St. Charles Man Charged With Abusing Elderly Mother

by KMOV.com staff
KMOV.com
 May 8, 2013

A man was arrested after he allegedly beat up his 79-year-old mother at his St. Charles home on Monday.
Daniel Quirk Jr. was charged first-degree elder abuse.
According to court documents, Quirk punched and kicked his mother at a home in the 340 block of Oakleaf.

Authorities said Quirk’s mother was transported to the hospital with broken bones, bruises, cuts and abrasions.
Police said Quirk was on probation for a 2010 assault on his mother, and there was a warrant out for his arrest.

 “Your worst fear is something like this reoccurs only it’s worse this time,” said circuit court judge Tim Lohmar. "If you look at the pictures you can see that this was a brutal assault.”
 Sources say Quirk locked his mother in a room for hours before taking her to the hospital
 Officials say for every elderly person who is a known victim of financial or physical abuse, there are six more who are unknown.

SOURCE:         KMOV
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D.C. Council Still Stalling on Elder Abuse

Local Editorial: D.C. Council still stalling on elder abuse
May 9, 2013

Last March, the daughter of the late D.C. Councilwoman Hilda Mason told the Office on Aging's Elder Abuse Prevention Committee that even her politically connected mother and multimillionaire stepfather became victims of neglect and financial exploitation at the hands of court-approved "conservators" who pilfered their fortune while forcing them to live in squalor.

The District's Adult Protective Services failed to protect her parents and still fails to protect vulnerable seniors, Carolyn Nicholas, president of Advocates for Elder Justice, testified.
As The Washington Examiner reported last year, Nicholas has been pleading with current council members to amend the Adult Protective Services Act to bring the District law in line with other states' best practices. But they're still dragging their feet.

In February, Council member Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, introduced a bill in memory of his old friend and political ally. The Charles and Hilda Mason Elder Abuse Clarification and Expansion Act of 2013 clarifies the definition of elder abuse and increases the penalties for preying on vulnerable seniors.

Guardians or conservators are only supposed to be appointed for people who do not have other plans in place when they become physically or mentally incapacitated. But D.C. Superior Court judges have overridden seniors' wishes, assigning "representatives" to people who have already designated a family member, friend or attorney to handle their affairs when they became frail or incapacitated. Court-appointed guardians and conservators have total control over their wards' persons and property, but some are completely unsupervised, with no requirement to submit to outside audits or even file periodic accountings with the court for how they spent assets it took a lifetime to accumulate.

With such absolute power and little or no oversight by the courts or the city, abuse is inevitable. "Many court-appointed attorneys, guardians and/or conservators have in fact become nothing more than predators," Nicholas told The Examiner.

Barry's bill, which has been co-sponsored by Council members Anita Bonds, D-at large, Yvette Alexander, D-Ward 7, and Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, would make financial abuse of the elderly a felony punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to 15 years in prison, and allow elderly victims to sue for restitution. It would also prevent those convicted of exploiting seniors by "deception, intimidation, misrepresentation, fraud or undue influence" from inheriting their victims' estates.

Three months later, Barry's bill is still sitting in the Judiciary Committee because Chairman Tommy Wells has not scheduled a hearing. What is he waiting for?

SOURCE:       The Washington Examiner
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Seniors Urged to Report Abuse

May 10, 2013
By JoAnn Merrigan

Quite a few people in the audience were using walkers or relying on canes. Now in their "golden years" they're spending a day learning about crimes that victimize senior citizens.
Shalena Cook Jones is the elder abuse prosecutor at the Chatham County District Attorney's Office. She told seniors that 90 percent of violent crimes against persons 65 or older, are committed by someone the senior knows. She urged seniors to stay in touch with friends and neighbors, to have a circle of friends who will help. And she urged those friends to speak up and report the crime if the senior being hurt is too afraid. "But our system is only as good as the people who actually report these crimes, who see it on a daily basis," said Cook Jones. "And sometimes it's just too easy to turn your back to it so we must empower people."
Vernita Wilson took home that important piece of advice. "I learned to keep watching out for my neighbors and they can keep watching out for me," she told us.
Diedie Bonaparte and her friend Roberta Williams know physical crimes against people their age are increasing. "But what's startling is the acceptance of it," said Bonaparte. "And the idea from a senior that it has only happened once but may not happen again."
Bonaparte said it's not always about your safety, but your money. "I had a case where a family member tried to get me to put my house in their name," she said. "They told me it would be best for me. I doubt that."
Seniors who feel alone are assured they're not. The district attorney's office has an eye on crimes against the elderly. Shalena Cook Jones telling us that physical abuse can leave scars and must be reported by a medical professional for example. However, she says stealing a senior's money or scamming them can often be harder to detect. "Financial abuse, you could never know about until months and years have passed" she says. "I think the statistics say that something like $9 billion dollars a year of elder abuse money is being stolen from them every year. That's a huge industry of crimes we're not touch because we're not educated."
Cook Jones says seniors who are being hurt physically or who suspect someone of stealing their money should contact the police. She says to contact the Elder Abuse Division of the Chatham County District Attorney's Office, call  912-652-7308.

SOURCE:        WSAV
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Roca Man, Ex-Wife Arrested in Elder Abuse Case

Roca man, ex-wife arrested in elder abuse case
May 10, 2013
By JONATHAN EDWARDS / Lincoln Journal Star

A 45-year-old Roca man wiped out his mother’s $150,000 life savings over the past two years to pay for child support, a motorcycle and his ex-wife’s tanning and cosmetic surgery, Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said.

On a doctor’s recommendation, Brian Glen Robinson’s 69-year-old mother gave her son and his then-wife, Carla Robinson, power of attorney in February 2011 and added both as signers to her checking and savings accounts, an affidavit for their arrest says.
During the next two years, Wagner said, the Robinsons drained her bank account of $156,000, including $67,000 in cash withdrawals, $49,000 in child support payments and a divorce settlement, restaurant meals, trips to day spas and tanning salons.
They also racked up a $19,200 debt on her credit card, he said.
“Her entire life savings has been depleted,” Wagner said. “Unfortunately, the money’s gone. It’s not recoverable.
“It’s very devastating for the victim.”
A month after getting power of attorney, Robinson’s mother put a $71,000 down payment on a Roca house where the three of them would live. The mother agreed to pay the mortgage, as long as her son and daughter-in-law paid for utilities and groceries.
Investigators didn't list the house payment in the affidavit, because the mother agreed to pay it, Wagner said.
He said elder abuse cases are tough because investigators have to wade through transactions and parse out which are legitimate and which are theft.
For example, Brian and Carla Robinson paid for his mother's care while they also were allegedly stealing from her, Wagner said.
The document granting Brian and Carla Robinson power of attorney forbids them from transferring money to themselves or using it to pay for their legal obligations, the affidavit says.
But after they moved in, it says, Robinson blocked his mother from looking at her mail, including bank statements, locking them in a room upstairs along with her purse.
Brian and Carla Robinson split up in late 2011 and divorced the next July. A Lancaster County District Court judge ordered him to pay $984 a month in child support for six months, and then $1,210 after that.
The judge also ordered him to pay her a one-time lump sum of $10,000.
Robinson made good on the order by paying $49,000 from his mother’s account between May 2012 and February, Wagner said.
One of the mother’s friends grew suspicious and took her to talk to investigators, who started looking into the matter in February.
Deputies jailed Brian and Carla Robinson on Wednesday and Tuesday, respectively, and prosecutors charged them with felony theft and abusing a vulnerable adult.
County Judge Jeffrey Marcuzzo let Brian Robinson out of jail on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
County Judge Thomas Harmon ordered Carla Robinson to pay 10 percent of her $10,000 bond before she was released from jail Tuesday

SOURCE:        The Journal Star
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Camborne Carer Jailed for St. Ives Nursing Home Abuse (UK)

Camborne carer jailed for St Ives nursing home abuse
11th May 2013
Cornwall

A care home worker from Camborne has been sent to jail for nine months after abusing care home residents.
Fiona Sally Salmon, aged 40, of Fore Street, mistreated patients over a five month period at Cornwallis Nursing Home, which caters for those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease in particular.
On March 14 she was found guilty of seven charges of ill-treating or neglecting residents suffering from insufficient mental capacity.
The court had heard statements from a former collegue that Salmon had rubbed a resident's face with a flannel so hard it caused a nosebleed, squeezed talcum powder into a woman's face and called a resident a grubby b***h.
Other accusations included pinching and slapping residents, according to the prosecution.
She was handed the prison sentance yesterday at Truro Crown Court.
Salmon no longer works at Cornwallis Care Services' home in St Ives

SOURCE:        ThisIsTheWestCountry

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Governor Signs Elderly Abuse Law (Georgia USA)

Kevin Hall The Moultrie Observer
May 3, 2013

MOULTRIE — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law on Friday a bill to help fight abuse of the elderly, and he came to a Moultrie personal care home to do it.

House Bill 78, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, and five others, increases the number of mandated reporters of abuse and collects the language of various state laws on the matter into a single act, according to remarks by Deal and Commissioner Clyde Reese of the Department of Human Services.

Reese said in the current fiscal year, the Department of Aging Services, a division of his agency, is investigating 2,100 cases of elder abuse, 2,700 cases of financial exploitation, 3,600 cases of neglect, 3,700 cases of self-neglect and 73 cases of sexual abuse of an elderly person.

“We want to make sure we don’t allow people to abuse the elderly of our state,” said Deal, a former prosecutor.

The changes made by the new law will make prosecution of crimes against the elderly easier, he said. It also expands similar protection to disabled adults of any age.

SOURCE:         The Moultrie Observer

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Bank Employee Accused of Defrauding Elderly Woman (CA. USA)

BY SARAH BURGE
 STAFF WRITER (PE)
 May 03, 2013

A Murrieta man was arrested Thursday, May 2, on suspicion of defrauding an elderly woman he met while working at a bank, authorities said.
Don Leon Foster, 35, was arrested at his current workplace in San Diego County, Riverside County sheriff’s officials said in a news release.
Sheriff’s officials said Foster took advantage of the woman — who recently died — while he was working at a bank in Temecula, defrauding her of “a large sum of money.”
Investigators did not disclose the amount of money taken. But the bail in such cases typically reflects the amount of money believed to have been stolen. Foster’s bail is set at $183,000, jail records show.
After arresting Foster on University Drive in Vista, investigators also served a search warrant Thursday evening at Foster’s home in the Mapleton area of Murrieta.
He was booked into the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley on suspicion of financial elder abuse, sheriff’s officials said.
A case to transfer conservatorship of the woman and her estate from Foster to a public guardian was filed in Riverside County probate court in November, court records show.
Foster contested the case, saying in court records that he was a legitimate caretaker. He said he met the woman in 2007 while working at Wachovia Bank. He said they became friends and she opened accounts there. He and his family began to spend time with the woman, who had no close relatives, and helped take care of her, Foster said. The friendship continued when he left Wachovia in 2009 and took a job at U.S. Bank, he said.
That same year, the woman signed a will leaving her estate to “my good friend, Don Leon Foster” and gave him power of attorney.
When a court-appointed lawyer spoke with woman at her residential care facility in November, she was by then 88 years old, in declining health and suffering from dementia. She was very confused, the lawyer wrote in court records, and was unable to recall who Foster was.

SOURCE:       The Press-Enterprise
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Protect Seniors in the Year of Elder Abuse Prevention (USA)

Every year an estimated 2.1 million older Americans are victims of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation. And that’s only part of the picture: Experts believe that for every case of elder abuse or neglect reported, as many as five cases go unreported.

Elder abuse happens, but everyone can act to protect seniors.

The Administration on Aging (AoA), an agency of the Administration for Community Living (ACL), is sponsoring the Year of Elder Abuse Prevention (YEAP) to encourage national, state, and local organizations to protect seniors and raise awareness about elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Please Protect Seniors and join us in taking a stand against elder abuse this year! Enter a Pledge Card and commit to do something extra this year to raise awareness in your community about elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation!
As part of the YEAP, the AoA is pleased to provide information, tools, and resources to support partners in their efforts to raise public awareness about elder abuse and shed light on the importance of preventing, identifying, and responding to this serious, often hidden problem.

The YEAP toolkit includes:  (PLEASE GO TO SOURCE FOR RESOURCES)

• YEAP Toolkit Information Sheet: Protect Seniors in the Year of Elder Abuse Prevention
• YEAP Outreach Guide: How Your Organization Can Generate Awareness and Foster Action to Guard Against Elder Abuse
• Fact Sheets:
o 10 Things Anyone Can Do to Protect Seniors
o Warning Signs of Elder Abuse
o How to Answer Those Tough Questions About Elder Abuse
o Protect Yourself From Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation
• Logos
o File Type: .jpg
Download Logo: | Color | Black & White
o File Type: .eps
Download Logo: | Color | Black & White
o File Type: .gif
Download Logo: | Color | Black & White
• Poster

• Customizable YEAP Templates
o PowerPoint
o Fact Sheet/Newsletter
o Event Flier
o Certificate
• Web Banners
o Banner Ad - 160x600
o Banner Ad - 180x150
o Banner Ad – 180x55
o Banner Ad - 300x250
o Banner Ad - 278x90

• Social Media Tools

SOURCE:      Administration of Aging

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AGING AND ABUSE

The most recent estimates suggest 1 in 10 seniors are abused, neglected or exploited, and that has serious implications for individuals and communities. Victims of elder abuse are much more likely to end up in hospitals and nursing homes. Seniors lose almost $3 billion a year due to financial exploitation, which leaves them vulnerable and dependent on government or family assistance. With an aging population, elder abuse is only expected to increase, and social service agencies are often not able to keep up. In this five-part series, we look at the complexities of elder abuse in the D.C. region and why the problem is so difficult to address.

WHERE TO GET HELP IN DC, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA

WARNING SIGNS OF ELDER ABUSE

COUPLE TALE OF ABUSE

James and Etta Jennings moved to the Forest Hill neighborhood of Richmond in 1959.  They were young - just married - and the first owners of their red brick ranch house.  They had children and then grandchildren, who gathered in their family room for holidays and learned to swim in their backyard pool.
But when their granddaughter, Jeannie Beidler, approached the home on July 27, 2010, she was confronted by a grim reality.  Paramedics, police and Adult Protective Services social workers were on the scene.
"You could smell the stench of urine and feces," she says, standing at the foot of the driveway.  "From this point, we already knew what we were about to walk into."
The Jennings' son, Beidler's uncle, was supposed to be caring for them, but it became clear very quickly that something had gone horribly wrong.  The Jennings were living without running water or even a fan.  James was confined to a chair.  His blood pressure was high and he was fading in and out of consciousness.  Etta was living on a broken bed crawling with maggots.
Beidler was overwhelmed.
"To think how could this have happened to her?  I can't think of a sadder moment in my life or a heavier moment in my life than that," she says.
It's hard to imagine how a family home could sour and rot as the Jennings' had, or how somebody could watch two elderly parents wasting away.  But neglect is not uncommon, especially for seniors with dementia and complicated medical conditions who are also at risk for physical and emotional abuse, as well as financial exploitation
In a study funded by the National Institute of Justice, approximately 1 in 10 seniors reported being abused or neglected in the previous year, and financial exploitation of seniors is estimated to total $2.9 billion dollars a year.  Victims of abuse are more than twice as likely to die prematurely and more than four times as likely to be admitted to a nursing home or rehab center.

Abridged
SOURCE:      AMERICAN UNIVERSITY RADIO
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Toughen Maine Law to Prevent, Fight Financial Exploitation of Elderly

By Tabitha Sagner and Kelly Souder, Special to the BDN

April 21, 2013

It is estimated that by 2030, almost 25 percent of Americans will be 60 years of age or older. Elder financial exploitation harms the dignity, health and economic security of millions of Americans. Each year more than 12,000 Mainers are victims of elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Elder financial abuse is underrecognized, underreported and underprosecuted. It has not been extensively studied, nor is it well understood.
The oldest demographic, those 85 and older, are the fastest increasing population of seniors and have a 30 percent chance of dementia. Many seniors are dependent on others for help. Sometimes, those helpers exercise substantial influence over seniors. To gain compliance with their demands, perpetrators often use threats of withdrawal of love, care, medications, food and social interactions and threaten institutionalization.
By median age, Maine is the oldest state in the nation and has more 300,000 people age 60 years and older. It’s estimated about 38,000 people in Maine are affected with Alzheimer’s disease and that thousands more suffer from other forms of dementia. One of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is financial difficulty due to loss of abstract thinking. Now that Maine’s baby boomers are reaching the age of retirement, there is an increased risk for more instances of financial exploitation in the coming years.
A 2012 study found the annual financial loss by victims of elder financial abuse is estimated to be at least $2.9 billion dollars nationwide. This creates a burden for state and federal services as the victims’ diminished resources are no longer enough to provide for basic needs and standards of living. This is not only a problem for the victim; the problem falls on the shoulders of all Mainers.
Police investigations of financial exploitation are commonly ceased — often because the perpetrator can demonstrate, via a power of attorney, his or her name on a bank account or other legal document. Often the victim consented to the use of funds, even if doing so left the victim destitute.
LD 527, sponsored by Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, proposes three modifications to the current statutes to better protect vulnerable adults.
The first modification is the addition of “dementia or other cognitive impairment” to protect people who are not able to adequately judge their situation and cannot give their consent.
The second modification states that consent cannot be given by “undue influence.” This is sometimes described as a deceptive means to control another person’s decision making. Examining undue influence could mean a more involved process of evaluating the true intentions of the vulnerable adult in the changing of their will, power of attorney, name on a joint account or the voluntary turnover of an asset.
Including the use of undue influence provides an increased incentive for law enforcement and prosecutors to pursue cases involving powers of attorney where the person is left destitute because of the misuse of their only assets by someone who had a right to use the assets.
When a power of attorney is misused in violation of the duty created, it is the same as theft. Currently, regardless of the amounts misused, the crime can only be a misdemeanor. This is where the last modification comes into play. The modification increases the penalty to a felony. If the value of the property is between $1,000 and $10,000, it becomes a Class C crime. If the value of the property is more than $10,000, it becomes a harsher Class B crime. This proposed bill would allow for the legal system to offer more punitive penalties to those who take advantage of our older, vulnerable adults.
Elder abuse in Maine is on the rise. Many seniors rely heavily on low incomes for their feeling of identity and independence. Taking a senior’s money creates a devastating loss. The term “financial violence” is more fitting to describe the horrific impact of financial exploitation. This bill creates the initial steps needed to enable prosecutors and law enforcement to better protect our seniors and vulnerable adults.
For these reasons, we encourage people to contact their legislators and urge them to pass LD 527, An Act to Protect Elders and Vulnerable Adults from Exploitation.

Tabitha Sagner of Old Town and Kelly Souder of Winterport are both Master of Social Workstudents at the University of Maine, set to graduate in May. They are also students in theHartford Partnership Program for Aging Education through the University of Maine Center on Aging.

SOURCE:          Bangor Daily News
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