Charlie Fink's Battle With the State of Texas is Over -- and He Won!

An elderly man taken against his will into state custody has won his legal battle and his freedom.

Charlie Fink, 85, left the nursing home on Friday where he had been in state custody since Feb. 26. The Department of Aging and Disability Services opted not to seek permanent guardianship of Fink after it evaluated him and reviewed his medical records.

A judge had already said he felt Fink could take care of himself.

Fink said he felt “like a million dollars” when he heard he won his battle against the state.

“Now I’m free, I ain’t coming back, I'm not coming back,” Fink said.

Fink’s case has been extensively covered by FOX4, revealing a system where independent elderly adults can be forced against their wishes into state guardianship with the state seizing control of their assets.

Fink had more than $1 million worth of assets.

Fink had been placed in a psych ward at Richardson Methodist Hospital after going in for hernia surgery in early February. Doctors were concerned he could not make good decisions concerning his health.

“Obviously we've had our ups and downs, but at the end we were able to get Charlie out and hopefully he'll be able to move on with his life and be able to continue the way he had before, but hopefully in a better way,” said Fink attorney Lysette Rios.

Source:
Elderly Man Wins Freedom After Battle With State

Nurse accused of stealing drugs from nursing home

BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. — A nurse is accused of taking advantage of her job and elderly patients to fuel her drug habit, authorities said.

Laura Morrow, 36, worked at a nursing home in Mount Washington for just a few days before the staff became suspicious and called authorities.

An investigation by the Bullitt County Drug Task Force revealed Morrow sought hydrocodone, oxycodone, and OxyContin, the sheriff’s department said.

“She just started as (a registered nurse in November),” said Lt. Mike Murdoch of the Bullitt County Sheriff's Office.

One week into the job, Morrow’s new bosses at Green Meadows Health Care were already suspicious, Murdoch said. New on the job and the facility, Morrow insisted on distributing pills to patients on her own, authorities said.

“She said she didn’t need anybody going with her – she’d done it before, she knew what she was doing – is what she stated to them so they didn’t follow her around,” Murdoch said. “And they started noticing discrepancies the next day.”

Morrow allegedly stole 26 dosages of narcotics in five days by forging the names of nine different nurses and pocketing drugs she claimed to have dispensed, Murdoch said.

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Nurse accused of stealing drugs from nursing home

Charges Filed Against Randolph County Judge in Reported Affair with Former Community Corrections Director

The West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission has charged a Randolph County circuit court judge with violating the code of judicial conduct in connection to an alleged affair with a former community corrections director for the county.

(Click here to read the Judicial Hearing Board's court filing) 

The commission cited Judge Jaymie Godwin Wilfong for violating four canons of the code of conduct including upholding the integrity and independence of the judiciary, avoiding impropriety and the appearance of impropriety, perform duties of the judicial office impartially and diligently, and conducting extra-judicial activities as to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial obligations.

The Judicial Hearing Board said it received five complaints regarding Wilfong's affair with former community corrections director William Travis Carter, including a self-report complaint from Wilfong herself.   Wilfong contacted the Judicial Investigation Commission on Oct. 14, 2013 about a romantic and sexual relationship between her and Carter, which spanned the previous two years. Carter resigned as the Community Corrections Director in Dec. 2013.  Other people who filed complaints about Wilfong's conduct include Wilfong's office staff and attorneys who work within the county.

"My relationship with William Travis Carter did not affect my work as a judge.  I did my job and I continue to do my job.  The Statement of Charges does not allege that my work on the bench was compromised by the relationship; it alleges that the appearance of the judicial system and its integrity were harmed and I admit that," said Wilfong in a formal response to the charges.

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Charges Filed Against Randolph County Judge in Reported Affair with Former Community Corrections Director

Florida Guardianship Ward, Marie Winkelman, Attends Holocaust Remembrance

We are deeply proud of our beloved Survivors and hope that you will cherish this article (Bradenton Herald, April 28, 2014, Page A1) and pass it along to all of your contacts!  Especially significant is the fact that the article features our dear Marie Winkelman, who was placed into an illegal guardianship in Sarasota County via a mediation agreement amongst multiple lawyers (without due process of law), through which she was made a Ward of the State of Florida. 

In truth, Marie is extremely bright and articulate, as we all  witnessed at the AL KATZ Center Yom HaShoah observance on April 27, when Marie was handed a microphone and extemporaneously gave a penetrating, emotive speech to the rapt audience.  Please note that Marie's continued fate in guardianship is before Manatee and Sarasota County Probate Judge Deno Economou on June 3, 2014. 

Please pray for her immediate release from state guardianship and the return of her freedom and dignity, which she feels she has lost due to the legal actions taken against her by her stepson-in-law, Robert Szychowski (of the Rutgers University administration), whose wife and sister-in-law are the primary beneficiaries of Marie's multi-million-dollar Trust (now controlled by the guardianship stipulated mediation agreement, signed by Attorneys Christopher Likens, Kim Bald, Barry Spivey, Gary Larsen [mediator], and Rebecca Proctor, without Marie's knowledge or consent).

~Beverly Newman

See Also:
NASGA:  Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim

El Paso lawyer Theresa Caballero wins in disciplinary matter before appeals court

AUSTIN - El Paso attorney Theresa Caballero's law license is headed for probation after she won a motion in the Eighth Court of Appeals.

A divided appellate panel on Wednesday granted Caballero's request for a writ of mandamus, which orders a judge to sign a disciplinary order he had refused to sign. The court ordered a visiting judge to sign an agreement putting Caballero's license on probation for nine months and charged her $1,000 in fees.

Two members of the three-justice panel ruled that the judge, George D. Gilles of Midland, did not have the discretion to reject a 2012 punishment agreement between Caballero and the State Bar of Texas' Commission for Lawyer Discipline.

Caballero and her co-counsel, Stuart Leeds, faced punishment stemming from their behavior in a 2011 trial in which their client, 448th District Judge Regina Arditti, was acquitted of bribery.

Caballero was accusing the judge, Steven Smith of College Station, of racism even before the trial started. In 2012, Caballero and Leeds were convicted of criminal contempt after a weeklong long trial of charges Smith filed against them.

During the Arditti trial, Caballero improperly accused the judge and the prosecutor of being in cahoots and she intentionally impeded the trial, the judge in the contempt case ruled. Caballero was fined $900, but the judge probated the fine.

Full Article & Source:
El Paso lawyer Theresa Caballero wins in disciplinary matter before appeals court

Palm Beach senior in Toronto ‘Glitter Girl’ exploitation case dies

Palm Beach Sheriff's Office Photo

The death of an elderly Palm Beach woman who was allegedly bilked out of millions of dollars by a once-prominent Toronto socialite “probably” won’t damage the police’s case, according to the Florida town’s top investigator.

Helga Marston, 92, died last week at her West Palm Beach retirement home, an employee confirmed to the Star. Police allege Nancy Tsai, one of the so-called “glitter girls” of Toronto’s high-society charity galas in the 1980s and 1990s, used money from Marston’s trust account to fuel her lavish lifestyle, purchasing a $170,000 Bentley and a $2.3 million penthouse suite, among other things. A doctor quoted in a police affidavit said Marston had “zero” mental capacity due to dementia when Tsai was making purchases with money from her account.

Tsai, 66, whose former name was Nancy Paul, is charged with exploiting an elderly person for more than $100,000, as well as grand theft of more than $50,000 from someone over 65. None of the allegations have been proved in court.

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Palm Beach senior in Toronto ‘Glitter Girl’ exploitation case dies

Maryland Family Loses Loved One; Inheritance Disappears

In June 2012, the Roberts hired an attorney to settle the $263,000 estate of his late father, William Roberts Sr.

"I just put my trust in him. He was a nice guy," William Roberts Jr. said.

The attorney, Charles Kountz seemed well respected. His office on Hollins Ferry Road in Baltimore County was convenient.

After Kountz paid the estate's debts, there was a balance of $235,000.

That huge chunk of money was to be split among William Roberts Jr. and four other heirs, but the Roberts said nearly two years later, they still didn't have their money. Kountz kept stalling and, in January, he died.

"Everyone got their money except when it came down to the people willed the money. There's nothing now," William Roberts Jr. said.

All the money is gone. That stunning news came in a letter from an attorney appointed by the court to close out Kountz's law practice. He said, "I am very sorry to have to advise you that there is no money in the estate to pay the amount to you or any other heirs." He suggested they get legal advice. First, they contacted him.

"I asked him where's it at. He said, 'I don't know.' I asked if it was stolen. He said, 'I presume yes, it is.' He said, 'If it's not there, it's stolen,'" William Roberts Jr. said.

So where did all that money go? Just one day after the estate account was opened, bank records indicate Kountz wrote a check to himself for $100,000, and he used it to settle someone else's estate.

Full Article and Source:
Family Loses Love One; Inheritance Disappears

Older American's Month Starts Today!

Palm Beach County Judge Barry M. Cohen reprimanded by Florida Supreme Court

 Palm Beach County Judge Barry Cohen stood Tuesday before the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee and received a harsh public reprimand for making various remarks that raised doubts about his impartiality on the bench.

The discipline came about 13 months after Cohen admitted violating five areas of the state code of conduct for judges, including always avoiding the appearance of impropriety.

“This should be a sad day for you,” Chief Justice Ricky Polston told a glum-faced Cohen, who previously said he regretted and apologized for his actions. “It is a sad day for us. But most importantly, this is a sad day for the entire judiciary.”

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which examines judicial misconduct claims, recommended the reprimand and no further sanctions, noting “despite Judge Cohen's statements, his rulings and decisions were not adversely affected.”

The independent agency’s investigative panel in October 2012 had filed formal charges against Cohen, charging him with using his position as a “bully pulpit” and undermining the role of a judge “as a neutral and detached magistrate.”

In a signed stipulation in March 2013, Cohen stated he merely wanted to “engage in a dialogue designed to improve the law and the administration of justice.”

The judge said he never intended to make it appear he was not impartial when he criticized the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office for its handling of several criminal cases, alleged racial profiling by police and racial bias in the justice system, and made published comments about the 2012 election for state attorney.

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Palm Beach County Judge Barry M. Cohen reprimanded by Florida Supreme Court

Oregon State Bar seeks non-lawyers for panels

 PORTLAND, Ore. -The Oregon State Bar is seeking public (i.e., non-lawyer) members for its Board of Governors, and several other committees and boards.

“As a public member, I strive to provide a bridge to the larger community that informs the critical work of the state bar,” said Audrey Matsumonji. “The issues, the people, and the work of this committee are both fascinating and impactful.”

Past public members on OSB committees have included leaders from the education, management, financial, law enforcement, business and medical professions. Applicants often express a personal interest in a strong and vital statewide judicial system.

 The OSB regulates the practice of law in Oregon, and provides numerous public services to enhance the state’s justice system, and to help the public understand and access the system.

Opportunities include one Board of Governors (BOG) position, as well as numerous other appointments to groups working on OSB governance and lawyer discipline.

Additionally, there are positions open on groups that work on issues such as increasing racial and ethnic minority participation in the legal profession, fee arbitration, professionalism in the legal community, work/life balance and legal services for the poor.

Application forms, due Thursday, July 3, and details about open positions are available at www.oregonstatebar.org, or at (503) 431-6426, or (800) 452-8260, ext. 426. The OSB is committed to serving and valuing its diverse population and ensuring that bar groups reflect the diversity of the membership and the community. Questions can be emailed to dedwards@osbar.org.  

Full Article & Source:
Oregon State Bar seeks non-lawyers for panels

103-Year-Old Woman Robbed by Man Posing as Meals on Wheels Worker

Police are looking for a man who pretended to be a Meals on Wheels employee and robbed a 103-year-old woman at her Upper West Side home.

The suspect somehow got past the lobby of the woman's West 94th Street apartment building and ended up at her door, on the 14th floor.

He posed as the worker and talked his way into her apartment, according to the Daily News.

He asked to use her restroom, and then took $250, according to the News.

Her 76-year-old son, Peter Rudko, said his mother is "pretty shaken up."

An 87-year-old neighbor told the News that the victim "is very strong. And very tough."

Full Article & Source:
103-Year-Old Woman Robbed by Man Posing as Meals on Wheels Worker

Florida Resident Sentenced in Connection with International Lottery Scheme That Defrauded Elderly Americans

Charmaine Anne King was sentenced today in connection with her role in a fraudulent international lottery scheme that targeted U.S. citizens, the Justice Department announced.  King was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami to serve 57 months in prison and 5 years supervised release.  A hearing on restitution has been scheduled for June 5, 2014.  King was convicted by a federal jury in Miami on Feb. 5, 2014, of one count of conspiracy, three counts of mail fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. 

King’s prosecution is part of the Department of Justice’s effort, working with federal and local law enforcement, to combat international lottery fraud schemes preying on American citizens.  According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Americans have lost tens of millions of dollars to fraudulent foreign lotteries. 

“The Justice Department will continue to hold criminals accountable for fraudulent lottery schemes,” said Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “This illegal conduct creates significant financial harm to people throughout the country, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute such crime, and bring those responsible to justice.” 

A federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment against King and co-conspirator Althea Angela Peart on Oct. 31, 2013.  Judge Moore adopted a report and recommendation accepting Peart’s guilty plea on Feb. 4, 2014, and on March 20, 2014, he sentenced Peart to 33 months’ incarceration.  As part of her plea agreement, Peart acknowledged that a co-conspirator, believed to be located in Canada, mailed letters to elderly victims in the United States falsely informing the victims that they had won more than a million dollars in a lottery.  These letters purported to be from an actual sweepstakes company in the United States.

“International lottery fraudsters have cheated Americans out of tens of millions of dollars,” said Wifredo Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  “In this particular scheme, the fraudsters convinced the victims to deposit counterfeit checks into their bank accounts in order to pay fees to collect their purported lottery winnings.  After the victims sent the money to King, the counterfeit cashier’s checks bounced and they lost their money.  Such fraud will not be tolerated.  Together with federal and local law enforcement, we are working to put an end to this type of scheme.” 

The evidence at King’s trial showed that a co-conspirator sent fraudulent lottery letters to the victims and included counterfeit cashier’s checks made out to the victims for thousands of dollars.  These letters instructed victims to call “claims agents” who were actually co-conspirators, and when the victims called the purported claims agents, the agents informed the victims that they had to pay several thousand dollars in fees in order to collect their purported lottery winnings.  The claims agents told the victims to deposit the cashier’s checks in the victims’ bank accounts in order to purportedly cover the money they had to pay.  The co-conspirators instructed the victims on how to send and wire this money to King and others.  The cashier’s checks that victims received from the fraudulent lottery had no value.  The evidence demonstrated that after the victims sent money to King, the counterfeit cashier’s checks bounced.  Victims never received any lottery winnings.

Evidence presented at trial showed that King kept a percentage of the money she received from victims and sent the rest of the money to a co-conspirator.  King continued to participate in this scheme even after the U.S. Postal Inspection Service verbally informed her that she was participating in unlawful activity, and after she later signed a Cease and Desist Order requiring that she stop receiving money from victims of fraud.  The order that King signed described the lottery related activity that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service explained was unlawful.

 

Assistant Attorney General Delery commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Director Jeffrey Steger and Trial Attorney Kathryn Drenning with the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Consumer Protection Branch.

Full Article & Source:
Florida Resident Sentenced in Connection with International Lottery Scheme That Defrauded Elderly Americans

Iowa Legislature OKs elder abuse bill

The Iowa Legislature on Tuesday wrote a definition for elder abuse into Iowa law for the first time and created a process for obtaining protective orders for vulnerable older persons who have suffered abuse or might suffer abuse.

Senate File 2239 was approved in the Senate on a 48-0 vote and then by the House on a 97-0 vote. It now goes to Gov. Terry Branstad for his signature.

Sen. Mary Jo Wilhelm, D-Cresco, described the bill as a "very, very important first step" in addressing elder abuse. The law defines elderly as age 60, which is consistent with the federal Older Americans Act.

Wilhelm said the civil protective order included in the legislation is one of the recommendations of an state task force on elder abuse that examined the issue for two years, Wilhelm said. She predicted Iowa lawmakers will continue work on the issue in the 2015 session.

In the House, sponsor Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, described the bill as a starting point for further discussion and perhaps more criminal penalties for elder abuse in subsequent legislative sessions.

Full Article & Source:
Iowa Legislature OKs elder abuse bill

Tennessean’s coverage of conservatorships honored

Investigative Reporters and Editors honored The Tennessean and investigations editor Walter F. Roche Jr. on Thursday for his 2013 reports, “Conservatorships in Tennessee.”

The organization recognized Roche’s articles, which examined practices and abuses involving court-appointed conservators, as finalists in its Print/Online — Medium category. Editors Deborah Fisher, Lisa Green and Scott Stroud also were named in the citation.

Full Article & Source:
Tennessean’s coverage of conservatorships honored

Casey Kasem's fans hold vigil outside hospital in honor of his 82 birthday

Fans of Casey Kasem, the host of American Top 40 and the original voice of Shaggy in Scooby-Doo, held a vigil in honor of his 82nd birthday on Sunday outside the hospital where Kasem is receiving care.

Casey is currently hospitalized and suffering from advanced Parkinson's disease in a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. His daughter Kerri Kasem, who, alongside her two siblings Mike and Julie, was denied a conservatorship of their father in November 2013, encouraged fans to attend the gathering in a Facebook post.

"I know this is short notice but it's my Dad's birthday this Sunday and we are having a birthday vigil for him from 6pm to 7pm outside of the convalescent home where he is being kept away from all who love him," she wrote on Saturday.

Kerri also encouraged fans who couldn't pay their respects during Sunday's vigil to commemorate the beloved radio personality on Twitter and Facebook.

Full Article & Source:
Casey Kasem's fans hold vigil outside hospital in honor of his 82 birthday

Detroit elderly woman refuses to leave rat-infested home

 

Maddie McFolley (pictured), who has lived in her Detroit home since 1958 is refusing to move out even though rats have invaded her living space by the droves. The 88-year-old grandmother, who has even turned a deaf ear to family member's pleas for her to abandon her now ramshackled home is prayerful, her rat infestation worries will soon be just a bad memory, as soon as the row of adjacent homes are demolished this summer reports Fox 2 News.

McFolley's rat woes intensified this past winter when the rodents voraciously chewed through her cement walls, feasted in her kitchen and even gnawed right through the wires in her stove. According to her unidentified granddaughter, the unwelcomed critters are such a menace, they have literally taken over her grandmother's home from top to bottom.

Family members have tried to help McFolley by visiting her home and getting rid of the dead rats that have created an unbearable and indescribable stench. McFolley herself has tried to strategically place poisonous traps throughout the home in an effort to minimize the problem but to no avail, as the vile visitors just seem to keep multiplying. However despite the infestation, McFolley is staying put, expressing to Fox News 2 how much she values her independence, "I don't have no choice, I love to be in my own place, my own home."

Full Article & Source:
Detroit elderly woman refuses to leave rat-infested home

Elderly Mineral Wells woman fights state for independence

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

The State of Texas is trying to get custody of an elderly woman, even though she says she wants to stay in her home.

The same thing happened to her sister three years ago, and people familiar with the way these cases work say the system is being abused.

Suzanne Foley, 85, wants her independence and says she has a right to stay in her own home with the help of a caregiver. However, Adult Protective Services wants her in a nursing home.

Foley suffers from Alzheimer's and dementia, according to her caregiver, Kathy Gilbreath.

But Gilbreath says Foley can still get around her house.

"She dresses herself every day," said Gilbreath. "She's a very independent woman."

Foley is from Switzerland, but her house in Mineral Wells has been her home for the past 20 years.

However, on Tuesday, a county judge in the town of Palo Pinto held a hearing, where the State of Texas asked to take over Foley's affairs and her sizeable bank account.

The judge closed the court to the public and now has issued a gag order, prohibiting the participants from discussing what happened.

The process is familiar to Virginia Pritchett, who was good friends with Denise Tighe, Foley's sister.

"This guardianship law is a big money grab," said Pritchett.

Full Article & Source:
Elderly Mineral Wells woman fights state for independence

Commission hears testimony, including from judge, on 2 complaints against Billings lawyer

A Billings lawyer with a track record of disciplinary problems and who is to be publicly censured next week by the Montana Supreme Court faced a state panel on two more misconduct complaints on Thursday.

During a daylong session, the state’s Commission on Practice heard evidence in two cases against Solomon Neuhardt, a personal injury lawyer, including testimony from state District Judge Gregory Todd of Billings.

Todd said as a judge, he had never filed an ethics complaint against an attorney until filing one last year against Neuhardt. The judge said he presided over a case in which Neuhardt represented a woman charged with felony criminal endangerment and drunken driving. The client had crashed her vehicle into a house in August 2012. The woman eventually pleaded guilty and was given a three-year deferred sentence.

Neuhardt was “making impossible legal arguments” in the case and refused to understand the law, the judge said.

“Some of it was the attitude and arrogance that Mr. Neuhardt declared in spite of weak or nonexistent legal arguments,” Todd said.

“I think Mr. Neuhardt was bilking his client,” the judge told the panel.

Attorneys for the state’s Office of Disciplinary Council, who investigated the two complaints against Neuhardt, recommended that Neuhardt be suspended for one year in the complaint filed by Todd and that he be disbarred in a second case. The second complaint alleged that Neuhardt mishandled money in two personal injury cases.

“Mr. Neuhardt has had a disgraceful legal career. Mr. Neuhardt should be disbarred,” Shaun Thompson, chief disciplinary counsel for the ODC, told the panel in the personal injury case.

Neuhardt, who represented himself, offered no defense in either case. He called no witnesses and gave no closing statements. However, he questioned some of ODC’s witnesses.

Neuhardt had no comment about the proceedings but said he has “other opportunities.”

Full Article & Source:
Commission hears testimony, including from judge, on 2 complaints against Billings lawyer

MUSIC & MEMORY

WASHBURN — A pair of Gouldian finches live inside an aviary at the Northern Lights Nursing Home and sing all day long. Recently 20 residents with dementia who are participating in a program called Memory & Music are also starting to sing.

A national program called Music & Memory has swept the nation, and Northern Lights Services, Inc.(NLS) in Washburn has been swept up into it. In September, NLS, a non-profit facility which includes a nursing home, assisted living apartments and a rehab center, was awarded a grant through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to become trained and certified in the Music & Memory program. The idea is to introduce personalized music to residents with dementia. DHS hopes to certify all 397 skilled nursing facilities in the state, but in this first round only 100 were selected out of 230 applicants.

In January, a package arrived at the Northern Lights Nursing Home. Inside were 15 iPod Shuffles, headphones and AC adapters; two headphone splitters and a set of external speakers; as well as a $150 iTunes gift card and technical assistance and support to launch the Music & Memory program — a package valued at over $2,000. After one and a-half months of implementing these new toys — loading iPods with personalized music for participants — the results are astounding.

“We’ve seen such a positive change in our residents,” said Jessica Porter, Director of Resident Life at Northern Lights and manager of the program, “so much so that staff is asking, ‘Do you have another iPod for this person?’”

Full Article & Source: 
MUSIC & MEMORY

Tonite on T.S. Radio: California probate corruption: Ernest Moore from the Justice Channel

Guest: Ernest Moore is a family therapist intern in the state of California and has worked in child protective services for Los Angeles County Children & Family Services. He is an investigative journalist and social justice activist in the Los Angeles area, he is the creator and host of the “Justice Channel” internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elm  and publishes commentaries and reports to his blog “The Justice Channel"

http://www.thejusticechannel.blogspot.com/.

Ernest Moore is currently in a college degree program for paralegal studies. Contacts for Ernest Moore:  tjc@corbettstudios.com

Ernest Moore is a victim of the Los Angeles Superior courts in the county of Los Angeles, California. He has been involved in a probate case with his family for almost 10 years. He has experienced the corruption of two judges that were presiding over his case Aviva K. Bobb and Michael I. Levanas, over the years. The Los Angeles probate court has done nothing to protect his family’s estate and has allowed the court appointed conservators and trustees to waste and steal almost $4,000,000.00 from his mother’s trusts.  This has caused financial hardships for his family and has torn his immediate family apart! Mr. Moore has reported this corruption to law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles as well as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for years. So far, nothing has been done to stop the corruption in the Los Angeles Superior Court Probate Department 11. The CA BAR as well as the CA Commission on Judicial Performance has refused to take any actions against the judges in his case as well as the corrupt court appointed attorney for his mother.

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

LISTEN TO THE SHOW LIVE or listen to the archive later

For Stone Phillips, a Focus on the Home Front

Former network news correspondent Stone Phillips, center, with his parents, Vic and Grace Phillips

Originally, Stone Phillips told me, he intended to shoot a kind of home movie.

His parents, after deliberating with their three children for a year, were about to leave their independent living apartment in St. Louis for a similar one in North Carolina, near their daughter’s home. She would supervise their care as their mother’s dementia progressed.

“I wanted to chronicle the move,” Mr. Phillips, 59, the former network news correspondent and anchor, told me. “And I wanted to capture her before the dementia became too advanced.”

So as Grace and Vic Phillips, then 88 and 92, began saying their goodbyes to their many local friends and neighbors, fellow church members, even that nice lady at the bank, their youngest child kept his camcorder rolling and asked lots of questions.

The elder Phillipses had lived in St. Louis for decades. She’d taught school; he’d been a chemical engineer at Monsanto. Leaving would be wrenching. “If that’s what you think is best, I’ll go with the program,” Grace Phillips says onscreen, bravely trying to conceal confusion and anxiety beneath relentless sunniness. “It’s going to be a whole new chapter.”

At this point, the handwriting had been on the wall for many months. She was already experiencing memory loss. Her husband, who no longer drove, would have had trouble taking care of her on his own. She’d recently taken one of his blood pressure medications by mistake, passed out and wound up at the hospital. Their children lived in North Carolina, Wisconsin and New York. It was time.

“Even as she reluctantly consented, it was kind of heartbreaking,” Mr. Phillips said. “It was difficult for them and for us; an unsettling process” — but one, he knew, that many families were experiencing. “The more the story unfolded, it occurred to me it could be shared.” His family consented.

The resulting documentary, “Moving With Grace,” has been shown by 20 public television stations around the country since its debut on the St. Louis affiliate almost a year ago. WNET in New York will air it on Sunday, April 20, at 7 p.m. KCTS in Seattle and KYVE in Yakima, Wash., will show it on May 11 — Mother’s Day — at 2 p.m. Distributed by American Public Television, it’s likely to pop up on other stations in coming months.

Full Article & Source:
For Stone Phillips, a Focus on the Home Front

Family Court Lawyer Sentenced To Prison

WILKES-BARRE — A former family court lawyer in Lackawanna County was sentenced Wednesday morning in federal court in Wilkes-Barre.

Danielle Ross was sentenced to 12 months in prison and must pay restitution of about $63,000.

In December 2013, she pleaded guilty to attempted tax evasion.

The former family court lawyer from Lackawanna County who pleaded guilty to federal tax charges will now spend a year behind bars.

She was greeted at federal court in Wilkes-Barre by protesters.

Danielle Ross of Jermyn was a guardian ad litem – an attorney for family court – in Lackawanna County until last year. That’s when federal prosecutors filed tax charges against her.

She’s now going to prison and owes tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

Full Article & Source:
Family Court Lawyer Sentenced To Prison
See Also:
Former PA Guardian ad Litem, Danielle Ross, Pleads Guilty to Tax Charge

Groups team up to fight crimes against elderly, disabled

Columbus police, advocates for people with disabilities and Central Ohio Crime Stoppers teamed up yesterday to announce an initiative to fight crime against two vulnerable groups.

Detective Gerald Milner said at a news conference that he investigated too many crimes against the elderly and people with disabilities when he worked in the Police Division’s forgery and fraud unit.

“It still bothers me,” he said. “Crimes against the elderly and handicapped are very special to me.”
Criminals take aim at those groups at substantially higher rates than the rest of the population, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics. Local statistics were not available.

Age and physical challenges can cause people to be perceived as easy marks, particularly when it comes to financial fraud. Fears of coming forward often keep the crimes hidden.

Full Article & Source:
Groups team up to fight crimes against elderly, disabled