Cotter says most of the cases APS handles are self-neglect, "Over half the calls APS receives are for that specific reason. Usually they are just not able to take care of themselves anymore." In 2013, APS opened 542, self-neglect cases.
The Prosecuting Attorney's Office does not work with self-neglect cases, Cotter says APS or the victims family can work on stopping the abuse. He says they see a lot of financial exploitation cases, APS opened 257 cases last year.
"Quite frankly, it's easier," Cotter says. "It doesn't leave marks and the person may very well have been competent for so many years and then as they have gotten more elderly... the competency has kind of gone away a little bit."
Cotter says he prosecuted a man a few years ago for committing home improvement fraud on an elderly woman. The man was able to steal half a million dollars from this woman before her son called the police.
The penalty for financially exploiting someone for more than $10,000 or anyone over the age of 60-years-old is a class 6 felony and the abuser can face anywhere from six months to two and a half years in prison.
Full Article and Source:
Preventing Elder Abuse: Getting Back to the Golden Rule
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There are many other factors here, such as state intervention, permitting abuse, neglect and financial exploitation, otherwise known as guardianship - not in all cases, though.
So what's included in that "other" 10%?
According to Gail Nardi, then head of Adult Protective Services for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia, "only 20%" of adult abuse and neglect occurs in facilities.
Only 20%!
Also included in that 10 to 20% is abuse and neglect COMMITTED BY ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES.
Abuse and neglect such as the older lady, ironically a former APS worker, who was unceremoniously dumped into a filthy, dangerous Scott Schuett adult home for seven long months, in violation of a court order, at the behest of Virginia Beach Adult Protective Services and Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia.
This lady was not rescued from this awful facility until the court REMOVED Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia and the unethical guardian ad litem "for" this lady, the ubiquitous Colleen T. Dickerson, from the case. The case even dragged on for an extra month because Colleen T. Dickerson failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing! Of course, Dickerson claimed her failure to appear was a mistake, but naturually she had quite characteristically blown off phone calls and emails about the hearing. This lady's plight was so unimportant to "her" guardian ad litem that she did not even bother to show up for court!
The Virginia Beach City Attorney's Office, most notably the ever-corrupt Christianna Dougherty-Cunningham, went to extraordinary lengths to try to cheat this lady out of an honest attorney. However, Dougherty-Cunningham offered not a peep of protest when the lady was dumped in a Scott Schuett adult home.
The remaining 378 victims in Scott Schuett's five hellholes were not rescued until SEVENTEEN newspaper stories detailed the extreme mistreatment, abuse, and neglect they suffered for years. For the appalling details, please google Scott Schuett.
We keep hearing that these agencies need more funding, as if that is an excuse for doing the wrong thing. If we can make the elderly and disabled more safe, more clean, more healthy, more happy by eliminating your job, ladies and gentlemen, then we should save scarce public funds and do so, immediately.
So why is APS putting out false information: According to APS, approximately 90 percent of abusers of the elderly are family members.
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