Betrayal of Trust: Part Two - Section 2

'It's about making money'

Thieves are everywhere

In the U.S., scamming the elderly is a nearly $3 billion-a-year-business.

Its growth potential is off the charts.

America is getting grayer by the day. By 2050, the 65 and older population is expected to hit 80 million, almost double what it is now.

Within 12 years, seniors will comprise 20 percent of New Jersey's population, up from 14 percent in 2012.

The scams run the gamut. Becoming a guardian in order to exploit someone is one of the most effective tricks, because it gives a predator total control over someone's life and assets, usually with little or no court oversight.

In the only two states that track the amount of assets under guardians' control, Minnesota and Idaho, the combined total comes to more than $1 billion, says Brenda K. Uekert, a leading guardianship expert.

"I don't think people understand the amount of money we're talking about," says Uekert, principal court research consultant with the National Center for State Courts, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

"You're talking about billions of dollars under the courts' watch."

Alternatives to guardianship. Click to open and close.

(Photo: Staff graphic by Jeff Colson)

An even easier way than guardianship to gain access to that money is to get an elderly person to sign over a power of attorney.

The document gives whoever the elderly person designates the authority to act on his or her behalf in legal and financial affairs.

With guardianships, there's at least the potential for checks and balances. Judges, attorneys and county surrogates all play an oversight role. At least, they're supposed to.

In New Jersey, as in other states, guardians are required to file periodic reports updating the court on their wards' care and finances.

With powers of attorney, there's no such paper trail.

It's little surprise, then, that the majority of Lieberman's 16 victims involved powers of attorney. Three others were guardianship cases.

"Only in three cases did she (Lieberman) have to file accountings with the court. That left 13 cases where there were no prying eyes," says Martha Laham, a California business professor and author of "The Con Game: A Failure of Trust." The book covers guardianship abuse and other scams targeting the elderly.

A prominent elder law attorney in Atlantic County, Lieberman, 63, had a team of accomplices to help her scoop up victims, authorities say. To date, a grand jury has charged five co-defendants. They are all presumed innocent and all but one are still awaiting trial.

Lieberman was the quarterback of the group, a judge has said.

The group zeroed in on seniors in their eighties and nineties.

Many lived lonely lives. Most had no children or close relatives to watch over them in their twilight years.

Irma Schwarzberg was a prime candidate.

She was 87. Alone. And vulnerable.

(Continue to Section 3)

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Betrayal of trust: Part Two

Betrayal of Trust: Part Two - Section 3

Fancy cars, fluffy puppies

Surrounded by strangers

As a child, Linda Carestia loved visiting her "Auntie Irma's" toy shop on her visits to the Jersey Shore.

Her aunt — really a much older cousin — let her pick any toy she wanted, provided it wasn't too big for her to lug home on the train back to Massachusetts.

Along with the sweet taste of salt water taffy and the deep-fried aromas along Atlantic City's famed boardwalk, those toys made Schwarzberg's adopted home seem like a magical place. It was easy to see why Schwarzberg, whom Carestia describes as a feisty, "spark plug" of a woman, left Massachusetts and settled in Ventnor.

Decades later, though, when the two reconnected following the death of Schwarzberg's brother in 2009, the magic was gone.

By then, Schwarzberg, long divorced, lived by herself in a neglected house just blocks from the beach.

Watching over Schwarzberg was a group of women Carestia didn't know.

One was Lieberman, Schwarzberg's attorney; the others were Jan Van Holt, her sister Sondra Steen, and Schwarzberg's home health aide, Susan Hamlett, Carestia and authorities say.

Van Holt, Steen and Schwarzberg have not yet pleaded to the charges against them and are presumed innocent.

Jan Van Holt is charged with stealing money from elderly clients she dealt with through her business, A Better Choice.

Van Holt formerly worked as a caseworker for Atlantic County Adult Protective Services, the same agency that initiated Helen Hugo's guardianship in 2011.

In her county job, Van Holt crossed paths with Lieberman, one of a handful of private attorneys regularly assigned by the court to represent elderly clients in guardianship and estate cases in Atlantic County.

A hard-featured woman in her fifties with chopped blonde hair, Van Holt later sued the county, unsuccessfully, claiming it failed to stop a co-worker from sexually harassing her.

Van Holt stopped working for the county in 2006 and started her own business, A Better Choice. The company offered senior citizens a variety of in-home services, including running errands, scheduling medical appointments, and paying bills.

The Van Holt Carestia knew cultivated the look and lifestyle of a successful entrepreneur. She wore designer clothes and stylish scarves, and rolled up to her clients' homes behind the wheel of a shiny Mercedes, her toy dogs in tow.

"Fancy cars and fluffy puppies" is what Carestia remembers most about her.

She also recalls Van Holt's excitement about a condominium she'd recently bought. Carestia says Van Holt even invited her and her husband, John, down for a visit to the posh island off Florida's Gulf Coast.

"YEAH GONNA OWN A HOUSE ON SANIBEL ISLAND.....LIFE IS GOOD," reads a post on Van Holt's Facebook page, dated Jan. 18, 2011

Years earlier, on Jan. 5, 2005, Van Holt's sister, Steen, obtained a power of attorney from Schwarzberg when she was 87, according to a record on file with the Atlantic County Clerk's Office.

A little over a year later, Steen obtained a reverse mortgage for $405,000 on Schwarzberg's home, according to county clerk records. Such loans provide cash payments based on the home's equity.
 

This is how authorities say the scheme worked.Click to open and close.  (Photo: Staff graphic by Jeff Colson)

Carestia says she knew none of this, but her suspicions were aroused when a piece of jewelry Schwarzberg had showed during one of her visits later disappeared.

One day, Carestia says, Van Holt called her with alarming news.

Schwarzberg herself was missing. Van Holt told her that Hamlett, the home health aide, had disappeared with her, Carestia says.

Carestia says Hamlett had a falling out with Van Holt and brought Schwarzberg to see an attorney, who notified authorities that Schwarzberg was likely the victim of elder abuse, a chronology that a source has confirmed.

"We had no idea what was going on. This became so big. The next thing I know I'm getting calls from the state, and lawyers and judges," Carestia says

Authorities later alleged that Lieberman, Van Holt, Steen and Hamlett had stolen $112,000 from Schwarzberg.

Frail and unable to pay her bills, Schwarzberg ultimately moved to a nursing home, where she died in 2013 after suffering a stroke, Carestia says. She was 95.

"It's heartbreaking," Carestia says now. "There's a lot of guilt that we carry, but we didn't know.

"There was nothing we could do."

 (Continue Reading)

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Betrayal of trust: Part Two

Betrayal of Trust: Part 1

An attorney's shocking crimes show how easy it is to steal millions from seniors.

Part One

Shannon Mullen, @MullenAPP

She has broken no law, committed no crime.

Yet Helen Hugo, a soft-spoken, grandmotherly, 84-year-old "Wheel of Fortune" fan, is a prisoner of the state.

Its laws and bureaucracy have forced the retired secretary into a nursing home. Disposed of her antiques and other belongings. Separated her from her cat, Sweetie Pie. Barred her closest relatives from visiting her, and exhausted her life's savings to pay the legal fees of the attorneys involved in her guardianship case.

In the court's eyes, Hugo is mentally incapacitated and requires a state agency to serve as her guardian and manage her care and finances.

That's what a judge ruled in 2012, after a five-day trial that Hugo didn't attend, except for a private conversation with the judge. She spent all of 33 minutes in the courtroom.

A sturdy, brown-eyed woman with warm, silky hands and wavy hair that's still more brown than gray, Hugo says the court ruling three years ago was "a lot of nonsense."

"Probably the people calling me nuts," she says, "are crazy themselves."

The terms of her guardianship aren't so easily dismissed. As a ward of the state, Hugo can't vote, write a check, receive her own mail, or make decisions for herself. Inmates in New Jersey have greater legal autonomy.

Helen Hugo, trapped by New Jersey's guardianship laws, was declared incapacitated and left broke by the court system.

Hugo has lived under those restrictions since the day she first met Barbara J. Lieberman.

An esteemed elder law attorney and respected member of the New Jersey bar, Lieberman, 63, served as Hugo's court-appointed temporary guardian prior to Hugo's capacity trial.

Attorney Barbara Lieberman in Superior Court in Atlantic County earlier this year.
(Photo: Staff photo/Bob Bielk)

At the same time, Lieberman was leading a double life as a thief. Using her legal skills and her status as a trusted insider, she stole millions of dollars in other cases involving 16 seniors in their eighties and nineties.

Among them was the 85-year-old widow of the former head of the Ocean County Police Academy in Lakewood.

Lieberman moved some into nursing homes and sold their homes. With several, she manipulated their wills so she could keep stealing from them even after they died, authorities have said.

More than a year after Lieberman's crimes came to light, Hugo, who never married and was living alone prior to her guardianship, is still fighting to be free again, to go where she wants, when she wants, even to be reunited with her beloved Sweetie Pie.

The problem is, she can't.

(Continued in Section 2)

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Betrayal of trust:  Part 1

Betrayal of Trust: Part 1 - Section 2

Too much authority

A secret system

Like tens of thousands of elderly New Jerseyans, and at least 1.5 million Americans, she's consigned to a guardianship system that's shrouded in secrecy, tangled in red tape, and rife with corrupting temptation.

Across the U.S., the vast majority of court-appointed guardians do difficult, honest work, providing a critical service for society's most vulnerable citizens.

But there are some who have exploited a system with few checks and balances, using the supreme authority the courts grant them over their wards' lives to enrich themselves.

The lawbreakers have included family members, attorneys, professional guardians, even a high-ranking judge in Minnesota.

Guardianship investigations in New Jersey and other states.

Corrupt guardians have stolen millions in New Jersey in recent years, and perhaps billions across the country.

No one knows for sure.

New Jersey's top judge says these crimes are "deeply troubling."

"There are simply too many cases in which individuals who've been granted authority, who've been granted responsibility, take advantage of the very people that they have ...promised to assist," New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said June 15 at an elder abuse conference at Stockton University in Galloway.

The crimes are easy to commit and even easier to hide. Few courts across the country have the resources, or will, to police the guardians they appoint.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner

At risk is the biggest treasure chest of all: $30 trillion — yes, trillion — that today's graying baby boomers have amassed in assets over the last 50 to 70 years. That's enough money to run the U.S. government for three decades.

Why does all this matter to you? Because every cent stolen is more money that the government will have to pony up through Medicaid payments, and your tax dollars, to care for the elderly and infirm admitted to nursing homes.

And the next victim could someday be your loved one — a parent, a brother or sister, an aunt or uncle.

Maybe even you.

(Continue to Section 3)

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Betrayal of trust:  Part 1

Betrayal of Trust: Part 1 - Section 3

'Not a normal life'

Pining for the way things were

Hugo's story shows just how convoluted and confounding guardianship cases can be.

Lieberman hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing in her handling of Hugo's affairs, and a New Jersey appellate court has affirmed the judge's decision to strip Hugo of her legal rights.

Helen Hugo speaks about her life after a guardian took control. 

Yet four different psychiatrists who have examined Hugo have said she doesn't need to be in such a restrictive type of guardianship.

One even said she showed no signs of dementia.

On her most recent cognitive test, earlier this year, Hugo scored 28 out of a possible 30 points. A score of 23 or lower is considered a indicator of cognitive impairment.

Nearly four years after being diagnosed with "progressive cognitive decline," she's sharp enough to hold a long conversation, critique President Barack Obama's leadership skills, and discuss the legal process that led to her placement in a county-owned nursing home, Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Northfield, Atlantic County.

"Did I need to be here? No," Hugo told an Asbury Park Press reporter who visited her in the cramped room she shares with another resident.

"Because my life was OK before. I used to go to the senior center. I had Meals on Wheels," she said.

The life she knew is a distant memory now. Outside the window by her bed, a summer sunset splashed golden light and lengthening shadows across the grass and trees.

Another day had passed her by.

"I miss my own stuff. I miss my cat. I miss being able to come and go, cook my own food. I just miss having a normal life.

"And this," Hugo said, looking around her disinfectant-scented surroundings, "is not what I consider a normal life."



(Continue Reading)

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Betrayal of trust:  Part 1

Tonight on T.S.Radio: Joe Roubicek on Criminal Law Applied to Guardianship

Hosted By Marti Oakley & Debbie Dahmer

Our guest this evening is Joe Roubicek, a detective who has dealt directly with the targeting of the elderly by predators in the probate system.

We are exposed to the criminal activity facilitated by corrupt probate courts and those who depend on them for access and protection, every day of the week. While the elderly are systematically targeted, kidnapped, isolated and neglected so that their estate can be siphoned off by the court appointed predators, a growing movement is underway to charge those responsible, criminally.

The corruption associated with probate courts across the country with the corresponding theft of estates perpetrated by predatory guardians, unethical attorneys and others who have interjected themselves into the case, has become a hot button topic. How to deal with these people in a so-called "justice system" that routinely works to protect the predators has also become the focus of many efforts.

Joe will be speaking about what can be applied to criminal law in probate cases.

LISTEN LIVE or listen to the archive later

4:00 pm PST … 5:00 pm MST … 6:00 pm CST … 7:00 pm EST

NASGA recommends Joe's handbook about guardianship abuse:  Guardian Angels inc.: The Vile Business of Corrupt Guardianship

Panel appointed to improve Clark County’s troubled guardianship system

By COLTON LOCHHEAD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Nevada Supreme Court named 23 people Friday to a panel aimed at reforming and improving the state’s guardianship system, according to a Friday news release.

Longstanding problems with the system that handles about 8,500 adult guardian­ship cases in Clark County each year were exposed in a series of Review-Journal articles published in April. Cases high­lighted by the newspaper showed a lack of oversight by the courts, such as failing to require guardians to file annual accounts of a ward’s finances even though it is required by state law.

Supreme Court Chief Justice James Hardesty petitioned to form the panel last month. The panel will listen to public testimony and make recommendations about the system.

The panel will include several judges from across the state, including: Hardesty; Nevada Court of Appeals Chief Judge Michael Gibbons; Washoe County district court judges Frances Doherty and Egan Walker; Clark County district court judges Cynthia Dianne Steel and William Voy; and Elko district court judge Nancy Porter.

Two deputy district attorneys — Jay Raman from Clark County and Timothy Sutton from Nye County — and three legislators — Assemblymen Michael Sprinkle and Glenn Trowbridge and Sen. Becky Harris — were also named to the panel.

Others named to the panel include: Trudy Andrews of Pacifica Senior Living; Deborah Bookout of Legal Aid of Southern Nevada; Rana Goodman of The Vegas Voice; Terri Russell of Reno’s KOLO-TV, Channel 8; Kim Spoon of Guardianship Services of Nevada, Inc.; Susan Sweikert, a victim’s advocate; Julie Arnold of Southern Nevada Senior Law Program; Clark County Public Guardian Kathleen Buchanan; Susan Hoy of National Guardian Services, LLC; Reno attorney Kim Rowe of Maupin, Cox, and Legoy; David Spitzer of Washoe Legal Services; and Las Vegas attorney Elyse Tyrell.

The first meeting of the panel will be held in mid-July, the release said.

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Panel appointed to improve Clark County’s troubled guardianship system

9 Investigates mysterious hospice death

Click to Watch Video

MELBOURNE, Fla. — The children of a decorated Marine want justice for their father after they learned he died with four times the lethal limit of morphine in his system, yet there was no autopsy performed or thorough investigation into his death.

John McDonough survived the Korean War, and his children said he remained a fighter at age 85.

“Talking about going to Texas for his grandson's graduation,” said his daughter, Moe Roddy.

But three days after that, Roddy, a cardiac nurse, discovered her dad was under hospice care at his Melbourne home.

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Raw: Family questions father's morphine overdose death

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“I believe he was incoherent because he was drugged," Roddy said.

Patients under hospice care often receive high levels of morphine to make them comfortable before an imminent death.

But McDonough's three children want to know why their dad was even admitted to home hospice just after being discharged from rehab with "improved health."

“There is no record of him being involved in the decision," said McDonough's son, Tim McDonough.

John McDonough's wife signed the hospice agreement using a power of attorney she had gotten two years earlier, while her husband was ill. He had later recovered.

Three days after his home hospice admission, records show his step granddaughter, a nurse, administered double the amount of morphine prescribed by his doctor in one hour and forty minutes.

When the hospice nurse heard the dosage amounts over the phone, she told the granddaughter not to give him any more.

Eighteen hours later, McDonough was dead.

Months after McDonough's death, a toxicology report showed he had four times the lethal limit of morphine for a nontolerant patient, but the medical examiner did not perform an autopsy.

With no autopsy, there is no way to know if the morphine is what killed McDonough.

Channel 9's Lori Brown asked the Brevard medical examiner if someone dropped the ball.

“That I don’t know,” Dr. Sajid Qaiser said. “I have no idea.”

The medical examiner said he's satisfied with the investigation, but the family is not.

They hired Rhode Island's former chief medical examiner to review their dad's records.

"A full autopsy in this case would definitely have answered questions," Dr. Elizabeth Laposata said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating how the medical examiner handled the case.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Tim McDonough said. “If this one is wrong, how many others are wrong?"

Hospice of St. Francis has not returned Channel 9's calls asking why John McDonough did not sign the hospice admission form.

The sheriff's office interviewed officials with hospice and declared the case cleared without charging anyone.

Channel 9 reached out to John McDonough's wife, but she said she would not answer any questions and hung up.

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9 Investigates mysterious hospice death

Nurse pleads guilty to taking Insys kickbacks as Subsys marketing probe continues

In an apparent sign that federal prosecutors are zeroing in on the pain-drug maker Insys Therapeutics ($INSY), a Connecticut nurse and top prescriber has pleaded guilty to accepting $83,000 worth of kickbacks from the company.

As The New York Times reports, Insys previously disclosed that the feds are looking into its marketing practices. The company's biggest drug is Subsys, a spray form of the high-powered painkiller fentanyl approved only for use in cancer patients.

The nurse, Heather Alfonso, was one of Insys' paid speakers, and often collected fees for events attended only by an Insys sales rep, or by her own friends and colleagues, the NYT reports. As part of her plea agreement, Alfonso admitted that the speaking fees influenced her prescribing decisions.

Prosecutors said that Alfonso prescribed Subsys to many patients who did not have cancer, the drug's only approved indication.

Subsys sales have grown quickly, despite its narrow market. The sublingual spray brought in $219.5 million for 2014, more than double its $95.8 million total the previous year. Fourth-quarter 2014 sales alone amounted to more than $60 million.

Insys sales reps previously told the Times that they were trained to begin talking about cancer pain with doctors and other potential prescribers--like Alfonso--and then move into a more general discussion about pain. Last year, script numbers showed that half of Subsys prescriptions were being written not by oncologists or pain specialists--as the FDA had directed--but by other types of providers, including GPs and dentists.

Former federal prosecutor Marcella Auerbach

Now, the prosecutors' move against Alfonso can't be a good sign for the company, one legal expert told the newspaper. "I think it means big trouble for the company," former federal prosecutor Marcella Auerbach told the Times. "I think it takes two to tango to do kickbacks--a giver and a receiver."

There's precedent for that sort of thinking. The long-term care pharmacy provider Omnicare ($OCR) in 2009 settled kickback claims with the Department of Justice, which cited its recommendations in favor of Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) antipsychotic drug Risperdal. J&J later found itself fighting DOJ claims that it paid kickbacks to Omnicare, aiming to boost Risperdal scripts.

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Nurse pleads guilty to taking Insys kickbacks as Subsys marketing probe continues