Hospital Returns $1 Mil Donation

The scandal surrounding attorney Scott Rothstein's Ponzi scheme has forced him to surrender his law license and a Fort Lauderdale hospital to return his $1 million donation.

Holy Cross Hospital is returning a $1 million donation from attorney Scott Rothstein, who has agreed to surrender his law license in the midst of a federal investigation into a massive Ponzi scheme that authorities suspect him of engineering.

Rothstein's donation was earmarked for an expanded women's center at the Fort Lauderdale hospital, which was going to put his charitable foundation's name on the lobby entrance.

But the scandal over his investment scam, which unraveled in late October as investors alleged Rothstein had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars, compelled the hospital to return his donation, officials said Wednesday.

``In light of the recent allegations involving Scott Rothstein, Holy Cross Hospital has concluded that it should not retain the funds recently gifted to it by the Rothstein Family Foundation,'' the hospital said in a statement.

The donation will be placed in a trust account until hospital officials determine how it should be disbursed. Rothstein's Fort Lauderdale law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, is facing bankruptcy and creditors are lining up to recover their investment losses.

Meanwhile, Rothstein, who has not been charged with a crime, has submitted paperwork to the Florida Bar to surrender his law license.

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Hospital Returns $1M Scott Rothsetin Donation

See Also:
Feds Seizing Rothstein's Properties

Victim of an Overly Broad Law?

David Knutsen is the victim of an overly broad law, and an indictment charging him with sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult patient at St. Luke's Canyon View Behavioral Health should be dismissed, according to his lawyer.

Judge G. Richard Bevan heard three motions from Knutsen's attorney, Mike Wood, on Thursday in Twin Falls.Wood wants Bevan to dismiss the indictment against Knutsen, suppress testimony in the case and deem the charges against him unconstitutional.

After a three-hour hearing Thursday on Wood's motions, Bevan said he would write a decision "in due course."

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Knutsen, a convicted sex offender, faces trial on Jan. 30, 2010. He was indicted March 25 for four counts of sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult following the alleged incidents of abuse on Jan. 30, 2009, at Canyon View in Twin Falls. As a patient, Knutsen allegedly abused the then-21-year-old female patient, who is described in court records as developmentally delayed.

Wood argued Thursday that the statute prohibiting sexual abuse of vulnerable adults restricts an adult's right to engage in sexual activity. Adults are responsible for their own sexuality, said Wood, "not the state of Idaho."

But the Twin Falls County prosecutor on the case, Suzanne Craig, disagreed saying the felony statute is fair and protects people.

"The state may limit sexual activity," said Craig, adding it protects people "who legitimately need to be protected. ... Children need to be protected and so do people with limited mental capacity."

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Judge to Rule in Patient Abuse Case

Editorial: Silver Alert Has Proven Its Value

As a child, I can remember joining my family watching our favorite television shows at night while constantly being interrupted with commercials that asked, "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your child is?"

Now that I am a parent, I can appreciate that question a little better. However, today we are faced with another question that is just as challenging - "Do you know where your aging parents are?"

As the senior population continues to grow with the Baby Boomers entering retirement, we must be proactive in supporting them and their loved ones. In today's society, many of us know of or have parents suffering from Alzheimer' disease, dementia and other disorders.

The Silver Alert program provides a communication network to quickly disseminate information about a missing vulnerable adult in an effort to return them to their residence and/or caretaker. It is very similar to the Amber Alert program for missing children.

Timing is everything, because the survival rate of the missing person is much higher when the adult is located within the first 24 to 48 hours.

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Guest Column: Silver Alert Already Has Proven its Value

Chimp Lawsuit and Defense

Bizarre national headlines burst out of Stamford, Connecticut, earlier this year when a pet chimpanzee savagely attacked its owner's friend, leaving her with horrific, permanent injuries.

Travis the chimp lived with Sandra Herold as a family pet. Herold called her friend, Charla Nash, to help her after Travis escaped from the house. When Nash arrived, Travis brutally attacked her. Nash almost died from her injuries, losing her hands, sight and much of her face, among other severe injuries. Travis was eventually shot and killed when he assaulted a police officer called to the scene.

Plaintiff's Lawsuit
In March, Michael Nash, the victim's twin brother and temporary conservator of her estate, filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Connecticut against Herold alleging strict liability, negligence and recklessness. In the complaint, Michael Nash describes his sister's physical injuries, astronomical medical expenses, pain and suffering, psychological trauma, loss of the ability to participate in life, and lost wages and benefits from her inability to return to work. The plaintiff asks for money damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees and other proper relief on his sister's behalf, stating that he believes the judgment should reach at least $50 million.

A Surprising Defense
In response, Herold asserts that the injuries are employment related and governed by workers' compensation law. Workers' compensation is the exclusive legal remedy for most work injuries, almost always barring personal claims against the employer, unless the victim can prove the injury was intentional. Workers' compensation awards are typically much smaller than standard personal injury damages because an injured worker receives medical coverage and wage replacement, but not money for ordinary pain and suffering. However, mental injury may also be recoverable if it flows from a physical injury.

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Chimp Owner Asserts Worker's Comp Covers Injury Claims in Attack

Steven T. Rondos Facing 6-18 Years in Prison

A disbarred attorney from Ridgewood is facing a maximum sentence of 6 to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of stealing millions from guardianship accounts he oversaw for incapacitated children and seniors.

Steven T. Rondos and his Brooklyn-based law firm, Raia & Rondos P.C., were indicted in January on charges of grand larceny, money laundering and fraud in connection with the theft of $4 million, prosecutors said.

Rondos pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to all 19 counts in the indictment, admitting he fleeced two dozen clients from 2001 to 2008. His victims included mentally and physically impaired elderly people, as well as children suffering from cerebral palsy caused by medical malpractice at birth, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.

Rondos, who has since been disbarred in New York and New Jersey, had been appointed by judges as a legal guardian responsible for managing cash awards and other client assets.

His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22 in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The law firm has pleaded not guilty and is going to trial.

Full Article and Source:
Ex-Ridgewood Attorney Faces 6-18 Years in Prison

See Also:
Disbarred Atty Pleads Guilty to Guardian Thefts

'Manslaughter, Not Murder'

A 78-year-old suspect accused of killing a frail 94-year-old woman now faces charges for aggravated manslaughter instead of murder.

Although an autopsy ruled Bessie Borth died of suffocation, she also suffered a stroke, a prosecutor said Tuesday. The case against accused killer Geraldine Shockley hinges on that.

“If (the stroke) didn’t kill her, then she suffocated her,” prosecutor Tim Register said. He said aggravated manslaughter "encompasses both theories of death" — the possibility Shockley smothered the life out of Borth, and the chance that she simply let her die when her brain failed.

Autopsy photos of Borth’s brain showed a large hole, and investigators say Shockley knew she was suffering but didn't intervene.

"Our first theory as to how she died is that she was suffocated," Register said. "However, if she did not die of suffocation, she had to have died from a stroke," and Shockley did nothing to help her.

Shockley was arrested on an open count of murder in September, when sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call from her home in Panama City Beach and found Borth dead on the floor.

Shockley said she fell. Suspicious Bay County sheriff’s investigators later said Shockley shoved Borth down a makeshift step and, seconds later, smothered her face with a throw pillow.

The longtime caretaker had been stealing money by writing large checks from Borth’s account, the Sheriff’s Office charged. They initially estimated she took $18,000.

Full Article and Source:
Prosecutor: Elderly Death is Manslaughter, Not Murder

See Also:
Caregiver Arrested for Murder

Men Plead No Contest

Two Johnson County businessmen entered no-contest pleas this week for a nationwide theft scheme that took more than a million dollars from elderly customers.

Two others involved from Sioux City, Iowa, also have pleaded guilty in Johnson County District Court.

District Attorney Steve Howe said today that the consumer fraud scam hooked thousands of people seeking a discount on prescription drugs or dental work.

After customers turned over their bank or credit card information to the companies involved, scammers would take far more money out of the accounts than authorized, usually $80 to $110 at a time, he said.

They were even still taking money out of accounts of some people who had died, he said.

Grant Wilms, 44, and Hermann Wilms, 74, a son and father who owned ASP Inc., each pleaded no contest Monday to four felonies of false writing and to four misdemeanors.

Kenneth Opstein, 86, of Sioux City, a former consultant for ASP and owner of its predecessor, NHCD, also pleaded Monday to four felonies and four misdemeanors.

His office manager, Shirley Schopp, 71, of Sioux City, pleaded guilty previously to three felonies and two misdemeanors.

The Wilmses and Opstein are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 6.


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Johnson County Men Plead No Contest to Bilking Elderly Customers

Court to Render Decision on Lokuta Case

Former Judge Ann H. Lokuta stood Tuesday in front of the same state disciplinary panel that removed her from the Luzerne County bench last year, imploring them to reconsider.

She reminded the seven-member Court of Judicial Discipline of the corruption scandal that broke a month after its ruling - the scandal underscored by a 48-count racketeering indictment against two former judges who testified against her.

She told them of the personal hardship of going a year without income, without benefits, and without the one thing she said she cherished more than anything else - putting on the judicial robe and hearing cases.

Near the end of her soliloquy, she pointed to an inscription on a courtroom partition and asked for forgiveness. "You look down here and you see mercy, you see wisdom and you see justice," Lokuta said. "Isn't that the purpose of any sanction, rehabilitation?"

She may have convinced them.

The panel deliberated Lokuta's reinstatement behind closed doors for 15 minutes before its president judge emeritus, Richard A. Sprague, returned alone and announced that the court would adjourn and issue a written opinion.

Full Article and Source:
Court Mulls Lokuta's Return to County Bench

See Also:
Upcoming Hearing for Former Judge Ann Lokuta

Widow Wins $1.1 Million in Lawsuit

A 90-year-old self-made millionaire won about $1.1 million from a Chicago brokerage firm and two brokers accused of churning her longtime stock account.
Josephine DesParte, of Inverness, won the case arbitrated through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA, the organization that oversees brokerage firms nationwide. The panel decided that DesParte should recover her stock losses of $655,146, all capital gains taxes paid by the liquidation of long-held stocks of $380,000, and the return of $82,719 in fees that the brokers had charged. Attorney fees and punitive damages were not awarded, according to a FINRA document late Monday.

"I'm happy. I just wanted what I lost," DesParte said Tuesday. "And that's what I got. I didn't pursue punitive damages. I didn't care about that."

DesParte's lawyer filed the complaint earlier this year against William Blair & Co. LLC, which was accused of breach of fiduciary duty.

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Inverness Widow Wins $1.1 Million in Law Suit Against Brokerage Firm