"Fifth Third Bank, Co-Conspirators in the Probate Racket"

It’s a well-established fact that banks conspire with the crooked probate courts to loot estates and facilitate the looting thereof.

Such is the case with Fifth Third Bank in The Conservatorship of John Daniel Tate.
The atrocious and criminal conduct of this banking institution is an example of how our government has become corrupt within itself at a level never before in the history of the United States.

As the economy went south, Uncle Sam bailed out the banks, but where has he been for “we, the people”?

Fifth Third Bank continues to refuse Danny Tate access to the conservatorship account they housed from the illegal inception of the conservatorship even though they have had an Order from the 7th Circuit Court terminating the conservatorship on May 24, 2010, nunc pro tunc (the minute it rolled off the judge’s tongue).

They participated illegally in the fraudulent and hostile take over of Danny Tate’s account when David Eugene Tate showed up with a cooked DPOA (this is already well established) and allowed David Tate to proceed in cleaning out the accounts for his own use (we will start a series very soon specifically on David E. Tate and his illegal, deviant actions, for it will take a series to cover it all, and we will present the necessary documentation to substantiate every allegation).

Full Article and Source:
Fifth Third Bank, Co-Conspirators in the Probate Racket

Daughter Accused of Swindling Mother Out of Her Home

Leilani Luahiwa stands accused of swindling her own elderly mother out of house and home.

Luahiwa was in a Victorville courtroom where the judge entered a not guilty plea on the woman's behalf and appointed her a public defender.

The 52-year-old caregiver is charged with theft and elder abuse, both felonies. She is being held on $100,000 bail.

"The elder abuse would cover all aspects of that. It could be physical, emotional, and in this case it's financial crime," said the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's Susan Rose.

The suspect's son, who did not want to speak on camera, says his mother is being falsely accused.

Investigators say the elderly often fall victim to financial abuse either because of health-related issues or because of their lack of knowledge about financial matters. They advise the elderly to look over any documents before signing them.

Full Article and Source:
Woman Accused of Stealing Elderly Mom's Home

5 Years Probation in Scam

A QUEENS nursing home official was sentenced to five years’ probation Monday for trying to bilk an elderly patient of his $220,000 life savings with a bogus claim that she was his niece.

Jennifer Robinson, 37, pleaded guilty to a grand larceny charge in November.

Queens prosecutors say Robinson, the former social work director for the Long Island Care Center in Flushing, took advantage of Walter Witko, 85, when she realized he had no living relatives.

Witko, a retired music teacher, died in July 2010.

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5 Years Probation in Scam

Mary G. Sykes Speaks Her Mind

Gloria J Sykes and Mary G Sykes at a "visit" with mom, which was "allowed" by the Probate court--but only with a "supervisor" because allegedly Gloria is "dangerous" and her mother is "incompetent." (This is according to GAL's Adam Stern, attorney, and Cynthia Farenga, attorney.) Interestingly enough the voice in the background is Tom, an ordained minister providing comments and advice to Gloria and Mary.

Source:
YouTube: Mary G. Sykes Speaks Her Mind!

Watch Mary G Sykes speak her mind and what she wants done. Amazingly enough, she is supposed to be incompetent and her GAL's Adam Stern GAL and Cynthia Farenga GAL have conveniently arranged a guardianship where her desires are NOT being carried out. She wants to live at home and have her daughter Gloria care for her in Mary's home until she dies. Carolyn Toerpe had her execute a will where once Mary's home is sold the proceeds are put in Trust and Carolyn Toerpe takes it all upon Mary's death. Now Carolyn Toerpe has had Mary declared incompetent and is seeking to have both Mary's home and Gloria's home sold and the proceeds put in Carolyn's trust. All of this has been done under the authority of the Probate Court of Cook County and GAL's Cynthia Farenga Attorney and Adam Stern, Attorney. This proves that evil never sleeps.


Source:
YouTube: Mary G. Sykes Writes Letters for Help and Speaks Her Own Mind

See also:
MarySykes.com
Mary Sykes, Illinois Victim

Caregiver Charged With Bilking Facility Resident

A young caregiver was charged with stealing $16,547 from a senior she looked after Northlake.

Shardae M. Miller, 20, Bellwood, was charged with financial exploitation of the elderly Friday, said Andy Conklin of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office

On Sept. 30, a 79-year-old resident of Concord Place Retirement and Assisted Living, 401 W. Lake, filed a theft report with Northlake police.

Police allege that Miller, who works for a Skokie-based company, stole five blank checks, filled them out for $15,000 and created an account in her young son’s name. The remaining $1,547 she took electronically, police allege.

Financial exploitation of the elderly is a class one felony. If found guilty, Miller could serve four to 15 years in prison.

Full Article and Source:
Caregiver Charged With Bilking Northlake Retirement Home Resident

Overcoming the Heartbreaking and Emotional Drain of Condoned Law Guardian Abuse

How does someone overcome the heartbreaking and emotional drain of dealing with legally approved corruption? If there was a simple answer for that question, it is the need to raise awareness of an unsafe and unjust system. It has been awhile since my last article on this topic. Aside from the general busyness of the holiday season, I found myself exhausted on some unexplained level. The mere thought of having to discuss anything further about the final few years of Dorothy Wilson’s challenged life had a nauseating effect on me. There were many times when I would quietly ponder how anyone would allow another human being to be stripped of their rights; literally, figuratively and financially. This was even more troubling because Dorothy had more viable, loving and much happier options available to her.

You would think that considering all of the grief that Dorothy’s law guardian, Mary Giordano, caused both Dorothy and Diane; the only child fighting for her happiness; that when Mrs. Wilson passed into spirit that Mary would have stopped her nonsense. Instead, Diane, who was rightfully assigned as the executrix of the meager estate left after Mary Giordano was given free reign to financially plunder several hundred thousand dollars through a reverse mortgage and other ways, with the approval of Judge Joel Asarch, is still fighting for the pittance of money that was left. Mary Giordano has had no trouble forwarding the bills associated with the cost of maintaining Dorothy’s home and previous care. However, she has not released the funds to pay for it. All of her actions continue to highlight how unscrupulous, callous and greedy she is.

Full Article and Source:
Overcoming the Heartbreaking and Emotional Drain of Condoned Law Guardian Abuse

See Also:
The Heartbreaking Elevation of Guardian Abuse, Part IV

CA Realtor Accused of Stealing $302K From Elderly Victims While Promising to Help Them Flip Houses

John Wesley Martynec, 36, has denied stealing $302,000 from four men by promising to flip houses for them at a profit. According to prosecutors, he kept the money instead of investing it and produced fake, property records, investment summaries and tax forms to trick his clients.

Martynec, a Long Beach resident, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all 33 counts. He remains out of jail on $150,000 bail.

One victim realized some of the documentation Martynec was providing him was fake, according to prosecutors. Seal Beach police conducted an eight-month investigation into the case.

Martynec has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts each of grand theft and selling securities in issuer transaction without qualification, six felony counts each of untrue statements in connection with a purchase or sale of securities and the use of a scheme to defraud and five felony counts of financial exploitation of an elder, according to court records. Martynec also faces multiple sentencing enhancements and allegations including loss more than $100,000, property loss higher than $200,000 and aggravated white collar crime more than $100,000.

Full Article and Source:
Seal Beach Realtor Heads to Court on Dozens of Fraud Counts

Whistleblower Accuses Hospice Corp. of Medicare Fraud

A former Vitas Healthcare Corp. manager has accused the hospice chain of defrauding the federal government by conspiring with health insurers to enroll Medicare patients who weren’t dying.

Vitas, a unit of Cincinnati-based Chemed Corp. (CHE), is the largest U.S. provider of hospice care, which has attracted government scrutiny as its Medicare-covered patients have doubled to 1.1 million over the last decade.

Chemed fell 15 percent, the most since April 2008, to $49.10 at 10:37 a.m. in New York.

The allegations came in a lawsuit unsealed last week in U.S. District Court in Dallas. Vitas spokeswoman Kal Mistry said the company “cannot comment on pending litigation.”

In the same court, the Department of Justice is seeking internal Vitas documents in an investigation focused on alleged abuses of federal health-insurance programs. The government has told the court it suspects Vitas of “an extensive scheme” to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of “hundreds of millions of dollars” by falsifying records and hospice certifications.

Vitas has “consistently been in compliance with Medicare and Medicaid rules,” Mistry said.

The newly unsealed suit was filed by Michael Rehfeldt, a former branch manager for Vitas in San Antonio, who is seeking damages for the government as a whistleblower under the U.S. False Claims Act, which entitles him to part of any recoveries. Such claims are also called qui tam suits.

“False certifications, fraudulent billing and cost shifting to the United States constitute a widespread, systematic practice endemic to Vitas,” Rehfeldt’s suit alleges.

Full Article and Source:
Whistleblower Accuses Chemed Unit of Medicare HMO Conspiracy

Feds Investigage Hospice Fraud - a $14B Industry

Janet Stubbs was grateful when the nursing home recommended hospice care for her Aunt Midge. Although Stubbs knew that her aunt wasn't dying, the offer of free Medicare-paid hospice visits from a nurse and chaplain, plus an extra weekly bath, was too good to pass up.

Stubbs didn't know that her aunt, Doris Midge Appling, was admitted to Hospice Care of Kansas during the company's Summer Sizzle promotion drive, which paid employees as much as $100 a head for referrals, according to the Justice Department. Stubbs also said she had no clue that the nursing-home doctor who referred her aunt for hospice moonlighted as medical director for the hospice company.

Hospice care, once chiefly a charitable cause, has become a growth industry, with $14 billion in revenues, 1,800 for-profit providers and a base of Medicare-covered patients that doubled to 1.1 million from 2000 to 2009.

Compensation based on enrollment numbers, pay to nursing-home doctors who double as hospice medical directors and gifts to the nursing facilities have helped fuel the boom, according to an examination of 1,000 pages of court documents and interviews with more than 45 current and former hospice employees, patients and family members.
"They wanted us to admit, admit, admit," said Joyce White, a former marketer for Vitas Healthcare, the nation's largest hospice chain. "All of us competed against each other to make our numbers. You lived or died by your numbers."

Full Article and Source:
Feds Investigate Fraud in Hospice Care, Which has Ballooned into $14 Billion Industry

HHS: Penalize Drug Overuse

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should penalize physicians and nursing homes that continue to inappropriately prescribe and administer anti-psychotic medications to dementia residents, regulators have urged.

In Nov. 30 testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson proposed penalties for nursing homes that inappropriately administer antipsychotics.

“Overprescribed: The Human and Taxpayers' Costs of Anti-psychotics in Nursing Homes,” also included testimony from advocates and physicians who discussed alternatives to medication for at-risk residents.

Full Article and Source:
HHS: Penalize Drug Overuse

TN Lawyers Being Disciplined More Often for Theft

A harsh economic environment is being cited as the reason for a rise in the number of Tennessee lawyers disciplined for stealing or misusing client funds.

And some attorneys are taking money from clients and then closing shop without performing the legal services they were paid to do.

"Some lawyers are just abandoning their practices because they can't make their business model work, and they're not telling their clients and they're not telling the judges," said Nancy S. Jones, chief disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. The TBPR disciplines lawyers for ethical violations.

Jones said some lawyers, many of them sole practitioners who work on criminal or divorce cases, are having a hard time staying afloat because they aren't getting enough business. Many of them are dipping into their trust accounts — which contain monies such as court costs, expert witness fees and settlement disbursements — just to pay toward their business expenses and they are getting into trouble.

"I think that lawyers are not making enough money to pay their personal expenses, and they think 'I'll get the money, I'll put the money back, nobody will know about it and it will be fine,' and they just keep on doing it until they get in an overdraft situation and then we find out about it," Jones said. She compared it to a Ponzi scheme that eventually comes crashing down.

Full Article and Source:
TN Lawyers Being Disciplined More Often for Theft

Arizona Takes Down Online Probate Records

A newly imposed rule restricting electronic access to Maricopa County Probate Court records means that cases cannot be reviewed without physically going to the clerk of court's office.

The rule has raised concerns among many of those involved in probate court who say it prevents them from gaining access to their own cases or cases involving relatives. It also has some probate judges and lawyers calling on the state's highest court to lift the rule, which they described as inconvenient and problematic.

"Apparently these case records were previously provided online in violation of the rule," Presiding Maricopa County Probate Court Judge Rosa Mroz wrote in a December e-mail. "At this time, however, there is nothing we can do."

The rule, which prohibits the general public from accessing court records from so-called remote locations, including home and laptop computers, was established in 2009 and has been unenforced for almost two years.

The decision to limit electronic access was based in large part on concerns over identity theft, according to those who served on the Supreme Court advisory committee, which recomended the restriction in 2009.

Officials at the Arizona Supreme Court, which oversees operations of all state courts, said they didn't become aware that Maricopa County was making judicial orders and minute entries in probate cases available online until last month, when they ordered a halt to the practice.

Full Article and Source:
Probate Records Will Not Be Online

Kansas Nursing Facilities Guilty of Multiple Violations

Four Nursing homes in Kansas are among 81 that are being targeted for better care after they were cited with ten or more deficiencies for each of the home’s three most recent inspections. The four homes have over 10 deficiencies each, one even having 30. Some of the violations included cases that can cause actual harm and immediate jeopardy and/or deficiencies that can be classified as mistreatment of residents.

There has been a slow upward climb in the number of deficiencies that the nursing homes are experiencing. The amount of time between surveys at each nursing home has grown from 12 to 15 months over the past three years. After a federal mandate inspection surveys occur every 15 months in Kansas nursing homes to ensure that these elderly residents are provided with the care they deserve and that the nursing homes are upholding the standards set by the state and federal regulations. The inspection teams are made up of nurses who are employed by the Kansas Department of Aging.

Full Article and Source:
Nursing Homes in Kansas Guilty of Multiple Violations

Preliminary Hearing Set For Judge Tammy Bass-LeSure

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for an Oklahoma County judge who’s charged with fraud, perjury and conspiracy.

Charges were filed last year against District Judge Tammy Bass-LeSure, her husband, Karlos LeSure, and Ravonda Edwards.

The LeSures allegedly took state payments for foster children they adopted — but who allegedly lived with Edwards. Authorities say Edwards is the sister of Judge LeSure’s bailiff.

All deny wrongdoing.

Prosecutors have filed a list of more than 100 witnesses they may call if the case goes to trial. As many as 20 witnesses may testify at the preliminary hearing.

Full Article and Source:
Preliminary Hearing Set for Oklahoma County Judge

See Also:
OK County Judge Facing New Accusations

The Shame of Elder Abuse and the Silence of Washington

As we close the holiday season, we are reminded that one sad reality, elder abuse, takes no holiday. In fact, recent studies show that abuse of older adults, especially financial abuse, increases dramatically during the holiday season. Today, more than one in ten older adults will be victims of some form of elder abuse, with a collective loss of almost $3 billion a year.

Just before adjourning for the holiday, Congress passed a massive spending bill for the rest of this fiscal year. For the second year in a row, Congress failed to provide funding for the only comprehensive federal elder abuse prevention law -- the Elder Justice Act. This is both shameful and shortsighted. Less than two years ago, in a bi-partisan basis, Congress enacted the Elder Justice Act and signaled its recognition that elder abuse is a growing problem that requires a coordinated and comprehensive federal response to effectively combat it. This law simply authorizes funds. A second bill must be passed to actually put the law into action. President Obama asked Congress to provide $21.5 million in startup funds for the Elder Justice Act in his budget for 2012, and Congress ignored this request.

Full Article and Source:
The Shame of Elder Abuse and the Silence of Washington

Police: Caretaker Stole More Than $90K From 83 Year-Old

An Orlando woman was arrested Wednesday on charges of exploiting and defrauding an 83-year-old for whom she was caring, police said,.

Mary Archambault, 57, stole more than $90,000, said Sgt. Vince Ogburn, a police spokesman. She was arrested at her home on a warrant by officers from the department's fugitive unit.

Archambault was released from the Orange County Jail, where she was briefly held on charges of exploitation of the elderly, third-degree grand theft and scheme to defraud.

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Police: Caretaker Stole More Than $90,000 From 83-Year-Old