NJ Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Bilking Elderly Clients

A New Jersey lawyer has pleaded guilty to fleecing millions of dollars from his elderly clients.

Manchester solo Robert Novy, 66, a Brick resident, on July 27 pleaded guilty to first-degree money laundering before Ocean County Superior Court Judge Michael T. Collins, according to a release from the Attorney General’s Office.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Novy be sentenced to 10 years in state prison, including three years and four months of parole ineligibility. In pleading guilty, Novy admitted that he stole large sums from law clients, the release said.

Novy is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28

Novy’s Attorney, Gerald Krovatin of Krovatin Klingeman in Newark, said: “Bob Novy has accepted responsibility for his conduct. The $4 million is more than enough to satisfy the legitimate claims of his former clients.”

According to prosecutors, the plea also requires Novy to pay restitution to his victims out of two funds, totaling $4 million, that are being created using assets previously seized from him by the state: one fund of $3 million to provide restitution to client-victims, heirs, estates and trusts already identified through the state’s investigation; and a second fund of $1 million to provide restitution for others not previously identified who come forward with proof that they were victims of thefts.

Novy also must surrender his license to practice law in New Jersey, and pay $500,000 to the state as an anti-money laundering profiteering penalty, the release said.

“By exploiting elderly clients and stealing their life savings, Novy sank to the lowest levels of greed, dishonesty, and callousness,” said Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in the statement. “This guilty plea serves justice by ensuring that Novy will face a substantial prison sentence and that his victims will receive restitution from assets already seized from him.”

Novy was the subject of a 10-count indictment charging him with misapplication of entrusted property, and multiple counts of theft and money laundering. Novy’s victims typically did not have close relatives to monitor their interests, and, in some cases, the clients suffered from dementia, prosecutors said, charging that he used the stolen funds for his own benefit, paying personal and business expenses. He was accused of taking control through wills, powers of attorney, and trust documents, making himself the sole financial decision-maker for the clients.

As an elder law practitioner, Novy hosted a bimonthly radio program, “Inside the Law,” on WOBM in Lakewood, which focused on topics of concern to senior citizens.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, he was arrested on Oct. 18, 2016, after law enforcement executed a search warrant at his office, and charges were then referred to the grand jury. Prosecutors obtained court orders freezing more than $3.5 million in assets held by Novy, and appointing a trustee to oversee the firm’s business operations, the office said.

The indictment alleged that from 2009 through 2016, Novy stole approximately $1.9 million from six elderly clients, in amounts ranging from about $45,000 to nearly $740,000. The indictment alleged that Novy stole money in varying ways: transferring funds from his clients’ personal bank accounts or liquidated personal assets into his own bank account; transferring funds from personal accounts or liquidated assets into Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) sub-accounts he controlled when those funds should have instead been placed in independent, managed trust funds selected by the clients; and transferring money from personal and trust accounts to firm business accounts.

Full Article & Source:
NJ Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Bilking Elderly Clients

The Elder Abuse Crisis in Progressive Minnesota

by David Holmburg

I’m from Minnesota, and you might call me a loyalist. All my life, I’ve taken pride in the state’s reputation as a citadel of progressivism. It’s produced an impressive roster of socially conscious politicians—Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Walter Mondale, Orville Freeman—and ranks at or near the top among the fifty states in social services, education, and cultural advantages.

But these days in Minnesota, there lingers the stigmatizing taint of elder abuse—the shocking (especially to a Minnesotan) revelation by the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis that “each year, hundreds of Minnesotans are beaten, sexually assaulted, or robbed in senior care homes. Their cases are seldom investigated, leaving families in the dark.”

A 2010 study showed a six-fold increase in reported incidents in the state’s senior care facilities, which may have been a catalyst for a 2017 investigation by the Star-Tribune that uncovered another disturbing statistic: in 2015, “the Minnesota Department of Health received 25, 226 allegations of neglect, physical abuse, unexplained serious injuries, and thefts in state-licensed homes for the elderly.”

Said a board member of the Minnesota Elder Justice Center, Iris Freeman: “We should all be appalled at this picture. Minnesota used to be at the top of the heap when it came to elder-abuse enforcement, and now we’re becoming known for being non-responsive.”

But the state did mobilize its legislative, law enforcement, and senior care resources in response to the Star-Tribune’s investigation. It was a response you’d expect in a state with a strong collective instinct for change when change is demanded. It improved compliance standards, developed better programs for training and monitoring employees, and opened communications between law enforcement and other agencies.

“It haunts me,” her son, Robert, said two years ago of his mother’s assault, and her emotional suffering in the dwindling days of her life. “It haunts me.”

Eric Klang, the police chief in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, who investigated one of the worst elder-abuse cases in the state in recent years, told the Silver Standard: “Now elder abuse is on everybody’s radar. It’s on the news every night.”

An elder abuse advocate Susan Scheller said that while Minnesota still has less of a problem with elder abuse than many other states, “we expect a lot better.” Referring to the crisis in recent years that has only somewhat abated, she said, “This [situation] is not acceptable.”

The ultimate definition of “not acceptable’ in elder care—other than a suspicious death—is sexual assault. And that occurred on May 8, 2016, at an assisted-living complex called Heritage House, located in the northern Minnesota town of Pequot Lakes.

A 78-year-old resident of the facility named Jean Krause, a former nurse, was assaulted by David DeLong, 59, a caregiver at the facility, who had worked there for several years and had a clean record. DeLong was found that night by a female aide, a few feet from Ms. Krause, with his jeans and underwear at his knees. He was trying to pull them up.

No one at Heritage House called the police for two hours. DeLong, meanwhile, was sent home for the night.

Full Article and Source:
The Silver Standard News: The Elder Abuse Crisis in Progressive Minnesota

See Also:
The EARN Project (Elder Abuse Reform Now Project)

The Unforgivable Truth

Scranton legal secretary charged with forging checks for $175,950

Kelly Mattern

SCRANTON — A secretary for a Scranton lawyer faces forgery and theft charges after investigators say she wrote and cashed almost 200 checks from his accounts for $175,950 between 2015 and last month.

Kelly Mattern, office assistant/legal secretary for attorney Frank Santomauro, continued to forge checks in his name even after the lawyer discovered the theft in 2017, and tried to work with her on restitution, Lackawanna County Detective Lisa Bauer wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Mattern, 38, 820 Hilltop Drive 1, Clarks Summit, surrendered Thursday at the county courthouse and was released on $50,000 unsecured bail after arraignment before Magisterial District Judge Alyce Farrell.

Mattern is charged with forging Santomauro’s signature and cashing checks she made payable to herself in amounts ranging from $200 to $2,500 from both his business account and his lawyer trust account beginning in October 2015.

Santomauro, who reported the theft to the district attorney’s office in late June, said Mattern was like family to him and he treated her as such, Bauer wrote in the affidavit.

The attorney initially discovered the theft and confronted Mattern late last year, at which point she had written and cashed more than 170 checks totaling almost $148,000 on his business account, according to the affidavit.

Santomauro told Bauer he did not terminate her, reasoning he would never collect restitution if she was fired, the affidavit said. Instead, Mattern’s mother repaid $50,000, and the attorney withheld $16,017 from Mattern’s pay toward restitution. In addition, Mattern paid a $484 bill for him, and her boyfriend put a new roof valued at $2,500 on a building he owned.

As he collected restitution from her, Santomauro learned in March that Mattern had resumed forging checks on the business account in January, but again did not fire her, saying he kept her employed so he could continue to collect restitution payments, the affidavit said.

The attorney finally contacted authorities June 27, shortly after discovering Mattern had forged seven checks for $7,395 in May and June on his lawyer trust account, the affidavit said.

A review of records from the Mohegan Sun Pocono in Plains Twp. found Mattern used her Player’s Club Card at the casino on more than 200 days between November 2016 and last month, Bauer wrote in the affidavit. Sixty of the forged checks were cashed on days Mattern used her card at the casino, and many others were cashed within a day or two of those dates.

Mattern is charged with three counts of forgery and two counts each of theft by unlawful taking and access device fraud — all felonies. She also faces two misdemeanor counts of bad checks after checks she wrote to Santomauro for restitution were returned for insufficient funds, the affidavit said.

Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 8.

In 2014, Mattern was sentenced to three to 23 months in Lackawanna County Prison for theft by deception after Clarks Summit police say she forged 26 checks totaling $37,600 on a 71-year-old man’s bank account.

At her sentencing hearing, Mattern told Judge Vito Geroulo she had been taking a lot of pills and used the money to gamble because she was depressed. As part of her sentence, the judge ordered her to make full restitution and to sign a voluntary ban from all casinos.

Full Article & Source:
Scranton legal secretary charged with forging checks for $175,950

San Francisco prepares to expand conservatorships for homeless people

A state bill would allow courts to appoint a conservator for a person who is chronically homeless and unable to care for themselves due to mental illness or substance use, based on frequent trips to emergency rooms, stays in jail and 5150s. (GABRIELLE LURIE/SPECIAL TO THE S.F. EXAMINER)

San Francisco is preparing for an expanded use of conservatorships in anticipation of state legislation that would allow The City to increase their use for homeless persons suffering from mental illness or substance use.

The City’s Public Conservator currently has 577 people under mental health conservatorships and receives about 16 referrals monthly of people admitted for psychiatric care through an initial 5150 72-hour emergency hold.

However that number is expected to increase if state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, succeeds in passing Senate Bill 1045, which expands the criteria for placing a person under conservatorship. The bill would allow courts to appoint a conservator for a person who is chronically homeless and unable to care for themselves due to mental illness or substance use, based on their frequent trips to emergency rooms, stays in jail and 5150s.

The Senate Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing on the bill Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee approved legislation Thursday that would have the City Attorney’s Office take a leading role in arguing for conservatorships. The District Attorney’s Office currently handles the cases but would only handle them for those also facing criminal charges if the legislation is approved.

The City Attorney has proposed three new positions to handle the workload beginning January 2019, which would cost $717,874 annually, according to a report from the budget analyst.

Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who introduced the legislation, said that it was important for the City to “expand the capacity for addressing these particular issues” and “make this process efficient.”

Jill Nielsen, who oversees the Public Conservator program under the Human Services Agency, said she had visited Sacramento this week with Mayor Mark Farrell’s staff to support Wiener’s bill.

Nielsen said that the bill would address a trend they are seeing in San Francisco of homeless persons undergoing psychosis as a result of drug use, such as methamphetamine.

“There are other drugs that our homeless individuals out on the streets are actively using and it creates this agitation psychosis that many of us are very familiar with just from walking to BART or wherever we might be going,” Nielsen said.

Conservatorships are currently allowed under the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act passed in the 1960s, which allows someone to be held involuntarily and treated in a mental health facility if the person is deemed “gravely disabled,” which means they are unable to provide their own basic needs like food, clothing or shelter.

Nielsen said that conservatees have remained under conservatorship for an average of five years. “Although LPS conservatorships are intended to be short term, the individuals that we are serving do have serious mental illness and it takes time for them to achieve recovery,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen said when someone is referred, they are evaluated and some are placed in locked facilities while others are located in community settings like a residential care facility for elderly or single room occupancy hotels with supportive services. She noted that in some cases medications are provided involuntarily.

Should Wiener’s bill pass, San Francisco would need to approve legislation to adopt the new conservatorship criteria, according to the budget analyst.

The board postponed a vote Tuesday for one week on a resolution introduced by Breed supporting Wiener’s bill.

David Elliott Lewis, who serves on the Mental Health Board and provides Crisis Intervention Training for police officers, spoke against the resolution. “To enact another law that can deprive people of civil rights to address a political need of seeing homeless people on the street is really troubling,” Lewis told the board Tuesday.

He added, “We need housing and treatment and community supports.”

Barbara Garcia, Public Health Department director, said Thursday that the combination of mental illness, addiction and homelessness “really does cause their inability to take care of themselves,” which is why she supports Wiener’s proposal.

Garcia said it would “provide a little bit of respite for these individuals, a little bit of respite for the neighborhood.”

Full Article & Source:
San Francisco prepares to expand conservatorships for homeless people

Lewis Takes Over for Probate Judge Lomme on July 28

Old Saybrook — On July 23, six days before Probate Judge Terrance Lomme turns 70 and must retire, his successor, Attorney Jeannine Lewis, was sworn in by Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr. Lewis was the winner of a special election to fill Lomme’s seat.

“It’s a joyous occasion to swear in our new judge of probate, Jeannine Lewis,” said Fortuna. “I’ve known Judge Jeannine for over 10 years. She’s a great mother, a superior lawyer, and an exceptionally good person. Those attributes will make her an exceptional judge of probate.

“Nine towns recognized her intelligence and enduring compassion,” said Fortuna in commenting on her solid special election win.

The District 33 Probate Court over which Lewis will preside has its offices on the third floor of the Old Saybrook Town Hall on Main Street. The court serves nine towns: Chester, Clinton, Deep River, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Lyme, Old Saybrook and Westbrook. This type of court handles various family matters including appointments of conservators, civil commitments, appointments and oversight of guardians, paternity claims, granting of adoptions, granting of name changes, removing life support, and removing a child from custody of parents who fail to provide suitable living conditions.

The swearing-in ceremony and celebration of Lewis’ new post was held under the canopy at The Kate on the Town Green. Representatives from many of the nine towns she’ll serve attended alongside Town of Old Saybrook staff, elected officials, and her family and friends.

After being sworn, Lewis spoke of her path to the judgeship, and of the challenges she faced along the way.

“Many of the you know I had a humble upbringing in a shoreline town. I got into Brown where I [earned] a degree in biology,” said Lewis.

The job she secured after graduation, relying on her biology degree, was working for Pfizer in neuroscience research. The switch to law came later.

Just before she started a family, she decided to leave Pfizer and go to law school; she graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2005. While still nursing and caring for a one-year old, she studied for and passed the bar exam, a time she describes as incredibly challenging. Starting her own private law practice came after that. It was from this platform that she launched her bid to become probate court judge.

Her recent career highlights included being appointed to serve on the Conservatorship Guidelines Committee, a committee composed of attorneys who appear before probate courts as well as probate court judges, and acting as co-author of a 70-page training manual titled Court-Appointed Attorneys in Courts of Probate.

“There are 54 probate judges in Connecticut and [of those judges], 14 are women. Only a handful are under the age of 50,” said Lewis, one of those judges under age 50.

Then she spoke directly to the young people listening, and in particular, to her own children who were there in the audience.

“For young people, when we defy unimaginable odds, it’s a sign we’re on a path we’re supposed to be following. You have to push forward, one goal at a time. We need to teach them their destiny’s is about overcoming fear of failure,” said Lewis. “I think you for the honor and privilege to serve today as your probate judge.”

Lewis’s first day of work at Old Saybrook Town Hall’s Probate Court offices will be on Monday, July 30. Although her name will appear on the November ballot as a candidate for probate court judge, with no opposition, Lewis will be elected then to serve her first four-year term as probate court judge of District 33.

Full Article & Source:
Lewis Takes Over for Probate Judge Lomme on July 28

County hopes longer psychiatric hold will stem conservatorships

The Marin County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution last week to allow for an additional 30-day involuntary psychiatric hold, resulting in a total of 47 days of possible treatment for those deemed a danger to themselves or others. The additional hold will give clinicians more time to assess and stabilize clients, who are admitted to Marin General Hospital in Kentfield. “The legislative intent of [the resolution] is to really reduce the number of gravely disabled persons who we conserve,” said Dr. Jei Africa, director of the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services division of Marin Health and Human Services. He was referring to conservatorships, in which a judge appoints a legal guardian responsible for managing an individual’s financial affairs, health care and living arrangements, significantly curtailing that person’s civil rights. People placed under the extended holds are still entitled to due process through a review hearing after the initial 72-hour evaluation, or by filing for habeas corpus. In 2015, the latest year for which data is publicly available, 1,248 people in Marin were held for an initial 72-hour psychiatric evaluation. Out of those, 82 were assigned to permanent conservatorships. Similar resolutions extending the psychiatric hold have passed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Solano, resulting in fewer permanent conservatorships—only 38 in San Francisco in 2015. In Marin, the resolution was originally proposed in May, but was put on hold to allow for more community feedback. Several members of the public spoke up at last Tuesday’s meeting in support of the resolution (no one spoke against it). The executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Kelli Finley, offered strong support for the resolution as an additional resource, and said she’s had discussions with over 300 family members and consumers dealing with mental illness. Alyssa Bradley, a lifetime Marin resident who said she was held—she believes wrongly—at Saint Helena Hospital for six days under an involuntary psychiatric hold, also spoke in support. “I do think this is a very, very, very good idea to have these 30-day holds…to fully assess [a client’s] situation before they are forced into a conservatorship,” she said.

Full Article & Source:
County hopes longer psychiatric hold will stem conservatorships

Pella woman allegedly steals $113K from Newton victim in dependent abuse case

A Pella woman has been charged with financial exploitation and dependent adult abuse of a Newton resident, after a federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network tip notified local police of more than $113,799 in potentially misappropriated money.

According to the Newton Police Department, 36-year-old Christan D. Maddison allegedly used the funds to purchase $15,500 in plastic surgery, as well as pay her own utility bills, tattoos, rent, car and credit card payments and fast food after she became the elderly victim’s power of attorney in February of 2017. Authorities were first alerted to the abuse reports in April.

Investigators claim the abuse happened while the victim was in a nursing home and unable to manage her own financial accounts. A reported $194,533 in annuities, investments and social security payments over the 14 months Maddison was POA for the victim were deposited into an account managed by Maddison. Police said $80,756 did go to the victim’s care during that time period, leaving the $113,779 in missing money.

Maddison was charged July 1, and released pending her scheduled court appearance at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 14.

Full Article & Source:
Pella woman allegedly steals $113K from Newton victim in dependent abuse case

Three charged with financial exploitation, theft of more than $60,000

Johnnie Shane Munsey

An Andersonville man and two Andersonville women have been charged with financial exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable person and theft of more than $60,000, according to Anderson County court records.

The three are Johnnie Shane Munsey, 46; Phyllis Joan Spradling, 71; and Tammie Jo Munsey, 42. They were indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on July 10. The two exploitation and theft charges are both Class B felonies.

The three defendants, who all live at the same address in Andersonville, are accused of financially exploiting an elderly or vulnerable adult between December 30, 2015, through November 1, 2017, the court records said.

And they are accused of obtaining property, including but not limited to U.S. currency valued at more than $60,000, from the victim, Jimmy Spradling, without his consent, the indictments said.

Phyllis Joan Spradling

The three defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on July 30.

Leslie Miller of the Clinton Police Department is listed as a witness for the state, according to the grand jury indictments. Also summoned for the state was First Tennessee Bank.

The indictments don’t say where the alleged theft and exploitation took place.

All three of the defendants were arrested Monday, July 16, and released from the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton within a day or two. Bond for each has been set at $75,000.


Full Article & Source:
Three charged with financial exploitation, theft of more than $60,000

Concern over elder abuse

Here’s a basic definition of what an elderly guardianship is: “Elderly guardianship, also known as elderly conservatorship, is a legal relationship created when a court appoints an individual to care for an elderly person who is no longer able to care for himself or herself.” The problem arises when elderly people are perfectly able to care for themselves but are merely alleged to be unable to do so any longer. “Unfortunately, an elderly person may become unable to care for himself or herself. This could include the inability to remember to take necessary medications, maintain regular hygiene, or properly manage finances. In these instances, it may be in the elderly person’s best interests for a court to appoint a guardian.”

Again, it’s possible that the mere allegation of incompetence may be enough for a court to appoint a guardian without the elderly person even knowing about it. Of course, there are instances when an elderly person really does need a guardian appointed, but the danger arises when then don’t, but a guardian is appointed anyway.

Who can petition the court to have a guardian appointed can include the elderly person himself or herself, the spouse or domestic partner of the elderly person, a relative, a friend, or even a state or government agency. The potential for abuse grows exponentially when the distance, both physical and emotional, increases.

The important thing to remember if you’re over 65 is that a legally appointed guardian gets control of everything, your money, your possessions, and where you live. The guardian gets control, in other words, or your whole life!

Here’s what the previously cited article says about some of the negatives associated with a guardianship: “Guardianship, by nature, requires the elderly person to lose some of his or her rights. For example, the elderly person may lose the right to manage his or her finances, to choose his or her own caretaker, and to decide where he or she lives. There’s also the risk that the guardian will fail to act in the best interests of the elderly person.”

As a practical matter, an elderly person becomes as disempowered over their own life as a minor child would be.

Some alternatives are available to a court appointed guardian. They include creating a living trust, giving one’s power of attorney to another person, or even appointment of what is called a “standby guardianship.” A standby guardianship means that, “the elderly person may designate someone as a standby guardian, in case the person loses the ability to care for himself or herself.” This method at least insures that the elderly person is picking the guardian instead of having someone appointed guardian who the elderly person may not even know. It is important to understand, however, that all these alternatives involve the elderly person willingly assigning his or her rights to another person.

Here’s what the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse says: “Over the years, guardianship law has been misapplied, misused, and sometimes just plain manipulated, until it has become a threat to the health and wealth to our elderly and disabled citizens. [The elderly] in these circumstances, are victimized under the deception of protection. Strangers are often given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards, including being left defenseless and subject to neglect, abuse and or exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they become invisible and voiceless.”

Here’s what the court said in a 1995 Iowa case, N.W.2nd 567, 573-74: “[The ward] may be deprived of control over his residence, his associations, his property, his diet, and his ability to go where he wishes. With the misconception that guardianship is always a good thing, proposed wards agree to it not understanding that their rights will be restricted.”

Given the potential loss of liberty and freedom which the elderly have enjoyed all their lives, it just makes good sense to consult an attorney about how best to protect yourself from ending up being the ward of a court appointed guardian. We hear horror stories almost every day about child abuse, but precious little is heard about elderly abuse – particularly in light of the fact that a court appointed guardian is supposed to be acting in the best interests of the elderly person.

The risks of elderly abuse in small town America are small, but it just makes good sense to consult an attorney while you still have all your wits about you to avoid ending up with nothing.

That’s – 30 – for this week.

Full Article & Source:
Concern over elder abuse

She Found Comfort in a Brooklyn Diner, Then Lost Everything

Zelma Haskell, 85, at a rehabilitation center on Staten Island. She was swindled by a waitress and lost her Brooklyn home of 46 years.Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Zelma Haskell had been married to her husband, Irwin, for more than 50 years, and when he died in 2003, she was lost.

“He was everything to me,” she said in a recent interview, looking back over the years that followed his death — years of practically unfathomable loss and theft hidden behind the smile of a friend — to the place where it all began.

She was 71 years old, a lunchtime regular at the Arch Diner near her home in Canarsie, Brooklyn. The Ralph Avenue eatery was a throwback classic of the form, shot through with neon piping above the counter. She had gone with her husband, and later she often ate alone.

Around the time she became a widow, she met a waitress there named Alicia Legall. They hit it off right away, and Ms. Haskell began seeking her out when she went to the diner so she could sit at one of her tables.

“Pretty, and so sweet,” Ms. Haskell, now 85, recalled. “I liked her immediately.”

Ms. Haskell had two children, a son in New Jersey and a daughter on Staten Island. Her daughter was mentally disabled and required regular care and financial support.

“What I wanted to do with my real daughter was difficult,” she said. Ms. Legall, in her 30s, was just a little younger than her own children. “I was so happy. I had a new daughter,” she said. “She started to call me ‘Mommy.’”

Ms. Legall, from Trinidad and Tobago, had been a waitress since she was 13, she wrote on her LinkedIn page. “I love making people especially young children and elderly happy with food and a smile!” she wrote.

The two women spent more and more time together outside the diner. “She started taking me food shopping and different places,” Ms. Haskell said. “I ended up buying her a car, a very nice used car.”

Ms. Legall became a guest at family events, bringing her own young children along, and pictures of her family hung in Ms. Haskell’s home.

“At first, she brought a lot of joy into my life,” Ms. Haskell said.

But she also took. The women had visited Ms. Haskell’s HSBC Bank branch on Ralph several times, and Ms. Legall had access to Ms. Haskell’s account information. At some point several years ago, she told Ms. Haskell that she had taken money that had been in a savings account that had belonged to Mr. Haskell. She needed it to pay a debt, she said.

“It sounded like maybe she’d give it back to me,” Ms. Haskell said. “I was so naïve.”

The incident had no impact on their bond. “I’m still ‘Mommy,’” Ms. Haskell said. “I saw her a lot.” The two visited nearby restaurants and took selfies that Ms. Legall posted online.

In 2013, Ms. Haskell’s last surviving sister, Marcy, died in Florida. Ms. Legall traveled with her for the funeral. “She helped me on the airplane,” Ms. Haskell recalled. “It was like a little vacation for her.”

Four more years passed this way. Then Ms. Haskell’s son, Lloyd, a physician, received a certified letter that stunned him. A bank was going to foreclose on his mother’s home because she was not paying fees related to a reverse mortgage for $424,000.

Reverse mortgage? His mother lived comfortably within her means. She didn’t travel or buy expensive clothes. A splurge for her was adding to her extensive collection of dolls. What did she need $400,000 for?

He asked her. She said she had taken out the money for Ms. Legall, who needed it to pay another debt. Mr. Haskell, mad at himself for believing Ms. Legall was looking after his mother, went to the police and was referred to financial-crimes detectives. They opened a case and discovered the scope of the fraud and loss.

The theft began immediately after the women met, the police said.

Ms. Legall forged and cashed 75 checks totaling more than $200,000. She opened several credit cards and ran up an eclectic range of charges to Apple, JetBlue, Victoria’s Secret, and clubs and restaurants in Miami.

In addition, Ms. Legall bet heavily on horse races. She racked up expenses in New York Racing Association buffets and bars, at Belmont Park, and online at betting sites like TwinSpires at Churchill Downs.

“It appears she had a gambling issue,” Detective Jackson Todd said in an interview. “She bet on horses a lot.”

Detectives arrested Ms. Legall on Oct. 17 at her home on East 55th Street in Flatlands, Brooklyn. She denied any wrongdoing, telling the police that Ms. Haskell gave her a credit card for errands and shopping, and that she repaid her for any personal purchases, according to a summary of her statements to the police.

She said the reverse mortgage had been Ms. Haskell’s idea. “She wanted to give Alicia and her family money,” the police said Ms. Legall told detectives. She said she was expecting a $700,000 settlement from a civil matter and $60,000 on a “race horse transaction.”

Ms. Legall was indicted in Brooklyn on charges of grand larceny and forgery. The indictment accused her of stealing more than $470,000 from Ms. Haskell.

“Over the course of several years, Legall became a trusted confident and gained access to the woman’s personal information, including her date of birth, Brooklyn residential address, Social Security number and bank and credit card information,” the indictment states.

On April 25, Ms. Legall pleaded guilty to grand larceny. She was sentenced this month to three to nine years in prison. She lived in the house in Flatlands with a man and two of her teenage children; they declined to comment, as did her lawyer.

The news came as a shock to her colleagues at the Arch Diner. “She was a good waitress,” said Louie Leonidou, an owner. He remembered the two women together. “Even after she quit as a waitress, she would come in as a customer, with her,” he said.

In the fallout of the reverse mortgage, Ms. Haskell lost her home of 46 years. Her family is fighting in the courts to get it back, but her future there is far from certain. She is crippled by arthritis and could not climb her own front steps. She has lived in a cramped room at a Staten Island rehabilitation center for about a year.

“My house was all paid for,” she said. “I was a mess.”

She was asked if she had a photo someplace of her and Ms. Legall together. She reached for her purse and pulled out a snapshot, wrinkled and worn, of the two women smiling at the camera. After everything that happened, why would she still carry this picture around?

She sighed and answered with a shrug: “The memories.”

Full Article & Source: 
She Found Comfort in a Brooklyn Diner, Then Lost Everything

See Also:
Waitress Accused Of Scamming Elderly Woman Out Of Nearly $500,000

Aging Americans with disabilities require more options for financial stability, Collins says

Many Americans with disabilities continue to have difficulties covering their monthly expenses as they age, despite myriad federal disability supports, according to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, who thinks they need additional financial options.

“More than 56 million people in the United States live with a disability, and about 34 million of them are at the working age of 16 to 64,” the senator said in her opening statement during the committee’s July 18 hearing, entitled Supporting Economic Stability and Self-Sufficiency as Americans with Disabilities and their Families Age.

“It hasn’t always been easy, however, for people with disabilities who can and want to work to save for their own futures,” Sen. Collins said, noting that federal law caps the assets of a single person with disabilities who receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) at $2,000.

“Being able to save money to make necessary modifications to a car, or a home, or just to pay for unexpected life events, can preserve the independence of individuals with disabilities. And aging parents of disabled children should also feel secure about their children’s futures as they enter into their own retirement years,” she added.

During the hearing, lawmakers and witnesses discussed federal policies, including ABLE accounts, a government system to help people with disabilities save money while they continue to receive their SSI benefits.

“Parents of children with disabilities were once discouraged from saving for their children’s future. This led to needless worry, sleepless nights and a lack of financial security,” Sen. Collins said. “Today, ABLE accounts offer a means to saving that can turn the tide. These options provide a sense of security to help produce a brighter future full of hope.”

ABLE accounts were established under the 2014 Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, a federal law that Sen. Collins cosponsored. Thus far, 39 states have started an ABLE program under the act. The senator’s home state of Maine is currently implementing an ABLE program to assist people with disabilities, according to a July 20 statement from her office.

But witnesses testified during the Senate Aging Committee hearing that many government-sponsored public support programs inadvertently prevent low-income individuals and families, including those with disabilities, from maintaining their eligibility for disability benefits.

For instance, Edward Mitchell, an independent living specialist for the Jackson Area Center for Independent Living in Jackson, Tenn., whose legs, hands and a portion of his chest are paralyzed from an injury, testified he’s only permitted to work part-time jobs so he may retain his federal benefits.

“I have been gaining experience and have completed my masters, but I can’t accept a full salary because it would impact my nursing benefits,” Mitchell said. “If I accepted a full salary, I would make too much and lose my disability benefits, but I would not make enough to directly pay for nursing care, even if I gave the home care agency my entire check.”

Likewise, in Pennsylvania, the state’s ABLE program currently has more than 1,400 account holders with $8.3 million under management, testified Jack Stollsteimer, Deputy State Treasurer for Consumer Programs and Public Engagement in the Pennsylvania Office of the State Treasurer in Harrisburg.

“And each of those account owners has their own story as to why ABLE is the best option for them to save, pay bills and make debit card purchases through their PA ABLE account,” Stollsteimer said.

“We have made so much progress – but we have so much more work to do,” he added, noting there are more than 60,000 children with disabilities in Pennsylvania. “With ongoing support from federal and state policy makers, our goal is to reach as many of them as we can,” said Stollsteimer.

Sen. Collins pointed out that roughly 27 percent of Americans with disabilities live in poverty, “the highest rate of any subgroup in the country.”

“This figure demonstrates why we must provide these individuals with more opportunities for financial freedom and stability, particularly during their older years,” said the senator.

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Aging Americans with disabilities require more options for financial stability, Collins says

Editorial: Elder-abuse law a good start toward tackling problem

Attorney General Josh Shapiro

It’s good news, but the work here is only just beginning.

The Issue:

Prosecutors finally get the power to address mistreatment of people dependent on care.

Our Opinion:

It’s good news, but the work here is only just beginning.

Pennsylvania's belated passage of elder-abuse legislation is a most welcome development, but there is still plenty of work to be done.

Act 53, which expands prosecutorial powers to go after those who abuse a care-dependent person, was signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf in late June. The law takes effect Aug. 27.

The subject was high on the agenda at a recent luncheon hosted by the Berks County Area Agency on Aging. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro addressed the gathering at the Inn at Reading, Wyomissing, and praised state Rep. Jim Cox, the Spring Township Republican who sponsored the bill, for his persistence in getting the legislation passed. Shapiro also noted the work of Chief Deputy Attorney General Laurie Malone and reporting by the Reading Eagle for drawing more attention to the issue.

It's certainly refreshing to hear Shapiro, a Democrat, praise the work of a Republican legislator in these divisive times, and it's gratifying to hear an elected official praise a media outlet rather than join in the press bashing that's all too popular with politicians.

Clearly this is an issue that should inspire bipartisanship. The first version of this measure was introduced all the way back in 2007 after residents at a Lebanon County assisted living home were fed rotten food and put to work stuffing newspaper inserts. Similar bills were introduced every legislative session since then, yet only this summer did lawmakers finally achieve success.

Act 53 amends the criminal statute to include language that addresses abuse of a care-dependent person, as well as neglect resulting in death. Previously, Pennsylvania did not have statutory provisions to prosecute abuse.

Elder abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual or through neglect or financial exploitation, and it is on the rise. Pennsylvania Department of Health data show that substantiated abuse in nursing homes more than tripled from 2012 to 2016.

The problem is expected only to worsen as the baby boom generation reaches old age.

According to federal data, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office has prosecuted the lowest percentage of patient care cases of all states. The amended statute is expected to change that.

The new law is a good start, but it fails to include penalties for those who fail to report suspected abuse to law enforcement. A November Reading Eagle investigation found that these crimes go unreported all too frequently. Legislators should tackle that issue next.

And while Harrisburg has an important role to play in addressing the problem, legislation alone won't solve it.

Elder-abuse education is critical so that people who know or work with older individuals are able to recognize signs of a problem early enough to do something about it.

According to the state Department of Aging, abuse warning signs include isolation, weight loss, bruises or broken bones, increased confusion, unusual account withdrawals and signing over a home. People aware of any situations involving elder abuse should call 800-490-8505.

Crimes involving mistreatment of older people are just as serious as those involving domestic partners and children. It's time for them to receive the same level of attention. All of us can play a role in making that happen.

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Editorial: Elder-abuse law a good start toward tackling problem

Feel like the last friend standing? Here’s how to cultivate new buds as you age

Donn Trenner, 91, estimates that two-thirds of his friends are dead.

“That’s a hard one for me,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of people.”

As baby boomers age, more and more folks will reach their 80s, 90s — and beyond. They will not only lose friends but face the daunting task of making new friends at an advanced age.

Friendship in old age plays a critical role in health and well-being, according to recent findings from the Stanford Center on Longevity’s Sightlines Project. Socially isolated individuals face health risks comparable to those of smokers, and their mortality risk is twice that of obese individuals, the study notes.

Baby boomers are more disengaged with their neighbors and even their loved ones than any other generation, said Dr. Laura Carstensen, who is director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and herself a boomer, in her 60s. “If we’re disengaged, it’s going to be harder to make new friends,” she said.

Trenner knows how that feels. In 2017, right before New Year’s, he tried to reach his longtime friend Rose Marie, former actress and co-star on the 1960s sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Trenner traveled with Rose Marie as a pianist and arranger doing shows at senior centers along the Florida coast more than four decades ago.

“When we were performing, you could hear all the hearing aids screaming in the audience,” he joked.

The news that she’d died shook him to the core.

Although she was a friend who, he said, cannot be replaced, neither her passing nor the deaths of dozens of his other friends and associates will stop Trenner from making new friends.

That’s one reason he still plays, on Monday nights, with the Hartford Jazz Orchestra at the Arch Street Tavern in Hartford, Conn.

For the past 19 years, he’s been the orchestra’s pianist and musical conductor. Often, at least one or two members of the 17-piece orchestra can’t make it to the gig but must arrange for someone to stand in for them. As a result, Trenner said, he not only has regular contact with longtime friends but keeps meeting and making friends with new musicians — most of whom are under 50.

Twice divorced, he also remains good friends with both of his former wives. And not too long ago, Trenner flew to San Diego to visit his best friend, also a musician, who was celebrating his 90th birthday. They’ve known each other since they met at age 18 in the United States Army Air Corps. They still speak almost daily.

“Friendship is not be taken for granted,” said Trenner. “You have to invest in friendship.”

Even in your 90s, the notion of being a sole survivor can seem surprising.

Perhaps that’s why 91-year-old Lucille Simmons of Lakeland, Fla., halts, midsentence, as she traces the multiple losses of friends and family members. She has not only lost her two closest friends, but a granddaughter, a daughter and her husband of 68 years. Although her husband came from a large family of 13 children, his siblings have mostly all vanished.

“There’s only one living sibling — and I’m having dinner with him tonight,” said Simmons.

Five years ago, Simmons left her native Hamilton, Ohio, to move in with her son and his wife, in a gated, 55-and-over community midway between Tampa and Orlando. She had to learn how to make friends all over again. Raised as an only child, she said, she was up to the task.

Simmons takes classes and plays games at her community. She also putters around her community on a golf cart (which she won in a raffle) inviting folks to ride along with her.

For his part, Trenner doesn’t need a golf cart.

His personal formula for making friends is music, laughter and staying active. He makes friends whether he’s performing or attending music events or teaching.

Simmons has her own formula. It’s a roughly 50-50 split of spending quality time with relatives (whom she regards as friends) and non-family friends. The odds are with her. This, after all, is a woman who spent 30 years as the official registrar of vital statistics for Hamilton. In that job, she was responsible for recording every birth — and every death — in the city.

Experts say they’re both doing the right thing by not only remaining open to new friendships but constantly creating new ways to seek them out — even at an advanced age.

Genuine friendships at any age typically require repeated contact, said Dr. Andrea Bonior, author of “The Friendship Fix: The Complete Guide to Choosing, Losing and Keeping Up with Your Friends.” She advises older folks to join group exercise classes or knitting or book clubs.

She also suggests that seniors get involved in “altruistic behavior” like volunteering in a soup kitchen or an animal shelter or tutoring English as a second language.

“Friendships don’t happen in a vacuum,” she said. “You don’t meet someone at Starbucks and suddenly become best friends.”

Perhaps few understand the need for friendship in older years better than Carstensen, who, besides directing the Stanford Center on Longevity, is author of “A Long Bright Future: Happiness, Health and Financial Security in an Age of Increased Longevity.”

Carstensen said that going back to school can be one of the most successful ways for an older person to make a new friend.

Bonior recommends that seniors embrace social media. These social media connections can help older people strike up new friendships with nieces, nephews and even grandchildren, said Alan Wolfelt, an author, educator and founder of the Center for Loss and Life Transition.

“It’s important to create support systems that don’t isolate you with your own generation.”

Many older folks count their children as their best friends — and Carstensen said this can be a big positive on several levels.

“I don’t think it matters who your friends are,” she said. “It’s the quality of the relationship that matters most.”

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Feel like the last friend standing? Here’s how to cultivate new buds as you age

'We were shocked:' I-Team investigates how doctors can take parents to court over guardianship

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) --

This may be the most painful symptom of mental illness and its impact on North Carolina families.

According to North Carolina law, health care professionals can petition a court to revoke guardianship from a patient's parents or legal guardian, and instead assign a public guardian to manage the patients' medical care.

'Our thoughts were, no way'

David Bankert and Joanne Luterman are two such parents who approached the I-Team about their experience losing guardianship for their son, Ian.

"We were shocked and blown away," Luterman told ABC11. "We want Ian to have some joy, to come home, lead a life with his family and have some sense of normalcy.

Ian, 24, suffers from schizophrenia, and his parents say they first noticed signs of mental illness in high school. Though he did graduate, Ian spent the next several years going in and out of the hospital instead of going to college. Despite doctors' recommendations for more medication and long-term care, Bankert and Luterman instead insisted that a good diet, exercise and faith could restore Ian's sense of self.  (Click to Continue)

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'We were shocked:' I-Team investigates how doctors can take parents to court over guardianship

Carthage man pleads guilty to cheating elderly victim

A Carthage man pleaded guilty this week to financial exploitation of an elderly Webb City resident.

Brian E. Neher, 40, pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court in a plea agreement with the prosecutor's office. The state has agreed to dismiss a related count of receiving stolen property in exchange for the guilty plea.

Circuit Judge Gayle Crane delayed formal acceptance or rejection of the plea deal and ordered a sentencing assessment of the defendant. The judge set a sentencing hearing for Sept. 10.

A probable-cause affidavit filed by Detective Keith Meyer, with the Webb City Police Department, states that Neher accepted $2,500 cash and a check for $1,400 as payment for the purchase and installation of Ruud 80,000 BTU heating and air conditioning unit at the victim's residence on Goldpan Drive.

The affidavit states that Neher never installed any unit for the victim and never returned any of the money.

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Carthage man pleads guilty to cheating elderly victim

What protections do seniors have when an estate sale goes wrong? Not many.

Marianne Sage says she and her two sisters’ concern following the death of their father was not over money.

All of Eddie Sage’s estate will go to the care of his wife, Juanita, who is slowly fading because of dementia in Cedar Falls, she said.

Rather, they are bothered by what happened to Eddie’s car and some of the treasures he kept over his 91 years: wedding rings, Navajo jewelry and native art from when he taught on reservations, a World War II Navy trunk and memorabilia.

They noticed the possessions were gone after the nonprofit retirement home in Cedar Falls where he and his wife lived recommended a for-profit estate-sale and moving company called Caring Transitions of Northeast Iowa.

The owner of that franchise, Kerri Shimp, said she did nothing wrong.

“Many people were in the life of Eddie Sage over a very long time. But this is a family that, for some reason, is targeting me,” she said.

Here is what the sisters know: Caring Transitions was supposed to hold a sale last fall because Juanita needed to move into memory care and Eddie needed assisted living.

Eddie Sage hired the company to help with his downsizing to a smaller apartment and the sale of Eddie’s car because his daughters lived out of state.

When cancer caused Eddie’s health to decline quickly last November, one of the daughters came to visit from Texas and realized items were missing. She called Shimp and said she was told the only items that were removed from his apartment were not of value and were donated.

Eddie died Nov. 13.

On Dec. 4, Marianne Sage called from Arizona to follow up with Shimp. She wanted to see his contract with Caring Transitions.

“Because my father’s physical health had so declined when he hired them, we wanted to see what services he had agreed to in the contract,” she said. “We felt certain he would not have knowingly parted with many of his prized possessions.”

After weeks of correspondence and calls to Caring Transitions’ headquarters, Shimp produced a standard contract signed by an Eddie Sage and a general invoice suggesting an estate sale yielded $2,500.

The invoice subtracted the company’s 40 percent fee, as well as $500 for packing, $500 for resettling and $300 for storing Eddie’s car and advertising its sale.

But that invoice made no mention of a $750 check Eddie wrote the company before his death. A handwritten note said title to his car was transferred Dec. 7, two days after Marianne Sage called the company.

Working through an estate lawyer, the sisters learned that the title of the 2010 Ford Focus was transferred to Shimp’s daughter. They were told it was sold for $1,800. They say the car’s Kelley Blue Book value was $3,800 to $5,000.

“If the car was sold for $1,800, what was the other $700 worth of sales?” Sage asked Reader's Watchdog.

“Also, the sale price she claimed it was sold for was $1,800, while the (Kelley) Blue Book value was $3,800 to $5,000. And why was there a $300 charge on the invoice for car storage and advertising if the car was kept in her family?”

And the sisters had another problem: The signature on the contract didn’t look like his — not when he was healthy nor while he was dying, she said.

“We are just angry that my father was clearly taken advantage of by someone who thought he was easy prey,” Sage wrote from Florence, Arizona.

But Shimp said the daughters are hounding her and ignoring her lawyer’s attempt to right one of hundreds of estate moves that she's handled.

In March, her lawyer, John Harris of Waterloo, wrote the sisters and offered to pay $2,000 more for Eddie’s Ford Focus or allow them to buy it back for $1,800.

They did not take that offer and contacted police, Iowa’s attorney general and Watchdog instead.

Seniors lack protection in Iowa

The Sage sisters’ story raises a little-known fact about Iowa law, a state with the fourth highest percentage of residents over the age of 65 in the country, according to 2010 census figures.

The vast majority of U.S. states have some sort of laws that try to protect seniors from financial exploitation, a huge and growing problem nationally as America’s population ages.

During the 2017 legislative season,39 states and the District of Columbia introduced some sort of legislation addressing the exploitation of elderly and vulnerable adults, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Iowa law provides some protection from relatives, caregivers and people in positions of "trust or confidence" who financially exploit seniors.

But it has no language, no enhanced penalties, no added fines for businesses who take advantage of the elderly, according to NCSL and the Iowa Attorney General's Office.

By 2030, an estimated 72 million Americans will be 65 and older — up from 40 million in 2010.

The Attorney General's Office said it has proposed financial exploitation legislation in 2014, but it failed. The office is considering legislation again for next year's session.

In the estate-sale industry, examples abound of agents who exploit or outright steal from seniors. Some have intentionally overpriced items at their sales, so they don’t sell.

Later, after they’ve purchased the item at a deep discount, they sell it for a healthy profit.

The American Society of Estate Liquidators trains estate-sale agents and guides them on avoiding conflicts of interest, such as buying items at sales they run.

But no Iowa law requires minimum standards for those who run estate sales or requires them to enter a bond to be in business.

The upshot: Iowans’ protections are only as good as their contracts.

Caring Transitions of Northeast Iowa's standard contract says plainly the prices of items sold will be determined by the company, that the client pays for the cost of the sale and the company will remit the net proceeds within 14 days. Itemization of items sold at sale costs extra.

Perhaps that is why the sisters’ pleas to Iowa’s Attorney General and police yielded nothing.

Business owner: I’m being hounded

When Watchdog contacted Shimp, she said she was with her daughter, who was receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

She said the company never came across any jewelry, that Eddie’s $750 check went toward his move, and that his car, with 91,000 miles, was only worth $1,800.

She said her national company’s corporate office has been trying to help her resolve the matter. But the sisters have been trying to stain her reputation.

“I’m not interested in feeding into their smearing of me and my national company,” she said.

She also said she was not trained by a national association.

“I am following the rules with my company. I don’t have to share my franchise contract,” she said. “People can say there are standards and rules, but it’s not a regulated industry.”

Shimp said any number of people could have taken Eddie’s jewelry and the other items, or he could have given them away. She questioned how the daughters could know what he did, since they lived out of state.

When asked about the $300 charge to store the car and advertise its sale, she said she advertised the Focus for sale at the Cedar Falls nursing home with which she has a relationship.

That charge, she said, was the price for her doing business.

“I’ve been in this business six years and never had this situation before,” she said. “I have hundreds of clients who would say the complete opposite.”

But Shimp also said the sisters can have the Ford Focus if they wanted it.

“If they want the car back, just give them the car back. Whatever,” she said.

Sage said she and her sisters didn't want the car and didn't want the money. They  wanted answers and accountability.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her at lrood@dmreg.com, 515-284-8549 on Twitter @leerood or at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.

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What protections do seniors have when an estate sale goes wrong? Not many.

Corsica man accused of elder abuse exploitation

(KSFY) - A Douglas County man has been arrested on several counts connected to financial abuse of an elder.

Forty-eight-year-old David Stetson of Corsica was arrested on three counts of felony exploitation, according to Attorney General Marty Jackley.

Officials say the theft charge alleges that Stetson took funds from an elderly family member.

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Corsica man accused of elder abuse exploitation