Ohio Supreme Court can’t investigate corrupt guardians, chief justice says

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor is pushing back against more calls for the court to increase its scrutiny of the state’s guardianship system, the same system that Ohio’s attorney general said is “crying out for reform.”

O’Connor said on Thursday that the scrutiny should instead come from county probate judges.

O’Connor made headlines last week after blasting The Vindicator newspaper of Youngstown for requesting in an editorial that she appoint someone to investigate Mahoning County Probate Court and its former judge, Mark Belinky.

Belinky, who resigned from the bench last year, has been convicted of tampering with records. The Vindicator reported that he has admitted to investigators to stealing from wards for whom he was guardian, altering Probate Court records to hide those thefts and creating false records.

“You’re asking me to investigate criminal behavior, and I have no authority to do that,” O'Connor said in response to the paper’s request. “You’re giving the public the impression that the Supreme Court will be the investigators, judge, jury and executioner. That is a misconception the public has about the role of the court.”

Advocates and lawyers said that while the court does have the power to handle complaints, it cannot insert itself into a criminal investigation of a judge because it might have to rule on the matter later.

“I would agree with Justice O’Connor in (that) the court can’t do that,” said Susan Wasserman, a lawyer and one of Ohio’s two master guardians. “But there is also a need for further protection of wards, and that can come from elsewhere.”

The Supreme Court does have investigatory tools at its disposal, such as its disciplinary counsel. The counsel investigates complaints and allegations of wrongdoing against judges and lawyers and can revoke or suspend their licenses.

Wasserman said legislators in states such as California have created a statewide Professional Fiduciaries Bureau that licenses and regulates conservators, guardians, trustees and other agents who control the assets of another person.

Wasserman said county prosecutors should handle criminal investigations of probate courts.

Belinky’s actions are similar to those of Paul S. Kormanik, a former attorney in Franklin County who last month pleaded guilty to stealing from four of his wards and tampering with records. He will be sentenced in October.

Action by the court is something the public, elected leaders and advocates demanded after a five-day Dispatch series, “Unguarded,” that detailed a broken guardianship system administered by county probate courts. The system controls the lives of more than 65,000 Ohioans deemed incompetent to care for themselves.

The lack of safeguards, base-level recordkeeping and inaction by guardians and judges subjected thousands of wards to physical, verbal and financial abuse.

>> Unguarded: Dispatch series on abuse of wards by legal guardians

 

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said he was “appalled” by the actions of guardians and called for reforms. DeWine’s office has since created a handbook to guide guardians.

During her condemnation of The Vindicator’s call for a Supreme Court investigation, O’Connor asked rhetorically “Why just stop at Belinky?”

“Why doesn’t the court, under your scenario, (investigate) every judge I get an anecdotal tidbit about?” she said. “When would it stop?”

The Dispatch investigation also uncovered that a committee formed by the Ohio Supreme Court spent eight years trying to come up with new, stricter rules to fix holes in the probate system that led to abuse.

The court enacted those standards this year, mandating that probate courts for all 88 counties implement new training, monitoring and background checks. Guardians also must meet with their wards every three months.

The new standards fell short of enacting new guidelines that would better protect wards from financial exploitation, theft and losing their cherished possessions. The rules don’t protect wards from unscrupulous guardians such as Belinky.

O’Connor said that the new rules, if enforced properly by the courts and followed by guardians, will protect wards from most wrongdoing.

“If courts can’t enforce these rules because they are overwhelmed and underfunded, then that is a legislative issue and there needs to be discussion of more funding,” she said. “This shouldn’t be about trying to tar the probate courts or the (Supreme) Court — judges are trying to do the best they can.”

O’Connor said she was unfamiliar with the fiduciary board in California and could not comment on its merits.

Michael Kirkman, director of the nonprofit Disability Rights Ohio, said he agrees O’Connor shouldn’t insert the court into a criminal matter it might have to rule on later.

“But it does point out there might be a level of oversight lacking in the probate courts,” he said. “I think the new rules are a baseline and that’s important. You’re dealing with a system that hasn’t been well regulated for a number of years.”

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Ohio Supreme Court can’t investigate corrupt guardians, chief justice says

U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan talks about toll Alzheimer's disease took on his father

LEMSON - U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan spoke Wednesday about the toll that Alzheimer’s disease took on his father before he died earlier this year.

“I watched my father become more and more aggressive due to the Alzheimer’s disease,” Duncan said during a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging field hearing at Clemson University’s Strom Thurmond Institute.

Duncan’s father, John Duncan, died April 14 of complications from the disease, which is a progressive, irreversible neurological disorder that primarily affects people over 65. The Republican from Laurens also recounted how his father’s illness created difficulties for his mother.

“My mom struggled with not having a power of attorney to access the funds that were going to be critical to take care of my father,” Duncan said.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Duncan said that number is expected to rise by 40 percent in the next decade.

“In South Carolina, 81,000 people are stricken with the illness. By 2025, the number will explode to 120,000 people,” Duncan said. “As South Carolinians, we must confront this growing wave today before it consumes our friends and loved ones tomorrow.”

The committee’s chairman, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, discussed the financial implications of Alzheimer’s disease during Wednesday session.

“In addition to the suffering that Alzheimer’s causes, it costs the United States more than $226 billion annually.” Collins said.

She added that Medicare and Medicaid pay 68 percent of that overall cost, which is expected to grow to $1.1 trillion per year by 2050.

Although federal spending on Alzheimer’s disease research is expected to increase from about $600 million annually to nearly $1 billion next year, Collins said that total is still too low.

“Clearly Alzheimer’s research funding is disproportionately low compared to its human and economic toll,” she said.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from Charleston who hosted Wednesday’s hearing, said Alzheimer’s disease and other aging-related health problems are a key issue in South Carolina.

“Currently 15 percent of our residents are over the age of 65,” Scott said.

More than 21 percent of Oconee County’s residents are 65 or older, said Martine LaBerge, executive director of Clemson’s Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus in Greenville.

LaBerge and an official from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston outlined initiatives currently underway in aging-related health research.

Wayne Roper, president of SCBIO, ticked off a number of private-sector life science ventures that his organization has helped get started in the state, including a company working to develop a blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease before the first symptoms appear.

The panel of speakers at the hearing included Anderson resident Jerry Welch, a retired minister who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007, and his wife, Nancy.

“It is really difficult. It is a hard life,” Nancy Welch said. “There is very little support for the caregiver and also for the patient.”

She said she is more fortunate than many caregivers because her husband takes part in a respite group two days each week.

Jerry Welch said the group helps him deal with the isolation associated with his disease.

“When you get Alzheimer’s, you look around and all of the sudden your friends are gone, your job is gone. It is amazing,” he said. “Your car is gone, your freedom is gone. You are a prisoner.”

Duncan attended Wednesday’s hearing on what would have been his father’s 78th birthday.

“It was tough,” he said.

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U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan talks about toll Alzheimer's disease took on his father

EDITORIAL | Nursing Homes Take Away Right to Sue

In January 2013, 80-year-old Esther Brown was found lying in her bed at a Pennsylvania nursing home with blood covering her hands and her pillowcase.

A nurse’s aide at the home reported that one of her co-workers had hit Esther and then had thrown a can of shaving cream in her face, striking the elderly woman above the eye. The incident was reported to the police, and Esther died several months later.

Her family sued the nursing home, alleging negligence and battery. But before the case could proceed to trial, the judge had to rule on whether the family had the right to file such a lawsuit. When Esther was admitted to the facility in 2011, she and her daughter signed a contract that required her, and her family, to submit any quality-of-care complaints to an arbitrator rather than to a judge or jury.

Late last year, Judge Jeffrey Sprecher upheld the family’s right to sue, finding the arbitration agreement “unconscionable” because it was presented to Brown at emotionally difficult time; consisted of long, confusing passages; improperly portrayed the deal as beneficial to all parties; and included a confidentiality provision that Sprecher said was “designed to bury all proof of bad things that may be alleged to occur in a nursing home.”

The sad reality is that these types of arbitration agreements are fairly common now among nursing homes, and they are often upheld by the courts. Prospective residents, who may be in the midst of a health care crisis, are asked to forfeit their right to sue as a condition of admission. As the judge in the Esther Brown case ruled, these binding arbitration agreements are sometimes “forced down the throat” of residents.

As Sprecher pointed out, these agreements also attempt to “inject fear in the patient by suggesting that a court action takes so much longer than arbitration, so that unless you select arbitration, the patient may die before his court case could be finished.”

At first glance, arbitration might sound like a reasonable, effective way to address complaints without resorting to litigation. The problem is that through litigation, complainants have the ability to use the discovery process to procure documents that speak to patterns of abuse or neglect. They can also subpoena witnesses for depositions, and secure sworn testimony as to the facts of the case. And all of that is handled through a public proceeding before a judge or a jury of one’s peers.

Many of the arbitration agreements restrict a complainant’s access to records, as well as the number of depositions and witnesses. Some place limits on how much a party can recover in damages.

The federal government could easily bar these types of mandatory agreements as a condition of a home’s participation in the Medicaid program — but it has repeatedly refused to do so. In fact, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is considering major changes in nursing home regulations, but under the proposed new rules, homes will only be required to “explain” arbitration agreements to residents.

Of course, many individuals are placed in nursing homes precisely because their cognitive abilities are greatly diminished. How many of them are in a position to understand the legal rights they are forfeiting by signing these agreements?

Fortunately, CMS says it is still considering whether it should simply prohibit binding arbitration agreements altogether, noting that residents who depend on nursing homes for urgently needed care may feel pressured to sign the contracts even when they’re not required as a condition of admission.

It’s time for CMS to ban arbitration agreements in nursing homes. If care facilities feel that’s an intrusion on their right to dictate the terms of admission, they’re free to bow out of the Medicaid program and accept only private-pay residents.

But as long as public money is paying for the care provided in these homes, the regulation of these facilities should be designed to protect the public and not to appease the industry.

Voice your opinion

CMS is accepting public comments through Sept. 14 on the proposed new nursing home regulations. To voice your opinion, go to regulations.gov, and enter “CMS-3260-P,” with the quotation marks, in the search engine. That will direct you to a link to the proposed regulations, labeled as Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Reform of Requirements for Long-Term Care Facilities. Through that link, you can submit your written comments.

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EDITORIAL | Nursing Homes Take Away Right to Sue

Elder care worker guilty of stealing $125K from seniors

A man tasked with helping an elderly couple instead used their trust to drain their savings as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.

William Price admitted he stole $125,000 from one elderly couple he met as a caseworker for Atlantic County Adult Protective Services, according to the office of acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

Price was indicted with five other people accused of defrauding more than a dozen clients of $3.8 million.

The 57-year-old Linwood man pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree theft by deception, according to a release from Hoffman’s office. Under Price’s plea agreement, the state will recommend a sentence of five years in prison, and Price will have to repay the $125,000 he stole. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18.

Price worked with Jan Van Holt at Adult Protective Services where in 2006, he befriended the elderly couple and recruited them as clients for Van Holt, Sondra Steen, and Barbara Lieberman. The trio was accused with stealing more than $800,000 from the couple, the release said. Price received $125,000 of the stolen money.

“Price callously betrayed the trust and friendship of an elderly couple to enrich himself,” Hoffman said in the release. “As a social worker, he should have been all about helping them, but instead he set them up to have their savings stolen by him and his co-defendants.”  (Continue Reading)

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Elder care worker guilty of stealing $125K from seniors

Dentist and former deputy mayor Andrew Istephan admits assaulting elderly patients

Andrew Istephan Photo: Dean Sewell

Former Hurstville deputy mayor and dentist Andrew Istephan engaged in the "deliberate, callous and systematic exploitation" of elderly people by performing unnecessary surgery for extra money.

Now Istephan has pleaded guilty to further assault charges relating to major dental procedures on Sydney nursing home residents.

In the Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday, Istephan pleaded guilty to three charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecutors accepted those pleas and dropped four other charges against him.

Istephan, a former Liberal councillor, was convicted of five assault charges at trial in 2013, but a jury could not agree on a verdict for the seven remaining counts. He was due to face re-trial on those charges this month.

At Istephan's trial, the jury heard he began filing down patients' teeth within minutes of meeting them at nursing homes in the inner-west in 2011.

Some of the procedures were not consented to and, in some cases, were not necessary.

Istephan conducted surgery on patients under the Commonwealth-funded Chronic Disease Dental Scheme.

He was contracted by a company called Elderlink, which provided dental and other services to elderly people

The then 34-year-old was sentenced to a two-year intensive correction order, with Judge David Frearson saying Istephan had engaged in the "deliberate, callous and systematic exploitation of the residents with the view of financial reward".

Motivated by greed, Istephan had been "arrogantly dismissive" of the fundamental human right for bodily integrity, the judge said.

"The frail and elderly have a right to be treated with dignity and respect," he said.

"It's wholly reprehensible to exploit the elderly for financial gain."

Istephan will face a sentence hearing in December.

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Dentist and former deputy mayor Andrew Istephan admits assaulting elderly patients

Houston County grand jury hands up 36-count indictment in elder exploitation case

By BECKY PURSER

PERRY -- A Centerville woman was indicted Tuesday on 18 counts of exploitation of an elderly man three years ago.

Cheri Eileene Cox, 54, also was indicted on 14 counts of financial transaction card fraud and one count of theft.

She is accused of transferring funds out of the man’s credit union account to her own, convincing him to change his will for her benefit, using the man’s checks and debit card, paying off her own credit card with his money and cashing several of his bonds.

Also, in the same indictment, William M. Cox, 58, of Centerville, was indicted on one count of theft and two counts of exploitation of the same man.

William Cox is accused of accepting a transfer of the man’s money by Cheri Cox to his credit union account, of using the man’s debit card and paying off a credit card with the man’s money.

The incidents alleged in the 36-count indictment took place in 2012.

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Houston County grand jury hands up 36-count indictment in elder exploitation case

From NASGA's Victims Page: Marcy Dudeck

Marcy & Michael Dudeck lived in Nevada. When Mr. Dudeck died in March of 2006, Heidi Pascal, the Dudeck’s daughter in California, asked her brother, Lance, to move from San Diego and take care of their mother. Lance moved into his parent’s home with his girlfriend, Marissa. Several months later Marcy’s daughter, Heidi, received a letter from her brother’s girlfriend stating Lance was beating her and she had witnessed Lance striking his mother. The letter went on to say the brother was making meth in the garage. Lance tested positive for meth by a county facility appointed by the Las Vegas Family court in September of 2006, which resulted in the mother being removed from the home. Due to these circumstances created by Lance Dudeck, a guardianship was established in Nevada for Marcy Dudeck.

In September and October of 2006 Heidi and her husband, Charles Pascal, made visits to Nevada and found Marcy to be living in horrible conditions at a senior home called Chancellor Gardens. She had lost weight, had no toilet paper and had not taken a bath for a long time. This facility had 108 State Board of Health violations and was almost shut down by the state. The Pascals appealed to the Nevada family court Commissioner Jon Norheim and were told that because the Pascals were not residents of Nevada they could not take Mrs. Dudeck out of Chancellor Gardens or the state even though Mrs. Dudeck wanted to come to California.

In November of 2006 after Commissioner Jon Norheim turned down their third request, The Pascals took Marcy to California and placed her in Sunrise Senior Assisted Living in Playa Del Rey. In 2007 the Nevada court granted Marcy Dudeck the right to stay in California and said she should remain at Sunrise for the rest of her life. The court appointed Jared E. Shafer, of Professional Fiduciary Services of Nevada, to act as her guardian, even though Marcy now resided in California.

One year past. Heidi and Charles received two calls from the IRS stating Marcy’s taxes had not been paid. Upon investigation the Pascals learned Jared E. Shafer had not only neglected to pay taxes but the bills from Marcy’s home in Nevada were not being paid. In addition, Jared E. Shafer had removed over $350,000 in fees from Marcy’s estate trust account even though he hadn’t performed any guardian services for Mrs. Dudeck, since the court order specifically stipulated Mrs. Dudeck must remain in California for the rest of her life. Based upon all of this information, the Pascals began a California conservatorship case to remove Jared E. Shafer as Marcy’s guardian. Exactly two days before an evidentiary hearing, which was to take place on August 6, 2009 in Los Angeles, Marcy E. Dudeck was kidnapped from Sunrise Senior Assisted Living in violation of an May 2007 Nevada court order which stated Mrs. Dudeck would remain in the California facility for the rest of her life. Witnesses heard her begging to not be taken away. Marcy was going to testify in court that she wanted her daughter, Heidi Pascal, to be the guardian of her person in California.

At the time Marcy was taken against her will, she was a beautiful and vibrant woman, youthful for her 91 years. She weighed 134 pounds, was very healthy, happy and active. She had a boy friend named Harold, went on field trips and took excursions with the group to see movies usually during the early afternoon. She had made many friends at Sunrise. Guardian Jared E. Shafer became extremely angry about Marcy’s field trips. He phoned the Pascals and told them he wouldn’t pay for the field trips. In fact, Mr. Shafer said he was going to put a stop to what he liked to call “field trip nonsense”. Marcy’s doctor said the trips were good for her. The Pascals paid for many of the trips for Marcy to insure she got to go on these outings.

The other victim of this story was Marcy’s boyfriend, Harold. After Marcy left his condition took a very bad turn and he died one month later. Harold’s daughter was very upset and said her father went into a funk after Marcy left and just didn’t want to do anything. Legally Mr. Shafer can’t be accused of Harold’s death, but morally, every human being has an orbit of influence. The things we do affect others around us. It would be hard to imagine the bad karma Mr. Shafer will experience when he crosses to the other side. Other lives associated with Mr. Shafer’s wards are also destroyed.

Source:
NASGA Marcy Dudeck, /NV/CA Victim

Judge to newspaper: Don’t publish any article in which a lawyer ‘is accused of dishonesty, fraud or deceit’ in connection with his discipline by the state supreme court

By Eugene Volokh

Here’s the text of an order issued by Louisiana state court Judge Curtis Sigur last Tuesday, in Groner v. Wick Communications Co.:

THE STATE OF LOUISIANA TO:
WILL CHAPMAN, PUBLISHER **PERSONALLY**
THE DAILY IBERIAN
…
YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED, enjoined, and restrained, in the name of the State of Louisiana and of the Civil District Court for the Parish of Iberia, in accordance with a temporary restraining order, this day issued in above entitled numbered cause from;

RESTRAINING WICK COMMUNICAT[IONS] COMPANY D/B/A THE DAILY IBERIAN AND WWW.IBERIANET.COM FROM PUBLISHING OR POSTING ON ITS WEBSITE ANY ARTICLE OR STORY IN WHICH PLAINTIFF DAVID W. GRONER IS ACCUSED OF DISHONESTY, FRAUD OR DECEIT IN CONNECTION WITH A LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT DECISION OR SIMILAR MATTER.

This all apparently stemmed from a reader comment on a Daily Iberian article that said,

I read the paper where David Groner is representing Deputy Sanders Butler in the sexual harassment. The only thing you need to know is that Butler helped Groner in his failed bid for State Senator against Fred Mills and Simone Champagne. That’s when the truth came out about Groner having a reputation for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.

The comment linked to a 2008 Louisiana Supreme Court decision imposing discipline on Mr. Groner:

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel (“ODC”) commenced an investigation into allegations that respondent engaged in a conflict of interest and engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Prior to the filing of formal charges, respondent and the ODC submitted a joint petition for consent discipline. Having reviewed the petition,

IT IS ORDERED that the Petition for Consent Discipline be accepted and that David W. Groner, Louisiana Bar Roll number 6349, be and he hereby is suspended from the practice of law for six months. This suspension shall be deferred in its entirety, subject to respondent’s successful completion of a one-year period of supervised probation governed by the terms and conditions set forth in the Petition for Consent Discipline. The probationary period shall commence from the date respondent, the ODC, and the probation monitor execute a formal probation plan. Any failure of respondent to comply with the conditions of probation, or any misconduct during the probationary period, may be grounds for making the deferred suspension executory, or imposing additional discipline, as appropriate.

I corresponded with Mr. Groner, and he sent me a copy of the joint memorandum supporting the agreed-on discipline, which says, in relevant part:

Rule 8.4(c) states that a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. By issuing payment to the [clients] with the notation “Full and Final Settlement” and obtaining a Release Agreement containing a release for all claims against [Groner], the actions of [Groner] suggest an attempt to settle the [clients’] malpractice claims, without their being fully advised as to the nature of the agreement and the potential ramifications associated with their executing the agreement. At a minimum, there was a misrepresentation as to the true nature of the January 18, 2007 transaction between the [clients], Ms. Defelice [Groner’s associate] and David Groner, PLC.

You can decide for yourself whether the comment on the New Iberian site was fair, based on the disciplinary proceeding (read the whole joint memorandum, which is just four pages long, for more context). But it’s clear that the order barring a newspaper from publishing anything in which Mr. Groner was “accused of dishonesty, fraud or deceit in connection with a Louisiana Supreme Court decision” was unconstitutionally overbroad. That’s so given the facts of this case. And it’s so, even setting aside these facts, under the general principle that alleged defamation can’t be enjoined at least until a full trial on the merits in which it’s proved that a particular statement was false and defamatory (and maybe not even then).

In any event, the judge’s order led to a good deal of public commentary, both from the Daily Iberian and from other sources, such as Ken White (Popehat); and the Daily Iberian fought the order in court (and I suspect would have fought in higher courts if necessary). And yesterday Mr. Groner dismissed the case, which means the order has now been vacated. Here is what he wrote to me over the weekend, in response to an e-mail from me asking for his side of the story:

The case will be dismissed Monday am. So by the time you write about it the case will be over and the TRO lifted, by my own choice.

It has been blown way out of proportion, which I admit is my own fault. I have never been found guilty of fraud, dishonesty, or deceit so I asked them not to publish anonymous posting to that effect. The end result is classic Streisand effect, I made it worse by trying to correct it. I am fishing at a camp in the marsh and have no access to backup or I would send you the stipulation that imposed a sanction against me for a technical violation considered misrepresentation. [Shortly afterwards, Mr. Groner did send me the stipulation, which I quote and link to above. —EV] Unfortunately for me the rule is to sanction actions of dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation so the haters always pick up on the fraud, dishonesty and deceit and ignore the stipulation that led to the order which outlined a case for misrepresentation. For many that is splitting hairs, but for me it meant a lot. I forgot that because I am a lawyer it is open season and there are many that would love nothing more than to see me crash and burn.

I have now realized that I cannot control what is said on the internet and will do my best to return to anonymity.

I’m glad that the order has now been dissolved, and that Barbra Streisand continues to be doing her job. (To be sure, there is a bad version of the Streisand effect, in which even quite legitimate libel lawsuits are deterred by the worry that the publicity will only amplify the original false accusation. But here, given the clear unconstitutionality of the order, it seems to me that the Streisand effect has helped do good.)

UPDATE: Embarrassing error — the first line of the post originally said the judge’s name was Michael Thibodeaux, but that was the clerk of court. The judge himself was Curtis Sigur, and I’ve updated the post accordingly. My apologies to Mr. Thibodeaux, who was just doing his job.

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Judge to newspaper: Don’t publish any article in which a lawyer ‘is accused of dishonesty, fraud or deceit’ in connection with his discipline by the state supreme court

Lake Geneva man accused of posing as “bank examiner,” bilking elderly woman of $4,500

Francis Riordon

RACINE COUNTY — 72-year-old Francis Riordon of Lake Geneva is accused of posing as a bank examiner to bilk an elderly woman of money. Riordon faces charges including theft and falsely acting as a public official.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim in this case told police Riordon phoned her on August 7th “purporting to be a Bank Examiner.” The victim told police her husband had recently passed away — and she “received a call at home from a man who stated his name was ‘Mr. Bradley.'” Riordon allegedly told the victim “he was investigating a problem with her checking account and that she would need to void a check in the amount of $4,500, give the check to the bank teller, withdraw the cash and turn over the cash to him, Mr. Bradley, who in turn would be able to complete the investigation and return the money later.”

The complaint indicates the victim did as she was requested — and met “Mr. Bradley” at a grocery store parking lot where the exchange of money occurred. The complaint says Riordon showed the victim “a badge and other documents purported to be from the bank.” He then allegedly took the money and left. The victim never saw Riordon again.

Investigators were able to determine the phone number used to contact the victim — and use surveillance video to help identify Riordon. When they showed up at his Lake Geneva home, they found the vehicle Riordon used when he allegedly took the money from the victim. Officers also found the cell phone that was used, the fake bank documents and a “number of index cards with different individuals’ names.” Officials say all of the individuals named on the cards were elderly women.  Officers also found a search of the victim’s husband’s online obituary from the Racine Journal Times.

The complaint also indicates Riordon “attempted to contact 29 different elderly woman” on August 21st alone.

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Lake Geneva man accused of posing as “bank examiner,” bilking elderly woman of $4,500