Bodies Taken From Modesto Funeral Home as Permits are Suspended

Seventeen bodies were removed from a downtown Modesto funeral home Friday after accusations that the business was taking too long to cremate them.

Dr. John Walker, Stanislaus County's public health officer, said he suspended permits for burial or cremation to McGuire Cremation & Funeral Service as of May 1 in response to several complaints "regarding delays in cremation of family members."

Sgt. Anthony Bejaran, the sheriff's spokesman, said there has been an investigation into potential criminal and civil violations with the business for the past several months. He would not say what criminal charges could come of the investigation or even if anyone was arrested Friday.  Coroner's officials will assist family members with the final disposition of their loved ones.

Jessica Montoya-Juarez, communicable disease manager for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, said while the county stopped issuing permits for burial or cremation to McGuire, "We still are issuing death certificates."

Presumably, McGuire could still perform funeral services but can't handle disposition of any bodies until the matter is resolved.

Montoya-Juarez said authorities looked into the funeral home after receiving complaints and noticed some problems with the time between the issuance of permits and their completion, which also is filed with the county.

There also were problems with collecting payment for the permits, which cost $11 each.
Suspending permits is highly unusual.

Full Article and Source:
Bodies Taken From Modesto Funeral Home as Permits are Suspended

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/05/17/2720608/report-bodies-taken-away-from.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/05/17/2720608/report-bodies-taken-away-from.html#storylink=cpy

Editorial: Judge Should Let Public Guardian Go

We are glad to know that Davidson County Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy’s report to the Metro Council last month on the work of Public Guardian Jeanan Mills Stuart was only a preliminary finding.

That’s because there seems to be something missing from the report: that it’s time for a new Davidson County public guardian.

Kennedy still is reviewing Stuart’s active cases, but he told the council he had so far found no discrepancies. Perhaps he needs a better reading lamp.

Stuart has, for the past five years, been billing clients at the lawyer-fee rate of $200-$225 per hour for countless tasks that have nothing to do with legal expertise, often in six-minute increments, and sometimes multiple times in a day. Stuart says this is standard procedure. Billing for legal work in six-minute increments is; nonlegal, no, say legal experts. A review of Stuart’s bills since 2008 shows she charged her clients for six minutes 13,290 times, totaling more than $270,000 in fees. The tasks included such things as listening to a voice mail.

Experts have explained that lawyers typically have clerks or paralegals do these tasks — or, the lawyer bills for these tasks at a lower rate even if handling the voice mail themselves.

Is Judge Kennedy simply going to accept Stuart’s version of what is routine, in the face of all the accounts to the contrary?

Full Editorial and Source:
Judge Should Let Public Guardian Go

See Also:
Ginger Franklin's Car Towed and Sold While in Conservator, Jeanan Mills Stuart's, 'Care'

NY A.G.: 'Abusive' Photos Taken of Local Nursing Home Patients

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Wednesday that two certified nurses' aides have been charged with taking gruesome, illegal photographs of 11 patients at a trio of area nursing homes.

The A.G. reported that the aides, both Centereach residents, violated the patients' privacy and trust, taking photos of one patient's bedsore, a video of a dementia patient "riveted with fear," and other instances Schneiderman called "abusive and alarming."

“These aides engaged in actions that are illegal and will not be tolerated in New York," Schneiderman said. "The people engaged to take care of our most vulnerable citizens have a special responsibility, and I will do everything in my power to protect the right of every New Yorker to safe, respectful and quality care.”

Schneiderman said the 11 incidents occurred at Woodhaven Nursing Home in Port Jefferson Station, Jefferson's Ferry in South Setauket, and the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook.

The two nurses, 25-year-old David Rover and 23-year-old Thomas Mocera, were both arraigned in a 15-count indictment – all felony charges – on Tuesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Rover is charged with seven counts of unlawful surveillance, one count of dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image and two counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Mocera is charged with five counts of unlawful surveillance. Each count carries a sentence of 15 months to 4 years imprisonment.

Rover had been arrested in March and Tuesday's indictment followed a more thorough investigation by authorities. According to the A.G., the incidents reportedly occurred between September 2009 and March 2013. Schneiderman laid out the contents of the grisly photos.

Full Article and Source:
A.G.: 'Abusive' Photos Taken of Local Nursing Home Patients

Dan Harkey Trial in Progress

[Feb. 18, 2009: Orange County Real Estate Lender Dan Harkey is accused of bilking investors,alleging he "exaggerated the value of properties used as collateral by borrowers," bilking dozens of investors out of more than $15 million. Harkey denied wrongdoing, blaming the downturn in the real estate and financial markets.

Many victims of this scheme were elderly.]

Investor Losses Caused by "Catastrophic Change in Market"
Point Center Financial continued collecting millions of dollars in fees on foreclosed loans while refusing to let investors withdraw their money, founder Dan Harkey admitted on the witness stand this week.

Harkey blamed a "catastrophic change in the market" for massive losses that landed him in court.

Investors are suing Harkey, his wife, Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, and his Aliso Viejo company, Point Center Financial, for $43 million in Orange County Superior Court.

The fraud trial, now in its fourth week, is expected to last into June.

Full Article and Source:
Investor Losses Caused by "Catastrophic Change in Market"

For more information:
PointCenterInvestigation.com

READ the complaint

Fateful Week for the Harkeys of Dana Point

Assemblywoman Diane Harkey's Civil Trial Delayed

'When the King Goes Mad: King George III and the Struggle for Sanity, Power, and the Purse"

El Paso attorney Terry W. Hammond recently presented a keynote presentation, “When the King Goes Mad: King George III and the Struggle for Sanity, Power, and the Purse,” to the Texas Guardianship Association annual conference in San Antonio.

The session focused on challenges faced by court-appointed guardians when a person who has been in charge can no longer make prudent decisions. Hammond specializes in guardianship, probate, estate planning and elder law, and is the former executive director of the National Guardianship Association.

Source:
Terry W. Hammond Presented “When the King Goes Mad: King George III and the Struggle for Sanity, Power, and the Purse”

Blog Talk Radio Tonight: Autism and Elder Abuse Issues

 
Our guest on tonight's show is Debby Valdez, on behalf of the organization, Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly (GRADE).

Raising the community's consciousness about elderly people with disabilities is one of several urgent issues we will discuss on this episode of ICAA Radio.

Call in number:  718-766-4749

10:00 P.M. Central time Friday, May 17, 2013

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

See Also:
International Coalition for Autism and All Abilities

G.R.A.D.E. (Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly)

Three Arrested in Drug, Prositution Sting at NJ Senior Citizen Complex

A man, 75, and a woman, 66, suspected of using cocaine and running a prostitution ring out of their apartments at the Vincente K. Tibbs Senior Citizen Building have been arrested after residents complained about vagrants, drunks and addicts invading their building, authorities said.

The suspects and an alleged accomplice are believed to be behind a recent rise in crime that had residents afraid to come out of their apartments, authorities said. Their growing fears prompted an undercover investigation and new round-the-clock police patrols of the complex.

“Essentially, they were prisoners in their own building,” Chief Arthur O’Keefe of the Englewood police said of the residents. “I wasn’t going to allow that to continue.”

In late April, police arrested fifth-floor residents James Parham and his neighbor Cheryl Chaney on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a drug nuisance. Chaney faces an additional charge of possession of crack cocaine.

A third suspect, Selma McDuffie, a 54-year-old school crossing guard, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia after police found her with a crack pipe, police said. McDuffie has been suspended from her police-run crossing guard job in Englewood and threatened with arrest if she returns to the building.

Full Article and Source:
3 Arrested in Drug, Prostitution Sting at Englewood SeniorCitizen Housing Complex

Texas Lawyer Suspended for Six Months

El Paso attorney Stuart Leeds has been suspended from practicing law for six months, according to an order signed Tuesday.

Visiting Judge Martin Muncy of Andrews, Texas, revoked a six-month probation of Leeds' license after 409th District Judge Sam Medrano held Leeds in contempt of court earlier this year.

Leeds' suspension is effective immediately.

He has until June 14 to file an affidavit with the court "stating all current clients and opposing counsel have been notified of (Leeds') suspension and that all files, papers monies and other property belonging to all current clients have been returned as ordered herein," Muncy's order says.

Short of disbarment, suspension is the harshest punishment Texas lawyers can suffer.

Leeds was on probation after the State Bar of Texas' Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a case against him over his behavior in a 2011 trial, in which 448th District Judge Regina Arditti was acquitted of bribery.

Full Article and Source:
Attorney Stuart Leeds Suspended From Practicing Law

Ex-PA Judge Gets House Arrest, Probation

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin avoided prison time Tuesday for her campaign corruption conviction but was ordered to send written apologies to every judge in the state because she abused her office.

 

Melvin and her sister and former aide Janine Orie each received house arrest for illegally using the judge's state-funded staff as part of her two campaigns for a seat on the state's highest court.

 

Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus chided Melvin for engaging in crimes of "arrogance" and ordered her to immediately have her picture taken by a county photographer, so she can write apologies on them and send them to several hundred state judges.

 

Although Nauhaus didn't imprison the women as prosecutors hoped, he admonished Melvin for claiming to be a role model for her children.

 

"What kind of role model are you? These are felonies, this isn't a parking ticket, and your children's mother is a convicted felon," Nauhaus told Melvin, 57, a married mother of six.

Melvin, a devout Catholic, was sentenced to three years of house arrest during which she may leave only for church — unless she receives specific permission from the judge for other activities — followed by two years' probation. She is also barred from referring to herself as a judge while under sentence.

 

Janine Orie, 58, was sentenced to one year of house arrest and two years of probation for helping coordinate the illegal campaigning.

Full Article and Source:
Ex-Pa Justice Melvin Gets House Arrest, Probation