by Brian Hamrick
HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio —
Protecting senior citizens in Hamilton County intensified Wednesday as the prosecutor’s office launched a new task force to deal with crimes that target the elderly.
The Elderly Justice Unit was developed by Hamilton County prosecutor Melissa Powers.
She announced the program as she spoke to more than 100 seniors at the Green Township Senior Center.
The task force will be based in the prosecutor’s office and use specially trained attorneys to focus on crimes targeting seniors, from rapidly growing scams to elderly abuse.
“Our office is taking a very hard stand that if a senior is targeted in a crime, you will be held accountable, you will be prosecuted and we want to put you behind bars,” Powers said.
Part of the program will be educating seniors about how to keep from being a victim of a scam and training local law enforcement.
A similar task force was developed in Butler County several years ago.
Since then, Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said they’ve prosecuted a couple of dozen of these kinds of cases every year.
In 2011, the first conviction was Corrin Easterling. She was sentenced after stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mary Kempling.
“We were all Shocked,” said Kempling’s family member Michele Hughes. “Mary was devastated. She trusted this woman.”
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New task force launched by Hamilton County prosecutor focuses on crimes that target elderly
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