Oklahoma care facility owner faces 17 counts of caretaker abuse after bite mark found on resident

Source:
Oklahoma care facility owner faces 17 counts of caretaker abuse after bite mark found on resident

Oklahoma Caretaker Accused of Abuse

Source: Oklahoma Caretaker Accused of Abuse

Group seeks new rules on use of 'granny cams' in Minnesota nursing homes

Families seeking to prevent abuse or neglect of their loved ones in nursing homes by using hidden cameras, or “granny cams,” would face more restrictions under recommendations issued this week by a state work group.

The 17-member group was asked to advise the Legislature on ways to regulate the growing use of hidden cameras and other electronic surveillance equipment in senior care facilities, while balancing privacy rights with efforts to deter abuse.

It began meeting in June, following several well-publicized cases in which cameras substantiated reports of abuse and neglect at local nursing homes.

The group recommends that electronic monitoring should be allowed only with the informed consent of all the residents in the room under surveillance (or a legal representative if the resident is not competent to do so).

In addition, any resident being monitored should have the right to place limits on when and where the monitoring takes place and to have the device turned off for privacy reasons. And facilities should be prohibited from retaliating against residents who use hidden cameras, according to the work group’s final report.

“This is a huge issue and it should not be viewed lightly,” said Jean Peters, a member of the work group and an outspoken proponent of hidden cameras since her family used one to detect abuse of their mother. “The [senior care] industry doesn’t want cameras because they’re afraid of getting sued, and because they can’t possibly provide what they promise.”

Currently, Minnesota law is silent on the use of electronic surveillance in senior care facilities. As a result, families suspecting abuse or neglect can install cameras, which cost as little as $80 and can be as small as hockey pucks, inside rooms in senior facilities. Many of the cameras can transmit live feeds to smartphones, enabling relatives to monitor the care of their loved ones remotely.

In many cases, families install the cameras when they detect bruises, weight loss or other visible signs of maltreatment, but have no way to prove it — and find their concerns are ignored, say elder care advocates. Increasingly, the footage is also being used by law enforcement officials and state regulators to substantiate allegations of abuse and, in some cases, bring criminal charges.

Last year, a woman who spotted cuts and bruising on her father installed hidden cameras at a large nursing home, St. Therese of New Hope. The footage showed two caregivers repeatedly punching her father in the face and stomach. It led to criminal charges against the two employees and the dismissal of others for failing to report the abuse. And a year ago, an aide at a Hopkins senior home was arrested and charged with two counts of assault after videos from a hidden camera showed her repeatedly hitting an elderly patient in the head.

Suzanne Scheller, a Champlin attorney who specializes in abuse and neglect in senior homes, said Minnesota’s lack of formal regulations is beneficial for families. “It gets the attention of the powers that be, and allows the family member to feel some sense of empowerment,” she said.

Yet Scheller and other advocates fear the new recommendations may be used to create rules and restrictions that impede their use. In Illinois, for instance, a nursing home resident must consent to the use of a camera before it can be installed and must notify the facility of intent to use electronic monitoring. Other states, such as Oklahoma and Texas, require that a notice be posted when such surveillance is occurring. At least one state is actually encouraging their use. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General provides free surveillance cameras for up to 30 days to anyone who suspects in-home abuse

The work group, which included state health officials, elder care advocates and industry representatives, failed to reach a consensus on the issue of requiring notice to the facilities. Families and elder care advocates have strongly opposed mandating notification, arguing that cameras are typically used as a last resort when all other attempts at communicating concerns about maltreatment have failed.

“Do we as a state really want to say that we would elevate the right to privacy over suspected maltreatment?” asked Scheller. “That is the tension.”

Full Article & Source:
Group seeks new rules on use of 'granny cams' in Minnesota nursing homes

Death of 66-year-old Gulfport woman highlights risks of senior citizens who choose to live alone

Kathryn Ashe

GULFPORT — The first thing officers noticed in Kathryn Ashe's apartment were the roaches, hundreds of them, scurrying on the floor, walls, and furniture.

Then they spotted her body on the living room floor. After interviewing her former roommates, Gulfport police arrested Debra Poulos and her daughter-in-law Jennifer on charges of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person.

But the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office recently dropped the case. Ashe died of natural causes, prosecutors concluded, and the pair had no legal responsibility to care for her.

In fact, prosecutors learned that when the Poulos women moved out, Ashe refused to go with them. She chose to live by herself, despite her ill health and abysmal living conditions.

"The older lady didn't want to leave with them," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.

"Maybe there should be some sense of responsibility, but there's nothing to support us going (forward) criminally."

The 66-year-old woman's death raises a troubling issue for Florida's aging population: What can be done to help seniors who may be endangering themselves by living alone?

"There are situations in our local area where there are people who are extremely frail and can't manage self-care at all," said Beverly Burton of the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas. "It's not only a question of medical treatment, it's a question if we can ensure that at least they are evaluated to see if they are eligible for some in-home support."

• • •

On June 24, Gulfport police received a call about a possible death at 5320 29th Ave S. After firefighters wedged the door open, officers ventured in and found piles of garbage and food containers on the floor, the kitchen countertops, and the sink. Mold covered the inside of the refrigerator. The A/C unit was broken. The report noted that the home was "unlivable."

"There were feces and used adult diapers on the floor," an officer wrote in a report, "and an estimate of thousands of roaches throughout the residence where hundreds of them could be seen at any given time even with the lights on."

After finding Ashe's body next to a recliner, police turned their attention to the 911 callers: Debra Poulos, 62, and Jennifer Poulos, 42.

The older Poulos told police she met Ashe in 1999. They lived together in the two-bedroom apartment with Jennifer Poulos' 4-year-old son. But after the apartment became infested with roaches and the A/C broke down, they moved out on June 10.

Debra Poulos said she tried to get Ashe to go with them, but she refused. She said Ashe made them promise they wouldn't take her to a nursing home. The women visited Ashe and brought her food.

Then on June 23, Debra Poulos said she found Ashe on the floor but didn't call for help, leaving because she didn't want to miss her bus. Debra and Jennifer Poulos returned the next day. Ashe was cold to the touch. After speaking to a pastor, they called 911.

Both women were arrested on felony charges of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person. Jennifer Poulos faced an additional charge of child neglect.

Police said the Department of Children and Families spoke to Ashe in 2015 and found that she was hard of hearing, a diabetic, and had a history of strokes. Ashe declined DCF services and refused to go to a nursing home.

Gulfport police Sgt. Thomas Woodman said the two women were arrested because Florida law defines a caregiver as a person "who has been entrusted with or has assumed responsibility for the care … of an elderly person or disabled adult." That can include adult household members.

"They admitted to me during the interview they were in a caregiver role," Woodman said. "They provided her all of the nutrition she needed, they had to help feed her, bathe her."

But the criminal case against the women crumbled, Bartlett said, when an autopsy showed Ashe died of natural causes: complications from diabetes and heart disease. The State Attorney's Office also determined the Poulos women were also not legally bound to care for her because they moved out and Ashe wanted to stay. Charges were dropped in November.

The child neglect charge against Jennifer was also dropped, but her son is in foster care, DCF said. Neither Poulos could be reached for comment.

• • •

Ashe's death highlights the legal challenges surrounding an elderly or sick person who refuses care. "It comes down many times to a really hard question: Is the person competent?" Burton said.

Only a court can determine if someone is legally incompetent. But if a person is competent, they can choose whether they want help or not. "Then everyone's hands are kind of tied," Burton said.

Then the only options are to call their doctor or file a self-neglect report with DCF.

"They can provide guidance on what to do and how to handle it because you can't force a person to take care of themselves without some legal mechanism," she said.

"You can cajole a person to go," Burton added, referring to Ashe's refusal to leave the apartment. "But it's very difficult unless you have some responsibility for them."

Full Article & Source:
Death of 66-year-old Gulfport woman highlights risks of senior citizens who choose to live alone

Suspended Kingsport nursing home has history of deficiencies

KINGSPORT, TN (WJHL) – Before Brookhaven Manor’s most recent inspection, previous surveys and complaint investigations dating back to 2013 identified nearly 40 health deficiencies combined, according to data on Medicare.gov.

The State of Tennessee suspended new admissions to the Kingsport nursing home last week amid concerns of abuse and other issues. Our review of past inspection data identified five concerns at Brookhaven Manor in 2015, seven in 2014 and 26 in 2013.

Among the issues inspectors have identified since 2013 include concerns about the nursing home’s abuse policy and protocol, infection control and the treatment of bed sores.

Brookhaven Manor has an overall rating on Medicare.gov of just one out of five stars.

We once again reached out to the nursing home administrator today for comment. We have not yet heard back.

Full Article & Source:
Suspended Kingsport nursing home has history of deficiencies

Lack of College Disability Information Prompts Congress to Introduce the RISE Act

The transition to college is a big challenge for kids with learning and attention issues. A recent survey on Understood suggests one reason why—parents can’t find information on college accommodations and services.

The survey asked parents of high school students and graduates with learning and attention issues about their experiences with college. Over 1,200 parents answered. The results were concerning:

• Only 11 percent of parents of high school students who are seeking college accommodations clearly understand the process.
• Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of parents of high school students seeking college accommodations have found it difficult to find information about disability services at different colleges.

And the biggest reason kids aren’t going to college? Parents can’t find a program that fits their child’s needs, according to the survey.

This is a timely issue as more students with learning disabilities are graduating from high school than ever before. In 2015, a record 64 percent of students with disabilities graduated from high school. That’s up from 59 percent in 2011.

But many of those graduates aren’t heading to college. According to the 2014 State of LD, a publication from Understood founding partner the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), only 21 percent of students with learning disabilities attend a four-year college. That’s about half the rate of the general population (40 percent).

Christina Paternoster is a Pennsylvania mom of a college freshman with ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia. Earlier this year, her son went through the college application process, and she agrees there’s a problem.

“Finding a college that’s a good fit for my child hasn’t been easy,” she says. “I know my family is not alone in this.” Paternoster has used Understood to connect with other parents to help her better understand the process.

Part of the problem may be that students are transitioning from high school, where kids have IEPs, to college, where there are no IEPs. Federal special education law doesn’t apply to college students, so students have fewer rights.

At the same time, students may not be aware of the rights they do have. Both the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 apply to college and provide for accommodations.

Congress is aware of the problem and is working on a solution.

This week, Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Respond, Innovate, Succeed and Empower Act (RISE Act). This Act would do three things to help students and families:

1. Provide more funding for a one-stop resource for information about disability services in college.
2. Require colleges to accept an IEP or 504 plan as evidence of a disability. This would make it easier and less costly for students to get accommodations.
3. Support a technical assistance center to highlight strategies that help students with disabilities succeed in college. The center would also train college faculty on those strategies.

Advocacy groups like NCLD and the Learning Disabilities Association of America, another Understood founding partner, are fully behind the RISE Act.

“We have heard from parents and students about the barriers they face in college and I’m proud that we have elevated this issue in the U.S. Senate,” said Mimi Corcoran, president and CEO of NCLD. “We applaud the bipartisan leadership of Senators Casey, Hatch and Cassidy as we work to ensure that colleges and universities become more welcoming environments for diverse learners.”

It’s too early to know if the RISE Act will become law. The bill would need to pass the Senate and House first, before being signed by the president. NCLD, LDA and other groups in Washington, D.C., are working to move the legislation forward.

In the meantime, Paternoster and her family are navigating the system as best they can. “My son just started at Westminster College,” she says. “Right now, the most important thing is making sure there is a good support network for him. We want him to succeed and enjoy the experience.”

Full Article & Source:
Lack of College Disability Information Prompts Congress to Introduce the RISE Act

Former Main Line Commissioner charged with indecent assault of 103-year-old

A former long-time Radnor Township commissioner has been arrested and charged with indecent assault on a person with a mental disability.

William A. Spingler, 75, of Paoli, was arraigned on Dec. 23, released on $10,000 unsecured bail and ordered not to have any contact with the victim. He has a preliminary hearing on the charges on Jan. 5, according to court officials.

The victim is an 103-year-old woman in a nursing home.

When reached by phone, Spingler said he had no comment on the charges.

According to court documents, on Dec. 16, Radnor police were called to the Wayne Nursing Home for a report of an assault. Two employees reported that Spingler allegedly inappropriately touched the victim on the breast by placing his hand underneath a blanket. When he noticed the employees, Spingler stopped.

The next day, Spingler visited the victim, who has dementia, and again put his hand under the blanket to "massage her chest area," when he noticed one of the employees, "his face turned red and he immediately left the facility," according to a court record.

On Dec. 23, a staff member contacted police after she observed Spingler touch the victim again. When she confronted him, Spingler replied "What?" He then left the building. An arrest warrant was then issued,  according to court documents.

Spingler, a real estate agent, served as a Ward 3 commissioner and was board president when he stepped down from the post in July 2015. Spingler also served as a county commissioner.

Full Article & Source:
Former Main Line Commissioner charged with indecent assault of 103-year-old

Victims of love: An elderly Minnesota couple lost everything to a man they viewed as the son they never had

TWO HARBORS, MINN. – Ray Turcotte once owned a gas station in this scenic town of 3,700 on Lake Superior’s North Shore. His wife, Judy, ran a hair salon. After amassing a net worth approaching $1 million, they retired to the lakeside home Ray Turcotte built with his own hands.

But after placing their financial future in the hands of David Ripley, the Turcottes are broke. Their home, which they owned free and clear, now carries a mortgage they can’t afford, and they could be evicted during the depths of winter.

Ray Turcotte, 86, has been hospitalized since late November after suffering a stroke, which his wife blames on the stress of their financial loss.

“We have nothing, and I mean nothing,” said Judy Turcotte, who, at 74, brings in a few dollars by doing laundry at a bed-and-breakfast. “Ray and I are just two old people who worked our tails off. We had our house paid for. We had stocks. We had investments. And it’s all gone.”

According to court documents and interviews, Ripley ingratiated himself with the elderly and childless couple, persuading them to let him manage their finances. He promised to take care of them, they said. They put so much trust in him, in fact, that they even helped him buy a house next door to their own. He still lives there, despite taking control of their money and cleaning them out, the Turcottes said.

“He said, ‘You’re older, vulnerable adults. You don’t have anybody to help you,’ ” Judy Turcotte said.

“He told us he loved us,” she said, sobbing. “He said, ‘You’re more of a mother to me than my own mother was.’ ”

The Turcottes aren’t the only ones who have claimed to be victimized by Ripley, 56, who arrived here from North Dakota about 15 years ago. Since then, Ripley has been involved in a dizzying array of investment deals and property transactions that have left a trail of angry investors across three states, according to court records and interviews.

Many of the deals wound up in litigation, and several lawsuits ended with substantial penalties against Ripley, who owes more than $2 million in court judgments and unpaid loans, public records show. Included are two convictions for civil fraud.

In a recent interview at his home, Ripley denied all the Turcottes’ allegations.

“From my perspective, it’s sour grapes,” he said.

Bonnie Piehl, Ripley’s longtime partner in life and in business, also denied that she and Ripley did anything wrong.

“They can’t say we scammed them out of one dime,” Piehl said.

In an interview from his hospital bed, Ray Turcotte still couldn’t quite believe how events unfolded.
“You’re going to wonder how the hell this can happen,” he said.

Court and land records, and interviews with Ripley’s investors, tell a complicated story.  (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
Victims of love: An elderly Minnesota couple lost everything to a man they viewed as the son they never had

Book: MICHIGAN MONSTERS: The True Story of how Karen Chism and Kristie Compton Murdered my Dad

Imagine waking up to find that you had been robbed of everything dear to you. Your home, your health, your children, your future, and your freedom - all stolen overnight. Your only crime was, you got old. 

This is the true story of a murderous system, the predators who support it, and one of their victims. The system and the predators worked together. Their only goal was to see the victim dead. They battered him mercilessly until their goal was achieved. The last thing the victim saw was the gloating faces of his executioners as they gleefully put him down. Broken, conquered, and vanquished, he was finally free of his abusers. 

How did my dad become the victim of these assassins?

Available for Kindle on Amazon

All they got was a slap on the hand.’ Is California low-balling penalties in nursing home death investigations?

Armando Reagan was 30 when he bled to death, rushed from a Southern California nursing home as blood soaked his sheets, pooled on the floor and as he pleaded with staff: “Help! Help! I do not want to die!” according to state public health records.

Paralyzed 11 years earlier in a drive-by shooting, Reagan, who was taking blood thinners, died later that day at a nearby hospital, where the emergency room documented profuse bleeding from bedsores in his groin.

Marleen Aparicio, a relative, assumed that the nursing home – Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre in suburban Los Angeles – would receive the maximum punishment from the state: a Type AA citation and $100,000 fine, a penalty reserved by the California Department of Public Health for the most egregious deaths of nursing home residents.

Aparicio was mistaken. Instead, the department issued the facility a milder A citation and $20,000 fine over Reagan’s death in July 2010, concluding that nursing home staff did not adequately monitor the young man for adverse drug reactions.

“To know he was crying out like that,” said Aparicio, 61, a second cousin of Reagan, who had always called her “auntie.” “All they got was a slap on the hand: ‘Don’t do it again.’

“They made a mistake and, oops, that’s it?” she asked. “This is a mistake we know about. What about all the ones we don’t?”

Controversy over how the state penalizes facilities over suspicious patient deaths has been simmering for years, with elder-care advocates pushing for tougher oversight and harsher fines. The nursing home industry, meanwhile, has maintained that inspectors for the Department of Public Health have been uneven in their approaches, depending on which district office is in charge of an investigation.  (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
All they got was a slap on the hand.’ Is California low-balling penalties in nursing home death investigations?

Nursing home violations

Click to Watch Video

SPRINGFIELD -- Several area nursing homes were cited for violations that happened over the last few months.

On Friday, the IDPH published a report of some that they say even caused patients to die.

Lincoln Manor in Decatur was fined $50,000 for failing to provide services to a resident with an abdominal wound. They died from septic shock.

Gardenview Manor in Danville was fined a combined $50,000 for two violations: One for failing to report a resident's pain after they broke a leg, and another for failing to supervise a mentally disabled resident who left and was found half a mile away.

Taylorville Care Center,  was fined $25,000 for failure to use a mechanical lift properly, hurting one of their residents.

Health care advocates say there are a few things to know before putting your loved one in a nursing home.

"If they have the time," says Claudia Lennhoff of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, "We really encourage people to go and visit the various different nursing homes. Just go in, you can go in unannounced, and just show up and look around. We always encourage people to do a "sniff test" and make sure that the place is clean and well staffed."

The listed violations happened between October and the end of the year. The Champaign County Health Care Consumers group says by the time nursing home violations are reported, they will hopefully have been resolved.

Original: 4:30 pm, Friday, 1/6/17

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Department of Public Health announced the following type “AA” and “A” violations of the Nursing Home Care Act processed during the fourth quarter of 2016.  An “AA” violation is cited when there is a condition or occurrence at the facility that proximately caused a resident’s death.  An “A” violation pertains to a condition in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result, or has resulted.

The Quarterly Report of Nursing Home Violators can be found on IDPH’s website and contains additional information about the violations.

October

Cumberland Rehab & Health CC, a 54-bed skilled care facility located at 300 North Marietta Street, Greenup, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for delaying physician notification and treatment of a resident suffering chest pain due to a heart attack, resulting in heart damage.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.

Gardenview Manor, a 213-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 14792 Catlin-Tilton Road, Danville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to report the pain and bruising of a resident who suffered a broken leg.  The facility requested a hearing.

Glen Bridge N & Rehab Centre, a 302-bed skilled care facility located at 8333 West Golf Road, Niles, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to develop and implement a plan to prevent a resident from eloping from the facility, resulting in the resident exiting the facility from a fifth floor window and later dying.  The facility requested a hearing.

Meadows, a 99-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 3250 South Plum Grove Road, Rolling Meadows, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $10,000 for failure to follow a physician ordered diet for a resident, which resulted in the resident choking.  The facility requested a hearing.

Meadows Mennonite Home, a 159-bed skilled, intermediate, and shelter care facility located at 24588 Church Street, Chenoa, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to assess new pressure ulcers and treat.  The facility requested a hearing.

Parkview Home-Freeport, a 73-bed skilled and shelter care facility located at 1234 South Park Boulevard, Freeport, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to implement measures to protect residents at risk from falls.  The facility requested a hearing.

Pleasant View Luther Home, a 90-bed skilled care facility located at 505 College Avenue, Ottawa, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to protect two residents from verbal and physical abuse by staff.  The facility requested a hearing.

Pontiac Healthcare and Rehab, a 97-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 300 West Lowell, Pontiac, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to monitor and care for the placement of a catheter in a resident.  The facility requested a hearing.

Rosewood Care Center East Peoria, a 120-bed skilled care facility located at 900 Centennial Drive, East Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident to a wheelchair, which resulted in injuries to the resident.  The facility requested a hearing.

Timbercreek Rehab &Health Care Center, a 202-bed skilled care facility located at 2220 State Street, Pekin, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent and care for a pressure ulcer resulting in a resident’s hospitalization.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.

November 2016

Jerseyville Nursing and Rehab, a 111-bed skilled care facility located at 1001 South State Street, Jerseyville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent a fall resulting in the resident suffering a fracture.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.

Lincoln Manor, a 140-bed skilled care facility located at 2650 North Monroe Street, Decatur, has been cited with an “AA” violation and fined $50,000 for failure to assess, treat, and provide services to a resident with an abdominal wound, resulting in septic shock and death.  The facility requested a hearing.

North Adams Home, a 92-bed skilled care facility located at 2259 East 1100^th Street, Mendon, has been cited with an “AA” violation and fined $50,000 for failure to supervise a resident at risk for sliding in bed, resulting in the resident hanging from the bed with a gown around the resident’s throat.  The facility requested a hearing.

Prairie House, a 16-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 1770 Sauk Trail, Sauk Village, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $6,250 for failure to implement written policy and procedures to ensure supervision is provided to residents who are physically aggressive toward others, and to ensure individuals’ rights are not restricted in order to accommodate maladaptive behavior by a single resident.

Rock River Gardens, a 70-bed intermediate care facility located at 3601 Sixteenth Avenue, Sterling, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to assess and seek treatment for a resident experiencing pain resulting in a delay in treatment and an increased need for assistance.

Rose Angela Hall, an 80-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 4200 North Austin, Chicago, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $10,000 for failure to ensure a resident who fell was assessed for pain and injuries, and physical changes were reported to the resident’s physician.

Sharon Health Care Woods, a 152-bed intermediate care facility located at 3223 West Richwoods Boulevard, Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to complete new employee orientation, check new employee references, and prevent verbal and physical abuse of three residents by staff.  The facility requested a hearing.

Taylorville Care Center, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 600 South Huston, Taylorville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to properly use a mechanical lift resulting in injury to a resident.  The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.

December 2016

Bellwood Developmental Center, an 82-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 105 Eastern Avenue, Bellwood, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $10,000 for failure to supervise and prevent a resident from ingesting objects, and failure to provide adequate health care resulting in the resident becoming severely malnourished.

Clearbrook West, a 16-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 3980 Fairfax, Rolling Meadows, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $6,250 for failure to follow a resident’s prescribed diet and supervise while eating, resulting in the resident choking.

Countryside Nursing and Rehab Center, a 197-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 1635 East 154^th Street, Dolton, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to monitor and supervise a resident who wanders, resulting in the resident being physically assaulted.  The facility requested a hearing.

Edwardsville Nursing and Rehab Center, a 120-bed skilled care facility located at 401 St. Mary Drive, Edwardsville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to appropriately monitor and assess one resident, resulting in hospitalization.   The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.

Gardenview Manor, a 213-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 14792 Catlin-Tilton Road, Danville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to supervise a severely cognitively impaired resident who left the facility and was found half a mile away.

Heddington Oaks, a 214-bed skilled care facility located at 2223 West Heading Avenue, Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely reposition a resident who rolled off the bed and sustained injuries.

Manorcare of Palos Heights West, a 130-bed skilled care facility located at 11860 Southwest Highway, Palos Heights, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to apply appropriate interventions for one resident and supervise another resident, both of whom fell.

Parents and Friends of the Specialized Living Center, a 100-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled, located at 1450 Caseyville Avenue, Swansea, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $12,500 for failure to prevent neglect leading to the death of a resident due to respiratory failure.

Park Pointe Healthcare and Rehab, a 142-bed skilled care facility located at 1223 Edgewater Drive, Morris, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to implement individualized supervision plans resulting in two residents falling.

Pontiac Healthcare and Rehab, a 97-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 300 West Lowell, Pontiac, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to provide proper catheter care resulting in a resident being hospitalized.  The facility requested a hearing.

Prairie House, a 16-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled, located at 1770 Sauk Trail, Sauk Village, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $6,250 for failure to provide guidance and procedures to supervise residents who are aggressive in order to prevent resident-on-resident abuse.

Westchester Health and Rehab Center, a 120-bed skilled care facility located at 2901 South Wolf Road, Westchester, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to properly administer medication for one resident, resulting in the resident having a seizure.

Full Article & Source:
Nursing home violations

May 18 2015: Expose this guardianship abuse of Genevieve Bush

The State of Pa took a U S citizen out of her home with no due process in violation of Constitutional rights and liberties, they got away with this with the misuse of the laws. In my opinion this guardianship abuse must be exposed and STOPPED.

 Source:
May 18 2015: expose this guardianship abuse of Genevieve Bush

 See Also:
NASGA: Genevieve Bush, PA Victim

Nursing home assistant gets program after stealing from dementia patient

BRISTOL — A former local nursing assistant charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a dementia patient has been granted a first-time offender program that could spare him a criminal record.

Joy Recio, 36, of 83 Colony St., was placed in the program Friday during a hearing in Bristol Superior Court, one in which a prosecutor strongly objected to anything but a guilty plea.

Recio was placed in Accelerated Rehabilitation for two years — during which time he must avoid new arrests, make full restitution, have no contact with the victim and not serve in any position involving health care or fiduciary responsibilities.

If he abides by those conditions for the entire probationary period, charges of third-degree larceny, fraudulent use of an ATM, illegal use of a credit card and second-degree identity theft will be dropped.

According to police, Recio stole $4,500 from a resident at Village Green Nursing Home, at 23 Fair St. Recio was a certified nursing assistant at the home at the time.

The conservator for the victim reported the theft to police in the fall of 2015 after seeing 11 ATM charges between June and October in 2015 that appeared to be fraudulent.

Police used surveillance from the withdrawals to identify Recio as a suspect.

The victim, according to the warrant, was admitted to Village Green in November 2014 after he suffered a stroke. Since then, his cognitive condition has deteriorated and he has developed dementia and another condition that brings on uncontrollable episodes of laughing or crying. The man is also legally blind.

“He took advantage of a man who had a stroke and dementia and who couldn’t do anything,” Ronald Dearstyne, the prosecutor, said during Friday’s hearing.

In objecting to the program, Dearstyne said Recio was asking the court to wipe his slate clean after he betrayed the trust of a helpless patient. He also said the case should have been disposed of through a misdemeanor guilty plea.

Recio’s lawyer, though, said his client was willing to make restitution, and has signed a sworn affidavit promising never to work in a nursing position again.

Full Article & Source:
Nursing home assistant gets program after stealing from dementia patient

Manahawkin Nursing Home Resident Overdosed on Heroin Sold to Her By Another Patient: Cops

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — Stafford police recently charged a nursing home resident with possession and distribution of heroin after he allegedly sold heroin to another resident who overdosed and had to be revived with Narcan.

Police responded to a report of a heroin overdose at 9:25 p.m. on Dec. 30 at the Manahawkin Nursing and Rehab facility at 1211 Route 72 West, police said.

The initial officers on the scene had to administer several doses of Narcan to the victim, and she was later transported to Southern Ocean Medical Center.

Police later learned that the victim was sold fentanyl/heroin from a resident who lives in the facility.

Police later obtained a search warrant in the early morning hours of Dec. 31. The Stafford Township Drug Enforcement Unit found 20 glassine envelopes with suspected heroin/fentanyl in the room belonging to Walter Gibbs, 59, Atlantic City, police said.

Gibbs was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance (heroin) and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute (heroin), police said.

Gibbs also had several outstanding warrants from Atlantic City, and later turned over to Atlantic County Sheriff’s Department. He is scheduled to appear in Ocean County Court at a later date.

Detective Jacob Conner was the investigating officer.

Full Article & Source:
Manahawkin Nursing Home Resident Overdosed on Heroin Sold to Her By Another Patient: Cops

After 40 years, U.S. court ends supervision of D.C.’s care for mentally disabled citizens

A federal judge Tuesday ended 40 years of court supervision of the District’s care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, concluding what city leaders called the longest-standing U.S. class-action lawsuit of its kind.

U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle’s order ended a legal odyssey for 479 surviving class members and a larger group of thousands of the city’s most vulnerable residents, many of whom over the years experienced abuse, neglect or whitewashed death investigations after they died while wards of the city.

The lawsuit led to an infusion of more than $2.3 billion in federal aid, the return of $1.2 million in class members’ stolen or misappropriated disability payments, and the eventual bureaucratic transformation of a “broken” system into one of the most modern in the country for treating people with mental disabilities, moving from 49th in 2007 to eighth in 2015 in a national ranking by United Cerebral Palsy.

“This is a case that has spanned eight mayoral administrations, three federal judges and countless administrators of District agencies,” said Clarence J. Sundram, a court-appointed special master in the case and an adviser to New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D). “It’s a historic accomplishment.”

While advocates remain anxious about the city’s future course, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), her predecessor and now-D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray Jr. (D) were among nearly 100 attorneys, city employees, advocates and six class members present in court to recognize the protracted progress since the District’s 1991 closing of Forest Haven, the notorious asylum then run by the city, in Laurel.

“Although plaintiffs are understandably reluctant to end Court supervision given the long, and sometimes tortuous, history of this litigation, the Court believes that that time has come,” Huvelle said.

As recently as 2007, Huvelle acknowledged ongoing “systemic” and “fundamental” failures of city operations while the federal government and private watchdog groups renewed calls to find District officials in contempt and put the program into receivership.

Huvelle declined to do that but, by 2010, named an independent court administrator to improve District funding, quality control and licensing procedures. Last month, the judge cited “steady and substantial” progress and found the District had “finally achieved compliance” in all areas.

[D.C. agrees to name overseer in 1976 disability case]

 

Bowser did not speak in court but afterward pledged that the city this time would keep its promises. “We’ve achieved the milestones that the court set out, but also we continue our commitment to maintain those investments, leadership at the Department [of Disability Services] and improved services for our residents,” Bowser said.

Gray, who led efforts to close Forest Haven and then compiled a mixed record as head of the city’s Department of Human Services starting in 1991, said, “I’m really proud of being part of something this important.” He added: “We still have lots of work to do to create a different way of life in the system.”

The victory was built on a mountain of failures. The lawsuit was brought by six individuals in 1976 and named for lead plaintiff Joy Evans, who was committed at 8 and died in Forest Haven in 1976 at 17.

Plaintiffs in a class that eventually numbered more than 3,000 men, women and children — most of them low-income African Americans without family or other support — documented the human toll of bureaucratic failure, describing a warehouse of physical and psychological neglect and mistreatment, substandard or nonexistent medical care, and lack of oversight that often ended only in the basement morgue.

U.S. District Judge John H. Pratt, who oversaw the case until his death in 1995, ruled in 1978 that conditions violated inhabitants’ constitutional rights to be held “free from harm,” ordering that the city move residents into the “least separate, most integrated and least restrictive settings” possible.

Facing court fines and intervention by the civil rights division of the Justice Department, the city embarked on a costly program to disperse residents into small, privately operated group homes.

As the District slipped into a fiscal crisis in the 1990s, promises of individualized therapy and day programs collapsed into a system of “harm, exploitation and death” that had a “guesswork budget” and no tracking system for expenditures, professional treatment plans or the hundreds of uninvestigated reports of abuse, illness and injury, Sundram said.

A 1999 Washington Post investigation reported 350 incidents of neglect and mistreatment but not a single fine for operators of 150 group homes, in a system paying $100,000 per year for each of 1,100 participants.

As late as 2006, a court monitor found that hundreds of incident reports continued to pile up, while death reports from one vendor were altered nearly half the time, with key facts or recommendations deleted by the District without agreement from the people who wrote the reports.

A turning point came after renewed litigation by the D.C.-based University Legal Services, the Center for Public Representation, a public-interest law firm for people with mental disabilities that is based in Northampton, Mass., and pro bono lawyers from the law firm Holland & Knight.

Co-lead plaintiff’s attorney Cathy E. Costanzo, executive director of the public-representation center, cited Huvelle’s appointment of a compliance administrator, Kathy Sawyer, and focus by the District’s reorganized Department on Disability Services, which Sawyer formerly led.

Still, Sundram and others warned against a return of bureaucratic inertia and low expectations. As with recently successful dieters, Sundram said, “there is a natural tendency after a period of intense effort . . . to relax. Previous bad habits can reemerge and undo achievements that have been accomplished.”

Full Article & Source:
After 40 years, U.S. court ends supervision of D.C.’s care for mentally disabled citizens

Richmond real estate lawyer may be unable to repay clients

In new court documents Richmond real estate lawyer Hong Guo claims she has “insolvency concerns” and that a trust fund shortage from her firm’s accounts affects more clients than she has previously identified.

Previously, it was reported that a number of Chinese investors and B.C. real estate professionals are suing Guo, alleging $2.1 million in losses, after Guo says more than $7.5 million was stolen from her trust account in early 2016. The trust fund shortage affected property transactions and left a number of Chinese investors unable to pay tax bills on Canadian real estate transactions, legal filings say.

But, according to Guo’s latest court filing, “the extent of the trust shortage is still not known with certainty.”

In an affidavit filed in B.C. Supreme Court Dec. 28, Guo says that about 99 clients were affected by the alleged trust fund theft. This figure is much larger than Guo’s statement in a Sept. 12 B.C. Supreme Court examination, in which she told a lawyer for one of her Chinese clients that only 60 clients were affected.

“I cannot state with total certainty that my assets and those of Guo Law Corporation are sufficient to make whole all of the approximately 99 clients affected by the theft of funds,” Guo’s Dec. 28 affidavit says. “The extent of the liability from filed or potential actions is unknown and growing.”

In a recent interview, Guo said that her law firm completes about $700 million in real estate transactions a year, and she owns enough assets to pay back anyone claiming losses against her and her firm in the case.

The B.C. Law Society has taken custodianship of part of Guo’s practice and has imposed trust fund conditions, including that Guo can’t make payments to clients affected by the shortage except through the society’s custodian.

Letters filed in court from the manager of custodianship, Michael Rhodes, show he rejected Guo’s Dec. 16 client repayment plan and pointed to potential breaches of the conditions that Guo is under.

A Nov. 29 letter from Guo’s office to Rhodes discloses that Nai Zhang, a client in China who is owed about $1.69 million and has not apparently filed court actions against Guo in B.C., contacted Guo via WeChat and said that she wanted to be excluded from the Law Society custodianship and to be repaid interest on her principal until the debt was paid off, “and Ms. Guo essentially agreed.”

“From what you say … Ms. Guo has agreed to pay interest to Ms. Zhang in priority to all of the other CIBC (trust fund) clients,” Rhodes replied. “In my opinion, to the extent Ms. Guo has made such payments, she is in breach of the order.”

In a Dec. 21 letter, Rhodes states that Guo doesn’t have the power to sell her assets as proposed in her repayment plan. For example, Rhodes says, Guo says she owns 35 per cent of the shares of a company with interests in “Surrey Development Properties” but “her shares are subject to a beneficial interest of her sister.”

Full Article & Source:
Richmond real estate lawyer may be unable to repay clients

New legislation to fight senior scams

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) - It is a complaint that law enforcement is hearing more often: seniors becoming the victim of scams and fraud.  The criminal actions have also left countless seniors in financial distress with tens of thousands of seniors in New York affected every year.

Friday morning, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was at the Cheektowaga Senior Center to announce new legislation that she is introducing in the 115th Congress that would help deal with the problem.

Called the "Senior Financial Empowerment Act," the proposed legislation would improve the way elder financial abuse is reported among agencies, establish a national hotline on how and where seniors can report fraud, and provide more resources to combat the problem before it happens.

John Flynn, Erie County's newly elected district attorney, said currently in Erie County the most popular scam is people calling pretending to be relatives in crisis needing money.

Flynn encourages seniors to never send cash or share banking information, including social security numbers, over the phone.

More information about preventing senior scams is available on the Better Business Bureau website https://www.bbb.org/wisconsin/programs-services/savvy-senior-scam-center/

Full Article & Source:
New legislation to fight senior scams

Elderly couple’s eviction from Albion home draws LePage’s ire

Richard and Leonette Sukeforth

Gov. Paul LePage is so angry that an elderly, disabled couple was evicted from their Albion home that he plans to change the law so it never happens again.

The town of Albion foreclosed on the property of Richard and Leonette Sukeforth, both 80 years old, in December 2015 because of nonpayment of taxes. The rundown camp at 180 Marden Shore Road on Lovejoy Pond was sold by the town for $6,500 and the new owner evicted the couple last week.

“I’m livid about it and I think we have to have laws to protect our most vulnerable,” LePage said in an interview with the Morning Sentinel.

LePage said he, personally, tried to help the Sukeforths retain their home and asked Pine Tree Legal to get involved, but the nonprofit organization that provides free legal help to low-income Mainers determined the foreclosure was done legally. However, LePage said he thinks it is immoral that a veteran and his sick, bedridden wife, who are at the end of their lives, were kicked out of their home and he is going to fight to ensure the practice is prohibited in the future.

“I’m going to ask for an ombudsman to mediate disputes between communities and taxpayers, not just elderly,” LePage said Friday. “I want to change the foreclosure law as it relates to poverty, and one of the things I want to do is force them (communities) to sell property at market value and any revenues above taxes and revenue and foreclosure fees go back to the original owner.”

That the governor would be emotionally moved by the Sukeforth case and plan legislation in response is not surprising, said Jim Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Gov. Paul LePage, angered by the recent home eviction of an elderly Albion couple, has vowed to propose legislation aimed at keeping elderly people in their homes when they face foreclosure. Staff file photo by Andy Molloy

“The governor has always taken a very personal reaction to personal stories,” Melcher said. “And it certainly fits into the way this governor has acted. Emotionally, it’s a heart-tugging, how-can-this-happen kind of thing.”

LePage said most communities, before taking ownership for nonpayment of taxes, will work with an owner who could get a reverse mortgage, or the community could abate the taxes. He said he wants people to be able to stay in their homes and let taxes accrue and when they die, the property would then go to the community.

“What they did is unbelievable. It’s just not the way it’s done,” he said of the town of Albion.
A lawyer in LePage’s office tried to arrange a meeting with the man who bought the Sukeforth home, but the new owner refused to do so unless it occurred in his own lawyer’s office with his lawyer present.

The Sukeforths now are living in a trailer park in Holden with their daughter, Yvette Ingalls, where a nurse comes every day to tend to Leonette, who is a retired nurse herself. She is diabetic, weak and fragile and was in a hospital bed prescribed by her doctor when the eviction took place, according to the Sukeforth family.

Rachel Sukeforth, their daughter-in-law, who lives across the street with their son, Rick, said she and her husband drove her in-laws to Holden in a snowstorm the night they were evicted.

“That deal was very underhanded,” Richard Sukeforth said in a phone interview from Holden. “I don’t care what anybody says. It weren’t right. They came down and evicted us when my wife was right in a hospital bed. We’re both 80 years old, so they done it and got away with it and they’re happy.”

LePage, who was mayor of Waterville before he became Maine’s governor, said while it is legal to foreclose on properties, “most people don’t throw them out for poverty.”

“As mayor of Waterville, whenever we had an issue of poverty, we never threw people out,” he said.

The Sukeforths had lived in the house, which really is a camp, 33 years before they were evicted.

“He’s living in poverty,” LePage said of Richard Sukeforth. “Now, we’re throwing him out on the street. That’s just awful.”

Meanwhile, the Sukeforth’s brown-and-gray dog, Pee-wee, and black cat, Kitty, are temporarily staying with Rick and Rachel Sukeforth, as the trailer park in Holden does not allow dogs.

Rachel Sukeforth said when she lets the animals out, they go across the road and sit on the steps of what once was Richard and Leonette’s house and whimper.

The animals on Wednesday were wandering around that house in the snow. The dog, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier, shivered on the ice-covered dirt road.

MAKING PAYMENT

Even as Maine’s governor is voicing outrage over the Sukeforth eviction, town officials said the process to get to that point was legal and that Richard Sukeforth had many chances to prevent it.

Albion Selectwoman Beverly Bradstreet said he owed about $4,000 in taxes on the property, which was taxed at a little under $800 a year, not including interest and lien fees.

The town gave Richard Sukeforth, a National Guard and Marine veteran, every opportunity to pay and even paid his taxes for two years, in 2011 and 2012, out of a special fund the town maintains to help people in need, according to Bradstreet.

Pee-wee the dog, owned by Richard and Leonette Sukeforth, remains

 vigilant Wednesday outside their former home on Lovejoy Pond in Albion.

 The Sukeforths, who are staying in Holden with their daughter, were 

evicted from their home recently after the town foreclosed on it for 

nonpayment of taxes and then sold it by auction. Pee-wee is living 

temporarily with the Sukeforths’ son and daughter-in-law across the road

 from their former home because dogs are not allowed in the trailer park in

 Holden where they are staying. Staff photo by David Leaming

“It’s three years before we foreclose, and we paid his taxes, like two different years to avoid foreclosure; but then he just let it go,” Bradstreet said. “He knew that we were going to do it. He would come in the Town Office, but he did not pay. I don’t know why. He just waited until it was too late. We foreclosed last December, 2015. We gave him six months to still pay it off and he made no effort to pay it off. He didn’t try, and there were other people in town that could use some help, too.”

She said that, had Sukeforth paid his taxes before December 2015, he would have had to pay only one year’s taxes.

But Rachel Sukeforth said the family did not know her father-in-law, who is in an early stage of dementia, did not pay his taxes; in fact, she would ask him if he had gone to the Town Office to pay and he said he had. It was only when the family saw a notice in the newspaper last summer that there was to be an auction on the property that they learned of the foreclosure, she said.

“As soon as we found this out, we called the Town Office,” she said. “My husband and siblings and our neighbor all tried to pay the taxes up to date, and they refused payment. This wasn’t sitting well with any one of us. Every town has the right to refuse payment, but can also accept the payment as well. When we tried to pay selectmen, they said when an auction is posted in the newspaper, they can no longer accept payment, but that wasn’t true.”

LePage said the town at that point could have accepted the payment. “It’s never too late until the deed transfers, and the deed had not transferred,” he said.

Rachel Sukeforth said the family is trying to have her in-laws’ dog designated as a service dog so they can have it at the Holden trailer park. LePage is concerned about the dog, he said.

“If they need a place for the dog to go, I’ll take him,” he said.

He said he is working to help find the Sukeforths a place to live, such as an assisted-living facility.

Richard Sukeforth said he and his wife receive $1,252 a month in Social Security payments. He worked in construction during the summer for many years, operated a snowplow for the Maine Turnpike in winter and later worked for Bath Iron Works until he was injured when he fell off a crane boom in 1982, he said.

He maintained Marden Shore Road for the road association there for 33 years, for no pay, until the association voted in 2015 to pay him $500 a year. He said he misses his home, his dog and his cat and thinks it was wrong for the town to foreclose on his property and sell it.

His daughter, Ingalls, said her parents were told Dec. 29 that if they were not out of the house by midnight, the doors would be locked and a deputy sheriff called. She said they are upset about losing their home.

“They’re beside themselves, as old as they are,” Ingalls said. “Everything they’ve gone through in their whole lives, and they get thrown out like this.”

FORECLOSURE AND EVICTION

LePage learned of the Albion situation when MaryAnn Sawlan-Neiman, who with her husband, Jim, owns a home three properties away from the Sukeforth’s home, contacted the governor’s office for help. Sawlan-Neiman, who lives most of the year in Dracut, Massachusetts, but is also Marden Shore Road Association commissioner, said she did everything she could to help keep the Sukeforths in their home prior to calling LePage’s office.

“It’s just devastating for them,” she said of the couple. “He’s just like a lost man now.”

She said she met the Sukeforths many years ago, as he maintained the private, dirt road for 33 years.
The dead-end road off China Road is six-tenths of a mile long.

“Every day, he would come down, stay a couple of hours, and I’d go to his house. We just became really good friends. Another neighbor told me in July they were going to foreclose for taxes. I went to the town hall and I said, ‘What does he owe? I’ll pay for it right now.'”

She said the town refused payment. She said she told town officials she recognized Sukeforth had dementia because her own mother had had Alzheimer’s disease.

“He is a … vet. There’s just so many reasons this shouldn’t be able to happen,” she said.

After she and Sukeforth met Sept. 7 with LePage, she hoped there would be a positive resolution in the case, but that did not happen.

“I truly believe the governor did everything he could to help,” Sawlan-Neiman said. “He’s actually called me to come testify when the bill is ready. I’m very nervous about doing that because I don’t speak well in front of people, but I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Sawlan-Neiman bid $6,000 for the Sukeforth property in August at the sealed-bid auction. But Jason Marks, an electrician whose father, Winston, owns the property next to Richard and Leonette Sukeforth’s camp, bid $6,500; and as the higher bidder, he was awarded the property.

Jason Marks also owns a home on Marden Shore Road and does electrical work for the town of Albion. Sawlan-Neiman said the relationship between Marks and town officials, who are friendly, raises red flags.

“I can’t help but think that this was a setup so Jason could buy the property,” she said.

Both Marks and Bradstreet said that is not true. Bradstreet said she didn’t even know that Jason Marks was bidding on the Sukeforth property. Marks’ father actually brought the envelope with the sealed bid into the Town Office, she said, so town officials thought he was the one seeking to purchase it, not Jason. And while the town does hire Jason Marks to do electrical work, it is because he is the only local electrician available and lives in the town, according to Bradstreet, who said town officials actually were anticipating that Sawlan-Neiman would submit the higher bid so Sukeforth could keep the property.

“There was absolutely nothing underhanded,” Bradstreet said. “We were hoping she would get it.”

Jason Marks said that after he became owner of the Sukeforth property, he could have evicted the Sukeforths by September; but instead, he allowed the couple to stay in the house if they would pay rent.

“He (Richard Sukeforth) refused to pay any rent, and he actually refused to let me clean up the property because my insurance company was giving me a hard time about that,” Marks said.

GOVERNOR’S INVOLVEMENT

Marks said he got a call from a lawyer in the governor’s office last year asking to meet with him and LePage, but Marks did not want to meet with them unless he could have his own lawyer at such a meeting.

“I felt uncomfortable with the governor’s lawyer included in this when it originally happened because he mentioned he was going to look into future legislation and the well-being of Richard Sukeforth,” Marks said. “I was wanting to meet with the governor at my lawyer’s office because he was going to have his legal counsel there and said they were looking out for the well-being of Richard Sukeforth; but the deputy legal counsel told me the governor probably would refuse, and I never heard back from them.”

But LePage said he did not ask for lawyers to be present — that he wanted to meet with Marks, one-on-one, to ask if he would let the Sukeforths stay in the house for the rest of their lives.

“I never meet with lawyers,” LePage said Friday. “When I ask for a meeting, it’s me, alone. When I go after corruption, I go after corruption head-on. I don’t need any help.”

Marks said he actually tried to find help for the Sukeforths and called Sen. Susan Collins’ office, which was working to find out what could be done to help the couple. He said he spoke with a woman at that office. “She told me that Richard fell through every crack there is, and my comment to her was it’s too bad that he did work his whole life because if he didn’t work, there would have been benefits for him.”

A message left at Collins’ Augusta office was not returned immediately Friday.

LePage said there are programs to help elderly people, but he did not learn about the situation until after the foreclosure and transfer of the property.

Marks said he felt as if he was being made to feel like a bad person for evicting the Sukeforths and felt pressured by the governor.

“It’s not that I bought the property with the intentions of kicking him out and being done with it,” he said. “I tried doing something along the way to help.”

Both Bradstreet and Marks question how a law would work that would prohibit municipalities from foreclosing on and evicting elderly people who do not pay taxes. Bradstreet wonders if it would place a financial burden on towns. Marks said at some point, a town must foreclose.

“It’s too bad it’s an elderly person, but someone not paying their taxes makes it harder for everyone who does,” Marks said. “Everyone else pays their fair share.”

Marks also wondered why LePage is so invested in the Sukeforth case and said he welcomes LePage to come and look at the camp the Sukeforths lived in, to see the conditions inside, and he would talk to the governor about it.

“It’s not a place I’d want my family to live,” Marks said.

Richard and Leonette Sukeforth, both 80 years old, live in Holden with 

their daughter Yvette Ingalls after having been evicted from their home 

in Albion for nonpayment of real estate taxes. Staff photo by David Leaming

It’s not uncommon for governors or legislators to propose bills based on a single case — usually compelling stories involving matters such as child disappearances or deaths, according to Melcher, the UMF political science professor. Those anecdotes, though, are typically widely known and reported in the media before legislation is brought forward, whereas the Albion case has been known recently only to the people involved, town officials and LePage’s office.

Melcher cautioned against legislation based solely on a single incident.

“One case leading to action is not unusual; but for policy, we should wonder if this is a sign of a bigger problem, or are we reacting to just one thing?” Melcher said. “Sometimes when people get emotional, they make decisions they regret later. It’s good to start an examination based on a single case, but you don’t want to make policy on just one case without looking at all the implications.”

LePage, though, said he knows of other cases like the Sukeforths’.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Rick Sukeforth have been packing up his parents’ belongings and moving them out, little by little, and Marks has been good about them allowing them to do that, Rachel said.

She said she hopes LePage’s efforts to get a bill passed are successful.

“It’s so important to be a voice for the elderly,” she said, “because people just tend to throw them aside like they’re nothing because of their age.”

Full Article & Source:
Elderly couple’s eviction from Albion home draws LePage’s ire

Inspirational Alice Sommer - The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life - Official Trailer

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Inspirational Alice Sommer - The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life - Official Trailer