DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)
— The nursing home where the late Penny Boddie lived had been fined and
cited by the government numerous times prior to her going missing.
2 NEWS received a statement from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), that said the case of Boddie, the woman with dementia who went missing from CareCore at Mary Scott,
is currently under investigation. She was last seen at the facility on
Sunday, May 14, at 9:30 p.m. Just days later, on Wednesday, May 17, the
Dayton Police Department said Boddie had been found dead.
DPD says they believe no foul play is suspected.
“Any loss of life is always tragic,” ODH said. “The incident is being
thoroughly investigated by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and
pending the outcome of the investigation, the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) will issue their decision and may impose
penalties.”
Inspections conducted by the state of Ohio show the overall health
rating for the nursing home is one star, which is described as ‘Much
Below Average.’ Staffing at the facility received a one-star rating as
well.
On July 21, 2022, the facility received its latest noted health inspection, according to the full report. During the inspection, a total of 20 citations were given,
well above both the state and national average. In Ohio, the average is
10.2 health citations, while the national average is 8.7.
Medicare also reports nine complaints over the past three years that resulted in a citation for the location. One citation came from an infection control inspection, which took place sometime in the past 3 years, Medicare said.
The facility also was subject to 5 federal fines totaling $141,806 over the past 3 years, including one for $110,885 in July 2022, Medicare reports.
The quality measures rating at Mary Scott is ranked five stars, which
is considered as ‘Much Above Average.’ There is limited data for
short-term stays at the facility as recorded by the government. Medicare
gives out the rankings based on data from chosen clinical data
measures. For quality measures, Medicare says the more stars a facility
has means the performance is better.
“The quality measures star rating measures parts of nursing home
performance in certain areas of care, like if residents have gotten
their flu shots, are in pain, or are losing weight,” according to Medicare.
We reached out to CareCore at Mary Scott on Tuesday, May 16 for
comment. The facility told 2 NEWS they had no comment and would not
answer any questions at that time.
When older adults are declared legally incapacitated, guardians are
appointed to take over decision-making regarding their health or
financial affairs. Pennsylvania’s guardianship law is set up to protect
older people from potential fraud or other forms of abuse.
Despite
those efforts, claims of abuse and financial exploitation by guardians
have made their way to the courts. A Spotlight PA review of some of
these cases and conversations with people who specialize in elder law
revealed flaws in the guardianship system and other shortcomings in safeguarding this vulnerable population.
On
Thursday, June 1 at 6 p.m. ET, join Spotlight PA’s Angela Couloumbis
and other expert panelists for a free Q&A on Pennsylvania’s elder
protection laws and how they could be improved.
Our panelists include:
Angela Couloumbis, investigative reporter for Spotlight PA
State Sen. Art Haywood (D., Philadelphia)
Steve Feldman, lawyer specializing in health and elder law
Tina Paone, professor of education counseling and leadership, Monmouth University
SENECA, S.C. — A woman
has been arrested years after scamming thousands of dollars from a bank
in Seneca, South Carolina, according to the Seneca Police Department.
According to Seneca PD, they received a report about missing money from a bank account held at Bank of America in Seneca.
Seneca PD says the victim reported that he was missing around $30,000
and also reported it to the Customer Service department by phone.
Seneca
PD investigators worked with the Bank of America investigators for the
next several weeks after the crime and determined that an employee who
had been suspended and terminated, stole money from multiple individuals
who lived in Oconee County.
According to Seneca PD, the victims
would use the Bank of America in Seneca as their primary bank and used
Bobbi Cortese as their personal banker.
Seneca PD investigators,
along with the United States Secret Service, then spent the next several
years conducting further interviews and gave the Bank of America time
to complete its internal investigation.
Seneca PD says they discovered Cortese stole nearly $300,000 from four people using her position at the bank.
Some of the victims had money in the bank for life insurance payouts
pursuant to the deaths of their spouses and others had a lifetime of
earnings that would be used to fund their retirement, according to
Seneca PD.
Cortese opened accounts under her victim's name without
their knowledge or approval and did what officers call a “shell game”
where she used the funds from one victim to replace funds that she had
taken from another victim.
Seneca PD says after further
investigation, they discovered that Cortese forged several documents and
issued those documents to the victims to conceal the theft.
Cortese was committing these acts for around four years while she was employed at the Bank of America, according to Seneca PD.
According to Seneca PD, Cortese was charged with four counts of breach of trust and two counts of forgery.
Consider Jackson attorney Harry Rosenthal as the king of conservatorships.
By his own estimate, he has been a conservator for more than 100
vulnerable individuals. Hinds County Chancery Court records show he’s
continuing to handle a dozen conservatorships.
Though it’s not known how much the attorney receives in each case, in
Hinds County alone, Rosenthal’s income from being a conservator could
be substantial.
The average salary for a non-family member conservator is
$51,214 per year in Mississippi, according to the research blog
salary.com. ZipRecruiter,
which says it gets its salary estimates from employer job postings and
third party data sources, puts the average salary in Mississippi at
$47,787.
State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam, who helped craft changes to
the conservatorship law, said most appointed conservators are family
members, and they aren’t paid a lot of money.
The law allows a family member to be paid fees set by a judge for their service.
Professional conservators are entitled to reasonable fees, but
the judge decides what is reasonable and must approve the amount before
the conservator can be paid. Money for the conservator comes from the
account of the person under a conservatorship. If a person under a
conservator has little or no financial assets, the judge can appoint a
public guardian/conservator who is paid from public funds.
Some attorneys say the new law makes it difficult for ordinary
citizens to file conservatorship petitions without the assistance of
attorneys.
Elder law experts say the cost of obtaining a conservatorship over
someone can be expensive with the hiring of attorneys or attorneys to
represent the individual, family members and interested parties. There
are also court and other fees involved with a conservatorship petition.
Rosenthal told the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, a
part of Mississippi Today, that most of the wards for whom he has served
as conservator were once clients in criminal cases.
More than 30 years ago, the attorney provided $12,000 in bail money
to try to help white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith get out of jail
after he was indicted and arrested for the third time in the
assassination of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers.
Although Jewish, a group of people Beckwith disparaged, Rosenthal,
82, has said he provided the money to Beckwith because he believed his
speedy trial rights were being violated after two previous trials in
1964 ended in hung juries.
In 1994, 30 years after his previous trials, Beckwith was convicted
in Hinds County Circuit Court of Evers’ murder and sentenced to life in
prison. Beckwith died in 2001 in custody.
Thirty-four years ago, Rosenthal filed the petition to become conservator for Gary Gordineer in Hinds County Chancery Court.
“I’ve had him for more than 30 years and I still have him,” Rosenthal
said recently. In February, Rosenthal filed an annual accounting report
of Gordineer’s assets, a court docket report shows.
Rosenthal said he knew Gordineer, Gordineer’s father and other family
members. He said the younger Gordineer had been a criminal client.
Rosenthal said he once had Gordineer, who is a veteran, in a home with
his mother but now has him in a nursing home.
No family member of Gordineer could be reached for comment.
Rosenthal is also listed as conservator in another case, dating to 1989 involving Howard Ruffin Jr.
Ruffin’s niece, Erica Porter, said she has been his caregiver for the
100% disabled veteran the last four years. Other than her, Ruffin has
little or no family alive, she said. “I’m all he has.”
In her four years of caring for Ruffin, she said she had never heard
from Rosenthal until recently when she went to his office to request
more money than the $700 a month she receives for Ruffin’s care.
Porter said Rosenthal denied her request.
“My first time talking to him was actually last week,” Porter
said recently of Rosenthal. “We haven’t heard from him or nothing.”
Rosenthal said everyone wants to spend a ward’s money.
“If you are a conservator or guardian, the money belongs to the
person you are trying to protect, and the laws of the state of
Mississippi say you are supposed to conserve and build upon the money,
if possible,” he said.
Most of Rosenthal’s conservatorship cases in Hinds County occurred before an updated law went into effect three years ago.
About 2,500 conservatorship cases have been filed in Mississippi since then.
The updated law, known as the Mississippi Guard and Protect Act,
seeks to protect the rights of those unable to take care of themselves,
said Beam, who co-chaired the 26-member committee that came up with the
recommendations. It was the first update of the guardian and
conservatorship law in 30 years.
The law distinguishes guardianship of the person from conservator of
the estate, clarifies the role of a guardian/conservator in a ward’s
life, specifies the basis for appointing a guardian/conservator through
improved medical evaluation forms, encourages individualized planning
and use of the least restrictive alternative. It also creates
accountability between the guardian/conservator and the courts to
prevent fraud and abuse.
The law also mandates wellbeing reports.
The updated law applies to cases filed after Jan. 1, 2020, but a
judge has the authority to apply the new law to older cases if no rights
are violated.
In a 2021 state Supreme Court appeal, Hattiesburg attorney Carol
Bustin said that, for decades, courts have treated conservatorships as
mere ministerial actions and the imposition of conservatorships as
matters of petitioners’ rights.
Unless someone is a party in a conservatorship case, court records in
cases like those of Gordineer and Ruffin are sealed, except for the
brief descriptions placed on the court docket.
Rosenthal said some things in the new law look good on paper, but accountability isn’t being strictly enforced.
The sister of one of Rosenthal’s wards questions the lawyer’s accountability.
“I think the rule, or unofficial rule, should be to talk to
family members before they put people into a court-appointed
conservatorship to make sure there is no one who can take over the
responsibility,” said Linda Taylor of Memphis, whose brother, Edward
Redmond, was one of Rosenthal’s wards.
At one point, Rosenthal had Redmond living in a facility in south Mississippi, according to Taylor.
But Rosenthal was forced by court order to move Redmond to Jackson to be closer to family.
Taylor said her brother initially was able to spend time with family.
“In August 2019, however, Rosenthal forbade us to take him away
from his assisted living residence to spend time with him. He even
claimed he had a warrant out for my brother Robert’s arrest because he
had violated that order and picked Edward up once, anyway.”
Redmond, a Marine veteran, was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic in
the 1980s and became addicted to drugs. He was determined to be 100%
disabled by the VA hospital. Redmond’s parents became guardians over his
military and Social Security benefits.
In 1994, Redmond’s parents agreed to let Rosenthal become his
guardian without fully understanding what they were consenting to,
according to Taylor. She said she and another sister in Texas didn’t
know anything about what was going on with their brother until after
Rosenthal had already been court appointed guardian/conservator.
At one point, Redmond was allowed to live with Taylor and her husband
in Memphis on a trial basis. During that time, Redmond overcame his
addiction for a while. He had a great testimony about his victory over
drugs. Rosenthal forced Redmond to move back to Jackson for unexplained
reasons.
Taylor said her brother was moved over the years to different
locations throughout the state of Mississippi, and that all of those
places Rosenthal chose were not approved by the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
Rosenthal said he won’t apologize for the care Redmond received in
Jackson. Taylor wanted too much money for keeping Redmond, he said. “I’m
not ashamed of what happened. I had a tremendous problem with her
trying to get his money.”
Taylor said the family requested to have guardianship over Edward
while allowing Rosenthal to continue being conservator over his money.
“Rosenthal refused,” she said. “The record speaks for itself.”
This project was produced by the Mississippi Center for
Investigative Reporting, now part of Mississippi Today, in partnership
with the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
1.3 million people in the United States are living under a legal system
that allows someone else, often unrelated, to make personal, financial
and medical decisions for them.
by Jimmie E. Gates
Opal Smith of Columbia, Mississippi, is picturing enjoying a glass of wine prior to being put under a conservatorship in 2013. Credit: Photo courtesy of Nancy DeVoe
Opal K. Smith celebrated her 93rd birthday in March under a
conservatorship that for the past eight years has left her with no
control over her finances or where she lives.
She is one of the 1.3 million people in the United States living
under a legal system that allows someone else, often unrelated, to make
personal, financial and medical decisions for them.
Her conservator has her living in an assisted living facility in Hattiesburg, about 35 miles from her home of Columbia.
When reached via phone, Opal wouldn’t comment on the matter.
However, in a court affidavit, she said: “I want out of this
conservatorship now and into a home of my own in or near Columbia,
Mississippi.”
Opal wants to go home and live with a sitter, and so do some family
members, including her daughter, Nancy DeVoe, and Nancy’s husband, John.
But Smith’s two other daughters filed the initial conservatorship
petition in 2015 after her husband died, saying Smith was experiencing
memory decline.
The fight over her conservatorship stretches from Mississippi to England.
In their petition to create a conservatorship over Opal, Nancy’s
two sisters — Jill Kendrick Weber, then of Columbia, and Elizabeth
Houser of Little Rock — blamed her for initiating the conservatorship.
Neither could be reached for comment.
But their 2015 conservatorship petition said that, for approximately
the last five years of their father’s life, Weber provided assistance
and care for her parents as needed, and was motivated by their best
interest.
Subsequent to their father’s death, the sisters said Nancy traveled
to Mississippi from her residence in the United Kingdom in an attempt to
control Opal and her assets.
They alleged Nancy engaged Opal in conduct and activities out of
character for her and not in her best interest. They said Nancy procured
a debit card in Opal’s name and compelled her to execute contracts and
documents she was not capable of understanding.
Further, they said a physician had indicated Opal was unable to make
informed decisions regarding her personal finances, health care, or
other serious decisions pertaining to herself or her family.
“Accordingly, the petitioners contend that the Ward, Opal K. Smith,
by reason of mental weakness, is incapable of managing her own estate,”
the petition said.
Nancy said she never attempted to control her mother or her assets,
nor did she engage her mother in any activities or conduct that a
reasonable person could contend were out of character for her or not in
her best interest. She also said she didn’t compel her mother to execute
any contracts or documents.
John and Nancy DeVoe said the constitution mandates no one be
deprived of liberty or property without due process of law. A
conservatorship decree, they said, always deprives the individual of
property and, in many cases, of liberty.
“Opal never had a chance to testify, present evidence, confront her
accusers, or call witnesses,” they said in court papers opposing the
ongoing conservatorship.
Conservatorships are responsible for $50 billion in assets, according to a 2018 report by the National Council on Disability.
The Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts reports that 2,481
conservatorship petitions were filed between January 2019 and this past
February. The figures include conservatorship petitions for both minors
and adults.
In Mississippi, some court records appear to show prior to a 2020
update in guardian and conservatorship laws, that some judges didn’t
expend much effort investigating conservatorship cases before approving
petitions.
The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting viewed court
dockets from multiple counties, and records show in some cases,
conservatorship petitions were approved the same day they were filed.
Attorney George Dickerman,
an elder law expert and author in Riverside, California, said
conservatorships should be a last resort, only when no reasonable
alternatives are available.
Dickerman said sometimes an older person will need assistance but
will not voluntarily agree to accept it. He said a conservatorship can
be necessary when a perpetrator manipulates an older person and
wrongfully takes money or property.
But Dickerman also said some unscrupulous individuals will use conservatorships as a license to steal.
Across the country, there is a hodgepodge of state laws when it comes
to conservatorships, and often there are no requirements to record all
financial transactions through a state’s software application. And there
is no national database tracking the number of conservatorships in the
country.
The data available on conservatorships and the conditions them varies
from state to state. And there is no mandate on a state or federal
level for standardized requirements to become a conservator.
Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam, a former chancery judge,
played an integral role in updating the state guardian and
conservatorship law that took effect Jan. 1, 2020.
Beam told the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting there
was a time when conservators — often family members of the person under
conservatorship — would seek court approval to spend money on such
things as swimming pools, four-wheelers and lavish vacations.
She said the goal of the updated law is to protect people with large
estates as well as those with only Social Security benefits. It covers
minors, older people and other adults unable to care for themselves.
There is a computer system now that allows courts to better manage cases, she said.
“It’s a lot easier to control money going out than trying to claw it back.”
The FBI elder fraud report
for 2022 said total losses reported by those 60 and older were $3.1
billion, an increase of 84% from 2021. Although the average loss per
victim was $35,101, more than 5,400 victims each lost more than
$100,000.
“Our oath is to administer justice regardless of rich or poor,” Beam
said. “We want to make sure we administer justice. We are doing what we
have to do to protect an individual’s assets. We used to just focus on
assets. We now have a wellness report that the court can require for the
elderly.”
In most states, a judge decides whether to establish a
conservatorship after a petition is filed stating why a person can’t
manage his or her financial affairs or make appropriate decisions
concerning personal care.
The Family Caregivers Alliance
says a conservatorship is supposed to provide a higher degree of
protection than alternatives, such as powers of attorneys, trusts and
health care directives, due to court oversight.
Government agencies and human rights organizations report older
people are more likely to experience neglect, both mental and physical,
and more likely to have their assets broken up and sold off piece by
piece.
In Mississippi, the Department of Human Service reported 4,252 cases
to its adult protective services. Of those, it initiated 4,110
investigations in 2022. August had the highest number — 407.
Opal Smith on her 93rd birthday in March at the facility in Hattiesburg where she is assigned as part of her conservatorship. Credit: Photo courtesy of Nancy DeVoe
In
September 2015, when Smith was put under a conservatorship, all three
sisters were in town to see their father before he died. After his
death, Nancy and her sisters disagreed about what to do about their
mother. Nancy said any discussion should include their mother and
opposed the conservatorship.
Her sisters initially were appointed co-conservators for their
mother. However, a Lamar County chancery judge later replaced them with a
third-party conservator because of a dispute.
Smith’s conservator has changed three more times, and, since 2015,
the fees drawn from her account to pay conservators total more than
$160,000, according to the DeVoes. In court records, Smith’s estate was
valued at almost $900,000 in 2021.
The DeVoes’ opposition to the conservatorship has led to a
contentious court fight that could almost mirror that of Brittany
Spears, who was under a conservatorship from 2008 until 2021.
In 2016, John and Nancy were ordered to post $10,000 bonds each
before they could file any additional opposition to the conservatorship.
On. Jan. 30, Lamar County Chancery Judge Chad Smith, no relation to
Opal Smith, ordered John DeVoe to pay $8,397.43 into Opal’s
conservatorship account, fined Nancy $10,000 for contempt, and fired
Opal’s lawyer because he said it was a conflict for the lawyer to
represent both Nancy and Opal.
Nancy DeVoe had opposed the approval of $43,747,82 from Opal’s
account to her conservator and ex-conservator in a January order. Chad
Smith said in court papers that he had ordered and reiterated she was
prohibited from seeking relief until she had posted the bond, which led
to her being fined for contempt “due to her contemptuous conduct,” Judge
Smith wrote in the Jan. 30 order.
“Nancy shall reimburse the conservatorship $10,000 in attorney’s
fees. The amount represents the fees expended by the conservator
litigating meritless opposition by Nancy during the time period
requested,” he wrote.
Chad Smith warned that any future unsuccessful legal challenge
resulting in the conservator incurring legal fees will result in the
fees and expenses being imposed against those presenting an unsuccessful
challenge.
The DeVoes, who live in England, have filed a court motion seeking to remove Chad Smith from Opal Smith’s case.
Chad Smith is the second judge to handle Opal Smith’s conservatorship
case. The previous judge, M. Ronald Doleac, retired in 2018 after not
seeking reelection.
The DeVoes maintain in court papers that Doleac granted a
conservatorship petition on Smith despite insufficient process and
without notice, evidence, or opportunity to defend. And they said the
conservatorship letter was issued the same day, naming Opal’s daughters,
Houser and Weber, co-conservators, which they say was a violation of
the law.
A typical docket report of a successful Mississippi conservatorship
case should show, before the judgment or decree is filed: a sworn
petition, summons issued to the target of the conservatorship and a
relative, two sworn certificates from licensed physicians or a physician
and a licensed psychologist and an entry showing a hearing was held at
least seven days after the petition.
After the decree, the docket report should show the letters of
conservatorship were issued and entry of a bond securing the performance
of the fiduciary duties owed by the conservator to the target and an
inventory of the newly created conservatorship estate, to be filed once
each year during the term of the conservatorship.
Most conservatorship records in Mississippi are sealed from viewing
for anyone not a party to the case. A judge has the discretion whether
to make public any documents in a case.
According to a transcript from a July 2022 hearing in Opal’s case,
attorney Carol Bustin of Hattiesburg, representing Nancy and Opal,
argued that “due process requires fairness. It requires that everybody
have their day in court, and Opal Smith never had her day in court.
There was never any testimony. She never testified as to whether she
wanted this conservatorship or whether she agreed with it, or why she
didn’t agree with it.”
Attorney Larry Buffington of Collins, a former chancery judge,
represented Opal’s other two daughters. Buffington said at the July
hearing, “Maybe I did it wrong for 20 years, but I don’t know that I
ever conducted a hearing unless there was a request from somebody on a
conservatorship. Most of those actually were done in chambers.”
In a court order, Chad Smith said Doleac initially set the matter for
a hearing on Aug. 10, 2015, but continued it until Sept. 15, 2015.
Doleac then scheduled a trial for Nov. 3, 2015.
What occurred isn’t documented. Chad Smith said state law doesn’t
require a record to be made of the trial and that a judge has the
discretion to decide what evidence to hear.
In August 2016, Doleac replaced the daughters, without their
opposition, as conservators, replacing them with attorney Derek
Arrington. Seven months later, Doleac appointed Arrington’s law partner,
G. Neil Rogers, as substitute conservator.
Judge Smith, who took over the case in 2019, granted Rogers’ request
in 2021 to withdraw as conservator and appointed attorney William
Andrews III as his substitute. He also named Andrews to serve as
Opal’s guardian, meaning he was given responsibility for Smith’s care
and wellbeing as well as control of her finances.
Doleac wouldn’t address the Opal Smith case specifically but said
there is a process for the DeVoes to appeal the case, which they did in
2021. A three-judge panel of the state high court denied the request in
January 2022 without comment.
John DeVoe said that with them being in England, it has been
difficult to find a lawyer to handle their appeal. He said some lawyers
they contacted expressed reservations about taking the case since it
would be going against a judge.
The DeVoes filed the paperwork themselves seeking Smith’s removal
from the case to the state Supreme Court. The motion was filed with the
court April 18. It has yet to be decided.
“You can’t be on the bench and not be criticized,” Doleac said in a
phone interview. “We have an excellent judiciary in the state. I have
never seen anyone take a shortcut.”
This project was produced by the Mississippi Center for
Investigative Reporting, now part of Mississippi Today, in partnership
with the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
We’ve been telling you about the financial horrors that happen when courts allow total strangers to take control of another person’s life. We’ve seen it happen to the disabled, the elderly and even celebrities.
Nowhere are the cries for help louder than in Orange County, California.
And the call for help came to Dolcefino Consulting.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A woman is accused of working as a nurse in Cobb County, even though she wasn’t licensed.
For
a number of months, Corissa Laws cared for eight different people with
developmental disabilities who all needed around the clock care from a
licensed nurse.
But police said Laws used someone’s nursing license from Florida to get the job.
The
warrant stated that Walton Community Services hired laws as a nurse.
Laws used the victim’s nursing license and number to get hired, even
though the license can only be used in one state.
Newell
stopped by the house that Laws worked at, but no on answered. Newell
called Walton County Services, but the person who answered hung up. When
Newell stopped by the office, the door was locked and no one answered.
Laws is
charged with practicing nursing without a license and aggravated
identity fraud. It unclear how Laws gained access to the victim’s
nursing license, but Newell spoke with Georgia Security State about how
to protect yourself from identity fraud.
“Many
of the credit reporting agencies really have notifications you can get
so you can sign up for that,” Secretary Brad Raffensperger.
And when it comes to protecting your employment information:
“We
haven’t heard this particular type of fraud recently but it can happen
and we want to make sure people are aware to always guide your identity
and any employer when people do present their license you can go to sos.ga.gov
that they are re lawfully registered and that shows up on our official
Secretary of State web page,” Raffensperger said. “We do robust checks
but obviously there’s always people bad actors that are looking to gain
the system or fraud entry use someone’s out of state license but you
want to make sure that someone is actually licensed here in the state of
Georgia.”
As
for the nurse in Florida whose employment information was stolen, she
told Newell that she is glad an arrest was made, but did not want to
talk about happened to her. Police haven’t released additional details
at this time.
A woman has been arrested for the second time for allegedly participating in an identity theft scheme, stealing more than $350,000 from victims, authorities said.
