DeForest man charged with financially exploiting elderly relative

A 45-year-old DeForest man has been charged in connection with three alleged schemes designed to financially exploit his elderly relative.

Attorney General Josh Kaul announced the charges Thursday, Nov. 5, against Jason Thomas McDermott. They were the result of an investigation conducted by the Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit of the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

"It’s important for Wisconsinites to be aware of the signs of, and to report, elder abuse and exploitation,” said Attorney General Kaul. "The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to preventing the victimization of seniors and to holding perpetrators accountable.”

According to the criminal complaint, McDermott, who also goes by the name Thomas McDermott, allegedly threatened to kill his relative and make it look like suicide if she did not sell her share of a condominium to him for far less than fair market value.

McDermott is also alleged to have signed his relative up for benefits through the Veteran’s Administration (VA), without her knowledge or participation, by forging a doctor’s signature and medical findings on the application documents.

Lastly, McDermott allegedly used his relative’s identity to apply for credit cards, again without her knowledge or participation. Reportedly, he used those credit cards for such things as airfare, hotel accommodations, and shopping spree in New Orleans, Louisiana.

As in any criminal proceeding, McDermott is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Timothy J. Filipa from the DOJ Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit. The DOJ Office of Crime Victim Services is providing victim services.

Wisconsinites can help fight patient and elder abuse by reporting abuse at www.ReportElderAbuseWI.org and 1-833-586-0107.

 

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DeForest man charged with financially exploiting elderly relative

60 Charged in $300M Phone Scam Targeting Elderly Victims

Photo: photo courtesy of pixabay.com

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Sixty people have been charged in a widespread magazine telemarketing scam that authorities say netted $300 million from more than 150,000 elderly and vulnerable people nationwide, the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota announced Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald called the scam the largest elder fraud scheme in the country.

MacDonald said the 60 defendants face a host of charges, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and violating the Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams Act of 1994. The defendants are from 14 states and two Canadian provinces.

“Unfortunately, we live in a world where fraudsters are willing to take advantage of seniors, who are often trusting and polite. It’s my hope that this prosecution is a call for vigilance and caution,” MacDonald said in a statement.

The indictments and other court documents say that over the last 20 years, the defendants used a network of dozens of fraudulent magazine sales companies and telemarketing call centers to carry out the scam. Employees allegedly used deceptive sales scripts to trick people into making large or repeat payments to the companies.

The indictments allege that many of the defendants used a fraudulent “renewal” script in which the telemarketers falsely claimed to be calling from the victim’s existing magazine subscription company with a phony offer to reduce monthly subscription costs.

In reality, the callers had no existing relationship with victims and signed them up for expensive, new magazine subscriptions. As a result, consumers ended up having multiple subscriptions with fraudulent magazine companies.

“Using a tactic like telemarketing magazine sales, these deceitful scam artists bilk hard earned money from their aging victims - leaving so many financially devastated in their retirement years and without recourse for recovery,” Michael Paul, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Minneapolis, said.

Some of the defendants are also accused of using a “cancellation” script that targeted people who had been previous victims. According to the indictments, these defendants took advantage of victims’ desperation to make the subscriptions stop and offered to consolidate and cancel existing subscriptions and pay off an alleged “outstanding balance” in exchange for a large lump sum payment. In reality, victims owed no money.

The indictments charge defendants at all levels of the alleged conspiracies, including people who allegedly led the scheme, company owners, call center managers, telemarketers and others. Those who led the scheme provided the companies software programs that tracked orders, sales, and other customer information.

The U.S. attorney’s office says the fraudulent companies were operating in Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, California, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Arkansas.

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60 Charged in $300M Phone Scam Targeting Elderly Victims

Former Car Salesman Charged with Exploitation of Elderly Woman

Police in May arrested a man for assuming responsibility and care for a 92-year-old woman and exploiting her financials, according to court reports.

Twenty-six-year-old, Taylor Few waived his Preliminary Hearing this morning to the felony charge of exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

Court papers say Few be-friended the woman while working as a salesman at White’s Mountain Motors.

Papers continue to show, through the span of nine months, Few gained over $165,000 from thirteen different checks from the woman.

An additional $17,000 was withdrawn in cash from the woman’s accounts, with no explanation for the withdraws.

Through the course of the investigation, court papers detail how Few assisted the woman in buying, trading and buying other vehicles from Whites for the woman, where Few received $3,000 in commissions.

Papers say, Few dodged police questions, yet he did say he planned to pay the woman back, after she had given him money for his business once his business started “doing good.”

Few is currently out on bond waiting for his District Court hearing in the next few weeks.

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Former Car Salesman Charged with Exploitation of Elderly Woman

Three charged with trying to scam elderly Limestone Co. woman

Ronnie Rodriguez Coleman

A state inmate and two women from Huntsville are facing charges for trying to bilk a Limestone County woman out of thousands of dollars.

Ronnie Rodriguez Coleman, 35, tried to scam the woman from behind bars at the Bibb Correctional Facility in Bibb County, according to the Limestone County Sheriff's Office. It's one of a series of scams the sheriff's office said they have seen in the last few months.

It started in October, when Coleman somehow discovered the woman had received a death benefit payment of $10,000 after her son died, authorities said. He then called the woman claiming to be a nephew of Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, they said.

Coleman told the woman the insurance company had mistakenly deposited $20,000 in her account and needed $10,000 of the money back, authorities said. He told her two women would come to the home to collect the money.

That's when Constance Hammond and Letia Hammons, both 30, showed up at the home, authorities said.


Hammond and Hammons convinced the woman to follow them to a check cashing business to write a check, but the business refused to cash the check. A second attempt at the Athens Walmart also was unsuccessful, authorities said, and the two women left.

Coleman contacted the woman again and tried to get her to buy more than $2,500 in prepaid cell phones and phone cards at the Madison Walmart, but a cashier refused the purchase, according to the sheriff's office.

A Limestone County Sheriff's Office investigator who handled the case said Hammond and Hammons had purchased Green Dot cards for Coleman, who set up the scam. Coleman admitted it after an interview at the Bibb Correctional Facility, authorities said, and told the investigator several people in prison run similar scams.

Coleman has served 8 years of a 20-year sentence for manslaughter out of Madison County, according to prison records. He was denied parole earlier this month.

Hammond and Hammons were both charged with first-degree attempted exploitation of the elderly and criminal impersonation. They have both been released from the Limestone County Jail on bond.

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Three charged with trying to scam elderly Limestone Co. woman

Woman charged after police say she wiped out mother's bank accounts

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A woman is being charged after police say she neglected and exploited her elderly mother.

Amanda Reavis, 36, is charged with abuse or neglect of an incapacitated adult and financial exploitation of an elderly person.

According to a criminal complaint, Reavis' mother was admitted to the hospital in August 2016 with a low body mass index and cognitive abilities in decline.

Dunbar Police say Reavis has had power of attorney of her mother since January of 2015 to oversee her mother's health, well-being and her financial affairs.

Reavis took control of two of her mother's bank accounts, one of which had $58,000 in it. By March 2016, police say that account was down to just $85.

Police say from September 2015 to September 2016, Reavis was also receiving monthly social security deposits for her mother, each totaling $1,724.

According to the criminal complaint, Reavis left her mother in less than desirable conditions which included bed sores, soiled clothing and being placed in a bedroom with little to no interaction.

Reavis was turned into Adult Protection Services for neglect.

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Woman charged after police say she wiped out mother's bank accounts

Couple charged with abuse of elderly woman

Josh Lane

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - Two people in Greeneville have been charged with abuse after police say an elderly woman was locked outside of her home-- away from her oxygen.

Around 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, officers responded to an anonymous complaint to check the welfare of an elderly woman on the front porch of her home on Cherry Street.

The victim says her son, Josh Lane, and his wife, Brandy Ragan, locked her out of the house because she woke them up.

The victim also said they nailed the windows shut and padlocked the door to keep her from gaining entry to her oxygen machine.

She went on to say she had been without her oxygen for three days.

Lane and Ragan are both charged with willful abuse and neglect or exploitation of an adult.

Ragan is also charged with an outstanding violation of a probation warrant.

The police report said the incident was drug related.

Officials have not released a photo of Ragan yet.

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Couple charged with abuse of elderly woman

Farmington Hills lawyer charged with raping incapacitated woman

Daniel Carlson arrested for third-degree criminal sexual conduct

Daniel Carlson

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - A 33-year-old Farmington Hills lawyer was arrested Wednesday on charges of raping an incapacitated woman.

Daniel Carlson was arrested for third-degree criminal sexual conduct and felony obstruction of justice at a home in Farmington Hills.

Police said Carlson is accused of sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman in October 2016 and failing to comply with a court-ordered search warrant for evidence.

Carlson was arraigned Thursday in 77th District Court on both felony charges. He is being held on $175,000 bail.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call police at 231-592-0150.

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Farmington Hills lawyer charged with raping incapacitated woman