Attorney (Former Judge) Arrested in Elder Abuse Case

A former North Plains Municipal Court judge and longtime Forest Grove attorney has been arrested in connection with an elder abuse case involving his mother-in-law, the Forest Grove Police Department reported.

A Washington County grand jury indicted Robert A. Browning, 66, on seven counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, a felony, said Capt. Mike Herb, a Forest Grove police spokesman. The case, Herb said, will be prosecuted by the state's Department of Justice because Browning's served as an attorney in Washington County so long.

When Browning resigned as judge from North Plains in January, he alluded to a possible investigation in his letter to the city. The investigation by police, the justice department, the state adult protective services program and the Oregon State Bar began in July 2010,Herb said.

Amy Jeanine Moore, 40, a secretary at Browning's law firm, was also arrested Friday on charges of identity theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. Authorities learned of Moore's alleged criminal activity during their investigation of Browning, Herb said.

Moore's charges stem from her use of a credit card that belonged to a deceased client of the law firm, police said. Transactions using the credit card occurred in June and July 2010, police said, about a year after the client had died.

Browning and Moore both turned themselves into detectives at the Washington County jail Friday, Herb said. They will be arraigned Sept. 20.

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Forest Grove Attorney, a Former North Plains Judge, Arrested in Elder Abuse Case

Group Says Branstad Actions Cause Nursing Home Deaths

An organization that advocates for disabled Iowans says decisions made by Gov. Terry Branstad are causing the state’s nursing home residents to suffer and die.

Disability Rights Iowa, which is part of a national network of advocacy groups established by Congress, published a scathing, open letter to Branstad on Wednesday, questioning the governor’s pursuit of a less punitive method of regulating Iowa’s nursing homes.

Sylvia Piper, the organization’s executive director, told Branstad in the letter that because of his “political choices, people are suffering and dying on a regular basis in Iowa’s nursing homes.” Piper invited Branstad to join her on a two-day tour of care facilities.

“I want you to see what I have seen,” she wrote. “I want you to witness up close the effects of abuse and neglect. I wager that less than 24 hours after our return, if you are even remotely human, you will double the number of nursing home inspectors on your staff.”

Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said Iowa’s inspections department, now led by former state lawmaker Rod Roberts, is doing “great work” and is protecting vulnerable Iowans.

Piper said her letter is a reaction to Disability Rights Iowa seeing an increase in complaints regarding nursing homes and other types of care facilities in Iowa.

“We do periodic reviews of the investigations that the inspections department does,” she said. “They appear to be overlooking things. We’re finding extremely incomplete work on these investigations. They are not, as they did in the past, looking into these problems in an in-depth way. It’s not good. We’re having to replicate their investigations.”

The Des Moines Register has asked the inspections department for details on the time now spent on inspections and the number of abuse complaints that result in investigations. The department has turned the newspaper’s request over to federal officials who have yet to provide that information.

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Group Says Branstad Actions Cause Nursing Home Deaths

Editorial: Branstad Has Met His Nursing Home Inspection Promises

The people of Iowa elected Gov. Terry Branstad. He appointed Rod Roberts to head the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. A few weeks into the job, Roberts eliminated 13 jobs. Ten were nursing home inspectors. Two were part-time lawyers who investigated complaints of abuse in nursing homes.

During this year’s session of the Legislature, lawmakers restored money for some of the jobs, but Roberts isn’t going to use it to fill those positions. Inspectors were needed, according to DIA staff and the federal government.

But the Department of Inspections and Appeals now says the inspectors are not needed and the department is able to carry out its responsibilities without them, thank you.

It’s almost impossible to evaluate that assertion because the department recently blocked access to statistical information about its inspections and trends from those inspections.

This means the owners of Iowa nursing homes have fewer regulators to deal with. Vulnerable Iowans have fewer regulators to protect them. And the people of this state are entitled to think that they’ve been wronged by their government.

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Editorial: Branstad Has Met His Nursing Home Inspection Promises

Jeffrey Schend Released From Jail

A former Appleton guardian accused of stealing from elderly and disabled clients was released from jail Tuesday after a judge agreed to give prosecutors more time to prepare for trial.

Outagamie County Reserve Judge Harold Froehlich postponed Jeffrey M. Schend's trial to the week of Jan. 9, despite a speedy trial demand filed in July. The trial was scheduled to begin Sept. 12.

State law requires authorities to release defendants from jail when their demands for speedy trials aren't met. Schend, 44, who had been jailed since his May 11 arrest, was freed on a signature bond after his court appearance. He is required to live at his mother's Appleton home during the remainder of his case, report to authorities each weekday, and is prohibited from drinking and gambling.

Schend is charged with six felony counts of theft and one misdemeanor theft count. He's accused of stealing about $500,000 from his clients' accounts. As a guardian, Schend was appointed by county judges to handle finances for elderly and disabled people deemed incompetent to manage their own affairs.

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Schend Released From Jail

See Also:
Jeffrey Schend Wants Change of Venue

Ex-Indiana Prosecutor Ordered to Repay $146K

A judge has ordered a former prosecutor in southern Indiana to repay $146,000 that he and his wife were accused of taking from an incapacitated relative's estate.

An attorney representing former Crawford County prosecutor Jimmie Montgomery says the couple took good care of the 80-year-old aunt of Montgomery's wife at their home in English for two years and is entitled to payment.

An attorney for the 80-year-old woman's daughter says the Montgomerys were asked to temporarily care for the older woman while the daughter recovered from knee surgery.

Montgomery's law license was suspended last year over accusations that he stole law books when he left the prosecutor's office in 2006.

Source:
Ex-Prosecutor in S. Ind. Ordered to Repay $146,000

A Heartbreaking Story of Elder Care and Guardian Abuse

As my friend, Diane, continues to put up a noble effort to overcome court decisions that have consistently denied her of her rights, as well as violated her mother, Dorothy’s rights, it became evident that “someone” wanted me to take on a more active role in bringing this situation to light.

For over two years, I witnessed Diane struggle to deal with a judge’s power and ego-driven attitude in making his decisions. His rulings were based on blatant lies by others, testimony and statements that in many cases would be seen as perjury, are what shaped his erroneous opinions of my friend. It is a dangerous precedent to disparage someone for their behavior when you have nothing more than the hearsay of the people you put in control of an elderly woman, and who is financially benefitting from having autonomy over her.

I decided to do more than just give Diane moral support and have made a conscious decision to let other people across the country know about her battle to save her mother from being unwillingly incarcerated in a nursing home.

My assessment of what has been happening came more into focus. Dorothy is being used as a pawn by a judge, law guardian and healthcare manager who all seem to be benefitting from a rift in the family.

Full Article and Source:
A Heartbreaking Story of Elder Care and Abuse

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A Heartbreaking Story of Elder Care and Guardian Abuse

Attorney Sentenced to Two Years, Apologizes for Theft

A disbarred St. Louis lawyer has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing more than $300,000 from clients.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Steven Gartenberg pleaded guilty in June to two counts of mail fraud. He admitted keeping more than $100,00 from a woman's estate that was supposed to go to a church, the Alzheimer's association and three individuals.

Gartenberg also admitted making more than $200,000 in unauthorized withdrawals from the bank account of a mentally disabled woman who was under his guardianship.

He apologized at sentencing Friday, saying he feels remorse for what he's done.

Gartenberg was ordered to repay $267,000, most of which will go to the Bar Plan Surety and Fidelity Company, a lawyer liability insurance company that paid for the guardianship victim.

Source:
St. Louis Attorney Sentenced to 2 Years for Fraud

Recommended Blog: Probate Sharks

Our mission is to expose and remedy corruption in the Probate Court of Cook County, Illinois. We assist, educate and enlighten families of the dead, the dying, the disabled and the aged to better understand their rights in order to protect themselves from the excesses of the Probate Court of Cook County.

ProbateSharks.com is dedicated to networking the human element of people to people. We join together in reforming the corrupt Cook County Probate Court system.

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ProbateSharks.com

New Survey: Half of Hospitals Buy Back Door Drugs

Amid growing reports of price-gouging for life-saving drugs, half of hospital officials said they’ve bought medications from back-door suppliers during recent drug shortages, a new survey shows.

Fifty-two percent of hospital purchasing agents and pharmacists reported they’d bought drugs from so-called “gray market” vendors during the previous two years, according to a just-released survey of 549 hospitals by the Institute for Safe Medication practices, an advocacy group.

Gray-market suppliers are those that operate outside official channels, often buying drugs from uncertain sources and reselling them at a steep profit. A report issued last week by a one hospital association found their average mark-up was 650 percent.

Pressures from demanding doctors and desperate patients helped fuel the transactions, making hospital staffers feel like they had no choice but to buy drugs in short supply at steep prices.

“Our physicians DO NOT want to hear that a drug is ‘unavailable,’” wrote one hospital pharmacist who submitted comments to the anonymous survey.

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Half of Hospitals Buy Back Door Drugs,New Survey Shows