A King
County man was sentenced to 24 months in prison after a jury found him
guilty of stealing nearly half a million dollars from his elderly
grandmother, who has dementia and is now surviving on food stamps.
Senior
Deputy Prosecutor Karissa Taylor, who handled the case for the King
County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said the defendant manipulated his
grandmother into surrendering her entire individual retirement account
through a campaign of deception.
“By
way of manipulation and deception, he convinced his grandmother to give
her entire life savings, all of her IRA that she had saved her entire
life,” Taylor told “Seattle’s Morning News.” “By the time the victim’s son discovered the theft, she had less than $50 left to her name and is now on food stamps.”
Grandson exploited decades of trust to drain grandmother’s entire life savings
The
victim, now nearly 91, had a close relationship with her grandson, who
had lived with her intermittently due to instability in his own family.
She had provided him with financial support for years, hoping to help
him gain independence.
“The
sad part of this case is that the victim and the defendant were very,
very close,” Taylor said. “He took advantage of that trust and the
relationship that they had to convince her to give him all of his
money.”
The
theft was discovered when the woman’s son noticed she was distraught.
She told him she had no money left. He called her financial institution,
confirmed the accounts had been drained, and contacted Seattle Police.
Investigators
determined the stolen funds were spent on fast food, gasoline, car
parts, all-terrain vehicles the defendant was building, mortgage
payments, and other expenses. None of the money is recoverable.
“That money is gone forever,” Taylor said.
Families urged to plan ahead as prosecutor warns manipulation, theft are common
Seattle
Police conducted the investigation, which led prosecutors to charge the
defendant with 11 counts of felony theft. A jury convicted him on six
counts. The court also found a major economic offense aggravator and an
abuse of trust aggravator, adding 12 months to the standard sentencing
range of 14 to 18 months.
Prosecutors
sought the maximum sentence of 30 months. The judge imposed 24 months.
The court will order restitution, though Taylor acknowledged none of the
original funds remain.
Taylor urged families to take preventive steps against elder financial exploitation.
“Advocate
for having a financial advisor who is aware of your finances and is
aware of what your expectations are with your money,” Taylor said. “Have
those same conversations with your family so they know what the intent
is with regards to your money.”
She
also recommended that families discuss power of attorney designations
and plan carefully for when a loved one may need assistance managing
finances.
“Ultimately,
people can take advantage of other people through manipulation or
deception or outright theft,” Taylor said. “We know these things
happen.”
A
58-year-old woman appeared in court Thursday afternoon after being
charged in connection with the alleged financial exploitation of a
vulnerable adult in Lewis County.
Kristine
Hughey is charged with one count of forgery, 10 counts of first-degree
theft and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm. She was
arrested without incident and booked into the Lewis County Jail. She did
not enter a plea because she has not yet consulted with an attorney.
"I’m
going to take the more prudent course and wait until your attorney is
present so I can be assured that your attorney has properly advised you
of all your rights, the maximum penalties, and everything else necessary
for a valid arraignment," said Judge J. Andrew Toynbee in Lewis County
Superior Court.
The
charges stem from an investigation that began April 8, when officers
responded to concerns raised by neighbors and referrals from Adult
Protective Services involving a 96-year-old woman in Centralia.
Authorities say the victim has dementia, requires skilled nursing care
and meets the legal definition of a vulnerable adult under Washington
law.
Detectives determined Hughey, originally from California, had been
living with and caring for the victim since around mid-2025. In
September 2025, Hughey obtained durable power of attorney over the woman
and soon after transferred ownership of the victim’s Centralia home
into her own name using a quitclaim deed, describing it as a gift.
Financial
records reviewed with the victim’s permission indicate that roughly
$78,000 was withdrawn or spent from the victim’s accounts between
September 2025 and March 2026. Investigators noted that the amount
significantly exceeded the victim’s approximate $8,000 monthly income
from Social Security and pension payments.
Authorities
say more than $21,400 was taken out in cash, with additional spending
tied to horse-related purchases, travel, dining, entertainment and
peer-to-peer transfers to individuals outside the state. Investigators
also identified recurring charges they say did not align with the
victim’s circumstances as a nursing home resident without a vehicle or
livestock.
According
to detectives, the victim said she did not approve the large
withdrawals or personal expenses and believed the power of attorney and
property transfer were meant only to help manage bills and arrange
inheritance after her death. She has since indicated she wants to revoke
the agreement.
Police
say Hughey has a lengthy criminal record across multiple states
involving fraud, forgery, theft and identity-related crimes, and has
used several aliases.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Centralia Police Department at 360-330-7680.
Minimal oversight of these court evaluators makes it
difficult for parents to challenge flawed reports without risking damage
to their cases
ByKelsey Turner
Stephanie Maya thought the facts were on her side in the custody case for her 3-year-old son.
She’d
recently escaped an abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend, the
father of her son. He had been arrested for physically assaulting and
strangling her, an experience that Maya says happened repeatedly
throughout their relationship, often while he was drunk and often in
front of their toddler.
The
guardian ad litem — court appointed in May 2024 to represent the best
interests of her son and investigate issues that could impact his
safety, like domestic violence — knew about the dad’s pending domestic
violence charges and court orders prohibiting him from contacting Maya.
So Maya was shocked when the
guardian ad litem, Meredith Gerhart, submitted a report that portrayed
Maya as a potentially criminal abuser. Gerhart, a well-respected
attorney in Thurston County, a community on the southern tip of the
Puget Sound, wrote that Maya had three “prior offenses involving
domestic violence” based on a list provided to her by Maya’s
ex-boyfriend. Yet a background check would have confirmed that Maya was
the one who reported those assaults to law enforcement — as a victim and
witness.
“The fact
that I was trying to do something good, and she used that against me to
try to paint me as this criminal, as an abuser, was very upsetting,”
said Maya, 34. “She never once even asked me if any of that was true.”
The
report, which Maya says includes many other false claims from her
ex-boyfriend stated like facts, had a near immediate impact on her
custody case. A court commissioner ordered that the child spend weekends
with his dad — who, until that point, was only allowed supervised
visits — and said the report “clearly establishes” that Maya was causing
conflict in the co-parenting relationship, a finding that can lead to
restrictions on parenting time. Gerhart, who’s still working as a
guardian ad litem in Thurston County, said she cannot comment for this
article because the case is active.
It
took nearly a year and the help of a lawyer for a court review board to
formally reprimand Gerhart for failing to make “any effort” to
substantiate the claims of Maya’s ex, who pleaded guilty in February
2026 to assaulting Maya and interfering with her attempt to call 911.
It’s a rare instance of a parent successfully proving that an
investigation of a guardian ad litem — a neutral third-party court
investigator also referred to as a GAL — was unfairly biased, although
parents and attorneys say they see biased reports all the time.
Guardians ad litem have been
appointed in over 7,100 Washington family law cases since 2020,
according to data from the Washington State Administrative Office of the
Courts. Although they don’t have a direct say in custody outcomes,
their conclusions and recommendations can hold significant weight in
court.
But despite
courts’ frequent reliance on these professionals — and the sometimes
tens of thousands of dollars that parents must pay for them — there’s
little independent oversight of the role, leaving many parents without a
meaningful way to hold them accountable for inaccurate, biased or
shoddy investigations that shape custody cases.
The
decision to remove guardians ad litem or their reports from a case is
up to the judge, yet judges have limited insight into how investigations
are conducted. Even in instances when court committees or judges found
that a guardian ad litem conducted a biased investigation, or stepped
outside the scope of their role, discipline rarely extended beyond a
reprimand and orders for additional training, according to
InvestigateWest’s review of grievances and removals of guardians ad
litem in Washington.
While
those court investigators may go on to work with more families, some
parents are left fighting the consequences of questionable reports for
years. Parents say their kids have been placed in homes with potentially
abusive adults, and some have even lost custody to their abusers.
Other
than a state-mandated three-and-a-half-day training, Washington’s
guardians ad litem — like those in other states — have few standardized
qualifications, and they have no managers or statewide agencies vetting
their work. Some started their careers over a decade ago, when there
were even fewer training requirements.
Advocates and researchers
across the nation — from Washington to Idaho to Georgia to New Hampshire
— have called on their legislatures to require more training and
accountability for guardians ad litem as their use in family court and
influence in custody cases has grown in recent decades. Washington state
legislators acknowledged the need to address this insufficient
oversight in a work session in December that discussed gaps in the
oversight system and impacts of biased investigations on parents.
State
Rep. Jamila Taylor, chair of the House Civil Rights and Judiciary
Committee who led the session, noted a “strong interest” for guardian ad
litem reform within the family law community.
“We
probably do need to have a commission or some sort of review of the GAL
statute and how we can navigate these issues around a very unregulated
practice,” Taylor said in the session.
This
minimal oversight makes it difficult for parents to challenge flawed
reports without risking damage to their own cases — and, in some cases,
even their chances of retaining custody of their children.
“Complaining
about the way a GAL is going about something can be a dangerous space,
because the court can feel like you’re distracting from the main issue,”
said Jeffrey Keddie, a managing attorney at the Northwest Justice
Project, a nonprofit legal aid program, who helps lead the state’s
guardian ad litem trainings. “It’s about likability half the time, and
if you become less likable, that can be very problematic.”
Their
lack of understanding of issues like domestic violence can harm
children for life, said Dawn Sydney, a family law attorney and former
guardian ad litem in King County. “There has to be some system set up
where there’s some accountability for these people.”
Discipline is rare, and limited
In
Washington, the only avenue for parents to formally complain about a
guardian ad litem is through the same superior court where their family
law case is taking place. While most large counties have review
committees made up of judges or other court officials to handle
complaints, in King County — the state’s most populous county that
appoints among the most guardians ad litem — grievances are reviewed by
just one judge.
InvestigateWest
requested complaints from six counties with the highest number of
guardian ad litem appointments in Washington family law cases, and
reviewed other complaints and court filings by parents alleging
misconduct. While they flag common concerns with reports, such as
one-sided investigations, incorrect or misleading information, and
missed deadlines that delay cases for months, many parents and attorneys
say they hesitate to file grievances because they fear it will do more
harm than good.
“I
don’t have faith that most GALs can separate their anger at a complaint
being lodged at them from their neutrality as a GAL,” said Jennifer
Summerville, Maya’s attorney.
In
2024 and 2025, a total of 31 grievances were filed against guardians ad
litem across King, Snohomish, Pierce, Thurston, Cowlitz and Clark
counties, according to each superior court’s administrations. Just four
were found to have merit and are publicly available, including Maya’s.
However, at least in some cases, grievances are dismissed without any
evaluation of their merit.
Those
four founded complaints offer a window into how guardians ad litem face
limited discipline and continue holding influence in cases, despite the
deficiencies:
Thurston County’s review
board found that Gerhart’s report and investigation “do not show
independence, objectivity, or the appearance of fairness.” Apart from a
requirement to correct the report regarding Maya’s criminal history, the
report remains part of Maya’s case, meaning it could still influence
the custody outcome.
After a father called a Clark County
guardian ad litem to raise concerns about her investigation, the court
investigator became hostile and told him, “If that comes out in court I
will take you to the wall,” according to the father’s notes from their
phone call. A judge removed the court investigator from the case, and a
court committee admonished her to remain respectful. She still works as a
guardian ad litem, and her report remains part of the case.
Only
one grievance resulted in removal from a county registry — meaning a
guardian ad litem can no longer work in that county, the most severe
discipline a court can impose. But a Thurston County judge reversed the
removal after the guardian ad litem appealed the decision. A review
committee found that he repeatedly inserted personal commentary and
humor in his reports and acted outside of his role, such as creating his
own “trauma scale” and facilitating a meeting between a domestic
violence victim and perpetrator. He’s currently suspended but can be
reinstated after completing a corrective action plan.
A
Snohomish County guardian ad litem who was reassigned to a case in 2021
to conduct a quick follow-up investigation dropped out of contact with
the court and could not be reached by the mom or her attorney for over a
year. The court investigator resigned before the grievance was filed,
limiting any sanctions the court could impose.
Parents
aren’t notified about guardians ad litem’s disciplinary history when
they’re appointed to a case, according to judicial officers. To get that
disciplinary history, a person would need to file public records
requests with the court where a guardian ad litem has worked. While many
counties require guardians ad litem to disclose past grievances or case
removals on their applications to continue working in the county, only
Pierce County publishes those applications online.
If
a guardian ad litem is barred from working in a county due to a
grievance, the county’s superior court must notify the Administrative
Office of the Courts, which will then share that information to courts
across the state. But this is rare. The office said it hasn’t been
notified of any such removals in the last five years.
The
mom in Snohomish County, Katie Buss, spent two years trying to get a
$2,500 refund for a report that was never written after the court
investigator disappeared from the case. But she estimates that the
guardian ad litem cost her closer to $8,000, between the cost of
removing her from the case, an initial report that was later thrown out
and attorney fees for the 15 months they could not reach her. Buss also
spent another $1,575 for a new guardian ad litem.
Because
the court investigator had resigned, the only sanction the court could
impose was a promise not to reinstate her if she ever applied again. It
couldn’t help Buss recoup the lost money.
“I
did everything the system asked of me,” Buss told InvestigateWest. “I
followed court orders, participated in evaluations, and relied on the
processes that were supposed to protect my child. Instead, the system
failed to provide meaningful accountability.”
Risks to filing a complaint
On
Christmas Eve 2024, Maya logged into Zoom for a court hearing to review
Gerhart’s guardian ad litem report. She listened as Thurston County
Superior Court Commissioner Nathan Kortokrax praised Gerhart’s
“thorough” work. While some judicial officers may balk at a 50-page
report, Kortokrax said he actually appreciated it. He even read it
twice.
With Gerhart seated in the courtroom and no attorney representing her at the time, Maya stayed quiet.
“Right then and there, I was like, ‘I will not have a voice tonight,’” she said. “I was just so scared to speak up against her.”
Due
in part to parents’ fear of retaliation by the guardian ad litem or the
court, only a couple dozen formal grievances have been filed across
Washington’s most populous counties since 2024, despite guardians ad
litem having served on hundreds of cases.
For
parents who are already facing reputational attacks in the family law
arena, convincing the court that a well-known guardian ad litem is not
trustworthy can seem like an insurmountable task.
“If
that guardian ad litem has the respect of the court, you’re going to
have to really prove that they did a lot wrong to get them removed from a
case,” said Keddie, the Northwest Justice Project attorney. “It’s near
impossible.”
Some
parents also worry that a guardian ad litem’s collegial relationships
with judicial officers and attorneys make courts less willing to hold
them accountable. Like Gerhart, who has been chair of the Thurston
County Bar Association’s family law section since 2019, many guardians
ad litem are respected attorneys or social workers. Some even work as
temporary judicial officers.
Alicia Burton, a Pierce County
Superior Court judge who chairs the county’s guardian ad litem grievance
committee, said that as a family law judge, she didn’t hesitate to call
out biased behavior. But Burton acknowledges that making such
accusations can be intimidating even for judicial officers.
“It’s
a hard thing to do as a judge, to tell a well-respected guardian ad
litem who’s been in Pierce County for years, to say, ‘I thought your
investigation was one-sided,’” Burton said.
In
heated custody battles involving allegations of abuse, judges face the
challenge of sorting through many competing accusations. Parents accuse
each other of lying, abusers claim to be victims, and both parents may
have histories that raise concerns about the children’s safety. These
dynamics can make it difficult for judges to discern whether a parent’s
complaint against a guardian ad litem is valid or just an expression of
their personal dissatisfaction with how a report portrays them.
“We
all, in this line of work, have to deal with people complaining about
us. It happens to lawyers all the time, it happens to judges every day,”
Sutton said, adding that complaints are often from parents unhappy with
the outcome of a report or ruling.
For
many parents, however, the possibility of retaliation feels real — and
they don’t always trust that the court will protect them. This is the
risk that a Clark County dad weighed when he tried to remove a guardian
ad litem in 2024.
Leslie, who asked to go by his
first name, questioned the guardian ad litem in his custody case for
relying heavily on a previous ex-girlfriend for information that he said
was inaccurate. Leslie had been arrested 15 years before for allegedly
assaulting that ex-girlfriend during an argument, a history that Leslie
says he had disclosed to the guardian ad litem. That charge was also
dismissed.
The
guardian ad litem, Robin Jones, threatened to take him “to the wall” if
he brought his concerns about Jones to the court, according to Leslie’s
notes from their phone call. He took that to mean that Jones would do
“everything in her power” to try to minimize his time with his child, he
said.
In the weeks
after their phone call, according to Leslie’s complaint, Jones contacted
two of Leslie’s workplace supervisors and shared some of these claims
about his previous relationship, as well as medical information about
his gender transition surgery without his permission. One of Leslie’s
supervisors said in a court declaration that the conversation with Jones
“did not sit well” and that she was “very surprised with the lack of
confidentiality for such sensitive information.”
Leslie
felt that it was an intentional effort by Jones to sabotage his
employment and wanted her off his case. His lawyer wasn’t supportive of
removing Jones and withdrew, so he hired another to help him file the
motion. A judge approved the removal in October 2024, finding that Jones
had disclosed information to third parties without Leslie’s consent.
Jones declined to comment due to the active case, and her responses to
Leslie’s grievance are not publicly available.
But her report remains part of
the court record, and even though a court advisory committee found merit
to his claim that Jones threatened him, the only discipline was an
admonishment for Jones to “remain respectful and courteous.” The
committee did not find merit to his allegation that Jones disseminated
false information to third parties and found insufficient evidence
supporting that she disclosed confidential medical information to third
parties.
Leslie, whose case is still pending, felt like he had to put a lot on the line to get any form of accountability.
“It
is so dangerous because you are putting recommendations for your time
with your children at risk by taking those steps,” he said.
Few guardrails
As
courts entrust them to represent what’s best for the children, even
some guardians ad litem say they feel unsupported or unprepared for
complex cases.
Dawn
Sydney, a family law attorney in King County, became a guardian ad litem
in 2017. After serving on around a dozen cases, she stopped taking
assignments because she felt uncomfortable with the power she held over
families and the prospect of getting it wrong.
It’s
time consuming to write a thorough report, Sydney said, especially for
guardians ad litem who, like her, often have other jobs as attorneys or
social workers. Conducting more in-depth investigations also means
charging parents potentially exorbitant fees, as private rates can reach
up to $300 per hour.
“My
rates for GAL cases are lower than my attorney hourly rate, and yet as
much as I’d like to say, ‘I don't charge for that,’ I do have a
practice, I have staff, I have a mortgage that I have to pay,” Sydney
said.
She thinks these challenges, along with insufficient training, mean many court investigators “just don’t do great jobs.”
Although
she’s no longer taking cases as a guardian ad litem, Sydney continues
seeing the consequences of shoddy investigations as a lawyer
representing domestic violence survivors. In 2020, while representing a
mom in King County, she successfully removed a guardian ad litem from a
case who admitted to altering the mom’s form consenting to the release
of medical information and falsely attributing a quote to a therapist.
The resulting discipline for the guardian ad litem, Meera Shin, was no
more than a “slap on the hand,” Sydney said.
“I would lose my license for that. A doctor would lose their license for that,” Sydney said.
Shin
continued working as a guardian ad litem in Snohomish County for
several years and is still on King County’s registry. The removal
process, meanwhile, cost Sydney’s client thousands of dollars.
Shin
said her errors were not in bad faith — she thought she had the mom’s
permission to access the medical records, and she altered the release to
speed up the paperwork process. She admits it was a mistake and agrees
with the judge’s decision to remove her, she told InvestigateWest. It
was the first big family law case that she’d been assigned to, and she
felt largely unprepared for its complexity.
“If they did not remove me, and if I did not have this experience, I wouldn’t have known,” she said.
Yet
in the court order discharging Shin, the judge said it was “far from
clear” whether Shin “understands the gravity of what she did.” Six years
later, Shin, who has a Ph.D. in child development and family studies,
said she still doesn’t feel confident in the role and plans to leave the
profession once her current cases wrap up. She thinks more ongoing
training could have helped her find more success.
In Maya’s case, Gerhart
defended her investigation by pointing to a disclaimer that she includes
in all her reports, which states: “The content of this report assumes
that all information provided and reported to the GAL is true and
correct.” Gerhart didn’t see a need to correct the false information
about Maya’s criminal history because it was the father’s statement, not
hers, and the father later clarified his claims directly with the
court.
The review
board disagreed. In a November letter of reprimand, they concluded that
her report “appeared to be written from the perspective” of Maya’s
ex-partner and that Gerhart is still obligated to make reasonable
efforts to be informed about the case. The board required her to correct
the report regarding Maya’s criminal history, stop using the disclaimer
and complete at least two hours of guardian ad litem training.
It
was a bittersweet outcome for Maya, who’s still waiting for her
more-than-two-year custody case to go to trial. Several other statements
that Maya had flagged in the report, which remains a part of the case,
also were not corrected.
But
for parents like Maya, the impact of guardian ad litem misconduct runs
deeper than the words themselves. Gerhart’s report plunged Maya into a
deep depression as she confronted the possibility of losing time with
her son.
“I started to
believe that I was a bad person,” Maya said. “That maybe I wasn’t good
enough for my child. That maybe I was the problem.”
SPOKANE, Wash. — A program dedicated to
protecting some of Spokane County's most vulnerable residents celebrated
a significant milestone this week, marking 25 years of safeguarding
people who need a guardian or conservator.
The Guardianship
Monitoring Program, operated by Spokane County Superior Court, ensures
that vulnerable community members don't slip through the cracks of the
legal system. The initiative combines volunteers and court staff to
support judges by monitoring cases involving individuals under legal
guardianships.
In Spokane County alone, more than 2,200 people
fall under legal guardianship or conservatorship. These individuals
often include elderly relatives with dementia or those facing mental
health challenges that come with aging.
"It could be an elderly relative who has dementia, or they're mental
issues that come with old age," said Judge Rachelle Anderson of Spokane
County Superior Court.
The program originated from a gap court
officials identified in the oversight system for vulnerable individuals.
Former Superior Court Judge Kathleen O'Connor helped establish the
program and worked on it from inception through her retirement.
"It
was it was a special interest to me. I mean, I had a lot of other
things I was doing, but it was a special interest in mine," O'Connor
said. She explained that the program emerged after the court noticed
insufficient oversight for these individuals. While the state didn't
provide initial funding, the Spokane County Commissioners stepped in to
support the initiative.
The monitoring program serves as a crucial
safeguard to prevent anyone from taking advantage of vulnerable
individuals under court protection.
"The goal is to ensure that
our most vulnerable citizens who are in need of assistance are protected
to the greatest extent of the law," Anderson said.
Over
the past quarter-century, the program has evolved beyond its original
monitoring scope. What began as a oversight system now provides training
and resources for family members and friends who have relatives in need
of guardianship.
"We can also help nonprofessional guardians,
relatives, friends, with training, with a resource they know. If they
have a question, they can talk to our guardianship monitoring program,"
O'Connor explained.
Professional guardians also benefit from the
program's organizational structure. Kelly Moore, a professional
guardian, praised the program's ability to track cases and ensure
compliance.
"They help organize who is where, who is turning in their things on
time. So cases that have not been followed for years don't slip by,"
Moore said.
Despite its success, the Guardianship Monitoring
Program faces staffing challenges. The program currently operates with
just five volunteers, and court officials say more help is needed to
adequately oversee cases.
You can find more information on the program and how to get involved here.
Roach, a six-year-old pit bull mix, who was out for a morning walk
with his owner off the Interurban Trail near Happy Valley Park in
Fairhaven knew Thursday morning something wasn’t normal on their daily
route.
He’d spotted shoes in the mud and brush, but his owner, Martin
Petelinz, 42, pulled him away from his find, thinking it was trash.
Seven hours later, around 4:30, back on the trail for an afternoon walk, Roach wasn’t going to let the shoes go.
“He really wanted to go the same way,” Petelinz said. “He kept
pulling to go to that trail… This time, he wasn’t really letting me lead
and when we got really close, he actually started growling at them, not
barking.”
When Petelinz went to investigate further, he found the shoes
attached to the body of a 74-year-old man facedown in the mud with a leg
injury. With his adrenaline racing, Petelinz thought he had found a
corpse. But after some forceful prodding, the man let out a moan.
Martin
Petelinz and his dog Roach. The two were out for an afternoon walk in
Fairhaven Thursday when they found an unresponsive 74-year-old man. (Photo courtesy of Martin Petelinz)
Petelinz called 911 at 4:37 p.m. Because Petelinz and Roach were
off-trail, Petelinz had to meet the first responders on Cowgill Avenue
and bring them to where the man was.
EMTs told Petelinz that the man had dementia and no awareness of where he was.
“He couldn’t walk out on his own and he was near hypothermic because
of the rain and the cold,” Petelinz said. “They said if I hadn’t gotten
to him before it got dark, he was probably not going to make it.”
Petelinz said the man had wandered away from his care facility
Thursday morning. It’s unclear which facility in Fairhaven the man came
from. Brookdale Senior Living, Mt. Baker Care Center and Solstice Senior
Living each told Cascadia Daily News the man was not a resident.
The Bellingham Police Department said they had received a missing
person’s report around 4:17 p.m. from the 2800 block of Old Fairhaven
Parkway. The patrol officer was able to determine that the man found in
the brush was the same subject as the missing person’s report.
No silver alert was put out for the case, according to BPD.
The man was transported to PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center. His condition was not immediately released.
Roach came into Petelinz’s life three years ago when he adopted the
pitbull-mutt from the Whatcom County Humane Society. Roach turned six in
January.
Petelinz described Roach as defensive when he thinks his owner is being threatened, but overall is the most loving dog.
“[Pit bulls] get a horrible rap, so if anything else, this helps
instill that pit bulls are awesome pets,” he said. “He’s the biggest
cuddler and the biggest couch hog ever.”
For his Lassie-style heroics, Roach got a little bit of steak for dinner Thursday night and a little extra love.
“It was all the dog,” Petelinz said. “He was the one that brought me
back. He was the one that pushed me to check out the shoes. It was
totally him who saved a life.”
Washington state will pay $8 million to settle claims that it failed to act on years of warnings about the abuse and neglect of a developmentally disabled Pierce County woman under her family’s care, court records show.
In June 2023, the now 25-year-old woman’s court-appointed guardian and conservator sued the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).
The lawsuit, filed in Pierce County Superior Court, alleged that state case workers didn’t investigate allegations of mistreatment or take any meaningful action to shield the woman from potential harm, despite a dozen known referrals dating back to 2018 that raised concerns about her well-being. Another referral was received when she was younger than 2 years old, according to the suit.
The referrals to the state agencies responsible for adult or child welfare had expressed concerns that the woman was being neglected, sexually abused and exploited for disability benefits while living in a run-down home that social workers refused to visit without law enforcement, the suit said.
She was allowed to remain under the care of her mother, who allegedly had a history of drug addiction before her death in 2022, and alongside others who purportedly resided in vehicles on the property, used drugs and brandished swords and other weapons.
A court filing in March from Dan Lazares, the court-appointed overseer of the settlement, detailed some of the allegations: The woman’s legal guardian reported to Lazares that her client had been locked in her room, was emaciated and had physical wounds described as “branding” that resulted from drug users in the home. She also reportedly bathed in a sink in an apparent effort to avoid being naked in front of others at the home.
Attorney Ian Bauer, who represented the plaintiff, previously told The News Tribune that doctors, neighbors and multiple family members reported warnings to the state, and others such as Pierce County code officers expressed concerns about the condition of the woman’s home.
“The settlement reflects the inexplicable failures on the part of (the state agencies) over 20 years,” Bauer said in an interview Friday, adding that it was a “remarkable case in terms of (the) depth and breadth of their negligence.”
Judge Stanley Rumbaugh approved the $8 million settlement to resolve the litigation on June 13, court records show. The state, which denied allegations of wrongdoing, entered into the agreement without admitting liability, according to a court filing Wednesday.
DSHS and DCYF have different responsibilities. Adult Protective Services and the Developmental Disabilities Administration fall under the umbrella of DSHS, while Child Protective Services is overseen by DCYF.
“We hope that this settlement will provide support and assistance as (the plaintiff) continues her journey toward healing from the abuse and neglect she endured,” DSHS spokesperson Adolfo Capestany said in a statement. “DSHS remains committed to serving the health, wellbeing and protection of vulnerable adults, and assisting them with living in safe and supportive environments.”
The News Tribune isn’t naming the woman, who now lives in an adult family home in Tacoma, because she is an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
“DCYF hopes this resolution supports (the plaintiff’s) well-being as she moves forward,” DCYF spokesperson Kortney Scroger said in a statement. “DCYF remains dedicated to its mission of protecting children and strengthening families.”
Funds will ensure lifelong care
The woman was born with microcephalus — a condition in which a baby’s head is smaller than normal — and was diagnosed with moderate to severe intellectual disability, according to the lawsuit. She is essentially non-verbal, has moderately impaired vision and hearing, and requires routine supervision.
She is totally dependent on others and requires assistance in all activities of daily life, according to court records.
Of the settlement proceeds, roughly $4.7 million will be placed in a trust for the plaintiff and $3.2 million will go toward legal fees, according to the June 13 court record approving the deal.
The trust funds will ensure that the woman will have lifelong access to adult care and be able to lead a safe, healthy and happy life while feeling secure in interactions with caregivers, according to Bauer. Due to her disabilities from birth, she has never been in a position to advocate for herself, which made the state’s failures so significant, he said.
His client’s situation was preventable but requires that the state invest in protective and supportive services and “stand up and do the right thing from day one,” Bauer added.
Asked why he believed the state settled for the amount that it did, Bauer responded that it was clear his client had been left in the care of drug-addicted people and at the whims of transient addicts who would cycle through the home.
“This case was indefensible in every respect,” he said.
History of red flags
The first warning sign about the woman’s home life came when she was 20 months old.
A doctor reported to Child Protective Services that her mother’s eyes were glassy, her speech was slurred and she was lying on the floor during a medical visit, the lawsuit said. The doctor refused to release the girl to her mother, who he believed was incapable of taking her daughter home.
While the allegations were determined to be founded, the state didn’t intervene, according to the suit. When the plaintiff’s grandmother died in 2018, the plaintiff’s mother became her sole caretaker. Over the next four years, there were 12 more referrals to the state about potential child abuse. The suit said case workers repeatedly “screened out” reports, which by definition under state law indicates that a complaint doesn’t rise to the level of credibility.
In May 2021, the state received the ninth referral regarding concerns about the plaintiff’s care within a three-year span. By that time, law enforcement had visited the home nine times in the past month, and there were four prior Adult Protective Services investigations into claims of neglect, physical abuse, improper use of a restraint and sexual abuse — the latter which was closed as “inconclusive,” according to the suit.
An Adult Protective Services case worker in May 2021 noted the “horrible” condition of the woman’s living situation, the suit said. The home was dark, smoky and in disarray with much debris and trash that attracted rats and other animals, according to the suit, drawing on previous court filings and Pierce County Code Enforcement records.
The case worker noted a handgun and drug paraphernalia on a table and that the plaintiff appeared neglected and had bruises on her forehead and arm, the suit said. Although she was taken to a hospital for an evaluation, the state allegedly didn’t meaningfully act upon learning that she was being discharged two days later to her mother.
A final referral was received in January 2022, when the woman’s mother was “dope sick,” screaming outside and seeking help because someone had stolen her drugs, according to the suit. First responders took the mother to a hospital, and they insisted that her daughter receive medical attention, too, the suit said.
The following day, the plaintiff’s mother, who had been adamant about being discharged, was found dead in the home, according to the suit.
Washington long-term care ombuds: ‘This is a statewide problem, and it seems to be increasing’
By Alexis Weisend
The state of Washington prohibits nursing homes from kicking out residents without letting anyone know.
But legislators have failed to extend the same protections to
residents of adult family homes and assisted living facilities, which
generally provide a lower level of care but still house some of the
state’s most vulnerable people.
“We can’t just leave people out,” said state Sen. Paul Harris,
R-Vancouver, whose bill aimed at solving the issue died last session in
the House, where he was serving at the time.
Attorneys and ombuds say the result is an undocumented surge of
displaced residents that’s fueled by a boom in adult family homes, an
aging population, and the state’s mental health and addiction crises.
Guardianship of the twin children of slain Jared
Bridegan has been awarded to the parents of his jailed ex-wife in the
state of Washington, according to court documents.
The children, now 12, had been living with Sterling and Shelli Gardner since 37-year-old Shanna Gardner's
arrest in what authorities have called a murder plot during her and
Bridegan's ongoing legal battles and contentious relations. Her parents
are co-founders of the highly successful Stampin’ Up! arts and crafts
company and fixtures in the Mormon community in Utah.
Bridegan's
parents, the twins' paternal grandparents, filed a lawsuit asking for
unsupervised visitation rights and contested the Gardners' petition for
guardianship. In their objection, Gaylord and JoAnne Bridegan asked the court to appoint them as guardians.
They said the Gardners deny their daughter's
involvement both publicly and to the children and have obstructed them
from having a relationship with their father's family.
"Petitioners
aided the mother in fleeing the state of Florida after the murder,"
their objection said. "... Petitioners will not allow any contact
between the children and their stepmother or half-siblings."
Bridegan's parents said they've been involved in
the children's lives since birth and can provide a healthier environment
for them.
"Despite
my constant requests to see or speak to them, I have been denied and
continuously ignored," she said tearfully. "... I plead with the
Gardners to put the emotional and mental well-being of Liam and Abby
above all else and allow them to reconnect with us. We are their family,
we love them... Let our children be siblings again and put them first
and do what's right."
In a story by Times-Unon news partner First Coast News
in late January, Bridegan's sister said the family has only had one
supervised visit with the twins since he died, and the loss of contact
with them is devastating.
"There was this deep
sorrow within our family to not only lose him, but to lose that
connection to his kids, and so it was extremely important to us, because
we know that that's what Jared would want, you know, is to have us in
their lives," Ashley Bridegan said.
In a declaration filed Oct. 18 by Rachel Woodward, an attorney in the
guardianship, called it a "simple" case. She stated the maternal
grandparents have had custody of the children for over a year and have
been living with them for almost two years. And Shanna Gardner has
consented to appointing her parents as guardians.
The court agreed in its order Monday, stating it
"is in the best interest of the children" that Sterling and Shelli
Gardner be appointed guardians. It concludes with the parties signing a
confidential agreement.
A source close to the case confirms part of that involves visitation rights for the Bridegans.
The Times-Union reached out to both sides for comment.
Timothy Burton Anderson, representing Sterling and
Shelli Gardner, said the Gardners forwarded the request to him as their
counsel.
"We anticipate a joint comment by the
parties to the guardianship matter in the state of Washington by the
end of the week," he said.
What happened to Jared Bridegan?
Bridegan,
33, was gunned down in the street in Jacksonville Beach after dropping
off the twins at Gardner and her her new husband Mario Fernandez Saldana's
home on Feb. 16, 2022. He was on his way home to St. Augustine with his
2-year-old daughter when he was ambushed. Gardner later moved to
Washington state and took the twins with her while Fernandez Saldana
went to Orlando.
The first arrest was Henry Arthur Tenon, now
63, on Jan. 25, 2023, on charges of conspiracy to commit murder,
second-degree murder with a weapon, accessory after the fact to a
capital felony and child abuse. He rented a home from Fernandez Saldana,
and court records show he received payments from him and had contact
with him several times prior to the shooting.
Tenon pleaded guilty a couple of months later on March 16 and agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana, who was arrested that
same day in Orlando. The 36-year-old is charged with first-degree
murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital
felony and child abuse.
On Aug. 17, 2023, Gardner was indicted on the same charges. She was arrested in the state of Washington where she was living. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against her and Fernandez Saldana.
A dog has been dubbed a "hero" after her actions saved the life of her owner in rural Washington.
While patrolling a wooded area in Stevens County, Washington, Deputy
Wright came across a dog sitting in the roadway, far from any houses.
After trying to get Gita into his vehicle, he "proceeded to check the
surrounding area residences within a mile and could not find the owner."
Sensing
something amiss, Deputy Wright returned to Gita, who was clearly trying
to communicate something with him. When she took off up a slightly
traveled, unmarked roadway, Wright followed her and further up the track
came across an elderly male laying on the ground calling for help a
short distance from a nearby cabin.
The 84-year-old man had fallen
and injured his leg and had been there for hours, facing serious
consequences if he hadn't been found.
But thanks to 13-year-old rescue dog, Gita, Deputy Wright was able to quickly get the man the medical attention he required.
In a post on Facebook,
the sheriff's office shared the story and said: "The loyalty and
heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us," dubbing Gita the
dog the "best friend of the gentleman in trouble."
Newsweek reached out to Stevens County Sheriff's Office for comment.
The story quickly gained lots of attention on Facebook, with thousands of reactions and shares and hundreds of comments.
Vannessa wrote: "Kudos to the officer for trusting their instincts and not ignoring this pup!"
While Tiffany said: "Wow that's amazing you always hear about stories
like that but never think it would actually happen. Thank you Gita and
to the officer for saving that man's life."
Another commenter,
Jenn, praised both Gita and the deputy involved and said: "Deputy Wright
sounds like an amazing asset to our department, thank you to him for
following his gut and taking the time to investigate. I appreciate
knowing that you're here helping our community. Dogs really are a man's
best friend, it's proven time and time again."
OLYMPIA — A King County jury this week awarded nearly $11 million in
damages to a woman who was abused as a child while under the care of a
legal guardian who had earlier been denied from becoming a licensed
foster parent.
The woman, identified in the lawsuit by her
initials, C.G., sued the state in February 2023, alleging the state
agencies charged with her care had failed to protect her by placing her
“in a dangerous home where she was repeatedly physically, sexually, and
emotionally abused” starting in the mid-1990s. She also alleged the
state failed to investigate later claims of abuse.
C.G. was born
in fall 1994. Both she and her mother tested positive for
methamphetamine. About a month later, C.G. was placed into foster care.
But
her biological parents recommended she live with a different set of
caregivers. C.G. was placed in that other home in 1995 via a legal
guardianship, and in court documents, C.G.’s lawyers said the Department
of Social and Health Services did not object, did not conduct a study
of the family’s home to determine if it was safe and did not notify
guardianship or dependency court of the potential danger at the
guardian’s home. (The Department of Children, Youth and Families was
created in 2017; previously the Children’s Administration had fallen
under the umbrella of the Department of Social and Health Services).
C.G.
was sent to live with the guardian although a couple of years earlier,
the guardian and her partner hadn’t met the basic qualifications for
becoming licensed foster parents, according to the lawsuit. Their
application had been rejected in or about 1993 due to several factors,
including earlier allegations of inappropriate touching by an adult in
the home, threats to kill a biological child, and a history of domestic
violence and drug and alcohol abuse.
In the decade after she was
placed there, C.G. and her siblings “were subjected to horrific physical
abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and drug and alcohol abuse” in that home,
according to the lawsuit. C.G.’s siblings are not named as plaintiffs
in the case.
In the foster care system, the state would have had to check on the
child every 30 days, said Nate Roberts, a lawyer for C.G. But a legal
guardianship meant that no one from the state was required to check up
on how C.G. was faring under the care of her guardian.
“With the
guardianship, once they close their file and turn their back on this
little girl, there’s no check or balance,” Roberts said. “It’s a
loophole.”
Not only did the state not check on her, it also failed
to investigate subsequent reports of abuse and neglect, the lawsuit
argued. In 2005, C.G. ended up living with her biological father again,
where she experienced additional abuse, eventually fleeing in 2008,
according to the lawsuit.
The judge in the case found that the
department was negligent for facilitating C.G.’s placement in the
guardian’s home, and negligent in how it handled a 1998 report of abuse
and neglect in the home. The jury found the department was also
negligent in how it handled a 2008 report of abuse, when C.G. was living
with her biological father.
The Department of Children, Youth and Families declined to comment Friday.
“We do not provide comment on litigation or the results of litigation,” said DCYF spokesperson Jason Wettstein in an email.
“Joe” is a lonely, friendly, and trusting 78-year-old man with a soft
spot for those with hard-luck stories. He was befriended by “Sally,” a
much younger woman, at a laundromat. Sally offered to help him carry his
laundry out to his car and then rode with him back to his home. She
told Joe she had nowhere to live, so he allowed Sally to stay the night.
Soon after, she moved into his home and began to take control of his
life.
After Sally moved in, she began referring to herself as Joe’s
girlfriend. Several of her acquaintances came to visit, and some stayed
overnight without Joe’s permission. Sally and her group of friends began
stealing from Joe’s home, and his bank became concerned when Sally
frequently accompanied him while he made large cash withdrawals. It was
discovered that Sally was also writing checks from Joe’s account, and
one of her other “boyfriends” had somehow convinced Joe to sign over the
title of his car to him. Joe also had several overdue bills and was at
risk of having his electricity and gas shut off. All of Joe’s money was
either directed to or siphoned off by Sally.
Protecting Joe from financial exploitation
Joe was referred to the Aging and Disability Services’ Elder Abuse
Case Management Program by a local law enforcement agency. The program
provides advocacy and social work support for individuals 60 years and
older throughout King County who are struggling with abuse, neglect, or
exploitation (including financial exploitation) by trusted others.
On Joe’s behalf, an elder abuse case manager worked with law
enforcement and a victim advocate, obtaining a protection order against
Sally and connecting Joe to volunteer transportation services until his
car was returned. The case manager also worked with one of Joe’s
long-time neighbors, whom he trusted, to help ensure that his utility
bills got paid and his electricity and gas remained in service.
Sally and her cohort were arrested for their exploitation of Joe. The
case manager worked with law enforcement and the prosecuting attorney’s
office to support Joe during the court process, accompanying him to
court hearings and offering reassurance through a stressful time.
Although the outcome of this story is considered a success—both Sally
and her cohort remain in prison and Joe is now safe from their
exploitation—the case manager worries that Joe will be vulnerable to
exploitation by others, given his trusting nature and poor insight and
judgment. Joe’s neighbor keeps a watchful eye out for him and the case
manager stays in touch by phone and through home visits.
The Aging and Disability Services Elder Abuse Case Management Program
serves abused, neglected, and exploited older adults by connecting them
to information and resources to address their needs, and works in
coordination with law enforcement, Adult Protective Services, legal
services, and other service professionals. This interdisciplinary
approach helps to more effectively support and serve those in need.
Supporting Melody’s independence
“Melody” is a 63-year-old woman referred to the Aging and Disability
Services Elder Abuse Case Management Program by the nonprofit agency Sound Generations.
At the time, Melody had fled the home she shared with her husband, who
had mentally abused her for decades. Like many women who are abused, she
had attempted to leave him several times in previous years and then
returned to live with him due to financial hardship. Melody searched
regularly for an affordable place of her own but was unsuccessful. Her
only source of income was Social Security—$750 per month.
Melody lived in shelters, in her car and, when possible, at her
daughter’s home. Unfortunately, she could not consistently rely on her
daughter’s help because her daughter had her own personal problems. With
several disabling health issues, Melody found that women’s shelters
were not designed to accommodate her disabilities. She also found it
difficult to relate to some of the women in the shelters, due to
substantial age differences and because, unlike Melody, many
participants were in various stages of substance abuse recovery.
The elder abuse case manager offered support and encouraged her to
continue working closely with her mental health therapist during these
very difficult times. Melody’s primary goal was obtaining safe,
affordable housing of her own that would accommodate her physical needs
and help stabilize her life. Diligently, she worked with the elder abuse
case manager to apply for permanent, subsidized housing as well as
transitional housing programs and was placed on multiple wait lists.
After nearly a year of unstable housing, which increased Melody’s
psychological and physical stress, a unit was offered to her. The case
manager assisted in locating emergency funds to pay for the required
deposit and move-in costs and was able to secure other funding for
household basics.
Melody now lives in her own affordable apartment and, unlike her
isolated lifestyle with her abusive husband, she socializes regularly
with other tenants in the building. She has made friends. Melody finally
feels like her life is her own and, since securing stable housing, she
has felt able to focus more on her health care needs. Feeling safe in
her own home, and removed from the abuse of her spouse, she says she is
considering pursuing a divorce. As she contemplates this, the case
manager can refer her to a local legal organization that works with
victims of domestic violence, and collaborate with their staff to
support Melody through the divorce process, should she choose to move
forward.
Joe’s and Melody’s stories are two examples of the many ways in which
the Aging and Disability Services Elder Abuse Case Management Program
supports abused individuals as they navigate through support systems and
work to stabilize their lives.
Contributor Kathi Church provides case management services to
older adults who have experienced abuse by someone they trust. For more
information about the Aging and Disability Services Elder Abuse Case
Management Program and additional resources, click here.
What is Elder Abuse?
The National Center on Elder Abuse describes a variety of ways in
which older adults are harmed within any relationship where there is an
expectation of trust:
Emotional abuse means verbal assaults, threats of abuse, harassment, or intimidation.
Financial or material exploitation means the misuse or withholding of an older adult’s resources by another.
Passive neglect is a caregiver’s failure to provide
an older adult with life’s necessities, including, but not limited to,
food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.
Willful deprivation means denying an older adult
medication, medical care, shelter, food, a therapeutic device, or other
physical assistance, and exposing that person to the risk of physical,
mental, or emotional harm—except when the older, competent adult has
expressed a desire to go without such care.
Physical abuse means inflicting physical pain or injury on an older adult.
Confinement means restraining or isolating an older adult, other than for medical reasons.
Sexual abuse means engaging in sexual activity with
an older adult, when the older adult is unable to understand, unwilling
to consent, threatened, or physically forced.
Court documents accuse both Mark and Tyice Strahl of using 85-year-old Pat Holley as their personal piggy bank.
Author: Kyle Simchuk
SPOKANE, Wash. — An elderly woman was shocked and sickened to learn
the people hired to help her are accused of stealing more than $150,000
from her bank account.
Court documents accuse both Mark and Tyice Strahl of using an
85-year-old as their personal piggy bank. Both figures are well known in
Spokane's elderly care community.
The 85-year-old woman, Pat Holley, is in assisted living, and needs
help. Before his death, Holley's husband hired a Spokane company called Lifestage.
The Strahls founded the company, according to their website, and for
the past few years, they made sure Holley's bills were paid on time.
They also took her to doctor appointments, even the casino.
"They would bring some groceries in like crackers and light weight things," Holley said. "They were really nice to me."
So nice, in fact, that Holley says she let them use her car. But,
when she tried to sell it to a family member, things got strange.
"They
didn't want to give up the car, so then my intuition just told
something more was going on," said Bonnie Gow, Holley's former
ombudsman. Gow serves as a volunteer advocate for the elderly.
Gow asked Holley to call her bank and read off recent transactions. They were both shocked by what they found.
"My
intuition just said there was something more to it, because she didn't
have one bank statement at all," Gow said. "There was nothing."
Gow found out Mark and Tyice had taken $25,000 the previous year from
January to the end of April. That's when she turned them in, but that
was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Department of Social and Health Services conducted a forensic
audit of Holley's finances. So did law graduates at Gonzaga University.
"And they both came up with the same amount, which was $165,000," Gow said.
Court documents say the Strahls created false documents, forged
checks, tricked Holley into placing them on her checking account,
overcharged for services and withdrew cash for their own personal gain.
"They were really nice people to me until I found out they were taking my money out of the bank," Holley said.
According to court documents, casino records show a large amount of the stolen money was used to gamble.
"It
just isn't right that they should take your money that you worked for
and do away with it like at the slot machines," Holley said. "I know
it's fun."
The Strahls were arrested on Aug. 31 and charged with theft from a vulnerable adult and identity theft.
Holley wants her money back.
"Oh yes, wouldn't you?," Holley said. "I mean anybody would."
She will need it in a few years when her long-term care insurance expires.
"I got four more years I can stay here,"Holley said. "Then I move out, if I live that long."
"I think I came into her life for a reason," Gow said. "I think I was meant to."
Gow wants Holley's story to serve as a warning.
"It's just really important to look at their bank statements, their bills, make sure everything checks out," Gow said.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis woman calls it emotional hacking: Scammers drained $800,000 from her father’s bank account.
He’s
a 76-year-old Ukrainian immigrant with limited English skills. He sold
his home in Washington State in April and essentially became homeless a
week later.
"I feel bad, very bad," said scam victim Bogdan Nalivaiko.
He's
living out of a Motel 6 these days, a far cry from the 2,300
square-foot home he sold just a couple of months ago, eight years after
his wife, Elena, passed away. He planned to live the rest of his life
off the proceeds. But by the time movers came, Nalivaiko couldn’t pay,
prompting a call to his daughter.
"He’s like ‘Yeah,
you’ll see,'" said his daughter, Julia Elders. "And then I pressed him
and pressed him and pressed him and finally he relented and said ‘I won
sweepstakes.’ And I’m like ‘oh no.’"
Elders is the marketing and
communications director at the St. Paul Jewish Federation, so she lives
almost 1,700 miles away from her father. She knew what happened right
away, but the scammers worked so quickly, she was too late.
The
crooks called and texted Nalivaiko every day, convincing him to send
cashier’s checks in amounts up $50,000, chipping away at his $800,000
balance.
"From April 26 to May 3, it went to zero," Elders said.
FOX 9
followed the trail of the rip-off artists to phone numbers and
addresses all across the country. One number is connected to Exquisite
Party Management in Florida. It’s a party entertainment service
registered to Jenica Jones, which is also the name on two of the $50,000
cashier’s checks Nalivaiko sent.
We got Jones on the phone, but she hung up after this exchange.
"This
man was scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and he sent you
more than $50,000 in cashier’s checks," a FOX 9 reporter said to Jones.
"So what does that have to do with me?" she responded.
"Well, like I said, he sent you more than $50,000 in cashier’s checks and I’m trying to figure out why."
Listening to that brief conversation with someone possibly connected to the scheme brought Elders to tears.
"I
keep coming up against this feeling of like how deep this is going,"
she said. "It’s really hard to wrap your head around the types of people
that are involved, what other things they’re doing, what other kinds of
crime is also being committed with this money."
Elders says Chase and Bank of America should’ve recognized the unusual transactions and stepped in.
"He
doesn’t know what’s happening," she said. "He doesn’t know. He thinks
the bank works for him. They let him withdraw $200,000 in the same day
at two different branches. Are you kidding me?"
We reached out to the banks and both told us they needed more time to investigate the situation.
"I
think banks are in the same position as us where they would like to
prevent this before it even happens," said Seattle FBI Special Agent in
Charge Kelly Smith.
The FBI is also investigating and Elders
talked to an agent just before our interview, but she’s not convinced
they’ll be able to scrape back much of her father’s money - if any.
"And the onus is on me," she said. "The FBI told me you have to be your own little sleuth."
The mover who tipped Elders off to her father’s problem is also still helping him out.
Joe
Kenney is now working with Elders to help get her father in a more
stable living situation and the online fundraiser should help with that. But Nalivaiko’s savings have vanished and he’ll live off a $1,600 per month Social Security income from here on out.
The
FBI says elder fraud victims reported $3.1 billion in losses to their
Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2022. That’s an 84% increase from
2021 and Elder warns it’ll get worse as AI improves, especially in
mimicking voices.
Tips from federal agents:
Prevention
and public awareness are key. Once money has been transferred,
especially overseas, it can be difficult to get back. However, the FBI
and our law enforcement partners do our best to disrupt the criminal
activity, but quick reporting to law enforcement is essential. Victims
may be embarrassed to report to law enforcement, but fraud reported
weeks or months later may be impossible to stop. We encourage people to
resist the urgency the scammer attempts to create, possibly over the
phone, and do their research separately. Individuals can also talk to
their family, friends, and financial institution before sending any
money to avoid becoming a scam victim.
Consumers who believe they are the victim of a scam should: • Contact their financial institution immediately upon suspecting or discovering a fraudulent transfer. • Ask their bank to contact the financial institution where the fraudulent transfer was sent. • Contact law enforcement. •
File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at
www.IC3.gov, regardless of dollar loss. Provide all relevant information
in the complaint.
