Committee hears bill intended to streamline services for vulnerable adults

JEFFERSON CITY — Rep. Holly Rehder, R- Sikeston, wants to make it easier to provide services to vulnerable adults.

The Health and Mental Health Policy Committee heard her bill, House Bill 1484, on Monday. The bill would allow prosecutors to establish “adult protection teams” for elderly, vulnerable or disabled adults.

Under the bill, local prosecutors could establish multidisciplinary teams with professionals like psychologists, law enforcement officers, guardians and financial professionals to handle specific cases of reports of abuse or exploitation.

This would streamline cases and prevent victims from having to relay the same information over and over, said Rehder, R-Sikeston.

A similar system is in place in Missouri for victims of child abuse.

Benjamin Miller, assistant prosecutor in Callaway County, spoke in support of the legislation. He has worked with the system for child abuse victims.

“It is a resource that has made our job in protecting victims so much easier,” Miller said. “One of the things you find is not that agencies duplicate resources, (but) they assume they’re going to duplicate resources and it causes inaction.”

“By having this body where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing at all times, it streamlines it so that pieces of evidence don’t slip through the cracks and it makes it so that the most vulnerable victims we have are protected,” he said.

A similar bill failed to pass last year. This amended version does not cover people in long-term care facilities, whose employees already face a set protocol for reporting suspected abuse and exploitation to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

“We don’t want to have the Department of Health saying, ‘Oh, well. I thought the multidisciplinary team was doing this,’ and the multidisciplinary team saying, ‘I thought you guys were doing it,’ and then having this elderly person’s case fall through the cracks,” Rehder said.

The committee also voted to pass a bill that would decriminalize needle and syringe exchanges. House Bill 1486 also sponsored by Rehder, would exempt registered syringe exchange programs from drug paraphernalia laws.

“If you’re using a needle, getting a free one isn’t going to make you use a needle, you’re already using a needle,” Rehder said. “I haven’t seen any negative statistics about them.”

Drug users who use needle exchange programs are five times more likely to enter drug treatment, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Missouri has 13 counties in the top 220 at risk of infectious disease outbreaks from IV drugs, according to the CDC.

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Committee hears bill intended to streamline services for vulnerable adults

Attempted scam nearly costs Genesee County couple more than $9,000

GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. - Financial exploitation and fraud incidents have become far too common and can target anyone.

However, elderly are more likely to be taken advantage of by scammers.

In a press conference Wednesday, Interim Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson reported a case of financial exploitation.

According to Swanson, a Genesee County couple received a new computer from their son.

Within the first few weeks, they got a message to buy an extended warranty for the computer.

Thinking it was a good idea, the couple paid $100 for the warranty, which was actually a scam.

The couple contacted an individual to get the warranty and are convinced to pay the $100 for an unlimited warranty.

The couple gives out their bank information for the $100 to the scammers.

Scammers transferred $10,000 from a savings and secure funds account the elderly couple had without the couple knowing.

Scammers tricked the couple saying they made a mistake and put $10,000 in the couples's account when the money was actually their's the whole time.

They then told the couple to send $9,600 "back" and keep $400.

The scammers told the couple to send the cash via Fed Ex in a box with packing and to wrap it in tin foil.

Wrapping it in foil prevents scanners from seeing it's currency.

If currency is detected by any delivery service or the United States Postal Service it is pulled out of the shipping line.

The couple's daughter-in-law notified authorities to what was going on and the money was recovered 20 minutes before it was sent out for delivery.

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Attempted scam nearly costs Genesee County couple more than $9,000

Mason pushes bill inspired by RTD's 'Unguarded' investigation

By Bridget Balch

Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg
2019/BOB BROWN

The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a bill introduced by Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, aimed at preventing ethical conflicts from arising in guardianship cases.

Mason was prompted by “Unguarded,” a three-part Richmond Times-Dispatch investigative series published in November, which revealed that VCU Health System and other health care providers in the Richmond region had taken hundreds of low-income patients to court and asked to have their lawyer appointed the patients’ guardian, putting him in charge of the person’s medical decision-making and finances.

The attorney frequently had the patients discharged from expensive hospital beds, placed in poorly rated nursing homes, maintained a list of up to 120 wards at a time and rarely visited them, the investigation found.

“I understand there’s a shortage of guardians,” Mason said in his testimony before the committee Monday morning. “What I’m trying to get at is ... if you come to the court on behalf of the hospital, you cannot then become the guardian to the person you’re trying to get out of the hospital.”

Mason referenced a fact exposed in the Times-Dispatch investigation that, in at least 13 cases, the lawyer resigned from being the patient’s guardian unless the person was admitted to VCU Health System again, in which case he could resume his authority.

“I am not making that up,” Mason said. “You ought not to be able to do that.”

Laura Rossacher, spokeswoman for VCU Health System, said that the health system does not take a position on Mason’s measure, Senate Bill 1072. She said last month that the health system is in conversations with community partners about possible collaborations on guardianship, but would not give further details.

“It’s one of the most horrific situations that I have ever seen,” said Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond. “It was shocking in all of its aspects.”

Morrissey said that he would have proposed legislation on the issue himself, but didn’t believe there was enough time to pull it together.

“It’s not the individual’s attorney who becomes the guardian; it’s the hospital’s attorney trying to kick the person out and then becomes the guardian,” clarified Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, the committee chairman, who was learning of the scenario for the first time. “That’s a conflict of interest — a clear-cut case of a conflict of interest.”

Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City, agreed.

“I support what Senator Mason is trying to do,” Norment said. “In the practice of law, there is a very fundamental caveat and that is to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and at a minimum, that is the threshold of this situation.”

Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said that he agreed with the spirit of the bill, but thought that the language was too broad and would ultimately raise costs for guardianship cases without conflict. He suggested focusing the bill to hospital-sponsored guardianship petitions.

The Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia did not take a position on the policy proposed by the bill, but had technical concerns, including that some rural jurisdictions may have no eligible guardians for incapacitated people under the proposed law.

The committee instructed Mason to work with the Office of the Executive Secretary to refine the bill and to come back with amendments on another day.

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Mason pushes bill inspired by RTD's 'Unguarded' investigation

Police: Woman paid mortgage from dependent's bank account

Maryann Avery (Photo: Polk County Jail/Special to the Register)

A Des Moines woman was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with theft after stealing more than $24,000 from a person whose money she managed. 

Marryan Avery, 66, served as as the power of attorney for an adult person, according to a criminal complaint. Avery paid for her mortgage and wrote herself more than $24,500 in checks from the victim's bank account over seven months in 2019, though she lacked the authorization to do so, police said. 

Avery faces charges of theft and dependent adult abuse. An attorney was not listed.

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Police: Woman paid mortgage from dependent's bank account

Local families share struggles of getting mental health help for loved ones

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SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Two weeks ago, the kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl in Springfield prompted an amber alert, a statewide search, and a community effort to bring the child home safely.

In a matter of hours, both the child and the kidnapping suspect were tracked down, but in the days following Miguel Rodriguez being charged with kidnapping, his family raised concerns about his mental stability.

In fact, they told Western Mass News the 24-year-old Rodriguez had been struggling with mental illness for years and that efforts to medicate him were unsuccessful.

"Multiple times, cops have come here, because of him," Miguel Rodriguez's sister tells us.

In an interview with Western Mass News weeks ago, the sister of Miguel Rodriguez says it wasn't unusual for her family to call the cops on her brother.

Though she didn't want to show her face on camera, his sister told us that Miguel suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia, which resulted in hospitalizations and restraining orders against him from his own family members.

"Last time with the hospital, before he got let go and released, and I said, 'Please don’t release him. He is not mentally stable'," explained Rodriguez's sister.

But she says her brother, Miguel, was let out of the hospital and on January 15, the day an 11-year-old Springfield girl was kidnapped while walking home, Miguel's sister recognized the car in the amber alert and had to call the cops on her brother once again.

"He was not medicating himself. We tried. I want people to understand and know that my mom has tried various times to get him Roger's Orders to control him," stated Rodriguez's sister.

Now facing kidnapping, assault, and rape charges, Miguel Rodriguez is being evaluated in a hospital, but his family said their attempts to force Miguel to take anti-psychotic medication through the courts were unsuccessful.

"In order to have a Rogers guardianship, you need a guardianship, so the court has to make a base determination that the individual is incompetent to manage their affairs," Michelle Feinstein, an estate attorney for Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, stated.

Michele Feinstein is an estate attorney, who handles Rogers guardianship in the local courts.

She says it's an uphill battle for families to get their loved ones declared mentally incapacitated in the courts.

"We place a great premium in our society on individual independence and liberty, so a guardianship is effectively eroding someone’s liberty and it’s not something that the court takes lightly," said Feinstein.

"He was an adult, had an episode, was diagnosed as schizo-affective bipolar, psychotic," local resident Kristina says.

No one knows the difficulty of getting guardianship over a loved one like Kristina.

"He doesn’t want help," continued Kristina.

According to Kristina, her brother has refused to take anti-psychotic medication for more than fifteen years.

"He's smart, so he knows his rights. He knows that he doesn’t have to be treated if he doesn’t want to, He wouldn’t say, you know, 'I’m going to hurt myself or hurt anyone', but he would break into homes. [It’s been twenty years and you still haven’t been able to get any kind of Rogers guardianship?] You need a psychologist or a psychiatrist orders or input in order to get Rogers guardianship and we can never get that," stated Kristina.

Because her brother refuses to see family members when admitted to hospitals, Kristina says it's become a repeating cycle of dangerous behavior and hospitalization.

"They just medicate him and let him go and that’s happened probably about fifteen times," says Kristina.

Without the guardianship, Kristina says she was forced to watch her brother's condition deteriorate.

"Talking about women, we clearly saw that he might, he could do something. [What are your concerns for him?] My biggest concern is his safety. I’m afraid he’s just going to sleep outside and freeze to death one night. I’m afraid he’s going to starve to death, because he doesn’t feed himself," said Kristina.

And those concerns only multiply when she says the only other alternative for care is behind bars.

"I was really hoping he would go to jail just to get the help he needs. I’m worried for others. I’ll admit I’m afraid he’ll just, you know, break into another home. I reached out to you with the recent case against Miguel Rodriguez, because I thought there wasn’t really help until something bad happens and that’s not fair. It’s not fair to society. Would he do something like that? Maybe," added Kristina.

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Local families share struggles of getting mental health help for loved ones

'I want my sister home.' Family claims local Adult Protective Services worker hid their relative

By: Heather Catallo

(WXYZ) — She’s supposed to protect vulnerable adults, but a local Adult Protective Services worker is accused of hiding a relative from her siblings.

7 Investigator Heather Catallo first exposed this APS worker last year during a guardianship case that involved a Detroit grandmother. Now that worker is under fire again.

Family members are accusing Tresna Tupper of taking their loved one and hiding her away from them. They are also questioning whether Tupper should be in a position of power with vulnerable seniors in our community.

Clyde Edmonds has a message for his sister: “We miss you and we coming for you.

“I want my sister home,” Edmonds added. He says he hasn’t seen his sister, Paula Tupper, in months – not even for the holidays.

“It wasn’t right. We always get together during the holidays,” said Edmonds as he held back tears. “Thanksgiving and Christmas, we [were] together. We’re family, that’s how we were brought up.”

Clyde says after Paula had a stroke last summer, he tried to get guardianship of his 68-year-old sister to help her make medical decisions. But Clyde and Paula missed their hearing date in Wayne County Probate Court, so the case was dismissed.

Last fall, Paula was hospitalized again. But this time, Clyde says the sister of Paula’s late husband checked her out of the hospital and he hasn’t seen Paula since.

“I’ve been so stressed out trying to get help to locate my sister. I’ve been to the police station, I’m telling them that she’s been missing for months, and I haven’t been able to get no help from no one,” said Edmonds.

That sister-in-law is a woman named Tresna Tupper. Tresna is an investigator for Adult Protective Services, or APS, which is a division of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Last fall, the 7 Investigators first exposed the role that Tresna played in a different high-profile guardianship case.

Bessie Owens told us that Tupper, in her role as an APS Investigator, came into her home uninvited last year and then filed a petition to place the 78-year-old Detroit grandmother under guardianship: a guardianship Owens did not want or need.

“Did you have any notice that a guardianship case had been opened about you?” Catallo asked Owens.

“No,” Owens said.

“Nothing in writing?” Catallo asked.

“Nothing in writing,” Owens added.

A judge later dismissed the guardianship and questioned why Tupper filed without notifying Owens children.

Clyde Edmonds also says he did not get any notice, as required by law, that Tresna was petitioning the court to become his sister’s guardian.

Tresna said in her petition that Clyde and Paula’s friends were financially exploiting her.

Clyde says that’s not true, and he alleges Tresna is the one doing the exploiting.

“She wants Paula’s house and she want Paula’s money,” said Edmonds.

Edmonds says Tresna’s name is now on Paula’s bank account. He finally got to see his sister during a court hearing earlier this month. Her face lit up with a huge smile when she saw Edmonds in the courtroom.

At that hearing, he learned Tresna had placed Paula into a group home in Detroit, and that’s not all.

“Upon further inquiry, it does appear that the guardian has added her name to the title to the home owned by the ward. It appears there is an apparent conflict of interest,” said Renita Forrest, the court-appointed attorney (known as a Guardian ad Litem) assigned to advise the ward (Paula Tupper) of her rights.

About a month after Tresna was granted guardianship of Paula, she filed a deed with Wayne County, putting her name on Paula’s house.

So even though Tupper told the judge Paula wanted her to continue as her guardian, the deed transfer prompted Judge David Perkins to appoint an independent guardian.

“She asked me to stay,” said Tresna Tupper in court.

“I understand what she asked,” said Judge David Perkins. “I would like to see a third party appointed for now.”

After that hearing, while Paula’s friends and relatives enjoyed a reunion, we tried to talk to Tresna Tupper.

“Why haven’t you let Paula’s siblings talk to her?” Catallo asked Tupper.

“Have a good day ma’am,” said Tupper.

“Why haven’t you let her siblings talk to her?" asked Catallo.

“Ma’am you’re being rude,” said Tupper. “Have a good day.”

“No, I’m not being rude, you work for the state, and we have some questions for you about how you conduct your business. Why do you keep filing petitions for guardianship instead of contacting family members?” asked Catallo.

Tupper refused to answer and fled into an adjoining courtroom to further avoid our cameras.

She also refused to answer our questions about why she put her name on Paula Tupper’s home.

The 7 Investigators asked a spokesman of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Adult Protective Services, whether they have done any additional training with their APS workers because of what we’ve uncovered.

They would not answer specific questions about employees, but did say that as a result of the questions raised by the 7 Investigators in our last story that involved Tresna Tupper, “Wayne County Adult Protective Services... reviewed the policies and procedures staff are required to follow prior to filing petitions.”

The independent guardian is in place until a court hearing next month.

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'I want my sister home.' Family claims local Adult Protective Services worker hid their relative

2 Elderly Women Bilked Out Of $35,000; Miami-Dade Man Charged

A 37-year-old Miami-Dade man has been accused of stealing $35,000 from two elderly women.

By Paul Scicchitano

Aquiles Brito-Bigott is accused of bilking two elderly women out of $35,000. (Via Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

MIAMI, FL — A 37-year-old Miami-Dade man has been accused of stealing $35,000 from two elderly women by convincing them that a relative had been arrested for causing a traffic crash.

Aquiles Brito-Bigott was charged with organized scheme to defraud, grand theft and theft from the elderly, according to Detective Lee Cowart of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

"The investigation revealed that the scheme began when both victims received telephone calls reporting that a relative had been arrested for causing a traffic crash with serious injuries," Cowart said. "The caller advised the victims that an attorney was going to assist them in preventing their relative from going to jail."

Cowart said another person posed as an attorney and instructed the elderly victims to Another to withdraw a predetermined sum of cash to be turned over to a security courier who would visit them at their homes.

"Mr. Brito-Bigott posed as the security courier in both thefts," Cowart said. "Investigators are seeking the assistance of the community to locate any additional victims that may have been defrauded by Mr. Brito-Bigott and his accomplices."

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2 Elderly Women Bilked Out Of $35,000; Miami-Dade Man Charged

Nursing homes in Freeport, Oregon fined for endangering patients

(WTVO) — The Illinois Department of Public Health has levied fines against two local nursing homes for resident safety violations.

Manor Court of Freeport, located at 2170 West Navajo Drive, was fined $25,000 for failure to ensure a resident was given the correct medications, after a patient was given another patient’s medication and caused an accidental overdose. The patient was subsequently admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital.

The resident’s daughter allegedly told hospital staff that the incident was the second time the facility had given the resident the wrong medications.

Oregon Living & Rehab Center, at 811 South 10th Street, was fined $50,000 for failure to ensure the safety of a resident during personal care, supervise residents with a history of falls, and administration of correct medication.

The complaint says that in one case, facility workers fractured a patient’s arm while dressing her; in another, one resident with a history of falls was unsupervised and was injured; and in another, a resident suffered a bruise after accidentally being hit in the head with a bed remote during care.

The IDPH releases quarterly reports on nursing home violations.

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Nursing homes in Freeport, Oregon fined for endangering patients

Port Ludlow financial guardian pleads guilty to defrauding clients

A Port Ludlow man who is accused of stealing as much as $280,000 from clients he served as a financial guardian pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday to Social Security fraud.

Wayne Jerome Houston, 61, owned Cross Point Services LLC, a guardianship organization for disabled and vulnerable adults, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Brian Moran. 

As part of his business managing the financial affairs of 15-20 clients a month, Houston  had access to the clients’ bank accounts so he could pay rent, utilities and other bills for them. Beginning in 2010, Houston began writing checks from his client's accounts to himself, to Cross Point Services, or to cash, and he used ATMs to withdraw money from client accounts for his own expenses, according to Moran's office.

He continued withdrawing money through 2018. The amount stolen is still under investigation, the office said, but it is estimated between $150,000 and $280,941.   

“This defendant stole from those he was supposed to protect at least 240 separate times,” Moran said in the press release. “He betrayed the clients who needed his help, as well as the Kitsap County Superior Court judges who appointed him, believing he could be trusted to make sure disabled and vulnerable adults were protected.”

Houston targeted clients who had significant income so that the theft was less likely to be detected, the press release said. 

Social Security benefits were paid into the accounts of at least 13 clients who required a representative payee to manage their benefits. Approximately $83,000 of what Houston is accused of stealing was Social Security Administration benefit funds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.  

The charges are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend no more than 40 months in prison. The judge, Ronald Leighton, is not limited by the recommendation, however, and Houston's sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, according to the press release.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.  

Houston is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17. 

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Port Ludlow financial guardian pleads guilty to defrauding clients