San Fernando Mom Gets Long-Awaited Conservatorship for Mentally Ill Son

by Maria Luisa Torres

City of San Fernando resident Gina Perez is hopeful about the long-awaited conservatorship recently granted for her son Joseph Zamora, who has been homeless and battling schizophrenia and substance use disorder for many years. (SFVS/el Sol Photo/Maria Luisa Torres)

After years of venturing out nearly every day to find her unhoused mentally ill son on the streets of the Northeast San Fernando Valley to give him food and clean clothes, Gina Perez is breathing a bit easier these days. 

In August, her son Joseph Lee Zamora, 44, was admitted into the in-patient behavioral health unit at Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City on a temporary mental health conservatorship due to his decades-long battle with schizophrenia and substance use disorder. 

Zamora’s dual diagnosis has contributed to erratic behavior and a string of arrests, including for trespassing on public property and disorderly conduct. His harrowing condition – which causes him to hear voices and feel the urge to turn them off by self-medicating with illegal drugs – is further complicated by “anosognosia,” which makes a person unable to recognize they have a health problem. As a result, he has repeatedly refused much-needed treatment and medication.

Dealing with a cycle of schizophrenic episodes and substance abuse, Zamora preferred to live on the streets, explained Perez. She regularly drove around looking for him at his usual spots, often following a full day of work in the scholarship office at California State University, Northridge. 

For now, she’s relieved that her son is housed and making slow but somewhat steady progress. 

“I’m just thankful that he’s safe. He’s not harming himself and he’s not out in the elements, especially now that the weather is starting to get cold again,” said Perez, who lives in the City of San Fernando. “He’s been eating – he’s gained weight, which is good – [and] he’s been taking his medication.”

Perez said she pursued conservatorship – which was transitioned from temporary to a full year in October through the Office of the County Counsel – to try to save his life. Previous efforts and countless consequences over the years have failed or only helped in the short term, including involuntary 72-hour 5150 psychiatric holds, court-mandated stays in drug and mental health treatment centers, several stints in jail and even a previous full-year conservatorship in 2019.

Last year, she was hoping the new CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Court would offer a solution without conservatorship, but she soon realized it wouldn’t help her son. Launched in Los Angeles County last December, CARE Court oversees court-ordered treatment for people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, but it is 100% voluntary; people have to willingly participate. And in Zamora’s case, “nothing with him [was] voluntary,” said Perez.

“Right now he knows he’s taking medication to help [quiet the] voices, and although I wouldn’t say it’s voluntary, because it’s required for him to do so, even with a conservatorship they still truly can’t force him to take it, so he is choosing to do it,” she added. “While I know there’s no cure, as long as he’s taking medication he’s not plagued by wanting to drown out the voices.”

These days, instead of spending hours trying to track down her son on street corners and in shopping centers across San Fernando and Sylmar – or endlessly worrying for days or weeks at a time whenever Zamora disappeared from the area – she gets to visit him daily. For the time being, he only wants to see his mom, and they talk and interact a bit more with each passing day.

“He doesn’t even want his sister to go see him [and] I think that’s because there’s still a lot of shame that he feels,” said Perez. “But he wants to hear about her and about other people, too.”

Helping Other Families

As Zamora continues receiving care and awaiting a transfer to another facility for more comprehensive treatment, Perez is completing a 13-week course in mental health ministry offered by the Office of Life, Justice and Peace of the Catholic Archdiocese of LA. She said she hopes to take what she learns – combined with her personal experiences as a tireless advocate for her son – to start a mental health ministry group at a local parish.

“I’m taking the course to help me be better informed on my journey with Joseph and so I can share the information with other families,” said Perez. “I’ve been immersed in my son’s illness for a long time, and there are probably a lot of people out there who are just starting out.”

Because there is so much shame and stigma associated with mental illness, Perez said she believes there are many others like herself – who have a loved one coping with mental illness – who might be reluctant to seek help or who simply don’t know where to turn for answers.

“I want to offer them a place to be among other families facing the same challenges,” she added, noting that some people might be more open to participating in a faith-based setting. “They might be able to trust somebody from their church versus an outside organization.”

Hope for the Future

Perez is hopeful her son will continue improving. So far, he appears much calmer than he was during his last hospitalization when he was “clamoring to get out,” she recounted, noting that the next treatment facility will provide more services in a less restrictive setting to aid his recovery.

“The judge said, ‘He’s 44 – he has a whole life ahead of him. I don’t want him to be placed in a facility where he can’t learn to thrive,’” said Perez, who wholeheartedly agrees with the judge.

“There’s a lot of work that he has ahead of him to become functional in society again,” continued Perez. She said when Zamora’s one-year conservatorship ends, the court can choose to renew it, opt for a lesser level of care or decide he is ready to be mainstreamed. “I keep on reminding him that it’s going to be up to him to want to do the work in order to take it to the next level.” 

Full Article & Source:
San Fernando Mom Gets Long-Awaited Conservatorship for Mentally Ill Son

Emergency hearing may determine control of Life Care Centers of America as case claiming owner’s mental disability grows

by James M. Berklan

Life Care Centers of America owner, founder, CEO/Chairman Forrest Preston, circa 2003 (Photo: Max McKenzie/LCCA)

An emergency hearing Wednesday may determine who will hold decision-making control over the nation’s largest privately held nursing home chain.

Aubrey Preston, a son of Forrest Preston, the founder and sole owner of Life Care Centers of America, filed an emergency petition for conservatorship early last week. He alleges that Forrest’s third wife, a former family caregiver, has taken advantage of the 91-year-old, whom top company officers and close friends say has dementia and lacks sufficient decision-making ability.

Forrest Preston’s personal work assistant and two of his other three children also are among those who have attested in affidavits filed in a Tennessee court to his inabilities. They have also accused Forrest’s wife, Kim Phuong Nguyen Preston, of abusing him financially and physically.

In a pre-emptive strike against the possible naming of someone other than Aubrey as a conservator for Forrest, a supplemental filing Thursday alleged that a top company financial official has been complicit with Kim Preston in improperly moving money out of an LCCA sister company for non-company use.

Lisa Lay, whose LinkedIn account describes her as senior vice president, treasury, has been “complicit with Kim in transferring money and potentially other assets to Kim and her family while Forrest has been disabled,” according to a supplemental filing in the Chancery Court of Bradley County in Tennessee.

Esmerelda Lee, the COO and executive vice president for LCCA “sister company” Century Park Associates, said in a sworn affidavit that Lay has improperly removed money needed for Century Park’s 42 buildings at Kim Preston’s direction. 

LCCA owns and/or manages more than 200 facilities and employs more than 30,000 people nationwide. As sole shareholder of LCCA, Forrest Preston is worth an estimated $1.2 billion.

Millions of dollars worth of real estate and cash have already flowed toward Kim and a sister and brother, Aubrey Preston’s court filings claim.

Pressure, rerouted funds

“Lisa does as Kim instructs without fail,” Lee said in her affidavit about Lay. Lee said that Century Park funding for capital projects has allegedly been diverted by Lay directly to Kim and Forrest. 

Subsequently, Lee said, she then must meet with Kim and Forrest “almost monthly” to receive funds to run the buildings, with meetings sometimes lasting up to eight hours.

“I am usually berated and questioned by Kim as to where the cash went and Kim has also falsely accused me of mismanagement of and theft from Century Park,” Lee added. “Forrest cannot understand what is going on in these meetings and cannot focus or stay on the topic of conversations …” 

[Editor’s note: In a separate sworn affidavit filed Monday that became known to McKnight’s only on Tuesday, Lay stated that she has never been asked to serve as a conservator for Forrest Preston and “would not agree to serve in that capacity if asked or appointed.” She also says she endorses Aubrey Preston for any such appointment that may be made. Commenting on Century Park accounts, she said that she is “obligated to follow, and have always followed, Forrest’s instructions regarding the accounts,” adding that she has “no independent discretion regarding the accounts.” “In performing my duties at Life Care, I have never reported to or taken direction from Kim Preston,” she added.]

Also filing an affidavit questioning Forrest’s mental competence was John F. McMullan, a personal friend for 50 years, as well as a business confidant and a former LCCA board member for 30 years. Preston at one time named him the executor of his estate in his last will and testament and gave him power of attorney, McMullan said.

“I believe Forrest is mentally incompetent and under the control and influence of Kim, which she is misusing to alienate Forrest from his friends and family, including me,” he said. He endorsed Aubrey Preston as a conservator, a position Forrest once told McMullan he should take himself if needed.

In her affidavit, personal assistant Janice Seay described a day when Kim Preston menaced Forrest with a fist, threatening to “knock out his other tooth,” during a meeting with a vendor who later “expressed grave concerns about Kim’s behavior.” Lay instructed Seay not to tell any other Life Care leaders about the incident, Seay said.

It was also during that nearly day-long meeting that Kim never took Forrest to the restroom after he requested such help, Seay’s affidavit said.

Another affidavit was filed from Gaye Harris, Forrest’s step-daughter. She said that she personally witnessed Kim — who at the time was hired to take care of her mother, who had suffered a stroke — “grab Forrest’s crotch in a sexually suggestive manner on multiple occasions.”

Family matter or corporate peril?

Wednesday’s hearing had originally been scheduled for Nov. 12, but was apparently delayed at the request of Forrest Preston’s legal team. In a recent article in Forbes, one of his attorneys told the business magazine that current events are “a private family matter” and that the company was “financially sound with good management in place.”

In the emergency appeal for conservatorship filed Nov. 4, Life Care President Todd Fletcher and CFO Steve Ziegler each testified that Forrest Preston had been missing from work for weeks or months at a time and is “mentally disabled” and unable to make important decisions.

The result, they each contended, has put Forrest’s health, and that of the company, at great risk.

Aubrey Preston first filed for conservatorship on Oct. 29. That resulted in a local judge ordering medical exams and interviews of Forrest Preston out of the presence of his wife. Those did not proceed over Forrest’s objections.

Aubrey filed the emergency request after it was discovered that Kim Preston had entered LCCA’s headquarters in Cleveland, TN, after hours one night for no apparent business reason and also had asked for help in updating Forrest’s passport.

Full Article & Source:
Emergency hearing may determine control of Life Care Centers of America as case claiming owner’s mental disability grows

See  Also:
UPDATED: Court shifts emergency control of Life Care Centers of America to owner’s son

Son seeks conservatorship for Life Care’s Forrest Preston

Life Care Centers CEO Faces Conservatorship Bid, Raising Concerns Over Nursing Home Giant’s Future

‘Disabled’ Life Care Centers owner resists medical, competency tests, son applies for emergency conservatorship

Emergency Petition Seeks to Expedite Conservatorship for CEO of Nursing Home Giant Life Care Centers

Don’t let this happen to you

UPDATED: Court shifts emergency control of Life Care Centers of America to owner’s son

by James M. Berklan 

Aubrey B. Preston has been named emergency conservator for his father Forrest Preston, the founder and CEO of Life Care Centers of America. (Photo: Leiper’s Fork Foundation)

A Tennessee chancery court judge has granted an emergency conservatorship request by Aubrey Preston to oversee the financial affairs of his 91-year-old father, Forrest Preston, the founder and sole owner of the giant Life Care Centers of America nursing home chain.

It marks the first time that control of the 200-plus long-term care chain has resided with anyone but billionaire Forrest Preston since he founded the Cleveland, TN-based company 54 years ago.

An estimated 20,000 residents and families are served each day by LCCA’s approximate 30,000 employees across 28 states.

Wednesday’s decision came during an emergency hearing precipitated by what Aubrey Preston, among others, called the financial and potential physical abuse of Forrest, who has been described as suffering from dementia and is mentally incapacitated. 

Forrest’s third wife, Kim Preston, and two of her siblings, have been accused of isolating him from other family members, inappropriately asserting themselves in company business and manipulating the transfer of millions of dollars of real estate and cash to themselves personally in the period since Kim and Forrest were married seven years ago.

Neither Forrest nor Kim Preston were present at the hearing before Bradley County Chancery Court Chancellor Jerri Bryant, who granted each of Aubrey Preston’s emergency requests. 

Aubrey now has at least temporary control over Forrest’s personal and business financial matters. A hearing concerning permanent conservatorship is scheduled for Jan. 13-15, 2025.

Until then, the 65-year-old will have all decision-making powers that his father previously had as CEO, lone shareholder and board chairman of LCCA. He has been directed to work in coordination with the company’s CEO and CFO, who have pledged their support.

Aubrey also will have control over personal spending and veto power over anything Kim and Forrest want to spend above $25,000 weekly, explained Aubrey Preston attorney Gary R. Patrick in an interview with McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

“We are very pleased with the outcome. We have a substantial number of witnesses that know and are willing to testify about things that happened in the past,” Patrick said, looking ahead to the full-time conservatorship hearing.

Also as part of Wednesday’s ruling, Aubrey is to be granted daily access to Forrest, outside the presence of Kim Preston and others, as desired; Forrest’s grandchildren will have the same consideration weekly. Patrick said one such meeting between Aubrey and Forrest had already taken place and was amicable.

The only defense against the conservatorship bid Wednesday was an affidavit Forrest Preston’s attorney filed containing a sworn statement from an osteopath who has been Forrest’s personal physician for four years.

“Mr. Preston’s attending physician did say, by affidavit, that he is in good health considering his age,” an attorney William H. Horton, told McKnight’s Wednesday afternoon.

Nearly three weeks ago, a judge ordered Forrest to undergo cognitive and medical tests, which have not been done, Patrick noted.

“This osteopath never said he administered a cognitive test, nor that he was qualified to do so,” Patrick said Wednesday. “We have no idea how he came to the conclusions that he did, saying that Forrest doesn’t need help or assistance. That was the thrust of their argument. There was nothing to support any of their arguments.”

Horton noted that Aubrey’s status is “an interim appointment and is limited in scope at this point.”

“The final hearing is set in mid-January to allow further evaluation of what needs to be done for a reasonable and fair resolution,” he added. “No testimony has been taken at this stage and no court ordered examination has occurred at this point.”

A call to an attorney representing Kim Preston was not immediately returned Wednesday.

‘Always about protecting Dad’

Kim Preston was a hired caregiver for Forrest’s second wife, Kathleen, who suffered a stroke. In 2018, less than two years after Kathleen died, the then-85-year-old Forrest and 49-year-old Kim were married without his family’s knowledge, according to filings seeking the conservatorship. 

Forrest Preston is worth an estimated $1.2 billion, according to the most recent Forbes estimate.

“We’re grateful that the court looked at the facts of the situation and determined that an emergency conservatorship is the right course of action,” said Aubrey Preston in a statement emailed to McKnight’s. “First and foremost: This has always been about protecting Dad and helping him age with dignity, without being taken advantage of. Additionally, this is about ensuring that Life Care is stable and able to operate without interference.”

He said that LCCA has an “outstanding” management team remaining in place.

“They’ll have the support they need going forward,” he continued. “Today is an important day. But we know there’s a lot of work to do in the coming weeks and months to fully support Dad and the company.”

LCCA President Todd Fletcher (a nephew of Forrest Preston), the company CFO and other top officers filed sworn affidavits in favor of the conservatorship. They testified that Forrest’s inability to comprehend or conduct business matters had hindered operations and put the chain’s viability at risk. 

They also said that his wife had badgered and threatened company leaders, sometimes flashing a gun, and had kept Forrest away from business matters for weeks and months at a time.

Aubrey and those under his direction also will have the power to audit past spending and asset transfers. He and his legal team have alleged that houses and cash have improperly been transferred to Kim and her brother and sister.

Reluctant litigant

Aubrey Preston has owned and operated long-term care facilities for decades, though he has not worked directly for LCCA since serving as his father’s director of acquisitions as a young adult. In the conservatorship filings, he has said he will move temporarily from Colorado to Tennessee to oversee LCCA affairs.

He describes himself as a reluctant participant in the legal action who was compelled to act after hearing disturbing reports from company officers and others.

Aubrey Preston is the founder and chairman of the Leiper’s Fork Foundation, where he is described as an entrepreneur, philanthropist and preservationist. He and his mother, Cora, Forrest’s first wife, were original land donors to conserve acreage in Leiper’s Fork through The Land Trust for Tennessee.

Among those endorsing Aubrey to become conservator via sworn affidavits were two of his three siblings, Forrest’s step-daughter, and a best friend of Forrest who was once named his executor and prospective conservator, a role he now says he does not desire.

McKnight’s attempts to reach Forrest and Kim Preston directly have been unsuccessful. Media reports about the conservatorship filing have quoted Forrest as saying the legal challenge is an internal family matter that could and should be determined without court action, outside of the public limelight.

Full Article & Source:
UPDATED: Court shifts emergency control of Life Care Centers of America to owner’s son

See Also:
Son seeks conservatorship for Life Care’s Forrest Preston

Life Care Centers CEO Faces Conservatorship Bid, Raising Concerns Over Nursing Home Giant’s Future

‘Disabled’ Life Care Centers owner resists medical, competency tests, son applies for emergency conservatorship

Emergency Petition Seeks to Expedite Conservatorship for CEO of Nursing Home Giant Life Care Centers

Don’t let this happen to you

Medicare alert: Feds issue open enrollment warning

In a new alert, the Federal Trade Commission said scammers often pretend to be from Medicare or connected to Medicare in an effort to steal your money or personal information.Medicare

 

By Leada Gore

Medicare’s open enrollment period is open through Dec. 7. But, as you compare your coverage options, federal officials are warning you to keep your eyes out for scammers looking to take advantage of any changes you might be making.

In a new alert, the Federal Trade Commission said scammers often pretend to be from Medicare or connected to Medicare to steal your money or personal information. They might contact you to say they need your Medicare, bank account or credit card number for a “new” Medicare card, officials warned, despite the fact that Medicare cards are sent free.

“Scammers might also say they need your Medicare number for a “medical equipment claim” you don’t remember making. That’s a scam, too. They want to file fake claims using your Medicare number,” officials said.

 To protect yourself, the FTC recommends:

• Never giving your personal information to someone who contacts you unexpectedly, especially if they claim to be from Medicare. Medicare will never unexpectedly call, email, text or contact you via social media to ask for personal information like your Medicare, Social Security or bank account information. They also won’t try to sell you anything or try to charge you for a Medicare card. If they do, that’s always a scam.
• Don’t trust caller ID. Your caller ID might show Medicare’s name or phone number but that can be spoofed, or faked and the call could be originating from anywhere in the world. If you think the call could be real, hang up and call 1-800-633-4227 to check.
• You should protect your Medicare number like you do a credit card and only give it to healthcare providers, insurance companies or health plans or people you trust that work with Medicare.

Full Article & Source:
Medicare alert: Feds issue open enrollment warning

Former Licensed Nursing Assistant Nicole Ferry Sentenced to State Prison for Stealing from Elderly Client

For Immediate Release

Date: November 20, 2024

Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces that Nicole Ferry, age 26, of Strafford, has pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Strafford County Superior Court, on one class A felony count of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer.

On January 24, 2022, Ms. Ferry, a licensed nursing assistant (“LNA”), began caring for hospice patient G.M. (age 85) at G.M.’s home in Lee. G.M. was bedbound and relied on Ms. Ferry to perform daily living activities, including bathing, dressing, grooming, meal preparation, and toileting. 

Between February 22, 2022, and July 11, 2022, the defendant stole and forged 59 checks belonging to G.M., totaling $81,285. Ms. Ferry used the funds to, among other things, buy a new car, gamble, and purchase concert and sporting event tickets. 

The Court sentenced Ms. Ferry to serve 5-10 years in the New Hampshire State Prison, stand committed. The Court suspended 3 years from the minimum term for 10 years. As a condition of her suspended sentence, the Court ordered that Ms. Ferry pay restitution. Because Ms. Ferry satisfied $42,000 of the $81,285 prior to sentencing, the Court ordered restitution in the amount of the balance, $39,285. Ms. Ferry is also prohibited from caring and acting as fiduciary for elderly, disabled, or impaired adults. In exchange for Ms. Ferry’s guilty plea, remaining indictments alleging class B felony forgery will be nolle prossed.

Ms. Ferry voluntarily surrendered her license to practice as an LNA in October 2024.

This matter was investigated jointly by the Attorney General’s Office and the Lee Police Department, with assistance from the New Hampshire Bureau of Aging and Adult Services. The matter was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Bryan  J. Townsend, II, of the Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Unit and Assistant Attorney General Warren Cormack of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of elder abuse or financial exploitation, please contact your local police department or the Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services (1-800-949-0470).  

Source:
Former Licensed Nursing Assistant Nicole Ferry Sentenced to State Prison for Stealing from Elderly Client

Sumner County woman accused of financially exploiting elderly man

By Caleb Wethington

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has charged a Sumner County woman with theft and the financial exploitation of an elderly man.

The TBI reports agents began investigating allegations of financial exploitation involving an elderly Portland resident and business owner.

The investigation revealed that Eileen Theresa Santangelo allegedly entered into a trust agreement with the victim and misappropriated money and properties for her gain. The TBI reports that Santangelo fraudulently used the victim’s credit card before and after his death.

Last week, the Sumner County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Santangelo with one count of fraudulent use of a credit card over $10,000, one count of fraudulent use of a credit card over $1,000, three counts of theft over $250,000, two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable/elderly adult over $250,000 and two counts of money laundering.

Santangelo was arrested on Monday and booked into the Sumner County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Full Article & Source:
Sumner County woman accused of financially exploiting elderly man

Portland woman indicted, accused of stealing more than $800K from vulnerable adults

by: Alicia Patton

SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Sumner County woman was recently indicted after a joint investigation revealed that she misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from vulnerable adults through her businesses.

Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and Tennessee Comptroller Office said they began investigating allegations involving 70-year-old Eileen Theresa Santangelo in May 2023 after receiving a request to do so from the District Attorney General of the 18th Judicial District.

Eileen Santangelo (Courtesy: Sumner County Sheriff’s Office)

During the course of the investigation, authorities said they developed information that Santangelo had misappropriated at least $804,247 from multiple individuals through her businesses which include, Serenity Homes of TN and Church and Chapel Funeral Service in Portland; and Restlawn Memory Gardens in Franklin, Kentucky.

According to the comptroller officer, Santangelo entered a trust agreement with a Portland business owner and later took money from the trust, which was where most of the misappropriation ($687,763.05) occurred. The misappropriation included the victim’s residence, sale of his rental properties, and other funds collected for the trust.

Santangelo is also accused of using the victim’s credit card before died to make a $14,150 purchase and after he died in 2023 to make a $1,362.18 purchase. In addition, authorities said she used another disabled individual’s credit card after he died, spending $3,136,42.

The comptroller’s office said the 70-year-old used approximately $91,246,18 from a $100,000 investment that was made to her business for her personal expenses, such as a trip to Australia and a loan payment for a car in her spouse’s name.

Based on the investigation, a Sumner County Grand Jury returned indictments last month charging Santangelo with one count of fraudulent use of a credit card over $10,000, one count of fraudulent use of a credit card over $1,000, three counts of theft over $250,000, two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable/elderly Adult over $250,000, and two counts of money laundering.

The TBI reported she was arrested on Monday, Nov. 18 and is being held in the Sumner County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Full Article & Source:
Portland woman indicted, accused of stealing more than $800K from vulnerable adults

Franklin County Woman Charged with Theft, Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Adult

FRANKLIN COUNTY – An investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation into a theft allegation has resulted in the indictment and arrest of a Huntland woman.

On July 9^th, at the request of 12^th Judicial District Attorney General Courtney Lynch, agents began investigating allegations of theft by Betty Duncan, who operated a care facility in Franklin County. Agents learned that an 82-year-old female who had been under Duncan’s care passed away in March. During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that a review of the woman’s financial accounts found discrepancies, where large sums of money were transferred from the victim’s account to an account co-owned by Duncan.  During that investigation, agents identified Duncan as the individual responsible for taking the money. 

On November 18^th, the Franklin County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Betty Jean Duncan (DOB 09/20/1969) with one count of Theft over $250,000 and one count of Financial Exploitation of an Elderly or Vulnerable Adult. On November 19^th, TBI agents and deputies with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department arrested Duncan. She was transported to the Franklin County Jail and booked on a $500,000 bond.

The charges and allegations referenced in this release are merely accusations of criminal conduct and not evidence. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted through due process of law.

Full Article & Source:
Franklin County Woman Charged with Theft, Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Adult

Older adults need protection from financial abuse by family members

By Tina Kilaberia

A mentor once told me that we take better care of our pets than we do older victims of mistreatment. As a researcher, I have sat across from people, including grown men, crying while recounting harrowing experiences of discovering and confronting elder financial exploitation within their families — by siblings, sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, girlfriends and neighbors. Intervening and helping victimized older people comes at a tremendous cost to caring family members. Currently, no caregiving or other policy rewards them for the time, labor, or emotional and relationship toll that results from helping to unravel financial abuse.

Only one out of an estimated 44 financial abuse cases receive service in the formal system (help other than from family and friend networks). This obscures the labor involved in helping older victims of family financial abuse. Older adults are reluctant to report to authorities to avoid embarrassment or menacing perpetrator’s aggravation.

Despite the private and hidden nature of the problem, some extreme cases of family financial exploitation have made public headlines. In January, Maxine McManaman, the Transportation Security Administration’s assistant federal security director, was arrested on charges of financially exploiting a family member with dementia. Eight years ago, a case of financial exploitation by David Vanzo, a “caregiving” son, made headlines due to suspicion of his mother being dead in a wheelchair when he brought her to a bank to withdraw money. In 2011, actor Mickey Rooney testified before a special U.S. Senate committee recounting his own financial exploitation by family members.

Unlike policies protecting vulnerable children, policies protecting vulnerable older adults have historically lacked direction, assessment tools, national reporting system, federal response and, importantly, funding. The Credit for Caring Act, introduced in January 2024, would give qualifying caregivers, of whom there is an estimated 53 million, a federal tax credit of up to $5,000. But this credit is not associated with caregiving related to financial abuse. It is associated with frailty and illness-related caregiving, aggregated by the National Institute on Aging in a 27-item caregiver task list.  

There is no such organized list, enumeration of tasks or estimate of caregiving associated with elder family financial exploitation despite intervening family and friends spending countless hours of personal time, time off work and personal financial resources, to help and care for exploited aging family members. For some reason, our concept of caregiving does not include the care provided to help victimized older people. Yet, $28.3 billion is lost annually by older victims to financial exploitation of which 72 percent is lost to family and friends. In many cases, caregivers perform financial abuse-related caregiving in addition to illness-related caregiving as many perpetrators take advantage of the older person’s deteriorating health to start exploiting.

One might ask, isn’t helping victimized older people what families are supposed to do? Well, isn’t illness-related caregiving what families are supposed to do, too? In fact, many groups do not call illness-related caregiving “caregiving.” They call it being there for your family. Still, distinct policies reward illness-related caregiving valued at $600 billion annually. Consider the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Caregiver Advise, Record and Enable Act as examples. 

When older adults lose money and resources, taxpayers also lose. Older victims may need to draw on public programs such as Medicaid to fund their costly long-term care because their own resources were depleted by financial exploitation.

By 2035, older people will outnumber children at 23.4 percent versus 19.8 percent for the first time in the nation’s history. At the same time, an estimated $53 trillion in wealth will be transferred from households in the baby boomer generation to heirs and offspring. These conditions foretell disputes over what happens to the deceased person’s money and property, and foreshadow financial exploitation. We may all know someone with a related family scenario.

We need formalized policies that acknowledge caregiving labor related to elder family financial exploitation. The Financial Exploitation Prevention Act of 2023 would allow “for the delay of the redemption of a security” if an investment company “reasonably believes the redemption involves the financial exploitation of an individual age 65 or older.” 

Such policies are a step in the right direction. Estimates and policies related to informal caregiving associated with family financial abuse should account for efforts aside from health care as family members navigate adult protective services, social services, the courts, law enforcement, financial institutions, attorneys, community-based agencies, Area Agencies on Aging, long-term care settings and many more.  

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Older adults need protection from financial abuse by family members