Law enforcement, social service agencies align to keep elderly safe

By Steven Spearie

In early 2013, Vaughn Henry, a former Springfield financial advisor, took more than $150,000 from a 99-year-old Jerome woman with promises to invest it.

But Henry didn’t follow through on his promise of investing the woman’s money in a slaughterhouse in the Ivory Coast. Instead, Henry transferred the funds to his own accounts in late 2013 and early 2014 and spent the money on personal expenses.

Facing charges of theft exceeding $100,000 and financial exploitation of the elderly, Henry was found guilty and in April 2019 was sentenced to 7 1/2 years behind bars.

Of the 507 intakes Senior Services of Central Illinois/ Adult Protective Services reported for fiscal year 2020, over half of them dealt with financial exploitation of elderly persons.

The newly-formed Sangamon County Senior Support Alliance is an elder abuse prevention that solidifies local law enforcement’s ties with social service agencies, like Senior Services.

“One of the things we were really looking at is how can we better partner?” said Carol Harms, executive director of Senior Services, which serves Logan, Menard and Mason counties, in addition to Sangamon County. “How can we make our community partnerships stronger to build this relationship so we ensure the safety of the seniors?”

The public will get a close-up look at the alliance during a Facebook Live event at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The session will feature Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright; Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell; Sangamon County Department of Public Health director Gail O’Neill; Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow; Area Agency on Aging for Lincolnland volunteer coordinator Jennifer Hopper and Harms.

In addition to financial exploitation, Adult Protective Services (APS) investigates reports of emotional, physical and sexual abuse of persons over 60 in their homes. It also investigates reports for persons 18 to 59 years of age with a documented disability.

Calls come into a hotline, said Carolyn Yuroff, APS department supervisor, from friends, neighbors and family members of elderly persons, and other agencies and medical offices.

Not every case results in APS taking a police report or going to the state’s attorney’s office, Yuroff said. The agency could intervene in some domestic situations by talking to family members or powers of attorney.

“We are a client-driven program,” Yuroff said. “If our clients have competency and the ability to make their own decisions, then we go along with what they say. We’re the advocates of support for them.”

For the fiscal year ending June 30, APS did 183 reports on emotional abuse of seniors in Sangamon County. The reports ranged from seniors being intimidated verbally or a a person talking about them as a burden, Yuroff said.

There were 104 reports of passive neglect for the same period. Yuroff said passive neglect could have meant a caregiver was not bathing the elderly properly, was not taking them to doctors appointments or not keeping the home up.

APS had 45 reports from Logan County last fiscal year, 27 from Mason County and 20 from Menard County. Twenty-two additional cases were transferred to APS because individuals moved into the four-region area.

Financial exploitation has been the most reported allegation over the last three years, Yuroff said. That could include the theft of property or someone using senior’s debit or credit card to make personal purchases. It could also be the result of questionable changes to a person’s will or questionable asset or property transfers.

“Sometimes it’s cut-and-dried because money can be tracked through bank accounts or ATM withdrawals,” Yuroff added. “With financial exploitation, there’s so many people who could come in and fly under the radar, all kinds of different ways people could access that money. In that capacity, it doesn’t surprise me much that financial exploitation is the number one issue.

“People are crafty in getting access to money. However, I think there’s a lot that still goes undocumented for financial exploitation. There are a lot of cases we don’t know about that are huge.”

For a number of reasons, Wright said, elderly individuals may not always be able to protect themselves from victimization.

“Older members of our community too often become targets for those who would take advantage of the vulnerable,” Wright said. “This multi-disciplinary initiative will help us prevent elder abuse and coordinate resources to support early reporting, investigation and prosecution.”

The alliance is based upon the “Triad” concept which began in 1988 when the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriff’s Association convened resources.

Closer to home, Wright said Madison County has had a “Triad” model in place for several years with nearly 30 stakeholder service providers.

To view the event, go to: https://www.facebook.com/SangamonCountyGov.

To report suspected abuse, exploitation or neglect of an older person, call the statewide, 24-hour Adult Protective Services hotline at 1-866-800-1409.

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Law enforcement, social service agencies align to keep elderly safe

Dauphin County nursing home fires employee seen in video throwing drink on resident

By Steve Marroni

A Dauphin County nursing home employee has been fired after facility officials learned of a video showing the employee throwing what appears to be a hot drink in a resident’s face.

Officials at the Colonial Park Care Center in Lower Paxton Township confirmed in a statement released Saturday that the employee was fired after the clip went viral and garnered a lot of outrage on Facebook.

The short clip shows what appears to be an employee, wearing a face mask, standing next to an elderly person, who reacts with a scream when the employee splashes a mug of liquid in the resident’s face.

Officials at the center said in a statement posted on Facebook that the incident has been reported to both the Department of Health and to local law enforcement.

Here’s the statement:

“In reference to a video that was posted on Facebook by one of our now former employees, we as a facility and community of care would like to express that we are truly outraged by this juvenile act. Our employees are trained on how to treat all residents with dignity and respect, and this employee’s blatant rejection of that training and violation of our code of conduct warranted taking swift action. Consequently, upon being informed of the video’s existence, we immediately commenced an investigation and, shortly thereafter, terminated the employee in question. In addition, we have reported this ex-employee’s misconduct to the state Department of Health, and also to local law enforcement. This kind of behavior goes against everything we stand for as a skilled nursing facility and is in no way reflective of our values or culture. We always strive to provide our residents with the best care possible and there is absolutely no place in our facility for anything less than compassionate caregiving.”

The employees name has not been released.

The Colonial Park Care Center, 800 King Russ Road, is a 198-bed skilled nursing center. It offers a variety of services that include short-term and long-term skilled nursing care, rehabilitation and a memory-impaired unit.

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Dauphin County nursing home fires employee seen in video throwing drink on resident

Archangels of Justice Podcast With Salvatore E. Rastrelli and Ira B. Robins

Archangels of Justice is a podcast that follows two experienced private investigators, as they look into different cases involving misclassified murders, law enforcement corruption, and the wrongfully imprisoned. 

Each series will take the listener on a journey through these complex cases and give the families point of view along with law enforcement and crime scene experts. Investigators, Salvatore E. Rastrelli and Ira B. Robins review actual cases to identify the problems within the justice system and determine the cures. 

They seek to reverse the breakdown in public trust, alleviate the hostility on both sides, and reduce the number of senseless deaths. Both are former police officers and private investigators with more than 88 years combined investigative experience. It’s been easy for law enforcement to misclassify crimes like murders as suicides or robberies as thefts because of inept police work, to reduce their crime statistics, or to tip the scales to wrongfully convict someone they decide is guilty, or to protect one of their friends. 

They cover-up their own criminal conduct involving wrongful death and brutality by hiding facts and lying. Rastrelli and Robins have the courage to assist those who have had their civil rights trampled by corrupt police and prosecutors. 

They review cases submitted by victim’s families, find the ineptitude or misconduct, and reveal methods to alleviate the problems in order to effect change. 

Each series, will take the viewer on journey, as they will see both sides of the issue and the facts will be presented in way that ultimately the viewer has to decide what they believe. 

Our hope is that this will lead to a serious public conversation about the training and responsibilities of our Law Enforcement. The Archangels of Justice are will lead this conversation to make sure Law Enforcement and Courts answer for their mistakes.

View the podcast on ITunes

Cop Becomes Legal Guardian of 83-Year-Old With Dementia

A Kentucky cop said it was all part of the job when he took legal guardianship of an elderly man with dementia in his neighborhood.

"It doesn’t take any effort to care," said Sgt. Jon Sterling of the Erlanger Police Department. "Once Norm started down the road of not being able to take care of himself, it was the only logical step. You know, how could I not?"

The police officer of more than 20 years said he met Norm about four years ago, when the Korean War vet called cops to report some suspicious activity in his area.

"[Norm] lives alone and he lives in an area of the city that has pretty heavy traffic," Sterling told InsideEdition.com. “He looks after his neighbors.”

In the following years, Sterling said he often ran into Norm around town.

"Whenever I would see him, we would just stop and talk," he said. "He’s a very smart person. He has a very interesting view on history and politics. I just loved talking to him."

Last week, Sterling said he noticed social workers at Norm’s home, and dropped by to make sure he was OK. Norm had recently turned 83.

“He had lost a bunch of weight. It had been so long since I had seen him,” Sterling said. “His hair was as long as his beard. He really looked like he wasn’t taking care of himself. He literally had gotten smaller.”

The social workers determined he had a case of early on-set dementia, and Sterling added that Norm’s eccentric personality may have compounded the diagnosis.

"He’s got a way about him that I really liked because I’m a little eccentric myself," Sterling said. "So that’s kind of one of the ways we bonded."

Realizing that Norm had no close family members, he decided to assume guardianship of the senior. His wife, a nurse, and son were immediately on board with his decision.

Sterling was able to check his friend into the hospital, where he was given IV fluids, fed, and cleaned up.

"The short time he was in the hospital, he got his balance back; he got his color back," Sterling said. "He got the fullness in his face. It really helped."

With his temporary guardianship, Sterling was able to access his health and bank records, and figure out what further care he needed, including a retirement home.

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Cop Becomes Legal Guardian of 83-Year-Old With Dementia

Former Illinois Police Officer Charged With Exploitation of a Disabled Person

Former la Grange police officer has been charged in connection with exploitation of a disabled person.

Steven C. Kneifel, 47, pleaded not guilty Oct. 17 to the charges of official misconduct, financial exploitation of an elderly person or person with a disability, forgery and theft, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

The state's attorney filed criminal charges against Kneifel following an investigation by the Illinois State Police. Kneifel is accused of committing official misconduct, along with the criminal charges filed, according to a statement from the village of La Grange.

The complaint shows the charges stemmed from a grand jury that met from about April 1, 2013 through March 1, 2015, and allege that Kneifel was in a position of trust or confidence with the victim and had a legal or fiduciary relationship with the victim.

The complaint states that Kneifel made or altered checks that drew on the victim's bank accounts on a series of occasions, at various times and in various amounts that ranged from $100 to $13,000, from April 5, 2013 through Oct. 11, 2015. The complaint alleges that Kneifel withdrew a total of $65,836 from the victim's accounts at three different banks.

The complaint also states that as a sworn police officer he "knowingly committed an act which he knew that he was forbidden by law to perform."

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Former LeGrange Police Officer Charged With Financial Exploitation