock and his family, which is considered unethical conduct for lawyers in most states.

Source:
Huguette Clark's Will: Who Will Get Her Fortune?

Senator Nelson's Bills on Way to Governor's Desk

Several bills authored by Senator Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, are on track to reach the governor's desk. The 82nd Regular Session of the Texas Legislature adjourns on May 30.

SB 221 strengthens protections against the exploitation of seniors and ensures that law enforcement is notified if a client's home may be left vacant due to the client being removed under a protective order.

SB 220 increases protections of wards in guardianship and make it easier for families to navigate the guardianship system. "These reforms will protect the civil liberties of persons who come under the state guardianship system and help family members understand and follow the process."

Full Article and Source:
Nelson's Bills on Way to Governor's Desk