Elder Abuse Advocate Shelly Barnett

Part 1 Shelly Barnett talks with investigators about her time she had spent in 3 different skilled nursing facilities. Shelly has paralysis, Shelly is in a wheelchair. She was admitted into the hospital for pressure sores. Upon her release, she was sent to a skilled nursing facility. The story begins.....


Elder Abuse Advocate Shelly Barnett

Steve Miller: The Fate of Anna Marie Gaule

The fate of the late Anna Marie Gaule was the first published story in my historical record of local guardian abuse.

In 1999, I was visited by Thomas Gaule, Mrs. Gaule's only child and living relative. With him was a retired FBI Special Agent who was a friend of Anna Marie. The gentlemen showed me a photo (above) that had been taken a week earlier of Anna Marie who was then confined to a Las Vegas rest home under the court ordered guardianship of Jared E. Shafer, Clark County's elected Public Guardian at that time.

I had met Mrs. Gaule years earlier while I was a Las Vegas City Councilman, and was aware she owned several valuable commercial properties in my district. I knew she had worked hard all her life to acquire the properties and provide an inheritance for her only child who I later learned was caring for her during her final years as an Alzheimer's victim.

During our visit, Thomas told me that several months earlier, Anna Marie had wandered away from the home they shared, became lost, and was picked up by the police for her safety.

Jared E. Shafer

That's when Shafer was informed of Anna Marie's situation, and he immediately petitioned the Family Court for temporary legal custody of the woman - and her well healed estate. In response, Thomas enrolled in Shafer's then offered four week Guardian Course provided to family members for a $1,500 fee at the County Government Center. Thomas passed the course and received a Certificate of Completion. He then petitioned the Family Court for permanent custody of his mother.

Shafer and his attorney protested, saying Thomas was "unfit" to care for his mother based on the day she wandered away from her house and was picked up by the police. During the course which Shafer taught, Thomas was never informed that his instructor would interfere with his effort to help his mother. However, Thomas reported that Shafer did ask numerous questions about Anna Marrie's real estate holdings. The court sided with Shafer, and granted him permanent custody over Anna Marie and her estate. Shafer reportedly didn't take long before beginning to liquidate Mrs. Gaule's assets.

When Thomas and his mother's friend visited me with the shocking photo, I was told that they were trying to rescue her from what was obviously a life threatening situation. I asked if Thomas had informed Jared Shafer of Anna Marie's injuries? Thomas said that Shafer was aware of the extensive injuries, but reported that Anna Marie had "fallen down." Thomas then told me he believed his mother had been beaten at the hands of the Asian caretakers at the Tonopah Drive rest home he visited daily that was used by Shafer to house his wards. Thomas then asked if I wanted to meet his mom.

The three of us immediately drove to the rest home. We were greeted at the door by an Asian man who did not speak English. Thomas informed the man that we were there to visit Anna Marie Gaule. The man said "No No" and tried to shut the door. The retired FBI Agent pushed pass the man, and Thomas and I followed him inside the converted house. We went to Mrs. Gaule's room, she was not there. We proceeded to the patio where I took this photo of Anna Marie's facial injuries one week after they occurred. It appeared to me that her nose was broken, and her bruised arms and legs indicated something other than a fall had occurred. It was obvious that she had been beaten, though she could not recall or describe what had happened to her.

Full Article and Source:
The Fate of Anna Marie Gaule

Steve Miller: The Story of Elizabeth Indig

Clark County Court records indicate that April Parks' attorney, Lee A. Drizen, was representing a party in a lawsuit against the buyer at auction of Mrs. Indig's house, and should have informed Indig's guardian (Parks) and Indig's family that the house was being auctioned.

According to Clark County Family Court records:

"Parks took control of the Ward's residence at 43 Pangloss Street, Henderson, Nevada 89002 on June 20, 2013, the primary residence of the Ward. The house was in the name of the INDIG FAMILY TRUST. Parks first made a threatening telephone call to Elizabeth (Indig), then came to Elizabeth's home taking her keys to the property and mailbox, and threatening her with trespassing and prison should she (try to re-enter) the property. April Parks was dressed resembling a law enforcement official complete with badge, baton, and wide belt with many keys. Parks also ordered guards at the gate to not let Indig's daughter pass. Parks has already submitted evidence for reimbursement of payment to change the residence locks, and provided an Occupancy Verification to Wells Fargo Bank dated September 24, 2013 signed by her confirming Parks was in control of the residence thus substantiating that Parks controlled the Ward's residence.

Elizabeth's daughter informed Parks verbally on June 20, 2013 that the home and its contents were part of the Indig Family Trust, and that Parks had no jurisdiction or rights to the home and its contents. Parks told the daughter that the court decided that she, April Parks, as an Officer of the Court, was in control of her mother, the home and its contents. Parks again reinforced that she was in charge, and if the daughter interfered with Parks, she would go to prison and never see her mother again. Parks sold the contents of the Indig home between August 10 and August 11, 2013 in violation of NRS 159.113 and 159.1515 which requires notification and permission of the court to sell personal property. Parks did not request permission to sell the Ward's belongings from the court, nor did she inform the court there was a home belonging to the estate.

Parks acted in violation of NRS 159.083 in her negligence to perform her duties to protect and preserve the estate of the Ward. Parks should have been collecting the Ward's mail, and was negligent in NOT PAYING (emphasis added) the HOA fees on the residence. Parks has argued that she had no jurisdiction over the Trust and no responsibility for the home, yet her actions reveal her fraud in taking control of the residence. The past due (HOA fees) were not addressed by Parks which then resulted in the home being foreclosed on by the HOA and sold at auction on November 21, 2013 for $22,000. All of this was unknown to Mrs. Indig's family until August of 2014 when Parks filed the First Annual Accounting almost a year late. Had the First Annual Accounting been filed on time, Mrs. Indig's daughter would have had time to pay the back HOA fees thereby saving the home from foreclosure."

This is the second time April Parks has been reported impersonating a police officer when evicting elderly persons from their home. She was reported wearing such a costume and making similar threats at the time she "kidnapped" Rudy and Rennie North from their home. It was later learned that Parks is not an official "Officer of the Court," and had no right to inform vulnerable people she was acting on an order from the Clark County Family Court.

The Boulder City, Nevada Police Department has launched a criminal investigation into the actions of April Parks in relation to the Indig case (Parks is a Boulder City resident). Judge Steel has been informed of the possible fraud, but has not yet taken court action against Parks, possibly pending the outcome of the Boulder City investigation.

Source:
Steve Miller:  The Story of Elizabeth Indig

Show Your Kids Your Will if You Want Them to Inherit Your Wealth

NEW YORK (The Street) -- Some 56% of American parents have a will or living trust document, according to a new Caring.com survey, but 52% of adult children don’t know where their parents store their estate planning documents. That can jeopardize the appropriate allocation of assets to heirs.

"Being uninformed about documents or worse, not having them at all, can wreak havoc on a family’s emotional and financial well-being," said Andy Cohen, CEO of Caring.com.

That’s because incapacitation can happen over night or gradually overtime due to Alzheimer's, dementia or sudden disability.

"Accidents happen and illnesses befall us with little or no forewarning," said Martha Laham, author of The Con Game: A Failure of Trust (Lulu Publishing, 2014). "An aging parent should furnish formal instructions to loved ones to make surrogate decisions. If not, family members could be left in a quandary, which could lead to arguments or uncertainty over how best to handle a particular situation."

"Accidents happen and illnesses befall us with little or no forewarning," said Martha Laham, author of The Con Game: A Failure of Trust (Lulu Publishing, 2014). "An aging parent should furnish formal instructions to loved ones to make surrogate decisions. If not, family members could be left in a quandary, which could lead to arguments or uncertainty over how best to handle a particular situation."  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source:
Show Your Kids Your Will if You Want Them to Inherit Your Wealth

Trial begins for nursing home employees accused in death of patient who required ventilator

By FRANK ELTMAN 

May 5, 2015 — 8:45pm

 

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Five employees of a suburban New York nursing home are defending themselves against charges they disregarded alarms for more than two hours, leading to the death of a 72-year-old bedridden patient who was not connected to a ventilator.

Opening statements in the complicated double-jury trial began Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Riverhead, on eastern Long Island.

The five defendants are among nine workers at the Medford Multicare Center for Living Inc. charged in the October 2012 death of Aurelia Rios of Central Islip. Two of the nine have pleaded guilty, while two others are expected to face trial this summer. The corporate entity that runs the nursing home also is facing charges in the woman's death.

In the case of the remaining five, state Supreme Court Justice John Collins decided to conduct one trial to save time but have two separate juries hear testimony simultaneously. One jury is considering the case against Kethlie Joseph, a respiratory therapist accused of failing to connect a respirator to Rios and later ignoring pagers and other alarms indicating she was in distress.

The second jury is considering the case against four others — the director of respiratory therapy and three nurses — who are accused of falsifying business records and other charges stemming from the woman's death. All five have pleaded not guilty.

During her first opening statement in the case against Joseph, prosecutor Veronica MacDevitt said Joseph was charged with criminally negligent homicide for failing to ensure that Rios was connected to a ventilator. "It was the most basic and most fundamental aspect of her job," MacDevitt said. She added that later, when electronic monitors and other indicators showed that the patient was in distress, Joseph and others disregarded the alarms.

Defense attorney Jonathan Manley countered that Joseph had to care for 20 patients the night Rios died, and he questioned the effectiveness of a pager alarm system that he said went off constantly throughout the night for both serious and incidental problems.

"You hear an alarm every second of every day," Manley said. "A beeper is not a reliable indicator of a patient's health."

He added there was a nurse in Rios' room throughout the night, and that when Joseph was finally informed that there was a problem with the patient, she took immediate steps to get her the proper care.

"An alarm doesn't indicate a health problem, it indicates a mechanical failure," he said.

Later Tuesday, MacDevitt laid out the case against the four other employees before a separate jury. She said each in their own way either failed to respond to alarms indicating the patient was in distress or subsequently lied to investigators about Rios' death.

"Someone else's failure doesn't excuse their failures," MacDevitt said.

Although opening statements were conducted separately before each jury, the judge indicated that for the majority of the trial, both juries would hear testimony simultaneously. The trial, expected to last five to six weeks, is being held in a large courtroom in the Suffolk County Court complex. Although rare, other double-jury trials have been held in the county.

Hank Sheinkopf, a spokesman for the Medford facility, called the trial "a very complicated case. The facts will be presented to the judge. And we will prove that Medford's patient commitment was not lacking."

Among the expected expert witnesses is a Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist and host of HBO's "Autopsy." 

Full Article & Source:
Trial begins for nursing home employees accused in death of patient who required ventilator

Woman charged with exploitation of elderly

Sue Ellen Wilkes

The caretaker of an 82-year-old Grand Ridge man has been charged with exploitation of the elderly, accused of taking almost $6,000 from the alleged victim over time.

Sue Ellen Wilkes,45, was arrested by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. She listed as a resident of the victim’s home and as his caretaker.

The man’s nephew alerted authorities to suspicions that Wilkes had taken money from the victim, and an investigation ensued.

Officials described various scenarios in which the victim was missing money from his wallet and from his bank account. The investigation also speaks of alleged deception involving a money exchange between the victim and Wilkes.

The complaint concludes that, together, the alleged incidents added up to an approximate loss of $5,932 for the victim.

Full Article & Source: 
Woman charged with exploitation of elderly

Los Angeles psychic accused of swindling $220K from elderly Brevard County woman, deputies say

Anna Marie Adams

SHARPES, Fla. —A so-called psychic from Los Angeles has been hauled off to the Brevard County Jail after a woman there lost $220,000, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

The elderly victim said she believed Anna Marie Adams, 24, was her friend, deputies said.

Investigators said Adams promised that she could protect the victim’s health, help her communicate with her ex-husband and remove an evil magic spell from her children.

“They're very good at reading people. She saw some things from talking to the victim and thought she could gain confidence, and she realized she had some money,” said Brevard County sheriff’s spokesman Tod Goodyear.

Detectives said it all started when the elderly victim visited Adams, a married mother of four, in Los Angeles and got a psychic reading.

Soon afterward, the victim’s money started disappearing, deputies said. First it was a $30,000 check, then a $50,000 check and then another or $120,000.

Adams used the money to buy a $93,000 BMW 640i, police said.

She was later arrested in Los Angeles and extradited to the Brevard County Jail to face trial, since the checks were sent from Brevard County.

Adams is being held on a $350,000 bond.

Experts said signs of elderly exploitation include checks written to cash, transfer of assets to friends and unexplained changes to a will.


In this case, the victim’s husband noticed the large money transfers too late, which made it impossible to get any of the money back.

Full Article, Video & Source:
Los Angeles psychic accused of swindling $220K from elderly Brevard County woman, deputies say

Clark County Nevada Hearing Master Jon Horheim Continues to Rule on Cases

A nearly year-long Contact 13 Investigation has led to many changes in a system that was supposed to protect our most vulnerable citizens.

Chief Investigator Darcy Spears exposed how the guardianship system in Clark County's Family Court allowed private guardians to double-bill clients and drain their estates.

For years that activity was approved by one county employee who wasn't even a judge. Hearing Master Jon Norheim was responsible for nearly 9000 adult guardianship cases.

But after we exposed how he was making questionable decisions on the bench and failing to hold guardians accountable, all of those cases were taken away from him.

The adult guardianship caseload was assigned to Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel earlier this month. But Norheim is still on the bench. He continues to oversee guardianship cases for minors.There are nearly 7000 of those cases. And he's still deciding on just over a thousand "civil commitment" cases--where a court must determine if a person is mentally ill and needs to be placed in a facility.

The court says guardianship cases involving children have not come under fire the way adult cases have.

The entire system remains under review by a newly created state guardianship commission.

Source:
Guardianship Hearing Master Continues to Rule on Cases

Elder Abuse Growing into a National Crisis

Do you know what America's "dirty little secret" is? The hidden problem of elder abuse, according to the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL). Here's what you should know about this serious social problem.

Elder abuse isn't a new phenomenon.
 
But awareness of the problem is relatively new. One of the first public reports on elder abuse was published in a 1975 British Medical Journal paper, which described the occurrence of "granny battering" or "granny bashing."

By the mid-1970s, America had awakened to reports and articles on battered and abandoned elders that were documented in professional literature. The initial response to these reports was disbelief and denial, which turned into public outrage as soon as elder abuse stories hit the mainstream media.
Elder laws and definitions can vary widely.
 
Each state has created statutory laws that address elder abuse, neglect and exploitation. These statutes can differ greatly.

Defining elder abuse would seem straightforward, but it's not. The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) states that definitions vary, the problem is mostly concealed, and what actions or inactions constitute abuse are hard to pin down.

In broad terms, elder abuse can be defined as "any knowing, intentional, or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult."

Elder abuse is a complex problem. 

The NCEA provides general categories of elder abuse. Domestic elder abuse is mistreatment toward an elder by a person in a trust relationship with him or her in a home setting, whereas institutional elder abuse is committed by a person who has a legal or contractual obligation to him or her in a residential setting.

Seven types of elder abuse are physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, neglect, abandonment, financial and material exploitation and self-neglect.

America's growing elderly population is a contributing factor.

The older population is expected to rapidly grow between 2010 and 2050. U.S. Census Bureau data show that the number of seniors aged 65 and over will double, from 44.7 million in 2013 to 88.5 million in 2050. With the projected growth in the elderly population, the prevalence and incidence of elder abuse will likely increase.

Elder neglect is the most common type of abuse.

In a domestic setting, neglect is the most common type of abuse (55%), followed by physical abuse (14.6%), financial and material exploitation (12.3 percent), emotional abuse (7.7 %), sexual abuse (less than 1 percent), and other types of abuse (6.1 percent), as reported by the NCEA.

The extent of the elder abuse problem is largely unknown. 

No one knows how many older Americans are victims of elder abuse. A conservative estimate says that every year about 2.1 million older Americans are victims of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

For every one elder abuse case reported to the authorities, roughly five go unreported, according to NCEA prevalence data.

The number one risk factor for elder abuse is vulnerability. 

Vulnerable older people are susceptible to the abusive behaviors of people who hold negative views toward elders.

Other risk factors for elder abuse and neglect include dementia and cognitive impairment, transgenerational violence, personal and financial problems of the abuser, and environmental conditions.

Elder abuse is usually perpetrated by someone the victim knows and trusts. 

Family members were the perpetrators in about 90% of cases of domestic elder abuse and neglect, according to The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study.

Adult children are most often the perpetrators of elder abuse, followed by other family members and spouses, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). Forty-two percent of murder victims over 60 were killed by their offspring, while 24 percent were killed by their spouses, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report.

Elder financial abuse can be just as devastating as other forms of abuse. 

The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse revealed that older victims of financial exploitation lose about $2.9 billion annually.

Study findings also showed that about 60% of perpetrators of financial crimes against the elderly are males aged 30 to 59.

The same study found that women were twice as likely to be victims of elder financial abuse, as compared to men. Most victims were aged 80 to 89, lived alone, and depended on others for medical or financial assistance.

Gender matters in the calculus of elder abuse. 

Women are at greater risk to become an elder abuse victim during their lifetime, according to The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study.

Study results also found that women were the victims in 76.3% of cases of emotional or psychological abuse, 71.4 of physical abuse, 63% of financial/material exploitation, and 60% of neglect. Men were the majority of victims (62.2%) of abandonment.

Community-based organizations are available to assist victims and their families.

Should you suspect that a family member or a relative is being neglected, abused, or exploited, your first call should be made to Adult Protective Services (APS).

Other state resources to go for help include Area Agencies on Aging, Long-Term Care Ombudsman, law enforcement, legal services, and domestic violence programs.

Preventing and combating elder abuse is everyone's responsibility. We can all do our part to create healthy and safe community environments for our elderly loved ones, relatives, neighbors, and friends.

Full Article & Source:
Elder Abuse Growing into a National Crisis

Glen Campbell Music Lawsuit

Travis Campbell, son of Billie Jean and Glen Campbell and the other shareholders in Glen Campbell Music prevailed in a Los Angeles Superior Court. The Judge required that Glen Campbell's longtime business manager "Stan Schneider and Glen's 4th wife "Kimberly Woolen Campbell" to pay back shareholders, and beneficiaries of the Billie Jean Campbell Trust for what they should have but did not receive.

The Country Music Singer Glen Campbell did not have knowledge of how his business manager "Schneider" and current wife attempted to perpetrate a fraud against the shareholders who owned 40 percent of Glen Music. Document searches at the CA Secretary of State shows that Glen Campbell Music was closed and then reopened as Glen Campbell Enterprises and other companies. This left the other shareholders trying to figure out what happened. While under oath, in depositions Stan Schneider stated, "I made an honest mistake".

During settlement negotiations, Glen's current wife became irate while speaking on the phone to her attorney: trying to avoid paying the amount she and Schneider owed/embezzled from the heirs and shareholders of Glen Campbell's deceased wife Billie Jean Campbell. The deception went back over a ten-year period.

The Judge upheld the 1976 ruling where Billie Jean Campbell, Glen Campbell's wife of eighteen years; the woman that caused him to have superstar status was entitled to forty percent ownership in the Glen Campbell Company (as was stated in their divorce documents). Billie Jean remained a business partner and shareholder in Glen Campbell Music, and or name and likeness.

Billie Jean Campbell died in 1993. At that time, her property, assets, and shares in Glen Campbell Music began disappearing, even though she had a trusts managed by trustees. This was more than a current wife not wanting to give money to an x-wife. Here, Billie Jean Campbell had a court ordered divorce settlement; this was fraud, Billie Jean was a 40 percent shareholder.

This is about corporate fraud. It is about embezzling stock and shareholders money. This is a crime similar to Enron fraud and the Bernie Madoff swindle. This was an attempt to defraud shareholders and perpetrate fraud against the deceased and the heirs of her estate. It seems that business managers, trustees and the fourth wife just decided to forget about the shareholders and use the company as their own personal bank account.

This is what happened with Billie Jean Campbell. They defrauded her out of what was rightfully hers. There were not periodic accounting audits and reports to shareholders. In fact, it seems like there was not an accounting of the trust financials for years. Stan Schneider ignored letters from Billie Jean’s shareholders and rarely returned phone calls. They ignored emails, faxes, and certified letters.

After years of attempting to obtain information, lawyers were hired. Then it took several more years to cause Glen Campbell’s business manager Stan Schneider to be deposed. On at least twelve occasions, Stan Schneider attempted to avoid personal contact with attorneys by sending letters, stating that he had nothing to do with Glen Campbell. Three days after one such letter, Mr Schneider was at the Grammy awards with Glen’s wife Kimberly Woolen Campbell.

Mr Schneider said that he did not do any of Glen Campbell's bookkeeping yet he signed checks written on Glen and Kimberly’s account.

Questions
If we could, we would ask Mr. Schneider and Ms. Kimberly Campbell what happened to Billie Jean Campbell’s money and assets.
How did your names get on Billie Jean’s Campbells trust and move assets into your own personal accounts?
What happened to the Murdock building?
What happened to the Alan Jackson Money
Where is the 1.4 billion dollars from sale of the Oakwood property?
Why, Mr Schneider did you not want to provide that information?
Why did you repeatedly claim that you had no dealing with Kimberly Woolen Campbell, but in court, the two of you were attempting to make settlements to avoid any further forensic investigating or accountings?
After realizing that you have stockholders who were not paid, what did you do to rectify the situation?
“When were Billie Jean’s shares transferred to the Schneider Family Trust?

Billie Jean Campbell took precautions by trying to have a rock solid Trust to protect her assets and to insure her last wishes were met. Billie Jean Campbell wanted 20 percent of her monies to go to charity: to help people. She wanted to give back for the blessed life she and her husband Glen Campbell had achieved. Nothing has gone to charity.

Kimberly Woolen Campbell put Glen Campbell on a farewell tour. She took away everything familiar to him. This was a last ditch attempt to make as much money as possible from final concerts. First, the fourth wife Kimberly Woolen Campbell fired Glen’s band of 30 years and fired Glen’s best friend and daughter Debby Campbell. Debby worked with her dad for twenty-eight years. Now, Kimberly Woolen Campbell will not allow Debby to see her father.

Instead, Kimberly Woolen Campbell puts Glen Campbell into a nursing home and tells the public that he is sicker than he really is. She isolates him from the rest of the world. The desired result is fans buy more tickets and more CD's, and she makes more money. It is really a shame. This is exploitation, and elder abuse.

Source:
BillieJeanCampbell.com

See Also:
Glen Campbell Moved Into Care Facility
FB:  Help Glen Campbell

White House Conference on Aging or a Summit on Seniors?

The White House has announced it will hold its White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) on July 13th. This event is held once every decade, as initially mandated by Congress in 1965.

Fifty years in, what's new? If you have a look at the WHCOA website, it doesn't seem like much. Take this headline as evidence: "2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act, as well as the 80th anniversary of Social Security."

Apart from celebrating institutional endurance, the WHCOA sees itself as "an opportunity to... look ahead to the issues that will help shape the landscape for older Americans for the next decade."

This is an antiquated approach that will not lead to the innovations and policy changes needed in order to turn 21st century longevity into a social and economic opportunity for all Americans as we age. Not just older Americans. In fact, if the White House is serious about several of its clearly critical themes -- take elder abuse, for example -- it will use the unique symbol of a once a decade event on aging to debunk the myths and stigma of aging and in the course give stronger and more powerful voice precisely to topics like elder abuse.  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source:
White House Conference on Aging or a Summit on Seniors?

Gina's Story of Alleged Abuse in a Skilled Nursing Facility

On June 15, 2015, Gina called into TS Radio, Host Marti Oakley & Debbie Dahmer on World Elder Abuse Awareness day. Gina is in a skilled nursing facility. Gina alleges neglect, verbal abuse ,threats, intimidation and she alleges she also has witness a rape, suicide, neglect, resident choking, within this skilled nursing Facility. On June 16, 2015, Investigators Gilgan and Falk interview Gina in East Los Angles, CA. Investigation ongoing. Special Thanks to Elder Advocate Marisa Conover, Carole Herman, Foundation Aiding the Elderly, and TS Radio, Marti Oakley, Debbie Dahmer.

 Source:
Gina's Story of Alleged Abuse in a Skilled Nursing Facility

See Also:
Tonight on a Special T.S. Radio:  World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

New Family Court Judge Puts Immediate Stop To Elder Abuse And Exploitation By For-Hire "Guardians" Jared Shafer And April Parks

After a barrage of shocking news articles by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, KTNV TV Contact 13, and The Vegas Voice, Clark County Board of Commissioners Chairman Steve Sisolak scheduled a special hearing to discuss the futures of Family Court Judge Charles Hoskin and his Hearing Master, former mob lawyer Jon Norheim.

Both Hoskin and Norheim refused to attend the April 21, 2015 hearing, but Clark County Chief District Court Judge David Barker, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Abuse and Neglect Detail Lieutenant James Weiskopf did attend, along with a number of family members of abused or exploited senior citizens, and a battery of reporters.

Before the hearing ended, at least three members of the seven member Board of Commissioners had heard enough about court approved financial bilking and physical abuse of wealthy elderly or disabled residents of Southern Nevada, and voiced their opinions that Hoskin and Norheim should be prohibited from presiding over any further guardianship cases.

With the Commission's blessing, Judge Barker went to work the following day, and on May 21, announced the ouster of Hoskin and Norheim, and the appointment of veteran District Court Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel to hear all of their once scheduled guardianship cases beginning on June 1. (Unfortunately, both Hoskin and Norheim are still employed by the Family Court system, and can hear cases unrelated to guardianship.)

Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel

On June 1, Judge Steel, for the first time in Family Court history, carefully listened to pleas of family members of exploited seniors. She did so over the objections of expensive lawyers who work for the professional guardians at the expense of their court appointed "wards." To the delight of court observers, heads began to roll.

The first for-hire guardian to be removed from two exploitative guardianships was April Parks, an often appointed professional guardian with no formal training.

In late May, the police opened an investigation of Parks for criminal exploitation of the elderly.

Full Article and Source:
Inside Vegas: New Family Court Judge Puts Immediate Stop To Elder Abuse And Exploitation By For-Hire"Guardians" Jared Shafer And April Parks

April Parks

Attorney: Dothan lawyer guilty of bad accounting, not theft

Deborah Seagle Jordan

Prosecutors in the trial of a former Dothan attorney charged with stealing money from a trust account meant for a client told jurors Monday the case is simple.

Deborah Seagle Jordan received a $25,000 settlement check from an insurance company meant for one of her clients. The client never received a penny. Jordan is responsible for the trust account and must, under state bar rules, account for every withdrawal. No money remains in the account.

Jordan’s attorney, Chris Williams, said his client is guilty of nothing more than poor accounting and bad office management.

Messy books? Yes. Bad hiring choices? Yes. Theft? No.

Further, Williams claims Jordan handled multiple cases for the client and her family and that the money in the trust account was due her for attorney fees and expenses.

“Dollar for dollar (Jordan) got the money she was due over time,” Williams said.

A jury of eight women and six men (accounting for two alternates) were seated Monday morning at the Houston County Courthouse. Jordan is charged with first degree theft of property, a Class B felony punishable by between two and 20 years in prison.

According to opening statements from assistant district attorney Banks Smith and initial testimony in the trial Monday, the state asserts the following happened:

» Houston County resident Patsy Todd retained Jordan in 2011 to represent her in an automobile accident case. The case eventually settled for $25,000.

» Todd died in February of 2012. Her daughter, Shannon Farr, is the legal heir to the Todd estate.

» On Feb. 8, 2012, Alfa Insurance writes a check to the Todd estate and to Jordan’s law office for $25,000. The funds are placed in a trust account the next day.

» One week later, all of the fund were gone from the account and none had been paid to Farr.

» After repeated attempts to learn about the state of the trust fund from Jordan, Farr retained Dothan attorney Laura Wells to handle the matter.

» Wells said she spent three months trying to obtain the Todd estate file from Jordan, with no success. In August of 2012, she contacted the Alabama Bar Association.

» The Bar Association initiated an investigation and determined that no funds were ever paid to Farr and little, if any, documentation was provided by Jordan to justify the withdrawals from the account.

“None of it went to Ms. Farr,” Smith said. “None of it can be accounted for. The money is gone.”

» The Dothan Police Department also initiated an investigation and later arrested Jordan in November of 2012 and charged her with first degree theft of property.

Williams, during opening statements, said the state’s account “missed the big picture of the story.”

According to Williams, Jordan inherited her father’s law practice when it was in a state of disarray, hired an office manager who performed poorly and was going through stressful personal issues during the time in question.

Williams also said Jordan handled at least two other cases for the family and that any money taken from the account could be considered payment for work done.

“There was no criminal intent,” Williams said. “She had no guilty mind.”

Testimony continues Monday afternoon and Tuesday.

Full Article & Source: 
Attorney: Dothan lawyer guilty of bad accounting, not theft

One Year Gone: Metro Detroit Man Loses a Year Trapped in System; Highlights Potential for Abuse of Michigan Guardianship Laws

(Press Release)
 FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., June 12, 2015 – Tom Nithyanand has lost a year of his life he will never get back, trapped in Michigan’s guardianship system and leaving his family asking one big, simple question: why?

Consider: the 21-year-old Tom Nithyanand recently completed a test through his school called the Career Assessment Inventory and scored “very high” for jobs that value artistic characteristics and enterprising tendencies.

What’s more, Tom has spent about 1,500 hours at home since December without incident.

Both the career assessment and time spent home are important because they contradict the picture painted of Tom by those seemingly intent on keeping him trapped in a system the family feels has mostly failed Tom and delayed his recovery at least one year.

But a few good things have come from Tom being trapped.

“First, what’s happened in the last year has drawn our family and friends closer than ever,” says Anand Sadashivan. “And Tom has been tested in ways – and successfully endured – many things that would push the limits of a lot of people without injuries.”

And there’s one more thing: After learning how Michigan’s guardianship system can so negatively impact an individual and everyone that person is close to, Tom and his family are intent on bringing attention to the need to change Michigan’s system for the better.

Similar changes have already been undertaken or are being considered in Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

But perhaps change is needed nowhere more than in Michigan, where that state’s no-fault insurance law provides unlimited funding for victims of catastrophic accidents like Tom’s – effectively giving guardians a blank check from an unlimited source without checks-and-balances in place to make sure abuse is avoided.


Promises Broken
Tom Nithyanand lives in Farmington Hills, Mich. with his father (Anand), step-mother, and toddler sister.

On June 26, 2010, Tom, then 17, was walking home from a friend’s house and struck by a car. The injuries sustained confined him to hospitals for several months, but by the end of 2010 he was home recovering with his family.

Anand, a management analyst, dedicated his life to making sure his son recovered – taking him to physical, speech, and occupational therapy appointments throughout metro Detroit.

Typical of such accidents, the family received an insurance settlement through the driver of the vehicle that hit Tom. The family does not wish to discuss the amount.

Until early 2014 – and as Anand dealt with filing the proper paperwork relating to his immigration status in the U.S. – the money was held by the family’s attorney who had been dealing with court proceedings relating directly to the accident.

Anand is not a U.S. citizen. As a result, the family sought out a court-appointed co-guardian/conservator to legally manage the insurance money Tom received from his near-death experience.

Upon recommendation, Anand met with Steve (Steven) Siporin who – along with disclosing he had about 140 wards – promised to help the family. The idea, Anand says, was that everyone would work together for the benefit of Tom’s continued recovery.

Siporin met with Anand and Tom two times before being appointed co-guardian (with Anand)/conservator by the court in early 2014. He ensured them he would work with them and foster Tom’s continued recovery – take good care of him and manage the situation.

One day last June, Tom and Anand got into a verbal argument over spending money for an evening Tom had planned with friends – a typical argument for young adults and parents.

Tom mentioned the yelling argument to his case manager who was working close with Siporin, still co-guardian at the time. Full five days later representatives of Siporin showed up with court authorization that made him temporary full guardian and authorized him to rip Tom away from his home and take him to Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills, Mich.

On July 23, Siporin managed to convince the court he should be sole guardian of Tom – cutting Tom’s father out of any decisions relating to Tom’s medical and financial activities.

The only legal recourse for Tom and family – immigrants from India with zero legal experience or knowledge of probate court – was to petition the Oakland County Probate Court to remove Siporin as guardian. The family’s former attorney – Jeffrey A. Green – quit just weeks before the petition was to be considered in court, leaving Tom’s family with no choice but to withdraw the petition on May 4 – for now.

“To give you an idea of what we face, consider what Mr. Siporin said to me in the hallways of the Oakland County courthouse that day,” says Anand. “I asked him to work with me on getting Tom to come home for good – he said it was not possible to work with me as I have said a lot of things about him.’”

One Year Gone
Between July and December 2014, Tom could not leave Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills. The out-patient therapies he enjoyed and seemed to help his recovery – like art and music therapy – were cut off by Siporin.

At the same time, he had to endure indignities. For example, there was a time when the bathroom near his room was being redone and dust was filling Tom’s room. Anand bought his son  a mask. The solution by staff was to tape a piece of paper over an air duct.

“Yet, he somehow doesn’t let it get to him,” says Anand. “He comes home, talks about it, and we look to the future and a day when this wrong is corrected.”

Tom has spent a few week-long holidays away from Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills and goes home on weekends. Since he started being allowed to go home for brief periods, Anand estimates Tom has been home about 1,500 hours. Tom’s family has not asked for one cent to care and provide for their son.

Despite that, Anand says much of the legal focus on the part of Siporin against the family seems to be on any money that the family would be due through taking care of Tom – with the continual insinuation that the family somehow doesn’t have rights to the money they are entitled to through Michigan’s no-fault insurance law, which provides for unlimited funding for the care of those who endure catastrophic injuries.

Yet for everyday that Tom remains a ward of Siporin through the guardianship, Siporin and everyone else associated with Tom’s case – including some who have recently been in bankruptcy, according to court records – get paid.

It appears that the only way such cases get attention is when insurance companies pay closer attention.

State Farm, for example, filed a suit in March against a group of defendants working together to bilk the system for what it alleges are, among other things, unnecessary treatments.

Unlike Tom’s case, it is unknown if anyone related to these two cases have had documented financial issues, such as bankruptcy.

“When I look at how well Tom does on everything from computer research to his recent Career Assessment Inventory, it does raise the question of what services are unnecessary in Tom’s case,” says Anand. “However, as someone who is not an expert in the field, all I can do is give the insurance company involved in Tom’s case a head’s up and let them figure it out.”

Not hard to figure out, however, is the extent to which Siporin will go to keep Tom in the system, especially when it comes to Tom’s family. Among other actions, Siporin has:

• Asked Oakland County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Ryan for a ruling that would have prevented Anand from re-petitioning the court to remove Siporin as guardian.
• Last July, court transcripts show that Siporin told Judge Ryan – under oath – that Tom’s attendance record at school before being taken away was 20 percent. Anand has documentation that the attendance rate was 68 percent.
• Accused Anand of being an alcoholic, despite no evidence other than a letter dated April 2015 from the director of Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills alleging to recall a 2010 incident – a full five years ago – in which she thought she smelled alcohol on Anand’s breath.
• Accused Anand of “allegedly” being abusive, relying on the verbal spat over spending money from a year ago as proof.
• Accused Anand of illegally having a Michigan driver’s license and telling Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills that he could not pick up and drop off his son because his license is invalid, effectively giving himself the power of Michigan’s Secretary of State.
• Accused Tom’s family of using Tom’s injury as a money grab and way to earn a living.

“Since December, Tom has spent about 1,500 hours with us here at home and we have yet to ask for one single dime from the insurance company,” says Anand. “So I ask you, who does it seem like is really using Tom as a money grab?”

School’s Out, But Tom is Not…
Tom is done with school for the year. He did well in both school and on the Career Assessment Inventory. Again, there have been no issues during the nearly 2,000 hours he’s spent at home on weekends and holidays since December 2014.

His daily schedule for the summer – during the roughly 100 hours a week he must spend at Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills – has him in physical, occupational, speech therapy about two hours a day.

That means the majority of Tom’s time this summer – roughly 90 hours a week – will be spent sitting at Rainbow Rehabilitation waiting for his next therapy appointment while Rainbow Rehabilitation of Farmington Hills and everyone else can bill the insurance for that waiting time.

If the family had its way, however, Tom would take golf lessons (Anand took him to one already a couple of weeks ago and Tom says he liked it), take a public speaking course, be in swim therapy, and get back on track with music and art therapy – all while ensuring Tom continued with his normal physical, occupational, and speech therapies. Of course, Tom would also get to spend time with his little sister, too.

“It doesn’t make sense that Tom is being treated like a prisoner,” says Anand. “But Michigan’s guardianship system allows for this to happen. That’s why we are so intent about bringing attention to and changing the system.”

Full Article & Source:
One Year Gone: Metro Detroit Man Loses a Year Trapped in System; Highlights Potential for Abuse of Michigan Guardianship Laws

Glen Campbell Doesn't Realize He's Never Going Home Again

With his “aw shucks, ma’am” charm and velvety voice, Glen Campbell was a legendary country and pop-music singer, guitarist and Hollywood hot guy. But now, friends and relatives tell me, he languishes in a “mediocre” facility outside Nashville, Tenn., for patients afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

He can spend only minimal time with his oldest children, say sources, who claim he is frequently alone except for the company of caregivers and TV crews recording his mental decline.

He wants to go home, they say, and doesn’t understand that the facility is his residence, probably for the rest of his life. “Everything that is done in this facility could be done at home around loved ones,” a relative tells me. “It just breaks my heart.”

“Your time on this Earth is very limited,” adds Travis Campbell, 49, Glen Campbell’s son from his second marriage. “He has provided for the whole family. We want to provide for him.’’

The Campbell family feud reached a climax in January, when Travis Campbell and Glen Campbell’s daughter from his first marriage, Debby Campbell-Cloyd — who at age 58 is two years older than her 56-year-old stepmom — filed a petition seeking to wrest control from Kim Campbell of their dad’s medical and financial decisions.

In the petition, the half-siblings accused Kim Campbell of visiting their father rarely and keeping him “secluded from the family,” whose older members were “prohibited from participating in his care and/or treatment,’’ the Associated Press reported. They said Kim Campbell did not provide him with basic toiletries and clothing.

“He didn’t even have a toothbrush!” a close friend says.

Full Article and Source:
Glen Campbell Doesn't Realize He's Never Going Home Again

See Also:
Glen Campbell 'doesn't realize he's never going home' as the country legend's family continues to fight over his Alzheimer's care

Catherine Falk Pushing For Parental Visitation Laws

Los Angeles News | FOX 11 LA KTTV

Video & Source:
Catherine Falk Pushing For Parental Visitation Laws

What’s behind the Blue Ribbon Panel?

The month of May saw the establishment of the Clark County Blue Ribbon Panel Commission on Guardianships in Nevada. The Commission was formed upon testimony from Clark County District Courts’ Chief Judge David Barker to the Clark County Commissioners.

The Las Vegas Tribune reported the panel is the precursor to numerous lawsuits against the State of Nevada and Clark County. Chief Judge Barker knows of these lawsuits in his capacity as overseer of Eighth Judicial District Courts Divisional monthly meetings. The three divisional monthly meetings take place with the Eighth Judicial Criminal, Civil and Family Divisions. Chief Judge David Barker Administrative Duties Over the Criminal, Civil and Family Divisions.

When elected chief judge by his peers, David Barker became overseer of court administrative duties. In this capacity, Chief Judge Barker hears reports of court errors in each division of the Eighth Judicial District. Chief Judge Barker is responsible for reporting to the Nevada Supreme Court the court’s errors and how he addresses the errors. Chief Judge Barker has discretion as overseer of the Court Administrator as to how to address these court errors.

Each of the divisional meetings have written agendas. The Court Administrator is responsible for placing the court’s errors on the agenda. The divisional meetings result in meeting minutes. The meetings are not open to the public; however, the meetings’ minutes are court-ordered released and continue to be withheld by Clark County District Attorney Wolfson.

DA Wolfson withholds the quantified errors reported by Eighth Judicial District Court Administrator Steve Grierson. The last public report of errors stated 3 percent of court filings contain errors. One must remember that Court Administrator Grierson reports errors made by him and his staff.

This reporting cannot be relied upon because the report is not generated by an independent audit. Additional Administrative Duties of Chief Judge David Barker

In his capacity as Chief Judge, David Barker oversees the duties of the appointed presiding judges of each division and the court administrator. Court Administrator (over all three divisions), Steve Grierson, is required by the United States Department of Justice to quantify and report court errors. The former Family Division administrator, Brandi Wardel, testified on the witness stand the errors are “numerous.”

Litigants in cases containing court errors have sought remedy. However, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld Mack-Manley v. Manley and sent the erring court orders to re-hear cases. Family Division Presiding Judges have chosen not to deviate from their original decisions.

Litigants then moved to another division within the Eighth Judicial District. Still receiving no remedy, the litigants are moving to new venues. The Tribune is tracking these cases which are moved to functioning, transparent judiciaries.

Chief Judge Barker Oversees Family Division Presiding Judge Charles “Chuck” Hoskin Family Division Presiding Judge Charles Hoskin oversees guardianship lawsuits. These include lawsuits against protected citizens — minors and elders. One need only read social media (i.e. blogs) to learn of the errors of Judge Hoskin. A review of Judge Hoskin’s history might explain his errant discretion in guardianship cases.

Attorney Charles Hoskin teamed with attorney Robert Graham running a family law business. Their secretary was named Teri. After dissolution of the law firm, attorney Robert Graham reported his former law partner, “Chuck” Hoskin, left his wife and three children, one a baby, for his secretary, Teri. The two formed a new law firm. Mrs. Teri Hoskin was now the office manager. When $1,000 went missing from the newly-formed law firm, Teri Hoskin filed an affidavit in court contradicting a receipt signed by the law firm’s employee that the law firm received the $1,000.

The troubles afflicting attorney Hoskin’s firm continued when he staffed an employee named McLaughlin. The Nevada Supreme Court case of McLaughlin v. Primmer resulted in the fact finding by the Nevada Supreme Court that procedural errors occur in the Eighth Judicial District Court Family Division. Presiding Judge Hoskin is now overseeing cases in his administrative capacity in which he was a part of the problem as attorney Hoskin. Transparency and truthfulness by Chief Judge David Barker will be key in plaintiffs’ proceedings against Clark County and State of Nevada in their new venues.

Full Article & Source:
What’s behind the Blue Ribbon Panel?

Elder Abuse A 'Huge, Expensive And Lethal' Problem For States

 An elderly woman who was abused by a relative watches television inside her room at a retirement community in Mason, Ohio. Inconsistent reporting and scarce resources have hampered efforts to combat the growing problem of elder abuse. (AP)

We know that victims of elder abuse tend to be socially isolated, physically weakened and struggling to maintain their independence. They are reliant on family, friends or caregivers who violate their trust.

What we don’t know, because elder abuse is underreported, is how big the problem really is.

There are no official national statistics on how many older people are mistreated physically, emotionally or financially. Definitions and methods of addressing the issue differ state to state, and even county to county. Nor is there a dedicated stream of federal dollars for Adult Protective Services (APS) agencies, which most states rely on to combat elder abuse. Each state has cobbled together its own funding and bureaucracy.

Nevertheless, advocates and officials say there is little doubt the problem is growing, driven in large part by the tremendous growth in the elderly population. To address it, some states are training police and financial professionals to recognize and report elder abuse, and creating special teams of police, social workers and geriatric experts to investigate it. Cities, states and nonprofits are creating shelter housing for abuse victims, and some states are trying to quantify the cost to taxpayers when elders are fleeced out of their money and forced to turn to Medicaid.

“People need to understand what a huge, expensive and lethal problem elder abuse is,” said Kathleen Quinn, executive director of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA). Some researchers estimate that as many as one in 10 people over 60 is abused. That figure does not include financial exploitation, which costs victims at least $2.9 billion a year, according to MetLife.

“If we had a disease that affected 10 percent of the population, I think we’d look closely at it,” Quinn said.

Insufficient Resources

Elder abuse is a long way from achieving the political or budgetary recognition of child abuse or domestic violence, even as the baby-boom generation creates the largest senior population ever, with 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day.

NAPSA recommends that caseworkers at Adult Protective Services agencies handle no more than 25 cases per month. But only 13 states met that standard in a 2012 survey. And in most places, there isn’t enough to money to properly train the caseworkers who are available.

Texas exceeded the caseload standard in the 2012 survey. Since then, however, the state has reduced average caseloads to about 25, thanks to steady funding and a decision to shift more serious mental illness cases away from APS and to the state’s mental health workers. The criteria APS agencies use to determine which cases to accept, such as whether the abused person must be 60 or 65, differ by state, influencing the caseload burden. The changes in Texas mean that APS caseworkers there now have time to assist with the care of clients’ pets.

The Texas APS division last year investigated 81,681 cases of older and disabled adults living at home, and has expanded its responsibilities to investigate abuse in state-operated and state-contracted settings.

“One of the reasons we have a strong program is due to legislative support over time,” said Beth Engelking, who heads Texas APS. One program that has spread through clinics in the state incorporates training and six basic screening questions to help health practitioners determine if a senior is being abused.

In Oregon, Attorney Gen. Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, is asking legislators to fund a state prosecutor dedicated to elder abuse – akin to existing posts for domestic violence and drunk driving. The position, including training and assisting local district attorneys, is essential to combat the “growing epidemic,” Rosenblum said.

And Michigan approved 10 laws in 2012 to strengthen elder protections and abuse investigations, penalties and reporting requirements.

A total of 29 states plus the District of Columbia considered legislation in 2013 to crack down on financial crimes against the elderly, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Eighteen laws and resolutions were adopted. (NCSL has not compiled numbers for 2014 or 2015.)

“All of the states recognize the scope and the nature of the problem. It comes up every time we talk to them,” said Damon Terzaghi, senior policy director at the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities. “We definitely see a lot of challenges both from the fact that we have a huge population turning 65, and the fact that people are living longer today than ever before, which creates new service needs that didn’t exist before.”

Inconsistent Reporting

Because states have different reporting methods and victims tend to be reluctant to notify authorities, it is difficult to pin down the extent of the problem. Research indicates the overwhelming majority of cases go unreported.

Michigan officials suspect that as many as 90,000 older adults are abused in their state each year, based on national projections—a number that far outstrips reported incidents. Criticized in recent years by the state auditor for shortcomings in training and investigative practices, Michigan’s APS investigated 13,511 cases last year, compared to 7,523 in 2010. The increase partly resulted from a new centralized state hotline, a “No Excuse for Elder Abuse” awareness campaign and new laws to protect vulnerable adults, officials said.

“Raising the awareness is something that is starting to change here in Michigan,” said Kari Sederburg, director of Michigan’s Office of Services to the Aging. “People are finally starting to wake up and realize we need to pay attention to this, that it’s a growing crime, and not just the physical abuse but also financial exploitation.”

But the wide variation in municipal and agency reporting systems has hindered the state’s ability to grasp the extent of the problem, she said. Michigan lawmakers recently approved $1 million to explore the feasibility of a statewide reporting system, and to support training, awareness and education efforts. Thirty-three out of 83 Michigan counties have adopted voluntary state standards for joint investigations by agencies.

Elder abuse is “an insidious and tragic social problem,” a New York study of cases across the state concluded in 2011. The report, spearheaded by the nonprofit group Lifespan and based on more than 4,156 interviews with seniors, estimated that some 260,000 New Yorkers suffered elder abuse in a year, not including nursing home residents and people with dementia.

But officials from New York’s Office of Children and Family Services said they could not quantify the problem, or even their own cases beyond a 1997 reference on the state website indicating fewer than 17,000 elder abuse reports annually. The state is working on an update, a spokeswoman said.

“This is a huge issue for older adults that largely goes unrecognized,” said Ann Marie Cook, Lifespan’s president. Lifespan helped the state design and implement a program to prevent and swiftly intervene in financial abuse cases, using integrated teams of law enforcement, APS caseworkers, forensic accountants, geriatric health experts and other specialists.

In one promising public-private arrangement in Sacramento, California, private hospitals paid $25,000 each for county-assigned social workers to assist seniors at risk of abuse or neglect who were frequent visitors to emergency departments. The social workers remained involved with the seniors after they were discharged from the hospital to ensure they got the care they needed. Despite promising early results, the program “fell through the cracks” last year because supporters couldn’t prove it was worth its rising costs, said Debra Morrow, county director of Senior and Adult Services.

Several states are participating in a project run by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to develop the first national reporting and data system. The data will help clarify the scope of abuse and other basic information, laying groundwork for potential targeted policies and programs, ACL officials said.

Elder abuse at the federal level has gained a higher profile under Kathy Greenlee, the ACL administrator. It will be one of the major topics addressed at the White House Conference on Aging anticipated this summer. And advocates hailed President Barack Obama’s 2010 authorization of the first dedicated funding for APS, a comparatively restrained $100 million a year for four years.

Congress approved the sum as part of the Elder Justice Act, which also incorporated other elder abuse planks and the ACL national reporting project, but has yet to set aside the money to implement it.

Full Article & Source:
Elder Abuse A 'Huge, Expensive And Lethal' Problem For States

Problems with Nevada Guardian Jared Shafer Began 30 Years Ago...

Pictures were taken and published by the newspaper and no one — not the police or any authority or any county commissioner — was even a little bit concerned.

It was the beginning of the year 1996 when the Anna Marie Gaule story began to develop, when the Public Guardian contacted her for the first time.

Back then the office of the Public Guardian, as well as the Public Administrator, belonged to Jared Shafer despite the fact the law states that a person cannot hold two offices at the same time.

But it was Jared Shafer who, since he was elected to office in 1970, did what he wanted and no one had the courage to stop him; he left office voluntarily in 2000, leaving his friend Danny Ahlstrom in office.

Right after leaving office he went in business for himself as a private administrator in California but still guiding his friend Ahlstrom and the entire office that he controlled for over thirty years, leaving death and destruction in his path. Today, thirty years later, the office of the Public Guardian seems to be distanced from the Public Administrator, but the malpractices and corruption seem to follow the office’s reputation.

Las Vegas Tribune has followed this story from the very beginning and reported on several stories regarding the Public Guardian and also the Public Administrator’s (Jared Shafer’s) manipulation and control of the office with no one single elected official paying attention to the criminal activities, elder exploitation, extortions, blackmail and grand larceny — and much more — committed by Shafer and his people and reported by this newspaper; there is even talk abut homicides having been committed.

Today, thirty years later, after an article appeared in the Sunday edition of the Las Vegas daily newspaper and a newly elected Chief Eighth Judicial District Court Judge appeared before the County Commissioner during a regular commission meeting to discuss the sad events that have been taking place under their own noses because they chose to ignore what they read in the Las Vegas Tribune, NOW they want to do something.

 Full Article and Source:
Gaule is Prime Example of Shafer's Criminal Behavior

Tonight on a special T.S. Radio: World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

4:00 pm PST … 5:00 pm MST … 6:00 pm CST … 7:00 pm EST

Our guests:

Joseph Roubicek – Elderly Criminal Exploitation

Gianna Nicoletti– Elder Abuse Resident

Patrice Gilgan – Gerald’s Story- Father was a victim of Elder Abuse 

Don Janke – Elder Abuse Resident

Marisa Conover -Mother was a victim of Felony Elder Abuse

Marian Hollingsworth – Father was a victim of elder abuse.

Carole Herman – Founder and President of FATE – Foundation Aiding the Elderly

Deirdre Gilbert– Dickson, National Director of National Medical Malpractice Advocacy

LISTEN LIVE or listen to the archive later