A resident of Spruce Creek South who is charged with ripping off an 81-year-old dementia patient is back in jail after skipping a court date.
Brenda Joyce Bova, 76, was booked without bond Friday evening at the Marion County Jail after forfeiting her previous $8,500 bond by ignoring a mandatory court date.
Brenda Bova
Bova had been arrested earlier this year after it was discovered that she and two accomplices had drained the financial resources of the woman who lived across the street in the 55+ community in Summerfield.
Bova was the third suspect apprehended in connection with the elder exploitation investigation, following the previous arrests of Brenda Lee and Paul Rhodes, who also are charged with taking advantage of the fragile woman.
According to an arrest affidavit from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Bova had been the victim’s neighbor for approximately five years and was well aware of her diminished mental state. Bova allegedly told other neighbors she was going to get Power of Attorney (POA) to take over the victim’s bank accounts, and admitted to investigators she knew the victim had to write notes just to remember basic tasks, like going to the bank.
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) officially deemed the victim mentally incapacitated and lacking the capacity to consent earlier this year.
Despite knowing this, Bova allegedly acted as a co-conspirator and official witness on May 22 to help execute a fraudulent Durable POA, granting Lee primary control over the victim, while Bova established herself as the POA over the victim’s finances.
The affidavit alleges a disturbing pattern of financial abuse that quickly followed:
• Bova convinced the victim to stop using her original bank account and transfer approximately $30,000 into a new account.
• On June 25, Bova called the victim’s retirement company, TIAA. She deliberately impersonated the victim to bypass security protocols and liquidated $30,873.09 in annuity and retirement accounts. Bova falsely claimed the victim’s home was facing foreclosure and directed the funds to an account she and Lee controlled.
Bova and Lee facilitated the sale of the victim’s vehicle to Rhodes for just $5,000 in cash, despite its actual value being between $11,765 and $13,940. Rhodes flipped the car 32 days later for $8,000. Of the initial $5,000 cash, $2,000 remains unaccounted for.
When law enforcement and DCF investigators began looking into the depleted funds, Bova and Lee attempted to cover their tracks by fabricating and inflating business receipts, the affidavit stated. They altered a $400 notary receipt to show $825 and completely fabricated a $500 accounting receipt in the name of Lee’s boyfriend.
Bova also admitted to receiving a $460 check from the victim’s account, written by Lee, claiming it was for driving the victim “all over the place” and buying a couple of lunches.
Court-appointed
guardianship locked me in a soundproof closet with other adult
daughters navigating a world not designed for women.
(Maskot / Getty Images)
Britney
Spears’ autobiography revealed details of her father’s abuse of power
through a court-ordered conservatorship that lasted from 2008 to 2021.
Her father had reproductive control over her body and even what she ate.
My
experience with a court-ordered legal guardianship didn’t last 13
years, but I am an adult daughter who experienced abuse by a father. The
difference is Britney’s dad was the conservator of her, and I was the
guardian of my dad.
Before retiring, my
dad owned a small concrete business in our rural Kentucky hometown. He
rode a Harley Davidson and went to church on Sundays, except when the
weather was nice. He planned meticulously for his end of life like a
fantasy. He initiated durable power of attorney (POA) and healthcare
surrogate documentation for me to protect his interests in the future.
For 20 years, he trained me relentlessly so I would know exactly how to
execute his final wishes.
What he didn’t plan for was dementia.
My
dad was born during the Silent Generation. He served in the U.S. Army
Reserves. He wanted a son but got a daughter. Fathers should be grateful
to have a daughter, since research proves we provide twice as much caregiving for senior parents than sons do.
My dad also didn’t plan for his health to decline when I was part of the 71 percent of working mothers in America.
Working
mothers and adult daughters who make up the majority of
the sandwich generation need the ability to also care for their own
mental and physical well-being to avoid burnout.
Why
did I pursue court-appointed legal guardianship for my father? Because
POA failed me when he needed it most. My dad was on a path to wreck
himself financially. Before his second traumatic hospital stay, where he
received the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, he opened three new checking
accounts, closed two other bank accounts, opened credit cards at
different retail stores he did not frequent, bought a dog, and canceled
his Medicare Advantage insurance. A blizzard of yellow post-it notes
with his Social Security number and other account log-in information
were scattered around his house. Leeches and predators tried to gain
access to his life and also harassed and threatened me.
Alzheimer’s made
my dad physically aggressive. He lived with my family for six weeks. As
a mother, I could not have this behavior in my home around my
children.
While my POA indicated I was
my dad’s chosen healthcare surrogate and could make decisions when he
was incapacitated, every time I called to “fix” something he had broken,
I was asked to put him on the phone for his approval—even after I
explained he was incapacitated with Alzheimer’s. To complicate matters,
his Alzheimer’s diagnosis came during the worldwide pandemic in 2020. He
lived 800 miles away from me.
Trying to
undo damage my dad did to his Medicare health insurance while denied
rights as POA was a nightmare. Alzheimer’s care isn’t cheap. His long-term memory care cost up to $9,000 per month, and it was not easy to secure during the pandemic with a healthcare professional shortage.
Achieving
court-appointed guardianship was a different nightmare. Eleven months
and thousands of dollars later, I was appointed and bonded as his legal
guardian (of the person and of the estate) in Texas. But,
court-appointed guardianship locked me in a soundproof closet with other
adult daughters navigating a world not designed for women.
Why wasn’t the court order enough? Because a woman with legal power isn’t enough.
Banks,
health Insurance companies, and other businesses serving seniors do not
understand Alzheimer’s disease. Most businesses have standard legalize
for POA situations; however, guardianship overrides pre-existing POA.
This does no good when businesses are unaware of the differences between POA and guardianship.
POA is meant to help someone temporarily incapacitated due to health or advanced age.
Guardianship
is when someone is not of sound mind, cannot make safe or logical
decisions, and their situation is not expected to resolve itself for the
long term.
Why do businesses
expect a senior citizen diagnosed with an irreversible disease of the
mind to make financial or health decisions? Why wasn’t the court order
enough? Because a woman with legal power isn’t enough.
Being
a working mom of children doing virtual school during the pandemic,
also in the middle of a graduate degree, and suddenly caring for a
delusional and aggressive senior parent while being forced to educate
every single business on what guardianship legally appointed me to do
was overwhelming.
Guardianship paperwork
is thick. Do you know how many businesses asked if I had a fax machine?
What end consumer in the age of AI and self-driving cars has a fax
machine at home or can get to one easily during a pandemic? Why pay a
dollar per page to fax information in the age of Alexa, Google and
smartphones when I should be able to email or upload a file?
The most dehumanizing part of legal guardianship was being a woman.
I
was constantly put in my societal place. Businesses repeatedly denied
my rights. One financial institution denied my right to close an
account. They demanded a court order. Their ignorance was that my
court-appointed legal guardianship is
a court order. The experience of trying to advocate for my
incapacitated father and my rights as his guardian involved ghosting,
gaslighting and blurred interpretations of legal rights.
My dad died three months later.
Now
it’s eight months later, and I’m still waiting—only now, I’m stuck in
this legal guardianship and can’t get out. It is a ridiculously
desensitized process void of human compassion that prevents adult
daughters from properly grieving and processing trauma.
I’m an only child of divorce. There was no village of support.
Alzheimer’s
disease was not the worst part of my dad’s end of life. It was the
stress, isolation and trauma from the elder law experience.
It would’ve been different if I had been a son.
Facts. Caregiving falls to women. Alzheimer’s disease is on track to collapse the U.S. healthcare system with people living longer. Working mothers and adult daughters who make up the majority of the sandwich generation need the ability to also care for their own mental and physical well-being to avoid burnout.
The Road to Elder Law Reform
Elder law reform can be improved with four action items.
First, POA must define incapacitation and
quantify “temporary,” federally, for all states, in clear and detailed
terms. Dumb it down. It is currently too broad, too big, and open to
interpretation.
Second, when adult
daughters live in another state away from her senior parent, POA
documentation should be state-mobile so she can continue working and
caring for her children and senior parent.
Third, the federal government should require specialized training for banks, insurance companies, and other business legal departments so they communicate with POAs accurately and legally.
Fourth,
when adult children provide legitimate documentation from licensed
medical physicians who have diagnosed a senior citizen with Alzheimer’s
(translation: incapacitated), elder law attorneys need to make the legal
language clear that POA exists for a time such as this. Otherwise, the
United States risks working mothers leaving their jobs when there aren’t enough workers and ruining her own health—which will ironically further strain our healthcare system.
A West Des Moines woman failed to pay her mother's nursing home bill but was able to withdraw thousands of dollars at a casino with her mother's ATM card, according to police.
Police have charged 64-year-old Pamela Sue Young with dependent adult abuse. According to court documents, Young was the power of attorney for her mother between July 2022 and December 2022. During that time, Young had access to her mother's checking account and made over $7,000 in withdraws from ATMs and at Prairie Meadows Casino.
Police say Young was not authorized to use the money for her own personal funds or personal gain. Investigators report that she neglected to pay her mother's nursing home bill repeatedly over the course of nine months.
Dana and Jerry have been married for 25 years. Both have children by
previous marriages. Jerry’s three children never forgave him for
divorcing their mother and have never accepted Dana. Consequently, Jerry
and the children rarely see each other.
Jerry has
been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is currently in middle stage of the
disease with serious memory problems. Dana recently acquired home health
services to assist with Jerry’s care.
Jerry’s
children are in their fifties and scattered across the country.
Concerned could take action against her, particularly if there are
conflicts over Jerry’s care and his property, Dana has not yet informed
of his condition.
Dana Should Seek Legal Counsel to Protect Herself
Dana
should seek legal counsel to understand her options. The options
available will depend, in part, upon the steps Jerry and Dana have taken
before he developed Alzheimer’s. If Jerry has signed a Statutory
Durable Power of Attorney (POA) and a Medical Power of Attorney giving
Dana the power to manage his financial affairs and make medical
decisions for him, Dana should take over and do so.
Although
Jerry’s children might challenge the validity of these documents on the
grounds that he was not competent or unduly influenced by Dana when he
gave the power, the expense of such a challenge may be a deterrent in
Dana’s favor. Also, if Jerry had an attorney prepare the POA and he
signed it when there was no question of his competency and Dana was not
being present when the documents were prepared or signed, she would be
in a good position to prevail against a challenge by the children on
these grounds.
If Jerry has lucid moments in which
he retains the capacity to contract, Jerry could give Dana the power to
handle his legal affairs and make medical decisions on his behalf even
now.
If Jerry has a
valid will naming Dana as executrix and leaving her property, she should
safeguard that will. If Jerry does not have a valid will, Dana should
discuss with counsel, her rights in accordance with the laws of descent
and distribution. The lawyer can explain the property that Dana will
receive. Jerry’s children will inherit the rest.
Additional Steps Could Have Been Taken Prior to Jerry’s Diagnosis
In the instance of blended families such as theirs, an irrevocable trust can be an effective tool to protect both the spouse and the children by a previous marriage.
In
blended families - particularly if there is animosity toward the
non-parent spouse - each spouse should designate through a Declaration
of Guardian in the form provided under Texas Estates Code § 1104.201,
the person(s) that they do and do not want to be named guardian of the person and guardian of the estate if the need for a guardianship arises.
If
one or more of the children applies to be appointed guardian for Jerry,
Dana can join the suit and request to be named guardian instead. In
accordance with Texas Estates Code §1104.102, Dana is the preferred
guardian if more than one person is eligible.
Sandra W. Reed is an attorney with Katten & Benson, an Elder Law firm in Fort Worth. She lives and practices in beautiful Somervell County, near Chalk Mountain.
