Kane's office begins punishing workers in porn email scandal: report

A Pittsburgh newspaper is reporting that Attorney General Kathleen Kane has begun punishing some of the reported 30 current employees implicated in a pornography-sharing ring under her predecessors.

The offensive emails were unearthed earlier this year, as part of Kane's review of her predecessor's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The resulting shock waves have already forced a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice, a Corbett Administration cabinet secretary, and a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole to leave their jobs.

The latter two were former OAG staffers.

Kane has pledged to take disciplinary action against any current staffer shown to have been involved in friend-to-friend porn email exchanges, though her office has said it will only comment on that process when it is complete.

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Kane's office begins punishing workers in porn email scandal: report

See Also:
Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspends Justice Seamus McCaffery

Judicial board to review McCaffery e-mails complaint

Porn Email Claims Could Trigger Discipline For Pa. Justice

Lorain attorney faces possible disciplinary action

LORAIN — Former Lorain Law Director Mark Provenza is facing potential sanctions from the Ohio Supreme Court’s disciplinary arm for allegedly failing to provide legal services for two of his clients and then refusing to cooperate with the investigation into allegations against him.

According to a certified complaint filed by the Lorain County Bar Association with the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline last week, Provenza neglected his responsibilities to the two clients earlier this year.

In one instance Provenza is accused of taking $800 from Robin Maxwell-Smith to file a divorce for her and then not doing any of the work.

Maxwell-Smith paid Provenza $300 on Dec. 27, 2013, for the divorce paperwork to be filed. That money should have been deposited in Provenza’s trust account, where lawyers are supposed to keep money from clients while cases are pending, but that never happened, the complaint said.

Over the next few months, Maxwell-Smith made several attempts to contact Provenza, but never had any meaningful communication with him, although she did pay him another $500 on Feb. 20. That money also wasn’t put into the trust account.

Provenza told Maxwell-Smith to meet him in court March 31, but that day he ignored text messages from her and only talked to her when she had him paged by court staff at the Lorain County Justice Center.

Provenza then told her “that he had not filed any divorce pleadings on her behalf and had forgotten he told her to appear in court for a hearing,” the complaint said.

He also didn’t return the money Maxwell-Smith paid him after she demanded a refund in April, according to the complaint.

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Lorain attorney faces possible disciplinary action

Dying In America: Care Should Be Kinder

Editor's note: This article is part of a year-long project about aging well, planning for the changes aging brings and shaping how society thinks about aging. 

Last week’s release of the Dying in America Report adds to the discussion those of us in the field have been having for years. Its 507 pages clearly demonstrate that our country's system of delivering care to the elderly is badly broken.

The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report is especially timely as the number of those suffering from “some combination of frailty, physical and cognitive disabilities, chronic illness and functional limitations,” grows.

We need more care that puts these patients — no matter their wealth or cultural background — at the center of care.

(MORE: Help Parents Avoid Unwanted Medical Treatment)

Another key point the report makes is that we need to understand how care needs have changed and why Medicare should support long-term care.

To paraphrase Hamlet, the health care system is out of joint. It simply has not kept up with the change in disease patterns. We have built the equivalent of a medical Maginot Line. Just as the French built fortifications to refight World War I only to have them totally circumvented by armored columns, we remain geared up to fight against acute disease in an era dominated by chronic illness.

The Dying In America report's finding that we spend large amounts on ineffective (and often dangerous) care at the end of life is but one symptom of this much larger problem.

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Dying In America: Care Should Be Kinder

Linda Kincaid Reports: Elder abuse in California conservatorships: Conference discusses exploitation

The 2014 Southwest Conference on Disability discussed elder abuse of conservatees by unethical conservators. Discussions focused on unlawful imprisonment and forced isolation of vulnerable elders with large estates. 

Conservators have access to their victims’ estates to pay themselves and service providers of their choice. Social services agencies are unwilling or unable to respond effectively. Law enforcement often considers elder abuse to be a civil matter. Courts provide minimal oversight of conservatorships.

Historical cases included:

• San Bernardino County – Carol Hahn was imprisoned and isolated for 15 months
• Santa Clara County – Gisela Riordan was imprisoned and isolated for 2 years

Current cases included:

• Alameda County – Elinor Frerichs has been imprisoned and isolated since summer 2012
• Monterey County – Margarita Zelada has been imprisoned and isolated since March 2013

Unlawful imprisonment and forced isolation of dependent adults follows a similar pattern. In Santa Clara County, two families allege that loved ones under the control of San Andreas Regional Center are similarly imprisoned and isolated. 

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Elder abuse in California conservatorships: Conference discusses exploitation

Elder Abuse Task Force formed in York County

A new task force will fight the abuse of elderly people in York County. York County District Attorney Tom Kearney and the York County Area Agency on Aging made the announcement Wednesday at the weekly county commissioners’ meeting.

Numbers
Over the last three years, York County has seen a 28% increase in elderly abuse reports. With 96,000 people over the age of 60 in York County, there are a lot of potential victims.

“It’s a shame that we prey on those among community who are weak,” said Kearney. Members of his office will serve on the task force. “It’s a shame that we prey on those among community who are weak, but we do, and that’s something that we in the District Attorney’s office and the Area Agency on Aging needs to address. This allows us to coordinate our resources and ensure that those prosecutions are done well,” said Kearney.

The goal of the task force is to better coordinate and prosecute elder abuse cases.

Money
“We’re seeing a huge increase in financial exploitation,” said York County Area Agency on Aging Director, Dianna Benaknin. She has worked for the agency for 30 years. She has seen abuse at the hands of family members, caregivers, and even scammers. While abuse can be physical or emotional, she says the most common is financial. “We have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars dry up in a short amount of time,” said Benaknin.

Kearney highlighted a recent case where a woman’s great-niece, and power-of-attorney, stole $300,000 from her over four years.

“Elder abuse is part of a vulnerable population, like children. But, unlike children, they have usually have resources, and those resources become the subject of exploitation,” said Kearney.

The hope is that more attention to the issue will prompt more people to call and report suspected abuse. “My concern is that there is still so many people out there that are victims of some type of abuse that we never hear about,” said Benaknin.

The first Elder Abuse Task Force meeting will be Wednesday November 12, 2014.

For more information on the Elder Abuse Task Force click here.

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Elder Abuse Task Force formed in York County

Attorney pleads guilty to bilking elderly clients

An elder-law attorney pleaded guilty Monday to stealing millions from clients in their 80s and 90s she was supposed to be helping.

Barbara Lieberman, 62, admitted manipulating clients’ accounts to put co-conspirators in charge of the finances, then having unauthorized checks written from those accounts. She pleaded guilty to one first-degree count of money laundering, which carries as much as 20 years in prison.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend a 10-year term with 3½ years of parole ineligibility. She also agreed to forfeit $3 million seized by the government.

The deal did not sit well with Barbara Martin, whose dogged insistence that her aunt was a victim of Lieberman was credited by state Sen. Jeff Van Drew with helping spark the case.

“It’s an inappropriate deal. It’s a disgusting deal. It’s a joke,” Martin said when told of the terms. “Barbara Lieberman is a serial thief who betrayed her oath to uphold the law.”

Martin’s aunt, Helen Hugo, was one of many who had Lieberman as a court-appointed guardian in Atlantic County. There have been no charges in connection with Lieberman’s work in that capacity.

In March, county Surrogate Jim Curcio said “a comprehensive review of all the files in this office is underway, and appropriate Superior Court action is going to be taken.”

Nothing more has been released on that.

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Attorney pleads guilty to bilking elderly clients

Pill addiction blamed in Jonesborough woman's admittance of stealing from elderly ward

Jama Curtis

An addiction to prescription pain pills is what led a Jonesborough woman to steal more than $80,000 from an elderly man she helped take care of, she told a Washington County Criminal Court judge Monday.

In the process of entering a guilty plea to the charge of willful exploitation of an elderly adult, Jama Curtis, 40, 1412 Mill Springs Road, said her husband had nothing to do with taking the money and he had no knowledge she was doing it.

Tony Curtis had also been charged along with his wife, but part of her plea agreement included the charges against him being dismissed by Assistant District Attorney General Erin McArdle.

Judge Lisa Rice told Jama Curtis she should be happy her attorney, Don Spurrell, worked out the plea and sentence because if it had been left up to the judge, Curtis would face a harsher outcome.

The agreement called for two other charges — theft over $60,000 and theft over $10,000 — being dismissed. Curtis was sentenced to four years in prison, which was reduced to probation. She must serve a total of 120 days in jail, but that will come in 30-day blocks for each of the years she’s on probation.

Rice ordered that first jail stint to begin Nov. 30.

“That will give her Thanksgiving with her family, but she will be in jail over Christmas,” Rice said. “Don’t ask me to reconsider.”

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Pill addiction blamed in Jonesborough woman's admittance of stealing from elderly ward

Seattle woman: 'Guardianship system stole my mother'

(Click picture to watch video)
From her earliest days, Dorothy Haskell of Spokane lived life her way.

"My mother was very strong willed, independent and opinionated," said her daughter, Lori Haskell.

After getting married and raising two kids in Spokane, Dorothy Haskell had no intention of leaving the house that she and her husband built, even after he died in 1984, according to Lori.

"This house was her pride and joy, she did not want to leave it. She loved this little house, she really did," Lori said.

Neighbors agree that Dorothy was a force to be reckoned with.

"Always jokingly thought in my mind that she would have to be drug kicking and screaming from her house because she was very independent and liked where she lived," said Janet Sanders, who lived next to Dorothy Haskell for more than 20 years.

But when Dorothy reached her mid-80s, her physical and mental health were declining. Lori said she wanted to move her mother into assisted living in Spokane, or to Seattle where Lori runs her own law practice.

"I brought it up to her several times, she would not discuss it."

Lori says when she drove her mother to an assisted living facility in Spokane just to take a look, Dorothy refused to get out of the car.

Legally, Lori couldn't force her mother move--not unless she were declared totally incompetent. Lori says she and her mother's doctor felt that Dorothy should be evaluated.

The experts determined that Dorothy was still legally competent, a decision that Lori says left her in a difficult position.

"If my mother won't move and she is still legally competent I have no authority to move her," she said.

Lori continued to travel back and forth between Seattle and Spokane. There were happy visits for birthdays and holidays, but Lori says there were clashes when Dorothy fired people Lori had hired to help.

Oddly enough, it would be Dorothy's dog "Duffy" that set in motion the events that would change everything. After a visit to a Spokane veterinary clinic, the veterinarian's wife, Kathryn Rush, struck up a friendship with Dorothy.

"She told me that she liked elderly people and she wanted to work with my mother and she had been checking in on her. And it was not a formal situation, she was kind of doing the 'good Samaritan' thing," Lori said.




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Seattle woman: 'Guardianship system stole my mother'

A father’s scars: For Va.’s Creigh Deeds, tragedy brings unending questions

Creigh Deeds (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

HE WAKES UP, and even before he opens his eyes, he can see his beautiful, delusional son.

Gus, Creigh Deeds thinks.

He lies in bed a few minutes more, trying to conjure specific images. Gus dancing. Gus playing the banjo. Gus with the puppies. Any images of Gus other than the final ones he has of his 24-year-old, mentally ill son attacking him and then walking away to kill himself, images that intrude on his days and nights along with the questions that he will begin asking himself soon, but not yet. A few minutes more. Gus fishing. Gus looking at him. Gus smiling at him. Time to start the day.


He gets out of bed, where a piece of the shotgun he had taken apart in those last days of his son’s life is still hidden under the mattress. He goes outside to feed the animals, first the chickens in the yard and then the horses in the red-sided barn. He leads the blind thoroughbred outside with a bucket of feed, the same bucket he was holding when he saw Gus walking toward him — “Morning, Bud,” he said; “Morning,” Gus said, and began stabbing him — and then he goes back inside.

Breakfast, shower, shave, mirror. Almost a year. He is 56 now. He looks at the scars across his face, around his ear, along his upper chest and right arm. He gets dressed and goes outside to his truck, and there’s the fence that he somehow managed to climb even though he was bleeding, and there’s the field he staggered across to a rutted road where he was found.

This is how most days begin for Creigh Deeds, a father who had a son with mental illness, who struggled to understand him, tried to get help for him, and was ultimately left alone to deal with him, and who now looks over at the barn where he had so suddenly dropped the feed bucket.

To continue reading click here.

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A father’s scars: For Va.’s Creigh Deeds, tragedy brings unending questions