Family Not Pleased With Outcome Of Elderly Exploitation Case

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – The family of a couple involved in an elderly exploitation case says the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss the case.

“It has affected a huge amount of people. There’s no justice for us at all,” said LaVinia Reneau, the daughter of Frank and Lavinia Reno.

Family members started contacting Lafayette police and Adult Protective Services in the spring of 2016. They were concerned that Julie Steenhoek had moved into the home with nefarious intentions.

Julie Steenhoek (credit: Jefferson County)

“She weaseled her way in very slowly, very methodically. It was over about two or three years. I started finding out she was taking over her finances, their health decisions, things like that,” Reneau said.

Frank Reno has Alzheimer’s disease and hasn’t been able to help investigators. An emergency injunction was issued during the summer of 2016 to stop the sale of the Reno’s home.

(credit: CBS)

“She was about ready to sell the house take all the money from the house and move my mom and dad down to Arizona,” Reneau said.

Steenhoek was charged with a felony count of at-risk exploitation. At the end of December, the case was dismissed by the district attorney’s office. The dismissal form states, “The victim is deceased, and the defendant has renounced any right to inherit under the terms of the victim’s trusts and/or estate. In these circumstances, the People felt that it is in the interests of justice to dismiss the case without prejudice.”

(credit: CBS)

Reneau says there are more victim’s than just her mother.

“My dad is still alive he needs to be cared for. There was theft. She sold a ton of stuff of my parents, my parents’ personal belongings, and I believe she had a hand in the death of my mom,” Reneau said.

Reneau says she has not been told by prosecutors why the case was dropped.

(credit: CBS)

Numerous requests by CBS4 for an interview with the lead prosecutor were denied.

“I think it just sends the message that, ‘Hey, if you want to take advantage of elderly and weak people that are desperate and in need, you go ahead and do it.’” Reneau said.

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Family Not Pleased With Outcome Of Elderly Exploitation Case

Harris County receives grant to combat abuse, neglect of growing senior population

About 3.8 million people in Texas are age 60 and over, a number that's expected to more than triple to 12 million by 2050. It's regarded as one of the state's fastest growing populations.

That rapidly booming population is also highly vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation, potentially setting the stage for a spike in such crimes. State lawmakers have made financial exploitation and abuse one of their top priorities.

Locally, Harris County is adopting a model used in California and New York to bring together health care representatives, city and county government officials under one roof to better understand and fight cases of exploitation, abuse and neglect.

The Houston Chronicle published a report about the county's effort to combat abuse and neglect of the fast-growing senior population in June. In September, the federal government granted Harris County more than $350,000 to start the Senior Justice Assessment Center.

County commissioners are expected to accept the grant at their next meeting on Oct. 11.

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Harris County receives grant to combat abuse, neglect of growing senior population

County seeks more staff to address growing social service caseloads

Washington County officials are requesting more staff next year to address increased caseloads for social service programs.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners conducted their second 2017 budget workshop after their Aug. 23 meeting. The board heard budget requests from Community Services, Public Health and Environment, and the Library System.

Dan Papin, community services director, submitted a budget request of $43,890,700. His department’s workload is growing, he said, and state dollars are not keeping pace. 

“The feds continue to hold up their end of the bargain but it's frustrating since the vast majority of the mandates that we provide — and they’re not all all bad mandates, don’t get me wrong — but they are imposed by the state. Everything we do as a department is to comply with those mandates.”

Papin cited two main areas of concern: 

-- an increase in applications to MnSure, the state run health care exchange for which the county pays 50 percent of the cost to administer;

-- a jump in assessments for MnCHOICES, an independent living support program for the elderly and disabled.

While the MnCHOICES program is paid for by state and federal tax dollars, Papin said they need to hire an administrative worker to deal with a bigger caseload. 

“We don’t mind paying our share,” he said. “They continually have reduced the state share, added more county share, yet the mandates haven’t changed. So it falls on the backs of the county commissioners to balance the budget.”

The property tax increase requested is 1.9 percent in Community Services.

“We do shift dollars where we can to minimize the impact on taxpayers,” Papin said. “Not everything translates to a levy increase.”

The youngest and oldest citizens in the county continue to be exploited, Papin said. He is asking the Washington County Board to hire a full-time adult protection social worker to help respond to a 54 percent increase in adult elderly exploitation reports over a two-year period.

He also cited increased caseloads in child protection investigations and family assessments, which are on pace to exceed last year’s.

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County seeks more staff to address growing social service caseloads