Caregiver at Palos Heights memory care facility charged in theft from elderly couple

by Nuha Abdessalam

A gold necklace with a diamond pendant, unauthorized charges to a credit card, pawn shop transactions, and utility bills paid in someone else’s name.

That’s what police uncovered in a July investigation into a theft from an elderly resident of Arden Courts Memory Care in Palos Heights and the resident’s husband.

Palos Heights Deputy Police Chief John Parnitzke said officers were called July 1 to Arden Courts Memory Care, 7880 W. College Dr., when the resident reported the necklace missing.

The victim’s husband soon noticed several charges he hadn’t made – payments to Nicor Gas, Comcast cable, and a local pawn shop.

Detectives reviewed footage provided by the pawn shop, where an employee said the suspect sold the necklace and used the victim’s credit card to pay off a store balance. 

Records from Nicor and Comcast linked the accounts to the same person in the video: Olufunke Toogun, 49, of Chicago Heights.

On Aug. 11, investigators met with Arden Courts management, who confirmed Toogun worked there. She was arrested two days later and charged with aggravated identity theft. 

Toogun has been released pending a court date at the Bridgeview Courthouse.

Parnitzke confirmed the necklace and pendant have been recovered and will be returned to the couple. The credit card charges, he said, will likely be reversed. “Once there’s a report and an arrest made, they don’t hold them to those charges,” he said.

Police said no other complaints involving Toogun were reported by residents or families before or after the arrest. “We haven’t had any second cases,” Parnitzke said.

However, he added that crimes like this aren’t rare in care settings. “These medical facilities, they do background checks, there might not be anything on there, but it just takes these incidents and these arrests to prevent them from continuing in this career.”

For families, Parnitzke recommends practical steps: keep a record and photographs of valuables, limit what’s brought into the facility, and keep an eye on bank and credit card accounts.

“The minute you see activity that doesn’t make sense, question it with your loved one,” he said.

He noted the department also tries to get the word out through community talks, social media, local cable, and city council meetings. 

“Not everyone monitors the same things you and I do, so it’s about getting awareness on different platforms.” 

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Caregiver at Palos Heights memory care facility charged in theft from elderly couple 

Former Carson care facility employee arrested for elder abuse

A former employee of a Carson City care facility was arrested Friday for abuse of a patient, according to a news release from the Carson City Sheriff’s Office.

Kristi Haworth (age not provided) was arrested after a traffic stop in Minden, the release said.

On March 8, a CCSO deputy responded to a memory care facility (not identified in the release) for a report of abuse on an elderly person. The deputy watched video footage captured on a surveillance camera that showed Haworth, a professional caretaker, physically battering an 83-year-old resident of the facility on two occasions, CCSO said.

Detectives contacted the executive director of the memory care facility and learned Haworth was placed on administrative leave and ultimately terminated from her employment. Haworth, a Douglas County resident, was contacted by detectives but declined to be interviewed, the release said.

CCSO detectives, Nevada Department of Public Safety: TRINET Narcotics Task Force and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle Haworth was in which resulted in a probable cause arrest in Minden on Friday.

Haworth is charged with:

• Abuse of an elderly person

• Criminal neglect of a patient

• Battery

Haworth’s bail is set at $5,000.

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Former Carson care facility employee arrested for elder abuse

Deputies arrest caregivers, accused of elder abuse at Florida facility

By Esther Bower

VIERA, Fla. - A memory care facility in Florida said it was "shocked and horrified" after two of its caregivers were arrested on charges of elder abuse after they allegedly tormented a patient with dementia and recorded it.

Brevard County sheriff's deputies arrested two women last week and allege they live-streamed their encounter with an elderly patient on SnapChat.

"Abusing someone, an elderly person, or abusing anyone is disgusting enough, but to make matters even worse, they live-streamed the abuse," said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey during a news conference about the case.

Brevard County deputies said the evidence is a Snapchat recording of two caregivers allegedly tormenting a senior with memory and behavioral concerns. 

Jada Harris, 18, was charged with video voyeurism, abuse and neglect of an elderly or disabled adult, and interception or disclosure of wired communications. A second woman, Shy'Tiona Bishop, 20, was charged with video voyeurism and abuse and neglect of an elderly or disabled adult.

In a statement shared with FOX 35, Market Street Memory Care said both employees have been terminated and that it was "shocked and horrified to learn of this incident of elder abuse at the hands of two individuals who were trusted to care for a vulnerable resident."

The facility said it was working with the victim's family.

Tips to keep in mind when selecting a care facility

Experts said the allegations in this case highlight that elder abuse is more common than people think. Those experts also advice on what families should keep in mind when touring facilities. 

"Unfortunately, over the past few years – really since COVID – it seems like over the past three years, the incidents we are seeing and hearing about have escalated," said Cheryl Ann Cronin, who serves as the lead case manager for the Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation, an organization committed to advocating and empowering families when a loved one has dementia.

The World Health Organization said it is tracking an 80% increase in elder abuse incidents.

"We do see these abuse cases from time to time," said Geoff Moore, a nursing home trial lawyer for Maher Law Firm. 

He said the first step when looking for care is to visit Florida Health Finder, an online portal where people can find current complaints and investigations at medical facilities across the state.

"What this does is it lets you see, is this a facility that has very few complaints or does it have a lot of complaints," Moore added.

When touring a facility, do not be sold right away by how things look.

"When you tour the facility, some of these can look like the Taj Mahal," he said. Instead, take note of how other patients look and ask detailed questions of the head nurse and lead administrator about the facility.

"Trust your gut when you’re doing that," Moore said. "If you get a good feel for them, the research checks out, that’s important. Do that at least, I’d say three times."

In the alleged case above, the day after the video was recorded, another staff members at the facility noticed changes in the victim's behavior – that she was pacing, yelling, and screaming.

"Changes in behavior – sadness, crying, lack of appetite, personality changes, even statements," are changes to look out for, said Cronin, who heads Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation.

If you or someone you know is experiencing elder abuse, you can call the 24/7 abuse hotline at: 1-800-96-ABUSE or file a report online.

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Deputies arrest caregivers, accused of elder abuse at Florida facility

The Mental and Physical Cost of Elder Financial Abuse

Changes in cognitive function or appearance – like self-neglect – may leave seniors more 

vulnerable to financial abuse. (Getty Images)

Ideally, David Top would like to move his father, 88-year-old Gabriel Top of Manhattan, into a memory care facility – that is, if the money were available to do so.

After suffering a stroke about a dozen years ago, Gabriel’s short-term memory was greatly diminished, and today Gabriel suffers from severe dementia. Memory care is specialized long-term care offered by some nursing homes for residents with dementia – like that caused by Alzheimer’s disease – and other memory issues. “His dementia is getting worse, and he doesn’t get the amount of care that he needs,” David says of his father. “Part of the goal was to move him to Las Vegas, where they have a top-notch memory care facility.” That’s also where David’s daughter lives and family often gathers for reunions and vacations. “So he would be part of his family’s life, basically, instead of being isolated.”

Though family travel to see Gabriel in Manhattan, they can’t afford to relocate him or put him in memory care, after hundreds of thousands of dollars Gabriel had saved were taken from him by a long-time companion, David says. “He depended on her for everything – for advice and to get to his medical appointments, and really to manage his life,” David says of his father’s companion; at one time, Gabriel and the woman had been a couple. But David notes she started to take utter control of Gabriel’s life, including alienating him from family – even convincing him not to get needed medical care. She also became a joint account holder on bank and investment accounts, eventually removing his name from those accounts. "The amount of money the long-term companion took from Gabriel is estimated at close to $750,000, in addition to an unknown amount of interest and dividends," says Jahna Locke, an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at the non-profit New York Legal Assistance Group, who is working on Gabriel’s case. NYLAG is providing free legal services to try to help recover the money that was taken. “She basically took all his money,” David says.

One of the most common forms of elder abuse, financial exploitation is growing in prevalence (along with other forms of abuse) as the population ages. Most commonly committed by a family member, caregiver or trusted individual, financial abuse typically involves taking money, property or other assets – or withholding those – without a person’s permission. Though in Gabriel’s case, David says he didn’t yet have dementia when the abuse appears to have started in 2012, he and Locke say his companion took advantage of his dementia as time went on.

Even mild cognitive impairment has been shown to inhibit financial-decision-making, studies show, and can make a person more vulnerable to financial exploitation. More than one-third of people 65 and older already have some form of cognitive impairment, notes Dr. Robert Roush, a professor of geriatrics at the Huffington Center on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Roush is the medical project director for the Elder Investment Fraud and Financial Exploitation Prevention Program, or EIFFE, Prevention Program, which was created by the Baylor College of Medicine and funded by a grant from the Investor Protection Trust. Among other things, as part of continuing medical education EIFFE teaches doctors how to screen older patients for cognitive deficits that could put them at higher risk of being financially exploited. “You’ve got a lot of people out there at risk, and a lot of people that we know are being scammed,” Roush says. “For every one of these cases of financial exploitation that we know about, there is so many more.”

Frequently, money that's been stolen is spent by perpetrators and never recovered by victims. In Gabriel's case, efforts to recover the money he lost are greatly complicated by the fact that his alleged abuser recently died, following a stroke last fall. Locke declined to release the individual's name, citing concerns that doing so could compromise future legal action taken on behalf of Gabriel, and in light of an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter. "We're looking into the possibilities of working probate with the [late friend's] estate to see if there's any way that we can capture these funds," Locke says. "The thought is that the funds are still within her name."

“He was saving his whole life for when he needed it,” David says of his father. “He even short-changed himself on some of his quality of life trying to be self-sufficient in his older years.” Though his father isn’t able to articulate his feelings, David says the exploitation by his long-time friend saddened his father and recast the entire relationship. “Mentally it weighs on him,” David says, adding he believes his father has suffered from depression as a result.

Financial abuse not only affects a person’s fiscal health, but overall well-being. Research finds it can raise a person’s risk of depression, leading people to withdraw and increasing hopelessness. Faced with profound loss, some victims even become suicidal, experts say. Additionally, having money and assets stolen in retirement can make it difficult for some people to afford needed medical care.

“When elders lose enough money to have to make choices between paying for out-of-pocket health care costs and routine living expenses, they’re going to go with the latter and forgo the former, which can cause all types of conditions to worsen,” Roush says. That can range from not being able to get needed drugs that aren’t covered by insurance to forgoing treatment due to out-of-pocket costs, or even not going to the dentist or purchasing healthful foods, due to expense.

A study published in the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect in January found financial mistreatment, like having money stolen, is associated with a decline in functional health – predicting more difficulties doing activities of daily living, such as dressing or bathing or getting in and out of bed without assistance. The reason for the association is not perfectly clear. But, “a lot of older adults are retired and relying on a fixed income to access care and treatment to sustain their health,” says Jaclyn Wong, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Chicago who led the research. “So perhaps the financial mistreatment is reducing the monetary resources that older adults need in order to maintain their physical well-being.”

For older, frail adults, health can spiral down quickly, particularly if they’re unable to get the care they need, Roush says. “It’s a constellation of things,” he adds of the health effects linked to financial abuse. Many who are abused feel embarrassed or ashamed and withdraw, leaving themselves more vulnerable to re-victimization and myriad other health consequences associated with isolation, from further contributing to depression risk to raising the specter of future heart problems.

While doctors and others on the front lines seek to prevent and report elder financial abuse, Roush says loved ones and seniors should be aware it can happen to anyone. He advises also taking notice if a loved one experiences changes in cognitive function or appearance – like self-neglect – which may leave them more vulnerable to financial abuse.

What’s more, experts say, because of the pernicious nature of financial abuse, it’s important to treat victims with compassion and understanding that reflects the profound impact it can have. Wong reiterates that the problem shouldn’t be viewed purely through an economic lens: “Your economic situation, your social situation, your health situation – those are all linked,” she says.

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The Mental and Physical Cost of Elder Financial Abuse