I-Team Exclusive: Senior Says She Was Forced Into Nursing Home

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A prominent attorney and guardian plead guilty to stealing millions from her elderly clients. Now, a woman in a separate case says she too is a victim.

Eyewitness News’ Investigative Reporter, Charlotte Huffman talks to the senior citizen who says she had everything taken from her and is being forced to live in a nursing home.

“I don’t belong here. I want my life back,” said Helen Hugo, an 85 year-old who says she’s been held against her will in a New Jersey nursing home for more than three years.

Hugo says her visitors are turned away.

In order to hear Hugo’s story, the I-Team had to go inside Hugo’s nursing home undercover.

“(People) should be made aware this kind of thing is going on,” said Hugo.

Hugo’s story 

In 2011, Hugo says she was forced out of her apartment at a senior living center and into the nursing home.

She says her IRA was cashed out and her belongings were taken.

“I still haven’t found my jewelry,” said Hugo who has not returned home or seen her cat since she was taken from her apartment in Buena, NJ on July 19, 2011.

Hugo blames her then court-appointed guardian, Barbara Lieberman.

“She steals, she lies, she’s an evil person,” said Hugo.

Guardianship in New Jersey

By New Jersey law a guardian is the person who is given the legal right to be responsible for the decision making and financial management of a person who is determined to be incapable of making their own decisions.

The I-Team obtained documents showing Atlantic County deemed Hugo “a mentally incapacitated person” shortly after she was removed from her apartment.

But a psychiatric evaluation performed in September at the request of Hugo’s family showed no evidence of incapacitation.

Instead, the New Jersey board certified psychiatrist, Joel Glass, M.D. writes in his summary that he found Hugo “is fully competent to decide where she would like to live and to make financial decisions.”

In separate case, Lieberman pleads guilty to bilking other seniors 

Lieberman recently admitted to stealing millions from other seniors who she was supposed to be helping.

On November 3rd in front of Superior Court Judge Michael Donio, Lieberman pled guilty to one first-degree count of financial facilitation.

Back in March, the Atlantic County court-appointed guardian and prominent Northfield attorney who specialized in elder-law was arrested by New Jersey State Police and accused of conspiring with Jan Van Holt and two others to steal from their clients.

Jan Van Holt is the owner of an in-home senior care company, “A Better Choice” and is a former county case worker for Adult Protective Services.

Van Holt allegedly referred clients to Lieberman, and vice versa.

Authorities say the two forced seniors into nursing homes and stole more than $2.4 million from at least 10 victims, most of who have since died.

Lieberman and Van Holt allegedly used the money to pay off six-digit credit card bills and buy things like a BMW and a luxury condo in Florida.

“I’ve got the state’s charges here saying you forged a power of attorney, transferred money into your own bank accounts, even executed wills for the people so you could steal from them after they died. How do you sleep at night?” CBS3 Investigative Reporter, Charlotte Huffman asked Lieberman.

Lieberman would not answer Huffman’s questions. Instead, she hid from cameras and called security.

In exchange for her guilty plea, Lieberman, 62, faces a 10-year prison sentence and has forfeited $3 million for restitution. She will also be required to cooperate with the state by providing information and potentially testifying against the others alleged to be involved.

Van Holt faces pending charges of first-degree money laundering, second-degree conspiracy and second-degree theft by deception. She remains in jail unable to post her $300,000 full cash bail.

The others charged in connection are Van Holt’s sister, Sondra Steen, 59, of Linwood, who helped run “A Better Choice,” and Susan Hamlett, 55, of Egg Harbor Township, who worked for them as an aid for elderly clients. Both face pending charges of second-degree theft by deception.

The charges against Steen, Hamlett and Van Holt are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Because the charges are indictable offenses, they will be presented to a state grand jury for potential indictment.

Full Article & Source:
I-Team Exclusive: Senior Says She Was Forced Into Nursing Home