Probate attorney abandons office, clients; Nevada Bar expected to file for suspension

LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) — A local attorney who handles people's money has suddenly gone missing.

The Nevada State Bar has told News 3 they will soon be filing to have him suspended from practicing law in Nevada.

Attorney Robert C. Graham of Lawyers West handles probate cases that involve wills, trusts, bankruptcies and more.

Thursday morning, News 3 tried going to his office but it appeared abandoned. A note on the door stated Graham is days away from being evicted.

Court filings News 3 uncovered reveal the state bar of Nevada filed to protect Graham's clients by replacing him as their attorney with another law firm.

The filing also states Graham abruptly closed his business without notifying employees and that his clients' files were abandoned in his rented office space.

"We as lawyers have a responsibility to the community and to our clients. There are so many other alternatives for a lawyer to do other than just walking away," said Norman Reed, a long-time Las Vegas attorney.

Reed said it's rare for any attorney to abandon his practice.

"I'd say there's good circumstantial evidence that there's something connected to a trust fund account or some behavior the lawyer did that they're ashamed of and frankly their resolution to that was to run away," said Reed.

Graham's website has been shut down. His office phone number goes straight to voicemail and you're unable to leave a message.

Reed said whatever the issue was to cause this abrupt closure it could have been handled differently.

"Whatever you want to do there's a way to do it short of walking away because it causes such a problem, such a rift not only to the client but to the entire judicial system," said Reed.

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Probate attorney abandons office, clients; Nevada Bar expected to file for suspension

Locked On The Psych Ward

Lock them in. Bill their insurer. Kick them out. How scores of employees and patients say America’s largest psychiatric chain turns patients into profits.  

Samantha Trimble Rosalind Adams / BuzzFeed News

On a cool October evening in 2012, Samantha Trimble walked into the lobby of Millwood Hospital, a low-slung brick building on the side of a road in Arlington, Texas, seeking a free mental health assessment.

A few weeks earlier in the AP world history class Trimble taught, after a kid started acting childish, she put a diaper on his head — something she admits was a bad idea. When administrators heard about it, she was escorted off the property. Worried for her job and her ability as a single mother to support her daughter, she visited her doctor’s office in tears. A physician assistant asked if she wanted to talk to someone at Millwood.

Just after 8 p.m. that evening, a counselor at Millwood asked Trimble if she was having suicidal thoughts. With her pastor beside her for moral support, she replied, “Well, who hasn’t had suicidal thoughts?” She said she had no intention to kill herself but joked, “It’s Texas, it isn’t that hard to get a gun.” They all laughed, she recalled. She said she had no idea that the counselor characterized the line as a plan to commit suicide.

Nor did she know, she later testified in a deposition, that the dozen or so forms he gave her were anything other than standard doctor’s-office paperwork. She signed them and waited for her counseling session.

It was nearly 11 p.m. by the time a staff member walked her down a long hallway. She recalled being startled to see rooms that were filled not with desks but with beds.

A technician rifled through Trimble’s purse for sharp objects and then a nurse told her to strip down to her underwear. It was then, she said, that she realized the doors to the psychiatric ward had locked behind her.

Trimble, who has recently reached a settlement regarding her hospitalization, recalled shaking with fear and “deep, shameful humiliation” as the nurse examined her body, noting the location of any identifying marks. “All you can do,” Trimble said, “is stand there and let it happen.”

The nurse handed her a small cup of pills, and soon she was asleep.  (Continue Reading)

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Locked On The Psych Ward

Zia Credit Union Strives To Curb Elder Financial Abuse

David Woodruff

On Wednesday of last week, the Senate Special Committee on Aging called for tougher state actions to prevent elder abuse by guardians – and in a 2011 MetLife study, it was suggested that older Americans lost more than $2 billion to financial exploitation by a spectrum of perpetrators in 2010.

In June of this year, the Taos News reported that, in the U.S., approximately 1 in 10 of senior citizens has been a victim of elder abuse, for a total of more than 1 million each year. As more and more reports of elder financial abuse begin to surface, advocates for seniors and the elderly are pushing for greater general awareness and education surrounding elder abuse.

Zia Credit Union spent much of 2016 conducting Elder Abuse informational seminars at senior centers across Northern New Mexico - in Los Alamos, Espanola, Truchas, White Rock and Taos. The seminars are constructed around the foundation that victims of elder abuse are often unaware that abuse is taking place and seldom are they aware of networks or resources that can help them navigate the issue.

Because seniors don’t always have information about elder financial abuse at their fingertips, Zia Credit Union management felt that an important first step to combatting elder financial abuse in the communities his credit union serves is to start with arming potential victims with information, such as tell-tale signs of elder abuse and how to get help.

“At a time when financial and medical improprieties regarding senior citizens abound,” Zia President & CEO David Woodruff said, “those of us who are trusted providers of services for our seniors need to be vigilant to identify signs of abuse or neglect and to help our seniors be informed and know that they can reach out to us and other trusted sources if they feel threatened or are unsure of financial transactions they are being asked to carry out.”

Woodruff noted that Zia Credit Union officials have spoken with various senior center officials about doing a "series of presentations for seniors about protecting themselves, specifically, from the phone scams that have become such an epidemic." The credit union plans on beginning the series in 2017.

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Zia Credit Union Strives To Curb Elder Financial Abuse

Eviction notices posted on retirement home doors shock seniors

WESTWOOD, Calif. -- Flossy Liebman is a collector of clocks, but she’s losing time. The 95-year-old says she and the roughly 200 others at Vintage Westwood Horizons senior living center are being evicted, CBS Los Angeles reported.
Many of the residents are in their 90s.

Notices were posted on the residents’ doors last week, saying the seniors have until the end of March to move -- and most don’t know where to go.

“I mean everybody’s panicked,” Liebman said.

“People have been calling around to all of the facilities that take seniors in any capacity and are finding no spaces anywhere,” daughter Jane Blumenfield said. “Just waiting lists.”

Some of the residents have financial limitations. Loneliness is also a factor. At the senior center, they say they don’t feel alone.

“It’s their life,” Blumenfield said. “It’s their whole social network.”


(Click to Continue Reading)

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Eviction notices posted on retirement home doors shock seniors

Former investment firm president sentenced

FARMINGTON, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri man who was the former president of an investment company has been sentenced to five years of probation for financial exploitation.

The Daily Journal newspaper in Park Hills, Missouri (http://bit.ly/2h9mpM2 ) reports that Thomas Terry, former president of Farmington Investment Corp., was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in the midst of his trial.

Terry was accused of selling unregistered investments and misusing the savings of more than 40 people, with their loss estimated at $1.2 million.

As part of an agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to two counts of financial exploitation of the elderly or disabled. He was ordered to pay restitution to the victims amounting to $250,000, paying at a rate of $500 per month.

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Former investment firm president sentenced

4 quit after Oklahoma veteran with maggots in wound dies

Owen Reese Peterson

TALIHINA, Okla. – Four staff members have resigned from a southeastern Oklahoma veterans facility rather than face the possibility of getting fired, after a resident was found to have maggots in a wound.

Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs executive director Myles Deering said the maggots were discovered while the patient was alive at the facility in Talihina, about 130 miles southeast of Tulsa. Deering said the maggots were not the cause of his death.

Deering said the veteran came to the center with an infection and died of sepsis, the Tulsa World reported.

The agency said a physician's assistant and three nurses, including the director of nursing, resigned after an investigation was conducted. Spokesman Shane Faulkner said all four chose to resign before the termination process began.

The incident was reported to the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the district attorney for LeFlore and Latimer counties to determine if any charges should be filed.

Raymie Parker identified the late veteran as his father, Owen Reese Peterson. He died Oct. 3 at age 73.

"During the 21 days I was there ... I pled with the medical staff, the senior medical staff, to increase his meds so his bandages could be changed," Parker said. "I was met with a stonewall for much of that time."

Deering said the agency has been considering moving from the nearly 100-year-old facility, because fixing the existing building would take millions of dollars. Sen. Frank Simpson said the facility was also faced with the inability to find and retain staff.

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4 quit after Oklahoma veteran with maggots in wound dies

Illinois Lawyer Falsifies Hundreds Of Mortgage Loans, Now Owes Feds $10 Million

An Illinois attorney is liable for more than $10 million for filing falsified documents with the government concerning 237 defaulted mortgage loans.

Robert S. Luce signed Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) documents stating that no one at his mortgage company – MDR Mortgage Corp – faced criminal conviction, debarment, or a monetary penalty, despite the fact he was indicted in 2005, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reported Monday.

Luce “knowingly made a false claim by certifying that none of the principals of MDR were involved in a proceeding that could result in a criminal conviction,” U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp ruled.

HUD regulations prohibit loan correspondents such as MDR from originating loans if they face such punishments. Luce was able to originate loans through HUD for three additional years by falsifying the documents.

Tharp ruled that Luce owed nearly $3.5 million, but those damages triple under the False Claims Act, bringing the total after tacking on $16,500 in fines, to nearly $10.4 million. Luce plans to appeal the ruling.

He was indicted on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice and false statements unrelated to MDR in 2005. Regardless, he annually submitted a form to HUD that stated that no one at MDR faced criminal conviction, debarment, or a monetary penalty from 2006 to 2008.

Luce was ultimately issued a $30,000 fine after admitting to obstructing justice in 2008 and had his law license suspended for five months in 2010 for committing a criminal act.

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Illinois Lawyer Falsifies Hundreds Of Mortgage Loans, Now Owes Feds $10 Million

Antipsychotics linked to increased fall risks for SNF residents, study confirms

Psychotropic drugs, including antipsychotics and antidepressants, can increase the risk of falls among nursing home residents, a recently published study asserts.

Previous research has shown a link between psychotropic prescriptions and falls in nursing home residents, but little was known of how as-needed prescriptions impacted fall rates. The study, published in the December issue of JAMDA - The Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine by Dutch researchers, not only backed up earlier research, but found a relationship between falls and drugs taken on an as-needed basis as well.

Of the 2,368 nursing home residents in the study, nearly 70% had a prescription for at least one psychotropic drug per day. An additional 8.8% had an as-needed psychotropic prescription. The study's authors found that 33.5% of residents had at least one fall, which most often occurred on days when a psychotropic drug was prescribed on a scheduled basis.

Residents receiving the drugs on a scheduled basis had a nearly threefold increase in falls. An increase in fall incidence also was noted in residents prescribed the drugs on an as-needed basis. Results of the study also showed that male residents had a fall risk nearly two times higher than female residents.

Study results showed no link between fall incidence and the prescription of benzodiazepines, drugs commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia, the authors noted.

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Antipsychotics linked to increased fall risks for SNF residents, study confirms

FBCSO: 7 special needs children kept in horrific conditions

RICHMOND, TEXAS - A Richmond couple has been charged with keeping seven special needs children locked up in a filthy bedroom of their home for more than a decade.

Paula Sinclair, 54, and Allen Richardson, 78, were arrested Saturday by Fort Bend County deputies. Both are charged with aggravated kidnapping and injury to a child.

The children, ages 13 to 16, are being treated for malnourishment, dehydration, bed bug bites and other issues. Investigators say they were fed only rice and beans twice a day since they were babies.

One of the children suffers from Down Syndrome and was wearing a dirty diaper when he was removed from the home.

The children were rescued from the home in the Long Meadow Farm subdivision two days before Thanksgiving. All seven were found locked in a room on the second-story of the large home.

“Smelled of feces and urine. The carpet was being pulled up in some places exposing sharp metal tacks,” said Fort Bend County Detective Julie Johnson.

The children weren't allowed to leave the house, had never been treated by doctors or allowed to go to school, according to Fort Bend County investigators.

If Sinclair left the home, the children were locked in a closet, roughly five feet by eight feet. The closet already had clothes and boxes inside, so space was even smaller, and quite often the adults were gone so long that the children would urinate on themselves, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said.

“They were told that if they came out of the room or out of the locked closet, they would be physically abused,” Detective Johnson said.  (Click to Continue)

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FBCSO: 7 special needs children kept in horrific conditions