'Cash cows’: The secret senior trafficking playbook for exploiting Maryland's elders

by GARY COLLINS

Daniel Jenkins was found dead on Edison Highway in East Baltimore on March 3, 2019, four days after he was placed in an unlicensed assisted living home. He was 85. (Zackary Lang/Spotlight on Maryland)

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Daniel Jenkins, 85, was found dead on a desolate stretch of East Baltimore’s Edison Highway on March 3, 2019. He had dementia, according to court records, and was likely confused and cold on that frigid, winter day.

Four days earlier, Jenkins had been placed into Asa Ene Ita’s unlicensed assisted living home on North Luzerne Street in Baltimore after its operator claimed the vulnerable adult would be safe.

Instead, Jenkins wandered from the house unnoticed, unmissed and unreported for more than 12 hours, according to a guilty-plea statement of facts filed by then-Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office and agreed to by Ita.

When his daughters repeatedly called the unlicensed home for updates, the operator and its employees assured the family he was “fine,” “adjusting,” and “out with staff.” But Jenkins had vanished into the cold. An autopsy determined his cause of death to be hypothermia.

The case provides a window into unlicensed assisted living facilities that Spotlight on Maryland continues to investigate. It’s one of the few cases brought in Maryland against unlicensed operators, despite hundreds of complaints. The prosecution offers a view of what two former state officials describe as a “playbook” behind a hidden but growing industry.

Both experts warned that the pattern of deception, financial exploitation, neglect, and quiet coordination among people who see older adults as commodities in a booming underground market is getting worse.

An industry with an informal playbook

“Definitely, definitely it is happening and in every state,” said Anna Thomas, executive director of the National Center for State and Tribal Elder Justice Coalitions and one of the nation’s foremost experts on human trafficking of seniors. “It is underreported, under the radar, and traffickers have a well-oiled machine we just can’t get our hands around.”

Thomas, who helped pioneer anti-trafficking enforcement models in Georgia, said what’s unfolding in Maryland mirrors a pattern she has been seeing nationwide. She was also the technical advisor for a 2023 Maryland law that made operating an unlicensed assisted living facility, where abuse or neglect occurred, a felony.

This playbook’s “commodity,” she said, consists of older adults — especially those with dementia, disabilities, facing homelessness or lacking family advocates — who are “funneled” into unlicensed homes run by individuals posing as caregivers. 

Anna Thomas is the executive director of the National Center for State and Tribal Elder Justice Coalitions and one of the nation's foremost experts on senior trafficking. She was a technical advisor for a 2023 Maryland law that made it a felony to operate an unlicensed assisted living facility. (Zoom)

Once inside, Thomas said, the victims enter an often-inescapable loop. “It is like an underground network,” she said. “Once they’re in, it’s really hard for them to get out.”

Thomas described traffickers trading seniors between homes the way people would “tradebaseball cards,” upgrading for residents who bring higher monthly income from Social Security, disability benefits, food assistance, or Medicaid.

They see these individuals as cash cows,” Thomas said. “One person might bring $700if they pack 10 to 15 people in a house, that’s thousands of tax-free dollars."

In Jenkins’ case, court records show that Ita kept more than 100 prescription vials in her care — most were full — belonging to residents of her two unlicensed assisted living homes. Many were medications that should have been taken daily for chronic conditions.

Ita’s workers, according to witness statements, were paid $50 a week under the table and lived in the same house as the residents they were expected to supervise. Spotlight on Maryland visited a Baltimore home owned by Ita, according to public records, and contacted her by phone, but could not reach her. Ita’s previous employees could not be immediately located.

“It is a form of racketeering,” Thomas said. “If you look at the structure, the money flow, the exploitation, it is a trafficking enterprise.”

How seniors are recruited into the shadow system

The critical question of how people like Jenkins end up in unlicensed facilities revealed another part of the trafficker playbook.

Operators recruit from homeless shelters, hospitals, day programs, jails, churches and even public benefits offices, Thomas said. Some pose as social service professionals. Others sit in waiting rooms or lobbies, handing out cards and offering rides, beds, and care.

They will recruit anywhere,” Jenkins said. “They have no morals. They show up and say, ‘I’m a good person. I can take them into my home.’ And people believe them."

In Jenkins’ case, a family friend who worked at his adult day program unwittingly became part of that funnel. She met Ita at the facility where Jenkins received daily care. Ita told the family friend she had staff, experience, and beds available, and had previously told Jenkins’s daughters she could provide the dementia care he needed, according to prosecutors.

The attorney general’s case later proved the promise false. Ita pleaded guilty to two counts of abuse of a vulnerable person, receiving five years in prison with three years suspended.

Maryland’s system not built to detect or stop senior trafficking

Dorinda Adams, former director of the Maryland Office of Adult Services, spent 22 years overseeing Adult Protective Services statewide — from 1999 to 2021. She told Spotlight on Maryland that state systems are not designed to identify an operation like this early enough.

“Navigation of our systems is a challenge,” Adams said. “People don’t know who to call. They don’t know what questions to ask. And sometimes we think sending someone to a website is enough, but it’s not.”

Adams said the sprawling landscape of state agencies, ranging from the Maryland Department of Aging, Social Services, the Office of Health Care Quality, and local case management offices, is overwhelming even for professionals.

Unlicensed assisted living homes, Adams said, “fly under the radar” because state agencies lack the staffing capacity to track them proactively.

Recalling cases from her tenure, Adams said surveyors sometimes found 14 to 20 seniors living in a basement, conditions that were similarly reported in unlicensed assisted living homes statewide during her career.

These facilities are making money by not providing care,” Adams said. “People are left unattended. They’re not fed. They’re not given medication. They’re stripped of their dignity."

Worse, she added, many seniors in these facilities “don’t have anyone advocating for them,” making them especially easy to exploit.

A prosecution that shows the entire playbook

Frosh’s case against Ita showed almost every hallmark of the trafficking described by Thomas and Adams. Court records showed the following:

• Targeting a vulnerable elder. Jenkins had dementia and required supervision. Ita knew this.
• Recruiting through a trusted intermediary. A familiar adult day care worker recommended Ita’s facility to Jenkins’s family.
• No contract, no oversight, no license. The family paid by money order after telling staff, “Take care of my daddy,” according to the plea document.
• Isolated living conditions. Multiple vulnerable adults lived in a crowded room with untrained staff.
• Locking residents inside. Witnesses told investigators they were told to lock doors to keep Jenkins from leaving.
• Medication control and financial exploitation. Police recovered more than 100 bottles of residents’ medication in Ita’s car, with many unopened.
• Delayed reporting. Even after Jenkins went missing in cold temperatures, Ita told his daughters he was “fine” and “would be back soon.”
• A preventable death. Jenkins died outside, alone and cold.

“This is what happens when people are trafficked,” Thomas said. “They lose their voice, their freedom, and their care — all because someone is profiting off them.”

Why experts say senior trafficking is about to explode

Maryland’s aging population is expected to rise sharply. The state faces a severe shortage of affordable assisted living beds, mental health services, and safe housing for older adults. Hospitals are under pressure to discharge patients quickly. Many seniors are aging without strong family support.

It is the perfect storm,” Thomas said. “People have nowhere to go, and traffickers know that."

Adams agreed: “We as a community have to realize the accountability is on all of us. This is the first time in history that people are living this long. But the systems around them have not kept up.”

Is there a way out?

Both women said there is no single solution.

Awareness is the first step. Hospitals, shelters, and churches must know how to distinguish licensed facilities from unlicensed operators. Families must know where to find inspection reports and what red flags to look for. The public must understand that unlicensed assisted living homes are not “cheaper options” but potentially lethal.

“If you find one of these houses, don’t stop reporting until someone pays attention,” Thomas said.

Thomas and Adams said the outlook is grim without immediate action.

“It’s only going to get worse,” Thomas said. “Once you see one of these homes, you never forget it. You never forget the people inside.” 

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'Cash cows’: The secret senior trafficking playbook for exploiting Maryland's elders 

Family wants answers after resident found dead in woods behind Akron assisted living facility

Son claims The Merriman lost track of 82-year-old woman with dementia 

By: Bob Jones

AKRON, Ohio — An 82-year-old resident of an Akron assisted living and skilled nursing care facility was found dead from hypothermia in a wooded area behind the building Tuesday morning, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner.

Joan Meredith had dementia and her death has left her loved ones devastated and confused.

Her son, Tom Freiheit, believes the staff at The Merriman on Merriman Road lost track of the senior citizen and mistakenly thought Meredith had been signed out of the facility by family.

An 82-year-old resident of an Akron assisted living and nursing care facility was found dead from hypothermia in a wooded area behind the building Tuesday morning, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner.

"I just don't understand how she disappeared and they didn't know she was gone and she died the way she died," Freiheit said. "All the levels of care and everybody dropped the ball. The whole entity is an egregious failure. It's horrific."

Freiheit said he moved his mother into The Merriman a few years ago as she began struggling with some of the effects of dementia. He said his mom was funny, loving and enjoyed playing bingo and cards with other residents.

"We put her in a safe spot. She felt comfortable there," he said.

On Tuesday morning, Tom and his wife, Renae, were panicked and bewildered when the facility called with a question: "When are you going to bring your mom back?"

Renae Freiheit responded, "We don't have her. What are you talking about?"

The couple rushed to the facility and they were met with confusion among the workers. It seemed no one knew where Meredith was.

However, there was a sense of relief albeit for a short period of time.

"When we first walked into the facility, the lady at the desk said, 'We found your mom.'" Renae Freiheit said. "And, I'm like, 'Oh great, where is she?'"

Renae said when employees didn't give her a straight answer, she called 911. After hanging up, she noticed an ambulance pulling onto the grounds. A firefighter would eventually tell the family that Meredith was found dead in a wooded area behind the building.

"The fireman's exact words were that 'she's been here for a while,'" Renae Freiheit recalled.

Tom Freiheit believes his mother may have been out in the elements for at least 40 hours. The couple said they were told by an employee that the senior was not in her room to receive medication at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

According to the Freiheits, the employee also indicated Meredith was marked in the system as signed out of the building by the family, but relatives had not done that.

"No. Epic failure. Failure on so many parts," Tom Freiheit said.

News 5 went inside The Merriman to ask how all of this happened. A reporter was told someone from the management team would get back in touch, but as of Wednesday evening, there was no response.

Akron police said they responded to the scene, but their involvement ended when it was determined that no foul play was involved.

Meredith's family hired attorneys Eric Henry and Tim Misny, who are considering filing a civil lawsuit. Henry said the Ohio Department of Health will conduct an investigation.

A message was left with ODH officials seeking comment on the process of that investigation.

In the meantime, the heartbroken Freiheit family stressed it's hard to explain how hard it is to lose a loved one this way.

"We understand dementia and I just feel there should have been some kind of check and balance that she was not in her room for that many days," Renae Freiheit said. "We thought she was safe."

On Friday, The Merriman provided this statement to News 5:

The Merriman is a building located in Akron, Ohio that includes an area designated as a licensed skilled nursing facility, as well as a separate and distinct area designated as a licensed assisted living community for older adults. In general, the residents of the assisted living have less clinical needs than the residents of the skilled nursing facility, and are on a whole more physically able, tending to move more freely both within and outside of the assisted living building.

During the week beginning on Sunday, November 6, 2022, one of the residents of the assisted living section of The Merriman exited the building and was subsequently found deceased. The Merriman is devasted as a result of this unfortunate tragedy, and is continuing to investigate the incident in order to determine what happened.

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Family wants answers after resident found dead in woods behind Akron assisted living facility

Man whose body was found encased in concrete may have been missing months

Carl DeBrodie

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Missouri man whose body authorities believe is the one found in a crate encased in concrete in a dumpster might have been missing for months before the group home where he lived reported that he was gone, a sheriff said Wednesday.

A body that likely will be identified as Carl DeBrodie, 31, was found Monday in the dumpster in a storage unit in Fulton, about 100 miles west of St. Louis. A positive identification has not been made but Fulton Police Chief Steve Myers said Wednesday he is "95 percent" certain the body is DeBrodie's. A cause of death has not been determined.

DeBrodie, who had lived in a home for the developmentally disabled for nine years, was reported missing April 17. At the time, the residential home housing four or five residents was operated by a private contractor called The Second Chance but ownership was transferred recently to Finck & Associates.

The former director for The Second Chance reported DeBrodie missing but it is unclear how long he was gone and it's possible he was missing for months, Myers said.

"We have several different people we are talking to about that," Myers said. "We're getting conflicting information and are trying to establish some sort of timeline."

Rudy Veit, an attorney for the DeBrodie family, said DeBrodie's mother used to meet him at restaurants or parks but Second Chance officials stopped those meetings a year or two ago, telling her they caused her son to become anxious and were not in his best interests. The mother, who was not her son's legal guardian, was not aware of her legal rights and assumed the home had the authority to prevent the visits, he said.

A woman who was once DeBrodie's legal guardian and cared for him from age 11 to 21 reported to authorities that she believed DeBrodie was being abused at the home but did not get any response, Veit said. Her visits with him also were stopped.

A phone number for The Second Chance in Fulton was disconnected on Wednesday.

"Finck & Associates were not involved in DeBrodie's care at the time he went missing and have been extremely cooperative with our investigation," Fulton police said in a news release.

Law enforcement and private individuals conducted several searches for DeBrodie before the body was found inside the storage unit after investigators received a tip, Myers said. No further searches for DeBrodie are planned in Fulton and volunteers were planning a memorial service for next week.
The family appreciated the many people who helped search for DeBrodie and had hope until Monday that he would be found, Veit said.

"To find out they were all misled, and now to have the agony, anger, and fear of what he went through in the time period he was gone and who would do this, it's very difficult," Veit said.

Police were to meet with DeBrodie's mother Wednesday to obtain DNA, Myers said. The body was badly decomposed and police had not found dental records, so DNA will be needed to confirm the identity.

Investigators have pursued over 150 leads and are interviewing several people of interest, Myers said.

"At some point we're going to bring this to a conclusion, but we need a cause of death first," said Myers.

On Tuesday, a cousin, Rebecca Bell, told The Columbia Daily Tribune that DeBrodie had mental disabilities, difficulty communicating and was legally blind.

Bell said it's likely DeBrodie was dead for a long time because the body was so decomposed the family won't be able to have an open casket funeral.

DeBrodie belonged to a "good, loving family that would've done anything for him," Bell said. "He was a very sweet, caring young man, and all he wanted was to be loved and cared about."

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Man whose body was found encased in concrete may have been missing months