Seabreeze Nursing & Rehab has been fined $134,500 this year
by Joel Eisenbaum
TEXAS CITY – On the heels of a disturbing incident captured on video depicting an 87-year-old resident being abused by caretakers, a separate abuse allegation has been raised against another nursing home in Texas City.
Seabreeze
Nursing and Rehab Facility are accused of neglecting a 60-year-old
resident by keeping her confined to her bed, covered in feces. The woman
has open soars on her body, a swollen hand, and looks to be in terrible
shape.
“They should be shut down,” the women’s despondent adult daughter told KPRC 2 Investigates on Tuesday.
Both women wished to remain unidentified.
The resident is now recovering in Mainland Hospital in Texas City.
Seabreeze
Nursing and Rehab has numerous violations on file, which are documented
by the State of Texas Health and Human Services.
This year, they were fined $134,500 for failing to protect residents from abuse, neglect, theft, and other problems.
A representative for Seabreeze Nursing Rehab at 6602 Memorial Drive in Texas City provided the following response via email:
“We
thank you for reaching out and giving us the opportunity to respond.
Our most important priority and focus is the safety and well-being of
our residents. When any issue is brought to our attention, or discovered
in our Center, we work immediately to address the identified issue or
concern in a timely manner. In doing so, we work with our internal and
external teams, which may include the state, to ensure we are resolving
issues we encounter at the Center. Out of professional courtesy to our
residents and in compliance with state and federal regulations, we do
not comment on individual care in our Center.”
Below are steps you can take if you suspect abuse at a care facility:
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Supreme Court
on Wednesday issued an order suspending Cheyenne attorney Cody Jerabek
from practicing law for three years. The suspension begins Nov. 1.
This
came after misconduct by Jerabek in litigation involving a client who
was being sued following a fire at that client’s business that damaged
adjoining businesses, a Wyoming State Bar news release accompanying the
order said. In a separate instance, he had a consensual sexual
relationship with a client while continuing to represent her.
The attorney told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he is “appreciative for the resources that I received” through the Wyoming Lawyer Assistance Program.
The organization “provides confidential assistance to Wyoming lawyers
who are struggling with impairment issues,” according to its website.
“The suspension and the tools
that I’ve been given will hopefully allow (me) to take this time to
improve and come back a better person and attorney,” Jerabek said.
In
the issue involving the fire litigation, which took place in 2021,
Jerabek “failed to maintain communication with his client and with the
client’s insurer and missed several deadlines in the case, including
deadlines to file responses to two critical motions,” according the
bar’s release. Jerabek also “misled the insurance company regarding case
developments and failed to communicate settlement offers to the client
and the insurer.”
He was ultimately terminated as counsel, and another attorney was hired “who shortly got the case settled.”
Jerabek
admitted to violating several rules of professional conduct and agreed
to a three-year suspension. The state bar’s Board of Professional
Responsibility, which reviews disciplinary cases against legal
practitioners in the state and recommends consequences to the Supreme
Court, considered “a number of aggravating and mitigating factors,
including Jerabek’s sustained and successful efforts at recovery from
alcohol use disorder and other psychological problems” in making the
recommendation.
The court ordered Jerabek to pay a $750 administrative fee and $50 to the bar.
A
concurrent order was also issued by the state’s high court suspending
Jerabek for 18 months for an intimate relationship with a client.
Jerabek also failed “to withdraw from the client’s representation
promptly upon entering into the sexual relationship,” and told that
client “to conceal evidence of the relationship,” according to the news
release.
That
client submitted a complaint regarding the incident to the Office of
Bar Counsel in May 2021, following the relationship’s end, the order
said.
Jerabek admitted
to these violations and agreed to this suspension. He was also ordered
by the court to pay a $750 administrative fee and $50 to the bar.
He recently worked as both a personal injury and criminal defense lawyer.
Jerabek was formerly a prosecutor with the Albany County Attorney’s Office. In September 2019, the Supreme Court overturned
a rape conviction because of “prosecutorial misconduct” within that
office, which it said deprived the defendant, Travis Bogard, of a fair
trial. The high court in part cited statements Jerabek made during
Bogard’s trial, according to reporting from the time by the the
WTE-affiliated Laramie Boomerang.
Oct. 29—A Morgantown woman is facing four
counts of grand larceny and one count of financial exploitation of an
elderly person after allegedly withdrawing thousands of dollars from an
elderly relative's bank account.
On Oct. 19, an employee from
Adult Protective Services (APS) spoke with West Virginia State Police
Corporal J.T. Wood regarding evidence that Cassandra Renee Tichenor, 36,
of Morgantown, financially exploited an 84-year-old relative who is a
patient at a Marion County health care center, the criminal complaint
said.
Wood stated in the report that APS provided him with copies
of checking withdrawal slips from a Westover bank showing 68 withdrawals
made by Tichenor from the victim's bank account.
The alleged
transactions occurred from January through September, and according to
the APS employee, were not made with the victim's consent.
Wood noted the withdrawals totalled over $30, 000, four of which were over $1, 000 each, constituting grand larceny.
Upon
interviewing Tichenor, Wood found she "is the power of attorney for the
victim, but none of the money described was used for the victim."
According
to the complaint, Tichenor admitted to the transactions and told the
officer the money was used for her own personal expenses.
Tichenor
pleaded not guilty to the charges at her initial hearing in Monongalia
County Magistrate Court on Oct. 26 and was released on $5, 000 personal
recognizance.
More than 36,000 people in New Jersey live under court-ordered
guardianships, essentially losing many or most of their rights, a Kane In Your Corner
investigation finds. Some say the guardianships were unnecessary and
imposed against their will. But terminating a guardianship can be
difficult and costly.
Elberta Cohen, 80, can remember the details of every
trip she and her late husband took. Her family room is filled with
photos and souvenirs of their travels.
“This, of course, is Russia,” Cohen says, gesturing to a framed photo. “That’s St. Petersburg. I loved it, absolutely loved it.”
Cohen
also enjoys playing Scrabble and can talk at length about current
events like the war in Ukraine. But she has no access to her money and
can’t make major life decisions. Those are in the hands of a stranger, a
guardian appointed after a judge ruled her “totally incapacitated.”
“I
went to the dentist the other day and I had to explain, ‘The money is
there. I'll get it to you.’” Cohen recalls. “Do you know how
embarrassing that is?”
New Jersey has no
diagnostic standards to determine if a person lacks capacity, according
to state judiciary spokesperson, Peter McAleer. Instead, it “requires
courts to determine the functional capacity of the individual,
regardless of their diagnosis.” In other words, if a judge says someone
needs a guardian, then they do.
The National
Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse says guardianships may be
necessary in some cases, but are too easily abused, given the
consequences. “The person in a guardianship has no right to choose where
to live, who to associate with. They have no control over their money,”
says NASGA director Marcia Southwick.
Cohen lost her rights after her youngest son, Robert,
petitioned for guardianship. She says he did it to stop her from
changing her will, after “I told him he wasn't gonna get any money.”
Robert Cohen insists the will had nothing to do with it. He says his
mother’s “thoughts can be scattered at times. Other times, she can be
coherent.”
Elberta says she’s “not incapacitated
in any way, shape or form,” and that one of New Jersey’s top eldercare
attorneys, Lauren Marinaro, has agreed to represent her.
“I believe she is competent to make decisions and should be restored to capacity,” Marinaro says.
But Southwick says terminating a guardianship can be costly.
“The
lawyer for the guardian can charge your estate to fight back,”
Southwick says. “So basically, you're being held captive while people
are just charging your estate. It's as if you’ve become a cash cow.”
As
in most guardianship cases, Elberta was evaluated by three doctors. One
found she could “manage her medical, financial and legal affairs.” But
the others disagreed.
Faced with the conflicting reports, the judge ordered
a full or “plenary” guardianship, covering not just Cohen’s estate but
also her “person.” Marinaro has now gotten three more doctors to do
evaluations. All found her capable of making decisions on her own.
Marinaro says the lack of a diagnostic standard can make evaluations
subjective, and “only the people giving the test know how to how to
grade the quiz.”
The subjectivity also extends
to opinions of Cohen’s living conditions. The guardianship petition
claimed the house was “very filthy” and so cluttered that it was
“unsafe” for Cohen to walk. But Kane In Your Corner visited the
house more than once, and never saw that. Footage shows the house is
clean, and while there is some clutter, like a dining room table that is
largely covered by books and knick-knacks, it does not create an
impediment to walking around.
“You don't have to
have a perfectly clean house every day to be an adult with the ability
to do your own thing,” Marinaro says. “You're still an adult, and you
still have fundamental rights.”
Elberta admits
her life isn’t perfect. She lives with her oldest son Larry. She says
she and Larry argue at times, sometimes loudly. But she says, “I don‘t
want to be taken care of by a stranger” and disputes Robert’s contention
that Larry “is controlling her life.” So when the guardian sought to
have Larry evicted and replaced by a full-time aide earlier this year,
Elberta was furious, especially since the filing openly stated the aide
would likely be temporary and serve as a “transition to assisted
living.”
“He was going to go and make me sell my home and put
me in a nursing home,” Elberta says indignantly. “I feel it’s my home.
I'm entitled to live where I want to live.”
Cohen’s case is scheduled to go to a court hearing next month.
If you have a story that needs to be investigated, click HERE to get in touch with Kane In Your Corner.
alyssa beth steele, charged with practicing medicine without a license SOURCE: Anderson County Detention Center
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A woman
faces charges in three Upstate counties for practicing medicine without
a license at seven nursing and assisted living facilities, state
officials said Thursday.
Alyssa Beth Steele, 37, of Anderson, is
charged in Anderson, Greenville and Pickens counties, where
investigators said she worked as a registered nurse without the required
certifications, qualifications, or training, according to the South
Carolina Attorney General's Office.
Steele was arrested in Anderson County Monday, in Greenville County
on Tuesday, and in Pickens County on Wednesday, officials said.
Investigators
said between Jan. 15, 2020, and June 13, 2021, Steele used a State of
Georgia Board of Nursing license number belonging to someone else to
gain employment as a registered nurse in seven facilities.
"By
holding herself out as having credentials she did not possess, Steele’s
conduct resulted in a failure to provide adequate medical care and
services to vulnerable adults and presented a substantial risk of
causing physical or mental injuries to the residents under her care,"
officials said in a news release.
Investigators said Steele worked as a registered nurse at the following Upstate nursing and assisted living facilities:
Cascades Verdae Assisted Living Facility in Greenville
Iva Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Iva
Piedmont Post Acute, in Piedmont
Brookdale Assisted Living Facility, in Anderson
Condor Health, in Anderson
Easley Place Assisted Living Facility in Easley
Fleetwood Rehabilitation and Healthcare Assisted Living in Easley
All the above facilities fully cooperated with the investigation, officials said.
Steele faces the following charges:
7 counts of neglect of a vulnerable adult, felony, carries up to 5 years in prison
5 counts of unlicensed practice as a registered nurse, carries one year in prison or a fine of not more than $50,000 dollars
Financial identity fraud to obtain employment, felony, carries a fine or imprisonment up to 10 years
Obtaining
signature or property under false pretenses, value of $10,000 or more,
felony, a fine of up to $500 and up to 10 years in prison
Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit led the investigation.
Peter G. Angelos, center, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, sits in the
owners’ box at Fort Lauderdale Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with
his son Louis, and wife, Georgia, during his team’s spring training
baseball game against the Boston Red Sox on March 18, 2007. (AP
Photo/James A. Finley)
Louis Angelos will temporarily maintain control of his father’s
storied law firm, a Baltimore County judge decided Thursday, ruling
against the other members of the Angelos family who sought to strip
Louis of his management authority.
The ruling will only remain in effect for a few weeks, however.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Keith R. Truffer on Thursday declined to
appoint a conservator to run the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos PC,
effectively leaving Louis Angelos in control until a more substantive
court hearing to determine the firm’s ownership takes place on Nov. 9.
Thursday’s hearing dealt with a request from Georgia Angelos, the
wife of Peter Angelos, to take emergency control of the law firm. The
couple’s son Louis has been running the firm since 2018, when
93-year-old Peter Angelos fell ill and became incapacitated.
Georgia Angelos sought to take over the firm’s bank accounts last
month after Wells Fargo threatened to freeze the accounts because it was
unclear who was in charge. Louis Angelos had been improperly issuing
checks with Peter Angelos’s signature, her lawyers claimed, placing the
firm in jeopardy. Georgia Angelos’ lawyers asked Truffer to appoint a
conservator to run the firm and a signatory who was not Louis Angelos.
Truffer did not name a conservator and named three signatories who
will have the authority to sign checks for the firm. Though the names of
the signatories were not disclosed in court, Truffer proposed making
Louis Angelos one of them in order to keep the firm running as it has
been for the past four years.
“To some degree, I’m punting a little bit,” Truffer said.
The judge on Thursday also appointed Benjamin Rosenberg to serve as Peter Angelos’ lawyer during the proceedings.
Truffer’s short-term decision on the law firm’s management allows
time for Maryland Bar Counsel to potentially take action. When a lawyer
becomes incapacitated, bar counsel can petition to appoint a conservator
to handle client matters.
It is not clear whether bar counsel will ask a conservator to take
over the Angelos firm. Bar Counsel Lydia E. Lawless could not be reached
for comment Thursday morning.
The Angelos firm was built on decades of asbestos-related litigation,
but its future came into doubt when Peter Angelos lost the ability to
manage his business interests, including his majority stake in the
Baltimore Orioles.
Louis Angelos, who is a lawyer, has argued in court filings that his
father intended for him to take over the firm and that his mother and
brother, John Angelos, have no authority to run the firm because they
are not lawyers. Louis Angelos also claims to have sold himself the
firm, at a price to be determined later, through a promissory note.
Georgia and John Angelos, who together have sided against Louis,
dispute Louis’ ownership of the firm and claim that Peter Angelos wanted
the firm to be shut down.
Georgia and John Angelos have asked Truffer to invalidate Louis’ sale
of the firm to himself. That issue will be among those considered at
the Nov. 9 hearing.
The contentious family dispute first came into public view this summer,
when Louis Angelos filed a lawsuit against his brother alleging that
John had manipulated their mother and was exerting unilateral control
over the Orioles and the family’s other business interests, including
the law firm.
Louis Angelos claimed in court papers that his brother intended to
dismantle the law firm, in part because he was concerned about liability
arising from a pending malpractice lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit
Court.
Jeffrey Nusinov, the lawyer for Louis Angelos, declined to comment on
Thursday’s hearing. Former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who
is representing Georgia Angelos, also declined to comment.
A skiing accident led to an emergency room visit — and an incorrect charge on the hospital bill.
Dr.
Bhavin Shah and Sunita Kalsariya’s journey to reduce Shah’s high
medical bill entailed being briefly sent to debt collection, asking for
help from the Illinois attorney general, and eventually uncovering that
nearly $7,000 of Shah’s initial charges were for a procedure that was
never performed.Bram Sable-Smith / KHN
By Bram Sable-Smith, Kaiser Health News
If
Dr. Bhavin Shah was on his own, he said, he probably would have paid
the bill for his broken arm. The 47-year-old physician from suburban
Chicago incurred surprisingly steep charges after landing in an
emergency room on New Year’s Day 2021. He’d hit an icy patch while
skiing with his kids in Wisconsin.
The $10,563.49 in
initial ER charges from a Froedtert South hospital in Pleasant Prairie,
Wisconsin, seemed high considering he basically got only an exam,
X-rays, pain relief, and an arm splint. His insurer negotiated the cost
down to $7,922.62 — but, with Shah owing $250 for his deductible
and 40% of the remaining charges, his bill of $3,319.05 still felt like
too much. However, he thought, who was he to question the hospital’s
billing department?
Shah’s
wife, on the other hand, is highly qualified to question such charges.
Sunita Kalsariya, 45, is the office manager of her husband’s medical
practice, a job that includes overseeing billing. She took one look at
the hospital charges and decided to investigate further.
Kalsariya
had no way of knowing then that she was embarking on a crusade that
would take over a year, send their bill to debt collections, lead her to
complain to the Illinois attorney general, and discover that the
hospital charged nearly $7,000 for a procedure that was never performed.
After
disputing her husband’s bill for over a year, Sunita Kalsariya was able
to get it reduced to about a third of the original balance.Bram Sable-Smith / KHN
Froedtert South did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the case.
Here’s how Kalsariya reduced her family’s bill:
Tip 1: Start early
Even
before you know you’ll be challenging a bill, Kalsariya said, you
should ask the hospital both for more information and to pause the
billing process. The sooner you do that, the more time you’ll have to
track down the details you need to contest a bill — and possibly reset
the clock before it is sent to collections.
“Even in our case, we waited until the second bill,” Kalsariya said. “Start acting with the first bill.”
Tip 2: Get an itemized bill
Hospitals
often have their own internal billing codes, so it’s important to ask
for an itemized bill that lists “current procedural terminology” billing
codes (CPT codes, for short), which are standardized across the
country.
Depending on the medical procedure, Kalsariya
said, a bill could contain an overwhelming number of line items that are
hard to understand. She suggested focusing on the items that stand out,
such as those with the highest price tag.
Kalsariya said
it took months to get a bill that included CPT codes for her husband’s
ER trip. Once she did, one item jumped out: $6,961.75 for CPT code 24505
— treating a fractured humerus without making an incision.
Dr.
Bhavin Shah was left with a $3,319 medical bill after he landed in an
emergency room following a skiing accident in Wisconsin. Bram Sable-Smith / KHN
Shah
didn’t remember having that treatment at Froedtert South. What he did
recall was having his arm splinted in a comfortable position and making
plans to have surgery the next day at a hospital in the Chicagoland area
unaffiliated with Froedtert South. He returned home that night, caught
maybe a couple of hours of sleep while propped up by pillows in an
almost-seated position, then had a successful surgery.
Tip 3: Compare your charges with those at other hospitals
Since January 2021, all hospitals have been required to make their prices publicly available, although some do so in a way that is difficult to find.
Still, Kalsariya was able to find the prices that other hospitals in
Wisconsin and beyond charged for the same procedure. They ranged from
$201 in Boise, Idaho, to $1,300 in Madison, Wisconsin, she said, but all
were fractions of the nearly $7,000 that Froedtert South charged.
The website fairhealthconsumer.org
has a tool that allows consumers to search for typical patient expenses
for procedures in their area. The website estimates that the
out-of-network cost for the procedure Shah underwent, within the
hospital’s ZIP code, would be $3,863; in network, it would be $1,707.
Medicare also has an online tool
to find national average patient expenses searchable by CPT code. The
total cost for that procedure is listed at $1,892, with Medicare paying
$1,514 and the patient on the hook for $378.
Tip 4: Challenge your charges
Armed
with the information that Froedtert South was seemingly charging more
than others for the bone realignment, the couple tried appealing
directly to the hospital with no luck.
“The charges incurred on your date of service were both
reasonable and within the range usually charged by similar healthcare
providers in the area,” the hospital’s response letter read. “Moreover,
your insurance company, United Healthcare Choice-Golden Rule, entered
into a long-term agreement with Froedtert South knowing the charges for
its various services.”
The couple sent two complaints to their insurer asking how it could allow itself to be charged such a high amount, but response letters said the claim was processed correctly.
“We expect our in-network providers to bill appropriately
for their services,” UnitedHealthcare spokesperson Maria Gordon Shydlo
wrote in an email to KHN. “We paid the claim under the terms of Mr.
Shah’s benefit plan based on the information we received from the
provider.”
Fed up, Kalsariya filed a complaint with the
Illinois attorney general’s office. After going back and forth, she
eventually was told her husband could apply for the hospital’s financial
assistance program to reduce his bill. But Kalsariya said they didn’t
need financial assistance. They could afford $3,319.05. This, she said,
was about the principle of the thing — she felt they were being
egregiously overcharged.
Tip 5: Request your medical records
Getting
Shah’s medical records proved to be another challenge. Kalsariya said
her attempt to access the records on the hospital’s website didn’t work,
so instead the couple was required to send hospital officials a form to
release the records.
“They wouldn’t even accept fax or email,” Kalsariya said. “They needed it mailed, specifically, and it had to be notarized.”
It almost didn’t seem worth the hassle to them. But when a KHN reporter responded to the family’s request for help investigating Shah’s hospital bill, the couple decided to send in the form to accurately document their saga.
When
the records arrived, they showed the splinting that Shah remembered but
not the treatment that was driving up his bill. They appealed the bill
to Froedtert South once more in May 2022, this time noting the
discrepancy between the charges and the medical records.
Tip 6: Tell collections you are disputing the bill
Shah
had received a letter from a debt collector, which Kalsariya said came
in November 2021, over his unpaid medical bill. She asked the hospital
to pull the bill from collections because the dispute was unresolved,
which she said it did.
Informing a collections agency
that a bill is in dispute can help protect a patient’s credit score.
That wasn’t an issue with Shah’s bill from the hospital because the
hospital pulled it back after Kalsariya’s call.
How it all ended
After
the couple asked the hospital about the discrepancy with the procedure,
Shah received a letter from the hospital dated May 27 of this year,
saying it had reviewed the records and discovered the bill was
inappropriately coded: The hospital should have used the code for a
splint, not a treatment. A month later, Shah got a new bill with a
patient balance of $1,214.91 — $2,100 less than the original balance.
Kalsariya
still thought the bill seemed high and that the hospital seemed
unapologetic about charging for a procedure that was never performed.
But
the couple paid the new, smaller bill, and their saga was finally over.
Her advice to other patients? When you get a bill, look into it before
paying.
“I know it’s time-consuming. It is really taxing
on our minds to do this,” Kalsariya said. “But if everybody makes that
effort, then they have to be transparent.”
KHN
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
Britney Spears'
mother has just withdrawn her request for the pop star to pay her
massive legal bills, just a day after making a final push to get the
money.
According to legal documents, obtained by The Blast, Lynne Spears
informed the court she is no longer looking for Britney to pay her
large legal bill, but it's unclear why it was done. In the filing, Lynne
simply states she is stopping the attempts to get the large sum from
the singer.
"Lynne B. Spears, an interested party and mother of
the former Conservatee Britney Jean Spears ("Ms. Spears"), hereby
withdraws her Petition for Reimbursement of Attorney Fees," the document
states.
Did Britney Spears Pay Her Mother's Massive Legal Bill?
Mega
This is shocking, considering just 24 hours earlier, Lynne was pushing the court to pay the monster bill
-- even explaining why her involvement was so important to Britney
getting out of the conservatorship and stopping doctors from giving her
powerful narcotics.
We broke the story, Spears' mom specifically
pointed out that she was responsible for the pop star getting off
Lithium. "Factually, the beginning of the end of the abusive conduct,
and indeed the conservatorship itself, started at that court hearing at
which Lynne Spears first appeared in May of 2019. The Court ordered a
medical review. The lithium stopped. Ms. Spears could see her children
and was allowed to travel," she wrote.
Adding,
"Five months later, in September of 2019, her father temporarily
resigned as the Conservator of her Person. After nearly eleven straight
years of an unchallenged Conservatorship, five months after Lynne Spears
intervened as an interested party, the structure of the conservatorship
was upended, and the direct beneficiary of that change was Britney
Spears."
Lynne Spears: I Am The Reason They Stopped Giving Britney Lithium
Mega
At this point, it's unclear if the news coverage or reaction to the
request is why Lynne Spears decided to pull the plug on her request, or
if it was simply paid. It's possible, the final request pushed the two
sides to come to an agreement about payment. Again, this is a request by
Lynne's lawyers to Britney's lawyers for money. The latest document
does not say which way this thing went.
As we reported, Lynne was asking the court to order Britney to cover over $600,000 in legal fees. Over half a million dollars of it was for one law firm alone.
So...why
would Lynne think Britney would pay HER legal bills. Well, the pop
star's mother claims the work was done on Britney's behalf. "Lynne
Spears signed a contract with the undersigned, explaining to her
attorneys at the outset that she and Ms. Spears wished them to modify
the medical treatment of Ms. Spears, to exact change to the personal
restrictions being imposed on Ms. Spears by her father the conservator
of her person and estate at the time, to start the process of removing
her father from those roles, and in the end, to terminate her
conservatorship. All of those things were ultimately achieved," she
wrote.
Mega
In the past few weeks, Britney has made it very clear that she is bitter with her mom
for allowing the conservatorship to go on as long as it did -- so
paying it in full was out of the question. What happened here? We may
never know...
What we do know...Britney is back to posting super sexy shots on Instagram...and everyone loves that!
Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces that
Debra Bailey (Lemere), age 58, of Enfield, pleaded guilty and was
sentenced on Monday, October 24, 2022, in the Grafton County Superior
Court to one class A felony count of financial exploitation of an
elderly adult.
A joint investigation by the Lebanon Police Department and
the Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Unit of the Attorney
General's Office revealed that on December 4, 2017, Ms. Bailey was
appointed legal guardian over the finances of her 76-year-old mother,
who suffered severe cognitive impairment due to dementia. As guardian,
Ms. Bailey was required to prudently manage her Mother's financial
affairs and was prohibited from using her mother's money for herself.
However, between December 5, 2017, and July 16, 2019, Ms. Bailey
unlawfully took $45,957.93 of her mother's money for herself, using the
funds at, among other places, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, salons,
and spas.
The Court sentenced Ms. Bailey to serve 12 months in the
House of Corrections, stand committed, and ordered her to pay $45,957.93
in restitution to her mother's estate. Following her incarceration, Ms.
Bailey will serve two years' probation. She is also prohibited from
serving as guardian or in any other fiduciary capacity for any
individual.
This case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Bryan J. Townsend, II, and Attorney Mary Stewart.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of elder
abuse or financial exploitation, please contact your local police
department and the Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of
Elderly and Adult Services (1-800-949-0470).
