Saturday, June 8, 2019

Nursing home negligence: Senate report names nearly 400 facilities with 'persistent record of poor care'

After nursing home staff allegedly failed to respond to a resident's medical concerns, he called 911 himself but died upon arrival at an Illinois hospital.

A Florida facility allegedly neglected to clean blood sugar measuring devices between testing different patients, risking infection.

The federal government puts a warning label on the first facility, but the second is one of nearly 400 nursing homes nationwide with a "persistent record of poor care" that are not publicly identified, according to a Senate report released Monday.

Pennsylvania's senators released a list of those facilities on Monday, questioning why their names are not disclosed like those in a smaller group of nursing homes where inspectors found health, safety or sanitary problems.

Among the facilities on a list the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided is a Texas nursing home whose management allegedly failed to fix a waste system backup. Staff continued to serve food from the kitchen, the report says, despite a foul-smelling black substance coming through the drains and "seeping into the kitchen floor."

“When a family makes the hard decision to seek nursing home services for a loved one, they deserve to know if a facility under consideration suffers from systemic shortcomings,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who along with Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., issued the report

About 1.3 million Americans are nursing home residents, cared for in 15,600 facilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federal government in April identified about 3 percent of them as problematic in one of two categories, according to the report.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publicly discloses the names of about 80 nursing homes that investigators frequently check on to resolve documented issues. The agency calls them participants in the Special Focus Facility program.

If they don't improve, they can be cut off from Medicare and Medicaid. The government's Nursing Home Compare website identifies them with a small yellow triangle.

The 400 facilities highlighted by senators on Monday qualify for the program because of a "persistent record of poor care," but are not selected because of limited resources, according to the report. The senators describe the candidates as "nearly indistinguishable" from the smaller group.

Federal budget cuts in 2014 limited the number of nursing homes the agency can put in the oversight program, Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said in a May letter to Senator Casey.

The agency is evaluating whether it can publicly release the list of nursing homes not in the program, Verma said.

Full Article & Source:
Nursing home negligence: Senate report names nearly 400 facilities with 'persistent record of poor care'

Man charged with stealing $100,000 from Camp Hill woman

A Quakertown man faces multiple charges after police said he took about $100,000 from a 92-year-old Camp Hill woman while he was acting as her power of attorney.

Justin Dieffenbach, 36, of Quakertown, is accused of using the money for Uber rides, lottery tickets, video streaming and a cellphone bill, according to a news release from the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.

Dieffenbach is also accused of writing bad checks totaling $40,360.40 to two area nursing homes, according to the release.

Dieffenbach was arrested by Camp Hill Police and charged with theft by unlawful taking, bad checks and unauthorized use of an access device.

He remains in Cumberland County Prison, unable to pay $100,000 bail.

The investigation was initiated by the Cumberland County Office of Aging. The Office of Aging, District Attorney’s Office and Camp Hill police collaborated on the investigation as part of the Cumberland County Elder Abuse Task Force.

Full Article & Source: 
Man charged with stealing $100,000 from Camp Hill woman

San Francisco votes 10-1 in favour of controversial conservatorship program

Photo: JCruzTheTruth, Wikimedia Commons
City officials in San Francisco are prepared to go ahead with a controversial law that would allow police to force into treatment people with severe mental illness and drug addiction, many of whom live on the city’s streets. The law has been criticised by many as an infringement on civil rights.

The city’s board of supervisors voted 10-1 in favour of a pilot roll-out off the program following months of debate. The current legislation would only apply to a select few problematic individuals but has the potential to be expanded in the future.

City Mayor London Breed and other supporters of the law – which has been designated ‘conservatorship’ – say that it’s essential to treat those who are addicted to drugs, mentally ill and/or have no willpower to rescue themselves from their circumstances. They say that these individuals, left to languish in the street, pose a danger to themselves and the community.

In a statement following the decisive vote, Breed said “This is an important step that will help people on our streets get the treatment they need rather than continuing to cycle in and out of the emergency room, and often the criminal justice system,”

The current pilot program gives power to courts to hire a public conservator to assign to a person who has been detained in hospital due to mental health and drug abuse issues at least 8 times in a year. Breed has also pushed forward a proposal to fund additional bed in drug treatment centers.

Full Article & Source:
San Francisco votes 10-1 in favour of controversial conservatorship program

Friday, June 7, 2019

Michigan nursing home sued for imprisoning and ransoming woman

By Gretchen Rachel Hammond 

Mimi Brun and her mother, Virginia Wahab

A number of studies have found that the greatest fear expressed by senior citizens, a demographic that’s exponentially growing in number in this country, is not death but the eradication of their independence if they are forced to live in a nursing facility. According to a lawsuit filed on May 8, that fear became reality for a vital and healthy Detroit-area woman, Virginia “Jean” Wahab, who spent two years falsely imprisoned in a Waterford, Michigan, nursing home owned by Lourdes, Inc., and sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace religious order. The home demanded payment of what amounted to a ransom of $25,000 to release Wahab from the facility.

“Mom was a fearless, independent woman before Lourdes took control of her,” Wahab’s daughter and caregiver Mimi Brun said. “When I finally got her out of there, it took me a long time to wean her off all the unnecessary anti-psychotic and anti-depressive drugs they had been giving her.”

Brun is the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which claims her mother was subject to false imprisonment, negligence, breach of contract, malicious prosecution, abuse of court process, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Filed in the Oakland County Circuit Court, the complaint is a first for Michigan and comes on the heels of Attorney General Dana Nessel’s creation of an Elder Abuse Task Force.

Brun said that although her mother had been living alone before her ordeal began in 2016, by the time she was able to secure Wahab’s release after a protracted legal battle, “She couldn’t stand up. She was terrified of being locked in a room and of someone coming to take her back to Lourdes.”

Before Wahab passed away at the end of April, mother and daughter were finally able to spend a precious few months together after having been kept apart by a court order obtained by Lourdes that severed Brun’s visitation rights.

Short-term rehab to long-term guardianship


According to the complaint, the family’s problems began in February 2016, when Wahab was admitted to Lourdes Senior Community, a $21 million nonprofit organization housing 250 residents at four facilities, for short-term rehabilitation following a recommendation from her doctor. By April 2016, Wahab’s insurance company, Health Alliance Plan, had terminated Wahab’s Medicare benefits at Lourdes, stating that she needed no further services or medication and was “medically stable for discharge.”

However, the complaint asserts, “Even though Virginia did not need to be in a nursing home, Lourdes kept her in a section reserved for terminally ill and dementia patients for over two years [and] would not release Virginia without the payment of a bill in the amount of $25,000.”

Court documents show that Lourdes filed a June 6, 2016, petition for guardianship of Wahab with the Oakland County Probate Court. During a June 29, 2016, hearing on the petition, Lourdes social worker Sara Van Acker stated that the organization was seeking guardianship of Wahab because of “a concern about the nursing home being paid.”

Without any medical documents regarding Wahab’s alleged incapacity presented at the hearing, presiding Oakland County Probate Court Judge Linda S. Hallmark granted the request and appointed former Oakland County Public Administrator Jon B. Munger as Wahab’s guardian.

Guardianship under scrutiny


Guardianship is a system that has come under scrutiny. Under guardianship, an individual deemed legally incompetent by a probate or family court judge must cede their personal rights, freedoms, financial powers, and medical decisions, often to a total stranger. Cases in which court-appointed professional guardians have used their power to exploit and abuse their elderly or vulnerable wards have been uncovered nationwide. A 2015 Hunter College/New York Times study determined that the use of guardianship as a collection agency by nursing facilities has “become routine.”

Despite a statute in Michigan’s Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC) giving Brun priority over a professional guardian in the care of her mother, Judge Hallmark stated that she was appointing Munger “to make sure we have the Medicaid application on track [and] get this bill taken care of.”
According to Brun’s lawsuit, Wahab was “kept in Lourdes against her will in exchange for the Medicaid payments [and] as collateral for payments it claimed were owed to it by Ms. Brun.”

The fight to be reunited


During the two-year fight Brun waged to have Wahab released from both the guardianship and the nursing home, the complaint alleges, Lourdes denied Brun visitation rights and barred her from the premises; chemically restrained Wahab while denying her personal liberty and freedom of movement; and obtained an illegal injunction from Hallmark and a bench warrant for Brun’s arrest unless she paid them $25,000.

The complaint notes a Feb. 2, 2017, email from Lourdes attorney Mary Lyneis telling Brun, “We want to be paid. You cannot expect to show up to see your mother when you have not paid for the privilege.”

A disturbing June 27, 2018, video shows a brief reunion between mother and daughter outside the Oakland County Probate Court before Munger’s attorney Joseph Ehrlich pulls Wahab’s wheelchair away with such force that Wahab is jolted back in her seat. Brun said her reaction was visceral and born out of exhaustion, frustration, and helplessness. “I hadn’t seen my mother for two years,” she recalled. “They had no right to separate us. What Ehrlich did was aggressive and illegal. If it was your mom, what would you do?”

Ultimately, Brun decided the answer was to take legal action against Lourdes and to seek justice—but not only for Wahab. “The irreparable suffering in my mom’s case, the inhumanity she was subjected to, the illegalities and the breaches of her legal and human rights cannot be repeated to anyone else anywhere,” she said.

Respecting rights


Passed in 1987, the federal Nursing Home Reform Act is supposed to require facilities to ensure the rights and protection of residents. Representing Brun in the case, Michigan trial attorney Mark Hafeli noted that the nursing home’s alleged actions were in violation of those rights. “All federal regulations and resident rights say that a resident of a nursing home has a right to visits. You can’t condition a mother’s right to see her daughter based upon the daughter’s payment of $25,000. To be locked in a nursing home when you don’t want to be there is a serious wrong,” Hafeli said.

Even though the act stipulates that in cases where a resident has been deemed incompetent by a state judge, their rights are transferred to a guardian, Hafeli does not believe it lets Lourdes off the hook for filing an unwarranted petition in the first place and holding, isolating, and treating Wahab in a negligent manner. “According to an expert I have consulted, regardless of what the guardian may or may not do, the nursing home has a duty to discharge a person when they don’t need skilled nursing care,” he said, “especially when there’s a family member willing to take care of them.”

Diane Menio is the executive director of the Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, which promotes “the wellbeing, rights and autonomy of older adults.”  Menio said, “There are national trends such as nursing homes going for a guardianship when they can’t get payment or an application for Medicaid. But you can’t keep someone hostage until money is paid. A family member being told ‘you can’t visit because you owe us money’ is something new to me.”

Menio noted that her organization has lately seen nursing facilities applying for guardianship of their residents “in batches.” Such activity raises the question of whether a reason for the increase in guardianship and nursing home abuse is an increasing senior demographic that, both politically and culturally, the United States would prefer to ignore. “Society doesn’t see elderly people,” Menio agreed. “The abuse of them is underreported. People take advantage of them. Making sure we have protections in place for the elderly population is extremely challenging.”

Brun said that her lawsuit is part of a greater elder-abuse awareness campaign she calls #justiceforjean. “People need to wake up about the potential for destructive forces in the lives of people they love,” she said.

Reached by email, Debi Batchelder, assistant to Lourdes Senior Community CEO Sister Maureen Comer, said the organization had no comment on the lawsuit or the allegations.

Gretchen Rachel Hammond is an award-winning journalist whose body of investigative work has focused on social injustice and marginalized communities. She has just completed a year-long investigation into a massive, alleged elder abuse and exploitation ring operating out of a Detroit-area probate court, which will be published soon.

Full Article & Source:
Michigan nursing home sued for imprisoning and ransoming woman

Stop Probate Fraud

Please visit:

 

stopprobatefraud.com



About

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
                          Edmund Burke

Stop Probate Fraud (SPF) is a co-operative of volunteers who want to help inform, educate and advocate for people who may be the targets of financial predators.  Our goal is to help spot, stop and recover from fraud, damage and loss in probate, trusts and estates.

The SPF team has people with expertise ranging from medicine to law, finance, forensics, banking, accounting, real-estate, securities, government, media, and advocates for the elderly and disabled.

SPF pays nobody for their contributions to the site and does not solicit or take taxpayer money.

Nothing on this site is to be construed as legal, financial, medical, spiritual, mental health or any other professional advice.

Source:
Stop Probate Fraud

Iowa school giving students PE credits for helping elderly, people with disabilities do yard work

DUBUQUE, Iowa (WTHR) — An alternative school in eastern Iowa is changing the standard when it comes to students' physical education credits.

While some students across the nation have earned PE credits with extracurricular activities like athletics and marching band, the Alternative Learning Center is giving students the option to do something else: yard work.



The Alternative Learning Center is a school for high school juniors and seniors who are at risk of dropping out of school. The school offers courses outside the traditional high school setting.

Part of the school's curriculum is choosing activities to count toward PE credits, according to KWWL. This year, some students are helping people in the community who cannot do yard work themselves.

Teacher Tim Hitzler said he and his students will be raking leaves, pulling weeds, cutting grass, and any other tasks that might need to be completed. He said he wanted to add the yard work as an option for the end-of-the-year activities because it helps both the students and the community.

Full Article & Source:
Iowa school giving students PE credits for helping elderly, people with disabilities do yard work

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Isolation in Virginia
















At the 50.34 minute mark of this video (click the link below), NASGA member Mike Jacobs stands before a crowd who has gathered to support candidate Delegate Mark Levine.

Mike hasn’t seen his love, Jane, for two long years – ever since she was placed in a guardianship. Jane’s guardian does not allow him to visit or communicate with her, even though it is clear Jane misses him and wants to see him. She has sneaked in phone calls to Mike when she can and begs him to come and see her.

Her health is fragile and Mike fears he’ll never see her again. His testimony is emotional and raw. THIS is the hurt, worry, and devastation people feel who have wrongfully been shut out of their loved one's life. As bad as Mike feels, we know Jane feels even worse because she doesn’t understand why Mike isn’t with her and comforting her now when she needs it most.

Wrongful isolation by court-appointed guardians is the number one complaint of our members and it’s why we work so hard to combat it.

Watch the video

Indiana Supreme Court suspends Hendricks County judge for 45 days

Hendricks Superior Judge Robert W. Freese has been suspended from judicial office without pay for 45 days after appointing a friend as a trustee of an estate case he was presiding over and failing to take action when the friend did not fulfill his duties, resulting in a “massive theft.”

Freese’s judicial suspension will take effect July 8 and expire Aug. 22, according to the disciplinary opinion handed down by the Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The court’s Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed disciplinary charges stemming from two counts of misconduct against Freese in January. The judicial discipline stems from Freese’s longtime friendship with Stephen Scott, “one of his closest friends,” according to the suspension order.

Scott pleaded guilty to federal embezzlement charges in 2017 and was sentenced to 30 months in prison by Indiana Southern District Court Judge Tanya Walton.

Their relationship was such that in 2004, Freese used his line of credit to help Scott buy a home, and together the men executed and recorded a $122,400 mortgage in 2005.

Seventeen days after the mortgage was executed, Freese appointed Scott as trustee over the Herbert Hochreiter Living Trust in one of Freese’s cases. The  parties did not object to Scott’s appointment, but Freese did not disclose their financial arrangement.

Then, when Hochreiter died later in 2005, Freese appointed Scott as personal representative of the $2.3 million estate, again failing to disclose the financial arrangement.

Throughout his time as trustee and personal representative, Scott regularly failed to provide the required accounting. When Scott did file a partial, defective accounting in 2009, Freese granted him an extension over the objection of one of the beneficiaries, who believed gold bars were missing from the trust.

Then, in 2010, Scott moved to withdraw as trustee, but the beneficiaries objected to him doing so without filing a completing accounting and tax returns. Scott, however, relocated to Florida and never responded to the objection.

Scott’s counsel then began serving as successor trustee and personal representative, and for roughly the next two years, the former trustee was unresponsive to summonses. Further, the successor trustee reported that the trust checking account had only $8.27 and the savings account had been closed for more than six months. In contrast, Scott’s attorney believed the trust should have held $50,000 to $60,000 in cash.

“Judge Freese ‘took no action or minimal action’ on those reports,” the Supreme Court wrote in the Tuesday opinion. “But while the cases were pending and Scott was living in Florida, he left Scott a phone message stating he was concerned that Scott was behaving bizarrely, and that he ‘would never have thought [Scott] would have stolen anything.’”

Freese eventually ordered Scott to appear in person for a show-cause hearing in fall 2012, but Scott again failed to show up. Thus, Freese entered a nearly $580,000 judgment against his friend, finding $140,550 was disbursed from the trust to Scott’s personal accounts between September 2007 and August 2011, on top of $101,217 in illegitimate wire transfers or cash withdrawals during that time.

Additionally, Freese found $16,800 was transferred from the estate to Scott in January 2010, and the remaining bank balance of $6,517.08 was taken by an unexplained cash withdrawal.

Freese did not refer his findings to local prosecutors or the U.S. attorney, the court wrote.

The stolen funds have not been recovered.

The parties cited no aggravators against Freese, but listed several mitigators, including his “lengthy and distinguished judicial career” and lack of prior discipline. Freese, the former president of the Indiana Judges Association, was also credited for his “active leadership in judicial, legal, and civil-service organizations.”

“They also agree his misconduct was not deliberate or willful and brought him no financial benefit or personal gain, and that the Judge relied heavily on the attorneys to file pleadings in the Trust because it was unsupervised,” the court wrote.

In agreeing to the parties’ recommendation of a 45-day sentence, the justices said such a sanction is “very severe.” Even so, “the Judge’s misconduct ultimately enabled a massive theft.”

“The purpose of judicial discipline is not primarily to punish a judge, but rather to preserve the integrity of an public confidence in the judicial system and, when necessary, safeguard the bench and public from those who are unfit,’” the court wrote. “The sanction must be designed to deter similar misconduct and assure the public that judicial misconduct will not be condone.

Full Article & Source:
Indiana Supreme Court suspends Hendricks County judge for 45 days

Woman indicted for financial exploitation of elderly

A woman was indicted Monday for two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, according to 13th Judicial District Attorney Bryant Dunaway.

Cynthia Renae Carr, a former house manager for a home care giving agency, allegedly financially exploited some of the residents, according to a press release from Dunaway's office.

"Carr was allegedly stealing money from elderly and vulnerable adult residents of the group home facility," the press release states.

Carr was arrested Tuesday at Citizens Bank in Jackson County, according to the Putnam County Jail Roster.

Carr's indictment and arrest follows a January report of possibly financial exploitation that was reviewed by the Vulnerable Adult Protective Investigative Team or VAPIT.

"Today, June 4, 2019, Investigator Randal Slayton with the District Attorney's Office and Detective Josh Reams and Detective Gabe Frizzell with the Putnam County Sheriff's Department arrested Cynthia Renae Carr where she was booked into the Putnam County Jail," the press release states.

"The exploitation of elderly and vulnerable adults is a growing problem that this office takes very seriously," Dunaway's press release states. "We would like to remind the public that the law makes it mandatory to report allegations of elder abuse."

Full Article & Source:
Woman indicted for financial exploitation of elderly

Indiana Council Against Senior Exploitation aims to protect vulnerable Hoosiers

Staff Report
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Secretary of State Connie Lawson has partnered with other experts in fraud prevention to create IN-CASE, or the Indiana Council Against Senior Exploitation, to protect seniors against those who would exploit them.

IN-CASE began four years ago when the senior medical patrol director of the Indiana Association of Area Agencies on Aging (IAAAA) began hosting networking groups of government agencies and organizations.

These organizations aimed to serve older adults and educate them or their caregivers on how to prevent numerous types of fraud.

It is estimated that elderly citizens in America lose up to $36.5 billion dollars each year due to financial exploitation, abuse, and scams.

The number of older citizens in America is increasing rapidly, according to the Indiana Business Research Center with the IU Kelley School of Business. Chris Naylor with the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council believes that this creates a “growing marketplace for those who may be looking to take advantage of vulnerable adults.”

Lawson said she wants to use IN-CASE as an opportunity to improve their efforts by teaming up with others who are equally committed to protecting the senior citizens in Indiana. IN-CASE’s overall goal is to prevent and end senior exploitation and abuse by educating, encouraging, and empowering their citizens.

The Office of the Indiana Secretary of State and IAAAA are partnered with the Indiana FSSA Division of Aging, Office of the Indiana Attorney General, Better Business Bureau Serving Central Indiana, AARP Indiana, Indiana Legal Services, and other state, public, and private organizations.

Upon the creation of IN-CASE, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has declared June 9-15 the Indiana Elder Abuse Awareness Week. To learn more about IN-CASE and their teachings, please visit www.IN-CASE.org.

TheStatehouseFile.com is a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Full Article & Source:
Indiana Council Against Senior Exploitation aims to protect vulnerable Hoosiers

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Caring Hearts Michigan backs out of disputed guardianship case in wake of 7 Action News report

By: Heather Catallo

(WXYZ) — We have another new update to a 7 Action News Investigation that’s been getting attention across the country. The guardianship company appointed to care for an elderly Utica couple is now asking to be taken off the case. This all comes after Heather Catallo’s investigation prompted the Attorney General and the State Supreme Court to step in.

The lawyer for Caring Hearts Michigan has now alerted the Mitchell family in writing that they plan to withdraw as guardian and conservator in this case, and they say they are dropping their request for a restraining order against the family.

“I just want my parents back. I want them to enjoy their retirement that they should have had, prior to this company taking over,” said Marcie Mitchell. Mitchell is hoping she will soon get her parents back.

As the 7 Investigators first showed you, Mitchell went to Macomb County Probate Court last November to get guardianship of her dad Bob Mitchell, and her step-mom Barb Delbridge. Both are suffering from dementia and other issues.

Under the law, as a family member, Marcie has what’s called “priority” to become guardian. But Judge Kathryn George said she had “grave concerns” about Bob and Barb, and appointed a private company called Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as guardian and conservator instead for both Barb and Bob.

Please note: Caring Hearts Homecare of Southfield is not affiliated in any way with Cathy Kirk’s Caring Hearts Michigan Inc.

“When I tried to speak, I was cut off,” said Mitchell about her court hearing in front of Judge George. “I was very intimidated, extremely intimidated I guess would be the right word.”

Caring Hearts Michigan is owned by Cathy Kirk. Court records show that Kirk hired her own company called Executive Care to provide caregivers 24 hours a day to Barb and Bob.

Macomb County Probate Court officials say that business relationship was not initially disclosed, which is required by court policy.

“You’re being enriched through your work as the guardian in a way the law didn’t intend for you to be enriched,” Michigan Elder Justice Initiative attorney Nicole Shannon told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.

Shannon says guardians are allowed to charge for their services, but the arrangement in this case raises questions.

“What isn’t permitted under the law is to directly provide those services yourself where you are also selecting yourself as a service provider, and then you are being compensated not only as the guardian but also the service provider as well,” said Shannon.

After the 7 Investigators started looking into this case, Caring Hearts attorney Michael C. Taylor (who also happens to be the mayor of Sterling Heights) tried to get a restraining order against Marcie and her other relatives. Taylor works for the law firm that belongs to Cathy Kirk’s husband, Robert Kirk. Kirk is a Macomb County Public Administrator working in the probate courts.

“The court specifically told Executive-- excuse me Caring Hearts -- that these folks are not being protected. We need somebody who can be hands on, get here and make sure that they’re being protected,” Taylor told Catallo while 7 Action News was interviewing family members outside Bob and Barb’s home in Utica last month.

According to an email sent to lawyers for members of the Mitchell family, the petition for sanctions and the restraining order against the family is being dropped. This comes at the same time that the chief judge of the Michigan Supreme Court and the Attorney General are scrutinizing this case.

On Friday in a joint statement, Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack and Macomb County Circuit and Probate courts Chief Judge James Biernat Jr. said, “Vulnerable Michigan residents and their families must have confidence that probate courts are following the law and taking appropriate steps to protect their rights. That’s why the Michigan Supreme Court is working with the Attorney General on the Elder Abuse Task Force to address concerns raised about the adult guardianship system.

We have recently become aware of specific concerns regarding Macomb Probate Judge Kathryn George alleging that proper procedures are not being followed in her court and the rights of families are not being safeguarded. We commend the Attorney General who has already begun an investigation about these concerns and ask her to use the full powers of her office to examine how vulnerable adults are being treated.”

Caring Hearts is blaming their resignation on disruption from family members. You can see their full statement here:
It’s not clear yet who will become the new guardian when everyone heads back to court later this month, but Judge Kathryn George will not be presiding over this. Chief Judge Biernat took her off this case Monday.

If you know of a case of elder or guardianship abuse, the Michigan Attorney General Elder Abuse Task Force wants to hear from you.

You can reach them here or call 1-800-242-2873.
If you have a story for Heather, please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com or call 248-827-4473.

Full Article & Source:
Caring Hearts Michigan backs out of disputed guardianship case in wake of 7 Action News report

See Also:
Michigan AG opens investigation into Macomb Co. probate case following 7 Action News report

Why did a Macomb Co. judge put strangers in charge of an elderly couple instead of family?

'I just want my parents back.' Woman says company imprisoned her parents in their own home

Michigan AG 'looking into' concerns about state's adult guardianship system

Augusta County woman accused of embezzlement, financial exploitation

AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) — An Augusta County woman is facing six charges connected to embezzlement and financial exploitation that allegedly netted her tens of thousands of dollars.

According to court records, Kelly Blackwell is charged with six counts of embezzlement, three counts of exploitation of a mentally incapacitated person, three counts of obtaining money by false pretenses, two counts of issuing bad checks, and two counts of credit card theft.

She was indicted by an Augusta County grand jury on May 28.

The Augusta County Sheriff's Office says she was arrested on all charges – they're each felonies – on May 31.

According to deputies, Blackwell was the treasurer for the Buffalo Gap Quarterback Club from January 2017 to December 2018. During that time, she allegedly pocketed $20,000 or more of unaccounted concession stand sales.

But that's only one aspect of the crimes she's alleged to have committed.

Deputies say she had been legally granted power of attorney for someone with a mental incapacitation (they did not specify). While in that role, she allegedly convinced the person she was representing to obtain a loan for over $70,000 against a home the person owned, took credit cards from the person, and used those cards to make fraudulent personal purchases.

Combined with alleged purchases made with the victim's checking account, she's accused of racking up a loss of over $90,000 for the person she was designated to represent.

Blackwell will next face court on June 10.

Full Article & Source:
Augusta County woman accused of embezzlement, financial exploitation

Alabama is a hotbed for retirees, and financial predators know it

June 01-- Jun. 1--Note to readers: June is Elder Abuse Awareness Month. The following story is one of millions that take place across the country.

Lois Woodard was 15 when she met the love of her life. Fresh out of Air Force basic training, Willie Woodard was three years her senior when he saw her walking down the street. The two tied the knot a year later and spent the next 38 together.

The Woodards had a child, traveled the world courtesy of the Air Force and eventually built their home in east Montgomery. As construction was progressing, they'd wait until the contractors left and take their lawn chairs to sit within the frame of the house, marveling at what they'd been able to achieve after decades of working.

All of that would eventually be taken from Lois.

The house was finished in 1997 and the couple spent five years in their new home together before Willie Woodard died from mesothelioma. Before that, the retired master sergeant asked Richard Sanks, a friend and fellow serviceman at Maxwell Air Force Base, to look out for Lois and handle her finances. She'd never even filed taxes.

"When they told me (Willie) had lung cancer, I said 'that's OK, you can just take one lung out of me, and we can live on the other one'," Lois Woodard said about her husband's diagnosis. She didn't quite understand the severity, but over time, his lungs blackened, and Sanks was by the couple's side in the hospital all of the time.

"He trusted him," she said of her husband's relationship with Sanks.

Now at age 72, Lois Woodard is waiting for Sanks to pay back more than $200,000 and sign the deed of her house back to her. Originally charged with a felony charge specific to elder abuse, Sanks pleaded guilty to theft in the first degree in October 2018. Approved to participate in the county's pretrial diversion program, he has three years to pay back his restitution to avoid jail time.

After Willie's death, Sanks had taken over making sure the bills were paid and the house maintenance kept up. He also helped redo the cabinets and repainted the house.

Full Article & Source:
Alabama is a hotbed for retirees, and financial predators know it

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Tonight on Marti Oakley's TS Radio Network with Co-Host Coz Whitten-Skaife: How to remove a judge in Wisconsin...and other news!










Join us this evening (7 pm CST) as we discuss the process for removing judges (who knew??) in Wisconsin. Updates on Wisconsin and review the documents how to impeach a judge in Wisconsin. Coz will teach some internet research on how to find more victims by doing internet searches and how this was accomplished in the "otthole" cases. We are going to have to move fast on this one because as soon as they find out WE know...they will quickly and secretly have this option removed. And every politician out there will go a long with them.

Jeffrey's update on his mom's passing. Breaking news in North Carolina.

And of course, the usual "I wannabe a Celebrity" folks will be hanging on her every word. Join us! And remember when you hear it here and then see someone else using the information to promote themselves...as if they did the work.....imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Coz is about to be flattered to death!

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Michigan AG opens investigation into Macomb Co. probate case following 7 Action News report


(WXYZ) — The Michigan Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into a Macomb County probate case following a 7 Action News investigation. The 7 Investigators showed you that family members were questioning why Macomb Co. Probate Judge Kathryn George appointed Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as guardians of an elderly couple instead of their family.

In a joint statement, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridge McCormack and Macomb County Circuit and Probate courts Chief Judge James Biernat Jr. said, "Vulnerable Michigan residents and their families must have confidence that probate courts are following the law and taking appropriate steps to protect their rights. That’s why the Michigan Supreme Court is working with the Attorney General on the Elder Abuse Task Force to address concerns raised about the adult guardianship system.

“We have recently become aware of specific concerns regarding Macomb Probate Judge Kathryn George alleging that proper procedures are not being followed in her court and the rights of families are not being safeguarded. We commend the Attorney General who has already begun an investigation about these concerns and ask her to use the full powers of her office to examine how vulnerable adults are being treated.”

They issued a further update later in the day Friday saying "Chief Judge Biernat is reviewing Judge George’s docket and will be reassigning cases as necessary. A judge cannot be removed from the bench without a recommendation of the Judicial Tenure Commission."

A report from 7 Investigator Heather Catallo found that Judge George appointed Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as the guardian for Barbara Delbridge and Bob Mitchell.

Please note: Caring Hearts Homecare of Southfield is not affiliated in any way with Cathy Kirk’s Caring Hearts Michigan Inc.

“I just want my parents back. I want them to enjoy their retirement that they should have had, prior to this company taking over,” said Marcie Mitchell. Mitchell tried to become her dad and step-mom’s guardian last November because both were becoming mentally incapacitated.

“Is everyone in the family on board with Marcie being the guardian,” asked 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.

“Absolutely, we were all 100% behind her,” said Sommer.

Mitchell said she hasn't seen her father or step-mom in more than a month. All she can do is wonder what's happening on the other side of the fence separating Barbara Elbridge and Bob Mitchell from their relatives who live right next door.

"They can't get out, we can't get in. They can't take phone calls because their landline's been disconnected. Their cell phones have been taken, their cars were towed away," Cousin Gretchen Sommer said. "They're literally prisoners in their own home, and they've done nothing wrong."

Family members say both Barb and Bob have been trying to reach them through a six-foot tall privacy fence their caregivers installed. But how did this happen?

Back in November, Marcie says 70-year-old Barb and 72-year-old Bob were having issues with memory and dementia. That prompted Marcie to petition the Macomb County Probate Court to become her parents’ guardian and conservator, so she could hire full-time caregivers and make medical decisions for her dad and step-mom.

But when Marcie appeared in front of Judge Kathryn George, she says the judge blindsided her when the judge appointed an outside company called Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as guardian and conservator.

"I felt belittled like I didn’t properly take care of my parents when I always thought I had. I was dumbfounded,” said Mitchell.

“How did the judge make you feel?” Catallo asked.

“Like a bad daughter,” said Mitchell.

Even though Michigan law gives Marcie priority to become a guardian to family members, Judge George told Marcie she had “grave concerns” about Bob and Barb. Instead, the judge handed their lives over to Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. and its owner, a woman named Cathy Kirk.

Marcie says Cathy Kirk promised she would stay involved in her parents care, but she’s no longer allowed to see them. Kirk hired another company that she owns, called Executive Care, to provide in-home caregivers 24 hours a day. Cathy is married to Robert Kirk, a Macomb County Public Administrator in the probate courts.

Both Robert Kirk and his law partner have donated money to Judge George’s campaigns in the past.

Just like Marcie can’t talk to her parents behind this fence, we couldn’t catch up with Cathy Kirk because she too lives behind a fence: a massive privacy gate walling off the Kirk’s large home from public access.

And the Mitchell relatives aren’t the only ones who say Caring Hearts Michigan has separated them from their loved ones.

Members of the Franklin family say Judge George also appointed Caring Hearts when they tried to get guardianship of their 89-year-old mother, Piera. Mrs. Franklin is now back with her son, but only after her family members say they were also prevented from seeing their mom.

This isn’t the first time questions have been raised about Judge George and a guardianship company.

According to an order from the Michigan Supreme Court, back in 2008, they removed Judge George as chief judge of the probate court over concerns about her “questionable overuse” of a different guardianship company she was appointing to cases.

A probate court spokesman says even though Judge George knows the Kirks “informally through political and bar association events… there is no business relationship” with them.

The spokesman also says the judge isn’t allowed to respond to our questions about past campaign contributions but says it’s, “not unusual for attorneys to support judges for re-election” and the past support has “nothing to do with the recent selection of Caring Hearts as a public/professional guardian.”

The family released this statement in relation to the AG investigation:
Our family could never fully express our appreciation for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridge McCormack and Macomb County Circuit and Probate courts Chief Judge James Biernat, Jr. for opening an investigation regarding the unethical practices that are put into motion in Judge Kathryn George’s Courtroom. Our family also has the utmost respect and gratitude for Heather Catallo and her willingness to stand with us to shed light on a very dark and dirty secret that has been allowed to exist by leaving Judge Kathryn George on the bench. This is not the first time Judge George has been reprimanded and it is not the first time she has been removed, that must stop! As grateful as we are, the fact is that we are only starting the fight. Living through this process we have learned that there are many other families, just like ours, that are fighting for their loved ones, too. Families that have had their lives turned upside down by this court, this judge, all the attorney’s involved, as well as the businesses who have all financially benefitted by this Court’s decisions. Only you have not heard of them because they are/were scared to negatively affect their cases. Some families do not have the financial resources or time or ability to stand up to force the courts to do the right thing! This is not how a system protects our families. This is not okay. Why have you heard about Barb and Bob? Because we won’t back down. In spite of the threats and intimidation, we will not back down until our family is back together.
Thankfully, we have an army of people behind us, an army willing to tell our story and an advocate in Heather Catallo and Channel 7. But, it’s not over until Barb and Bob are released from this circus. While we are grateful, the fight for OUR family, as well as others who currently have cases in front of Judge Kathryn George, Caring Hearts and their Attorney’s, are still in the arena. We will not stop until the public servants who are voted upon by the people with the promise of protecting us are held responsible for their actions. We are facing Caring Hearts, Executive Care, Kirk Law Firm and Judge George again in court on June 17, 2019 to fight a restraining order filed against us; another attempt to keep our family apart. Stand with us in court on June 17, 2019. Follow our Facebook page Justice for Barb and Bob for update. We are not scared of the truth!
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Michigan AG opens investigation into Macomb Co. probate case following 7 Action News report

Racine County judge suspended without pay; SCOWIS cites ‘obviously unethical’ behavior

MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended a Racine County judge for five days without pay, citing “concerning” and “obviously unethical” behavior.

The unanimous court in an unsigned order Tuesday, May 21 said that Racine County Judge Michael Piontek’s judicial misconduct in two cases from 2014 warranted the suspension.

In one case, Piontek called a prosecutor without notifying the defense attorney. In the phone call, Piontek said that any plea negotiation should involve the defendant being convicted of a felony and those involved in “scams like this” need to be stopped.

The Supreme Court says Piontek appeared to only admit his “obviously unethical” wrongdoing after he was caught.

In the case, Piontek did an independent internet investigation and relied on incorrect information at sentencing. The Supreme Court calls it “clearly improper” to conduct the research and not give the defendant’s attorney a chance to respond.

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Racine County judge suspended without pay; SCOWIS cites ‘obviously unethical’ behavior

Retirement should not mean hardship – but many older Americans live in poverty

Vivian Majors at her home in Opelousas, Louisiana, on February 20, 2019. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
Vivian Majors spent her life cleaning houses while her husband, Martin, worked as a carpenter. Their bodies broke down in their 60s. She is now 71, living on her own and struggling to pay her bills. He is in a nursing home and has Parkinson’s disease. She survives on a $960 monthly social security check and $50 in food stamps. Hardened by years of physically taxing work that left her hovering around the poverty line, Majors, now retired, is girding herself for more years of financial hardship.
Elderly poverty was supposed to be a thing of the past. Social security supposedly wiped out the scourge of old-age penury, signaling one of the great social-policy triumphs of the modern era. But this is far from the whole story. Inequality, which has grown markedly in Europe and North America since the 1970s, has widened the gap between the secure and insecure in all age groups, and has exposed American seniors to financial distress in ways that often go unnoticed.

Opelousas, Louisiana, has the highest rate of elderly rate in the US. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
According to research from the University of Massachusetts Boston, material hardship bedevils millions of Americans such as Majors who are over 65.

Opelousas, Louisiana (population 16,480), where Majors and her husband grew up and raised their own children, has the highest rate of elderly poverty in the US. Seventy-five percent African American, Opelousas is home to men and women who have worked all their lives. But in 2017 the average per-capita income in the town was only $15,266 a year, and 45% of its population lived in poverty.

Mary Quick sweeps after the Holy Ghost Community Meal in Opelousas, Louisiana. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
Few Opelousas retirees received sick leave or healthcare coverage while they were working, and virtually none can count on a pension to support them when they can no longer work. A lifetime of poverty rarely translates into what the rest of the country defines as true retirement. Instead, the working poor often stay on the job past retirement age.

The statistics from Opelousas are extreme, but its labor market’s underlying conditions – which residents have faced all their lives – are echoed across the country. Of those who are still of working age, 62% of African Americans and 69% of Latinos have no retirement savings. Come retirement, they are almost entirely reliant on social security. When that is the sole source of income, economic hardship is likely to be the outcome – not to the extent it was before social security was created, but a great deal more than for workers with long histories in often better-paid private-sector jobs.

Holy Ghost Community Diner in Opelousas, Louisiana. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
In the US, the poverty line was set by the Department of Agriculture as a multiple of the price of a typical “food basket” in the 1960s. It has been updated and benchmarked for family size every year since. The incidence of poverty for Americans over 65 has declined significantly, even further if measured against the poverty rate in the 1930s and 40s. Social security expenditures have played a crucial role in bringing about this improvement. As this safety net spread and the benefits available increased, poverty moved decisively downward.

We tend to think of inequality as shaping the lives of children and working-age adults, depending on their educational attainment. But the trajectory of inequality powerfully affects older people as well. Their lives in old age are a natural extension of their experiences in the prime working years. Social security is, in the end, insufficient to protect a surprisingly large number of older Americans from poverty.

Vivian Majors takes care of her husband Martin who has Parkinson’s disease. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
The US is an outlier in terms of elderly poverty – in the wrong direction. Retirement expert Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at the New School, points out that a higher proportion of older Americans are below the threshold set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development than all other advanced economies in the world except for Australia and Switzerland.
This perspective is corroborated by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Its Elder Economic Security Standard Index provides a more fine-grained understanding of hardship, conditional on household size, location, housing and health status, among other variables. The index shows that in 2016 a majority of American seniors lacked “the financial resources required to pay for basic needs”. The numbers are higher for those living alone than those in two-senior households, but overall the material hardship of the elderly is significant. The variation across the states is pronounced. But “in every state, the share of older adults living ‘in the gap’ between the federal poverty line and the Elder Index is larger than the share living in poverty”.

Rates of old age poverty in the world. Illustration: Forbes
Theirs is an economically uneasy life. Like the “near poor” more generally, older households above the poverty line miss out on federal and state benefits – from Snap, or food stamps, to housing grants to Medicaid – designed to assist those in need. They are on their own and yet facing significant shortfalls in the resources needed to survive at a minimally acceptable level.

Gaps were particularly problematic for women who, on average, received $4,500 less per year in social security benefits than men because they had lower lifetime earnings and worked fewer quarters to take time out for caregiving.

The gender gap reminds us of one of the most important aspects of elder poverty: it does not generally descend at the end of a career. Instead, it is a function of the inequalities that beset people during their working years. In this sense, elder poverty isn’t really about elders; it is about lifetimes spent under conditions of accumulated economic marginality.

Vivian Majors at her home in Opelousas, Louisiana. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
Poorer seniors are likely to have been poor, or among the working poor, most of their lives. They have held jobs that paid low wages, were often involuntarily part-time, provided for no sick leave or health insurance and provided nothing at all in the way of pensions.

Majors is a frugal woman. She is inclined to shut down the air conditioner in the height of a humid Louisiana summer rather than see her electricity bill rise beyond what she can afford. Even in her old age, with such limited resources, she lends a hand to her grown children when they need it. “A lot of people sometimes wonder how you’re making it,” she says. “But you manage, you know. You’re going to survive.”

That is no doubt true. Yet we can ask ourselves why merely being able to “manage” is the best that can be expected for a hardworking woman like Majors. Retirement should not mean hardship in the 21st century.

Opelousas, Louisiana. Photograph: Annie Flanagan/The Guardian
Katherine S Newman is the interim chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, the Torrey Little Professor of Sociology, and author of Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality (Metropolitan Books)

This article was supported by the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy and The Economic Hardship Reporting Project

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Retirement should not mean hardship – but many older Americans live in poverty

Monday, June 3, 2019

Why did a Macomb Co. judge put strangers in charge of an elderly couple instead of family?


UTICA, Mich. (WXYZ) — The 7 Investigators get a lot of calls from families who’s loved ones have been placed under guardianship, and unfortunately, we can’t tell every single story. But this one caught our attention because of a fence that was built and because of the history of the judge involved.

This is the tale of two fences. One holds what family members say are two vulnerable adults inside their home. The other fence protects the huge home that belongs to the people now in charge of making all financial and medical decisions for Barbara Delbridge and Bob Mitchell.

“They don’t want us to see in, they don’t want them to see out. So it’s the perfect way to hide them back there,” said Gretchen Summer, Barb’s niece.

Barb and Bob’s family members say after Macomb County Probate Judge Kathryn George appointed Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as their guardian.

Please note: Caring Hearts Homecare of Southfield is not affiliated in any way with Cathy Kirk’s Caring Hearts Michigan Inc.

The caregivers put up the six-foot-tall privacy fence, even though there was already a smaller fence in the yard. The caregivers say it’s for Barb and Bob’s safety, but relatives who live right next door say it prevents them from communicating with their loved ones.

“I just want my parents back. I want them to enjoy their retirement that they should have had, prior to this company taking over,” said Marcie Mitchell. Mitchell tried to become her dad and step-mom’s guardian last November because both were becoming mentally incapacitated.

“Is everyone in the family on board with Marcie being the guardian,” asked 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.

“Absolutely, we were all 100% behind her,” said Sommer.

Without guardianship, Marcie had no authority to stop her father from driving, or to access her parents accounts to pay for more full-time care.

Even though Michigan law gives Marcie priority to become a guardian to family members, Judge George told Marcie she had “grave concerns” about Bob and Barb. Instead, the judge handed their lives over to Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. and its owner, a woman named Cathy Kirk.

“How did the judge make you feel,” asked Catallo.

“Like a bad daughter. Like I wasn’t there for my parents enough as I should be,” said Mitchell through tears.

Marcie says Cathy Kirk promised she would stay involved in her parents care, but she’s no longer allowed to see them. Kirk hired another company that she owns, called Executive Care, to provide in-home caregivers 24 hours a day. Cathy is married to Robert Kirk, a Macomb County Public Administrator in the probate courts.

“They’re comfortable there. They’re healthy. They’re taken care of, we have detailed food logs for the food that they’re being served. So Executive Care has come in and tried to stabilize this situation,” said attorney Michael Taylor. Taylor works for Robert Kirk’s law firm, and he’s also the mayor of Sterling Heights.

Both Robert Kirk and his law partner have donated money to Judge George’s campaigns in the past.

Just like Marcie can’t talk to her parents behind this fence, we couldn’t catch up with Cathy Kirk because she too lives behind a fence: a massive privacy gate walling off the Kirk’s large home from public access.

And the Mitchell relatives aren’t the only ones who say Caring Hearts Michigan has separated them from their loved ones.

Members of the Franklin family say Judge George also appointed Caring Hearts when they tried to get guardianship of their 89-year-old mother, Piera. Mrs. Franklin is now back with her son, but only after her family members say they were also prevented from seeing their mom.

This isn’t the first time questions have been raised about Judge George and a guardianship company.

According to an order from the Michigan Supreme Court, back in 2008, they removed Judge George as chief judge of the probate court over concerns about her “questionable overuse” of a different guardianship company she was appointing to cases.

A probate court spokesman says even though Judge George knows the Kirks “informally through political and bar association events… there is no business relationship” with them.

The spokesman also says the judge isn’t allowed to respond to our questions about past campaign contributions but says it’s, “not unusual for attorneys to support judges for re-election” and the past support has “nothing to do with the recent selection of Caring Hearts as a public/professional guardian.”

The 7 Investigators asked Judge George several questions via the Macomb County Probate Court Administrator. The responses are below.
As for Barb and Bob’s family, they are heading back to court next month to try again to get guardianship.

“We don’t think she has any intention of granting that to Marcie at that time. So that’s why we have to go to you – we have to get the story out there. There are other families that are sitting ducks, this will happen to them too,” said Sommer.

After we started asking the court questions about this case, Caring Hearts Michigan has now offered visitation to the family.

Michael Taylor sent us this statement from Caring Hearts:

“Caring Hearts Michigan, Inc. was appointed as guardian and conservator in this case due, in part, to its relationship with Executive Care, a CHAP-Certified in-home care company. Caring Hearts does not accept guardianships or conservatorships on a large-scale basis. Prior to its appointment, Robert and Barbara were malnourished and living in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. Now, Robert and Barbara are safe and healthy living in their own home. Caring Hearts will continue to do everything in its power to provide for Robert and Barbara’s safety and wellbeing in the most cost-effective way possible without separating them or causing undue hardship. Their safety and wellbeing is our only concern.”

The family denies that Barb and Bob were unsafe and that the house was unsanitary.

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Why did a Macomb Co. judge put strangers in charge of an elderly couple instead of family?

See Also:
'I just want my parents back.' Woman says company imprisoned her parents in their own home

Michigan AG 'looking into' concerns about state's adult guardianship system

Woman accused of posing as attorney worked in public defender’s office

Kelcie Miller
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office charged a 26-year-old woman who allegedly lied about her legal credentials and got a job in the county public defender’s office.

According to prosecutors, members of the public defender’s office contacted the Madison County Sheriff’s Office to inform them that one of their employees was practicing law without the proper licenses.

Investigators determined the employee, identified as Kelcie Miller, had worked on approximately 80 criminal defense cases between October 2018 and May 2019.

Investigators said Miller used false documentation and other fictitious information that authorized her to practice law in the state.

Miller was charged with one count of theft over $10,000 of government property, one count of false impersonation of an attorney, and one count of forgery. She remains in custody at the Madison County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

There’s been no word on how these charges will affect the cases Miller had worked.

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Woman accused of posing as attorney worked in public defender’s office

Macedonia man sent to prison for bilking elderly investors out of $570,000

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Macedonia man who defrauded senior citizen investors out of more than $570,000, in part to feed his gambling and prescription pill addictions, was sentenced Wednesday to 6 1/2 years in federal prison.

William Callam, 61, made false statements to three investors from Lake County and used their money not for his business, Blackstone Real Estate Group, but for himself and his family. The scheme was the latest for a man who has racked up multiple criminal convictions in recent years for defrauding investors.

Callam pleaded guilty in January to a wire fraud charge, as well as four counts of mail fraud, and agreed to serve a sentence of between 63 and 78 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge James Gwin decided to sentence him on the high end of that range.

He also ordered Callam to pay more than $574,000 in restitution to the victims. In addition, the judge had the U.S. Marshals Service take Callam into custody following the sentencing.

Callam, through Blackstone, defrauded a married couple from Mentor and a person in Eastlake starting in 2013, doing so by telling investors that Blackstone was in the business of financing loans to buy and rehabilitate commercial property. Callam told investors that loans were secured by mortgages on the property.

Callam told them that investments in Blackstone were very liquid, that others had invested and guaranteed a steady 6 percent rate of return. All of those claims, as well as statements that investing in Blackstone was a safe venture, were false, charging documents say.

Investors liquidated their annuities, insurance policies and other retirement assets to invest in Callam’s company.

The charging documents state that Callam created false investment statements and mortgage notes and provided them to the couple in Mentor. That couple lost $381,571.47, while the Eastlake investor lost $192,575.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Miller wrote in a sentencing memo that Callam abused the investors’ trust and stole money they saved for retirement.

“This was not a situation in which the victims were defrauded at random by an unknown perpetrator,” Miller wrote. “To the contrary, Callam intentionally targeted the victims because they were elderly and trusted him.”

She also wrote that he has a “significant and concerning” history of crimes similar to those in the current case. Callam was convicted of theft in 2007 for defrauding two victims out of more than $68,000 by falsely stating he was part of an organization to aid senior citizens and promising to invest their money in annuities.

He was also convicted that year for defrauding four others of $49,000 by using money given to him for annuity payments and using it for himself.

Callam was also convicted in 2015 for defrauding a victim of $55,000 by falsely holding himself out as an insurance agent who was certified to sell annuities with a guaranteed 3 percent rate of return, Miller wrote.

Matthew Williams, an attorney for Callam, wrote in a sentencing memo that some of the money Callam took was used to feed gambling and prescription painkiller addictions. It said Callam no longer abuses medications.

Dean Valore, another lawyer for Callam, said in a brief interview that he was surprised by Gwin’s decision to have his client taken into custody following the sentencing. While federal judges have discretion to do so and consider a number of factors when deciding whether a defendant should remain free or be in custody, defendants in white collar cases are frequently allowed to self-report to prison.

Valore said Callam was “successful” in following the conditions of his bond after he pleaded guilty.

Court records show Gwin held a bond violation hearing for Callam in April. Why Callam was accused of violating his bond was not immediately clear. However, the judge allowed the defendant to remain free that day and told the pretrial services officer to let him knew if Callam does not report for a drug test or if Callam tests positive for drugs, records say.

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Macedonia man sent to prison for bilking elderly investors out of $570,000