Atkinson Co. judge indicted after $430K goes missing

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ATKINSON CO., GA (WALB) - A Georgia probate judge has been indicted on charges of racketeering and theft by taking after nearly half a million dollars was stolen from the Atkinson County Probate Court's Office.

Probate Judge Marjorie O’Brien was arrested on January 27, 2017, and charged with one count of theft by taking.

An investigation was launched into the possible theft of funds by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at the request of Superior Court Judge Howard McClain on January 17, 2017.

During the investigation, the GBI determined O’Brien had stolen approximately $430,000 from the Atkinson County Probate court's Office between 2010 and 2016.

On Monday, O'Brien was indicted by an Atkinson County grand jury on two counts of racketeering and 81 counts of theft by taking.

Atkinson County Sheriff David Moore says the whole situation caught him completely off guard.

"It's like a kick in the stomach. One it's a small county, everybody knows everybody. We may talk about you, but we still like you. It was hard. It's hard for a lot of people," said Moore.

The case is being prosecuted by the Georgia Attorney General's Office.

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Atkinson Co. judge indicted after $430K goes missing

Woman filmed hitting 94-year-old in police custody, records show

HOUSTON, TX --

A woman accused of assaulting an elderly, disabled woman in Memorial Village is now in custody, according to Houston police records.

Brenda Floyd now sits in a Texas jail cell for a shocking assault that was all caught on camera.

This all began when the 94-year-old woman's son reviewed footage from a home surveillance camera on New Year's Day, and saw her caregiver striking his mother several times.

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Police searching for woman who hit elderly woman

The victim's son had installed the cameras after he allegedly noticed marks and bruises on his mother.

Police said the victim was struck in the side and on the head for allegedly feeding the dog "people" food.

Brenda Floyd

Tips about her whereabouts flooded into Memorial Village police, and they've been looking for Floyd ever since.

Now, she's behind bars. We are not yet certain how she was located by police, but we do know she is now facing charges for assault of an elderly person.

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Woman filmed hitting 94-year-old in police custody, records show

How to make sure your estate is in good hands if you’re incapacitated

WASHINGTON — Getting older is a certainty in life, but proper planning can ensure that your estate is in good hands as you age and the right person is leading decisions about your care, said Attorney Mike Collins with the Collins Firm.

Incapacity planning is extremely important, and a vital part of the estate planning process, Collins said. Without an incapacity plan in place, a judge can appoint someone to take control of an incapacitated person’s estate and make medical and decisions on their behalf, he added. In some cases, “the court may appoint a total stranger … if you don’t have a guardian,” he said.

That’s why it’s important to choose your own decision maker in advance, Collins said.

“If you’re incapacitated and legally unable to make decisions — whether they be for your health care or financial circumstances or what kind of care you’re going to receive — all those decisions are going to be made by someone other than yourself,” Collins said.

So Collins recommends a few steps, starting with identifying someone you want to make decisions on your behalf. This is a person who can make legal, financial, business and health care decisions if you’re not able.

A tool in the process will include an advanced medical directive — a legal document that specifies what actions should be taken should you become incapacitated. The person whom you’ve identified to make your decisions will follow these rules, and serve as a point person regarding decisions should you become incapacitated.

Another tool to consider is the durable power of attorney, which means you can appoint an agent to make legal decisions on your behalf if you’re incapacitated. Collins recommends naming someone who has authority to manage business and financial affairs.

“You want to empower someone to act on your behalf,” Collins said. “You have to be careful about the power of attorney though because you’re giving someone a lot of authority, so you want to make sure you pick someone you trust to do this.”

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How to make sure your estate is in good hands if you’re incapacitated

Minnesota elder care reform advocates turn up heat on legislators

Kay Bromelkamp and Anne Sterner

Frustrated by what they see as legislative foot-dragging, family members of abuse victims are intensifying their push for new laws to protect tens of thousands of vulnerable adults who live in senior care facilities across the state.

A grass roots coalition of abuse victims and their relatives, Elder Voice Family Advocates, descended on the State Capitol early Monday and distributed 1,850 summaries of maltreatment reports — including descriptions of beatings, sexual assaults and thefts — to legislators ahead of key hearings this week. The reports represent just a small fraction of the more than 20,000 allegations of maltreatment received by the Minnesota Department of Health each year from individuals and facilities across the state.

The family members said they are trying to combat the perception that abuse occurs only in a minority of senior homes, and want to show through government documents that dangerous incidents are widespread in every legislative district in the state.

The legislative action Monday was the culmination of weeks of data-gathering by the growing army of volunteers at Elder Voice. It's a grass-roots group that has bolted from obscurity over the past year to play a pivotal role in state efforts to reform Minnesota's troubled system for responding to violent crimes and other forms of abuse in senior homes.

Wearing their signature orange clothing, two dozen Elder Voice members fanned out across the Capitol buildings in St. Paul with heavy cardboard boxes filled with maltreatment reports, which they handed out to 150 legislators. The process of reading, sorting and mapping the reports by legislative district took hundreds of volunteer hours, and the printing costs nearly depleted Elder Voice's modest budget.

The project was also an emotional one for Elder Voice's mostly women volunteers, who all have parents or other loved ones who were mistreated in senior facilities. 

"The [senior care] industry keeps saying this is rare," Anne Sterner, an Elder Voice member, said as she handed a pile of reports to state Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick. "It's not rare. It's systemic. And legislators need to take action on a global scale."

In recent weeks, senior advocacy groups such as Elder Voice and Minnesota AARP have grown increasingly concerned that elder care reform efforts are being weakened or delayed by the powerful nursing home lobby, and by incremental proposals that improve consumer protections but leave the existing regulatory system largely intact.

Elder Voice was part of a coalition of senior advocacy groups charged last November by Gov. Mark Dayton to come up with recommendations to improve the safety and care of the state's nearly 2,000 senior homes. Early this year, after weeks of meetings, they produced an ambitious blueprint of reforms. The 58-page report called for a new licensing system for the state's lightly regulated assisted-living industry, greater protections against arbitrary evictions from senior facilities, more stringent criminal sanctions against abusers, and a "private right of action" for lawsuits when vulnerable seniors are abused, among other reforms.

Within weeks, Dayton hailed the report and DFL lawmakers have introduced far-reaching legislation that contain many of its key recommendations, including a plan to require Minnesota's roughly 1,200 assisted-living facilities to be licensed by 2020. Because assisted-living facilities are currently not licensed, they are not subject to regular inspections and their residents do not have the same level of consumer protections as those who live in state-licensed nursing homes, according to an exhaustive report released last month by the state Legislative Auditor.

Despite bipartisan support, the legislation supported by elder care advocates missed the committee deadlines required to advance.

Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to debate more modest proposals that would help protect seniors but would leave the regulatory system in place. A bill being supported by state Senate Republicans, for instance, would strengthen the state's enforcement powers and lift the layers of secrecy that often surround investigations of maltreatment. Yet the proposal stops short of licensing assisted living, and instead would establish a 16-member task force to review state oversight of these facilities.

Kristine Sundberg, president of Elder Voice, said relatives of abuse victims had their expectations raised by talk of systemic reforms, and are growing frustrated by the political process and what they see as legislators' indifference to the surge of elder abuse reports. In 2016, the state Health Department received 25,226 allegations of abuse and neglect in senior care facilities, a sevenfold increase since 2010. Yet only 3 percent of the allegations were investigated by state inspectors on site, according to a Star Tribune investigation.

For now, members of Elder Voice have vowed to persist with their campaign by taking their message directly to lawmakers and pushing to strengthen the bills that remain.

"We don't need more task forces and work groups. That's a delaying tactic," said Sundberg, as she walked through the Capitol with an armful of documents. "When we talk to families of abuse victims ... it's perplexing to them why lawmakers cannot take something seriously that is literally a life and death issue."

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Minnesota elder care reform advocates turn up heat on legislators

Here's what's happening at the state Capitol this week

Minnesota lawmakers return from their spring break Monday with plenty of work to do in the remaining six weeks of the 2018 legislative session.

This week's agenda includes a House committee hearing on issues related to the troubled licensing system known as MNLARS ((Minnesota Licensing and Registration System)). It was prompted, in part, by last week's MPR News story about an investigation into the fired state worker who headed up the troubled project.

Two House committees, transportation and state government, have a joint hearing scheduled Tuesday. Lawmakers have questions about the investigation and report that they learned about last week.

The report, completed in February, provides extensive detail about the problems that started when MNLARS went online last summer and some of the key missteps that led to those problems.

The investigation was focused on Paul Meekin, and the report criticizes him for not addressing known defects prior to the system launch. But lawmakers want to know who else was involved and whether other personnel changes have been made.

House Transportation Chair Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, said he also wants to know more about the Department of Public Safety spending on a call center related to MNLARS complaints. He and other Republicans left that project out of the $10 million funding measure they passed last month. He said lawmaker want an update Tuesday on how that $10 million is being spent. There are also questions about some office remodeling at Minnesota IT Services.

Legislation related to elder abuse is also on the agenda this week.

The House Health and Human Services Finance committee takes up one of the bills Wednesday. Rep. Deb Kiel, R-Crookston, is proposing a package of changes, including tighter regulations for care providers and improvements to the reporting and investigation of abuse allegations.

Gov. Mark Dayton has his own proposal that he rolled out last month. The governor's plan will be heard by the Senate Human Services Reform committee Monday afternoon.

The Senate Education Finance committee takes up some proposals Monday related to school safety. There are several bills this session aimed at helping school district make security improvements to buildings. There is bipartisan support for doing something this session, but there are differing approaches to the funding.

Taxes remain the biggest challenge left of the session. Lawmakers want to get the state tax code lined up better with all the recent federal changes.

Dayton put out his plan for helping middle-income taxpayers. But he did not provide the same help to businesses, which is a priority for Republicans. Dayton is also pushing to repeal some of the changes made in last year's tax bill, including cuts for tobacco, business property and estates. Republicans oppose those changes.

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Here's what's happening at the state Capitol this week

Aging Well: Why do you need a power of attorney?

If you become incapacitated and can no longer manage your financial affairs, you should have a power of attorney, or POA, so that some other person you trust has the authority to act on your behalf for the many financial transactions necessary to maintain your assets and financial good standing.

However, you should not wait until you become incapacitated to execute a POA, because it may be too late. If you become mentally incapacitated and do not have a POA, the court may appoint a guardian over your affairs.

Your court-appointed guardian may not be the person you would have chosen, especially if there is a dispute among your family members. A guardian has whatever powers the court gives them. This may be very different than the powers you would want them to have.

A POA gives you, the "principal," better control over your future, where you decide who will be your "agent," or the person authorized to act for you in the event of an accident or illness. You define the powers and authority your agent will have. Many of these powers are practical and are concerned with routine financial activities. POAs permit your agent to manage your money and property. The agent can pay bills, make investments and even sell your property if necessary.

A skillfully prepared POA with asset protection authority can protect your family's financial security in the event of your incapacity. It is an extremely important and relatively inexpensive document. However, great consideration needs to be given to who will be granted the powers and under what terms, because it can be the vehicle for inappropriate use of assets by an unlawful agent. Nevertheless, every responsible adult should have a POA.

In January 2015, Pennsylvania updated the POA law (Act 95) which has several significant changes. Act 95 tries to strike a balance, which gives you the ability to give your agent the powers you desire him or her to have but which also helps prevent, detect and prosecute abuse by the agent.

For instance, Act 95 imposes duties to keep the agent's and principal's funds separate, to keep a record of all receipts, disbursements and transactions made on behalf of the principal and to attempt to preserve the principal's estate plan. However, if you do not want these duties imposed on your agent, they may be waived or released by the principal in the POA document.

The principal signs a notice form that contains state-mandated information about the significance of the POA. The updated language in the notice warns the principal that a grant of broad authority may allow the agent to give away the principal's property while the principal is alive or change how the principal's property is distributed at death.

The agent signs an acknowledgment form accepting the duties that go with acting as an agent and agreeing to act in conformity with the principal's expectations, in good faith and only within the scope of the authority granted in the document. The agent acknowledgement must be in conformity with Act 95's new language. An agent has no authority to act until he or she has signed this acknowledgment and it is affixed to the POA document.

Before Act 95, there was no requirement that a POA be notarized or even witnessed. Beginning with documents signed on or after Jan. 1, 2015, a POA must be notarized and have two qualified witnesses, which means that they are above the age of 18 and cannot be the notary or the agent. This permits the POA to be recorded if desired.

The law also attempts to reduce the potential for financial abuse by prohibiting your agent from taking certain actions unless they are specially authorized in your POA. These "hot powers" include actions that have the potential to dissipate your property or change your estate plan, such as making a gift on your behalf or changing a beneficiary designation on an insurance policy or IRA. If you want your agent to have any of these powers, the authority must be set out in your POA document. Many of these powers are practical to have as we age and are concerned about sheltering our assets from long-term care costs.

A POA is useful only if it will be accepted by the financial institution or other third party to whom it is delivered. So the law includes provisions that can penalize a third party for refusing to accept your POA as well as to protect you from abuse by permitting those third parties to question a POA when they have a suspicion that something is amiss or your agent is acting beyond the granted powers.

If the agent has fully complied with the requirements of the law, a third party that refuses to comply with the proper instructions of the agent is subject to liability for financial harm caused to the principal by the refusal and to a court-order a mandated acceptance of the POA.

Act 95 does not require that you get a new POA, but it makes sense to have your current document reviewed by a lawyer who is familiar with the new law. Legally, pre-2015 POAs remain valid.

Practically, your old POA may not be the best document for you or your agent. You may want to update your POA so that it will more likely accepted by your bank and other financial institutions without questions.

POAs can vary in terms of scope and complexity. Some financial powers of attorney are very simple and may not contain the necessary powers to achieve desired results. If you have not recently updated your power of attorney, now may be a good time to visit your elder law attorney for a review.

Sean D. Curran, Curran Estate Law, focuses his practice, 222 N. Kenhorst Blvd., exclusively on estate and elder law, at www.curraneelaw.com.

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Aging Well: Why do you need a power of attorney?

Tonight on Marti Oakley's T. S. Radio: Hospice Survivors and Victims with Carly Walken

5:00pm PST …  6:00pm MST…  7:00pm CST…8:00pm EST

We will be speaking with the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and International Chair of the groups working to stop euthanasia and assisted suicide. We welcome Alex Schadenberg to the program tonight.

Across the country groups and organizations are springing up promoting the euthanizing of elderly or terminally ill individuals. Couched in soft sounding language, many of these efforts are focused on prematurely ending the lives of those who are elderly, or whose health is deteriorating. While many of these organizations try to orientate themselves from the aspect of the elder or sick individual having the right to end their own lives, does the truth actually lie in something more sinister? Are we now going to start euthanizing those we have determined to be part of what is now referred to as the human waste population?

How can anyone decide that someone else’s life is not worth living? and….Who will make that decision?

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

State faults Eagan assisted living facility after resident’s body apparently not discovered for 2 days

Debbie Singer walked up to her mother’s apartment at an Eagan senior living community to find multiple packages and two newspapers outside the door. Her mother’s bed and bathroom looked as if they hadn’t been used in days. Medication for the past two days had not been taken, and her mother was wearing the same clothing she’d been in two days earlier.

June Alice Thompson was 92 years old when she died in October 2017 at The Commons on Marice in Eagan. Her daughter described her as a “fiery redhead” who loved animals, dancing, golfing, singing, and fishing. (Courtesy of Debbie Singer).

June Alice Thompson, 92, was dead, and most likely had been for two days.

But Commons on Marice, a senior living community in Eagan, hadn’t noticed because staff had neglected to check on Thompson for two days, according to allegations in a state Health Department report released Tuesday.

Commons on Marice said Tuesday it has appealed the findings.

“Our hearts go out to this resident’s family and friends and we are deeply sorry for their loss,” executive director David Salmon said in a statement. “As a senior living community, we sometimes have residents pass away while living with us, and our intent is to always handle those events with respect and sensitivity.”

Singer said she was pleased with the state’s findings.

The Health Department alleges that while Thompson’s death was most likely natural, Commons on Marice failed to complete the daily checks the privately operated facility advertises and did not notice Thompson’s death for two days. The name of the victim and her daughter were included in the Eagan Police Department report on the incident, but not in the state report.

Thompson had terminal esophageal cancer and was classified as “assisted living,” but she was independent enough to use her own feeding tube and administer her own medications, the police report said.

“Her condition was changing, but she was incredibly intelligent and vibrant, and she was very in tune to what was going on in the world,” Singer said. “She would listen to politics on both sides, and she had high hopes for the Vikings winning the Super Bowl. She would discuss their plays and knew who was being traded.”

Thompson had attended a meeting with family on Oct. 24. Singer told investigators her mother was alert, oriented, involved in the meeting and able to move about.

“I love you and I’ll see you in a couple of days,” Singer and her mother told each other before Singer left.

A housekeeper arrived as the family was leaving. Thompson told the housekeeper she was excited to meet the housekeeper’s children at a Halloween party later that evening. She had decorated her walker for the event — as she always did for holidays — Singer said.

When the housekeeper left in the afternoon, Thompson was standing in the kitchen, the state report said.

“See you later,” Thompson told the housekeeper. The housekeeper was possibly the last person to see Thompson alive, the police report said.

Singer returned on Oct. 26 to find her mother in a reclining chair with the footrest extended, leaning in horizontal position. The shades were not closed, the lights had not been turned on, and the newspaper — dated Oct. 24 — was folded on the left side of Thompson along with a pair of eyeglasses. It was immediately evident to Singer that her mother was dead, the state report said.

“I just knew something was wrong because she never missed her daily newspaper,” Singer said. “There were all kinds of indications that she didn’t die peacefully.”

Thompson’s death appeared to be natural, according to the medical examiner. Her death certificate lists her time of death as 6 p.m. Oct. 26, 2017 — when she was found.

The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office did not conduct an autopsy because Thompson had a terminal illness, the office said. Although there were still some unanswered questions about the death, the office did not categorize it as accidental, suicidal or homicidal, a spokesperson said.

An investigator narrowed down the time of Thompson’s death to between 3 and 7 p.m. Oct. 24, the police report said.

The Commons on Marice functions more as an apartment building with daily check-ins by staff than as a nursing home. Thompson had been living there for more than four years, and received additional hospice care visits twice weekly from Allina Health.

The facility had a daily “I’m OK” program, used to document that each client was checked on daily by a staff member. Once clients were seen or called each day, they received check marks by their names on a client roster kept in the receptionist’s desk.

Commons on Marice could not provide the state with documentation that Thompson had been checked on either Oct. 24 or Oct. 25. She had an “I’m OK” daily check for Oct. 26th, but the state said it was falsely documented because the client was no longer alive.

A senior leader at Commons on Marice told investigators that since the incident, the facility had implemented a new process for the “I’m OK” checks.

“Since this incident, we immediately reviewed our existing policies and procedures and strengthened our process for conducting resident welfare checks,” Salmon said. “The care our residents receive is our top priority.”

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State faults Eagan assisted living facility after resident’s body apparently not discovered for 2 days

Oklahoma woman wanted in 4 counties for fraud, exploitation of the elderly

Anissa Vandenburg

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. — Police are looking for an Oklahoma woman accused of preying on seniors. Anissa Vandenburg is wanted in four Oklahoma Counties for a variety of crimes, including writing bad checks, document forgery, bank fraud, and financial exploitation of the elderly.

Investigators say she’s a skilled con artist who knows how to manipulate others.

“It goes back many years with this woman,” said David Cathey, an investigator with the Office of the District Attorney, 19th District. “She’s a habitual criminal.”

A Midwest City grandmother says she was tricked into giving Vandenburg $8,000 last year.

“Maybe about two or three weeks later, I realized I had been conned,” said LaDonna Bala. “It took me a while to report it because I felt like an idiot.”

Vandenburg worked as a bartender at the Moose Lodge, where Bala is a member. She came over to Bala’s home last April with an elaborate story about why she needed money, and Bala believed her. Bala says she finally realized it was a scam when she looked up Vandenburg’s court records online.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be that open or trusting again,” Bala said.

The experience has affected her financially and spiritually, but she’s hopeful others will learn from her mistake and justice will eventually be served.

“Vandenburg really is something of a sociopath in that she creates a lot of delusions and she’s very convincing to the people she talks to with her delusions,” said Cathey. “She loves to portray herself as a victim.”

Cathey believes Vandenburg is living in Midwest City or Guthrie, and he’s trying to track her down.
“We can’t find her,” he said. “We want the public to pick up the phone if you’ve seen her.”

Vandenburg is possible traveling with her husband, Harold Vandenburg. They may be in a black, 1995 Ford Ranger pick-up truck with Oklahoma tag number CFE418.

If you see them, you’re asked to call police.

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Oklahoma woman wanted in 4 counties for fraud, exploitation of the elderly