As the 'Baby Boom' generation hits retirement, law enforcement agencies are preparing for an increase in crimes against the elderly. Last year, the Dallas County probate office referred 41 cases to the district attorney's office.
Of more than 3,000 cases Adult Protective Services investigates every year in the state, ten percent involve allegations of financial exploitation of the elderly. Even then, advocates say only one in 25 such cases actually are reported.
Ida Jane Bailey says she and her husband Doug used to manage two duplexes in East Dallas for their client, 78-year-old Ruth “Deloise” Barrett.
That was until a man named Norman Lehr moved in three doors down from Barrett in 2001.
The Baileys became suspicious when Behr befriended his neighbor, and bailey says they made a shocking discovery.
“I guess finding that check for $10,000 written to him when Doug went with her to get her medicine was a shock,” Bailey said.
Lehr got power of attorney for the old woman and fired the Baileys as property managers.
A deed transfer shows Lehr is now the owner of Barrett's three properties.
The state investigated, and a doctor found Barrett had dementia and didn't know what she was doing. The state took over her care.
“We were so distressed because she just seemed to be so in pain; in pain in more ways than one,” said Bailey. “More than anything, we saw that she was vulnerable, and needy.”
Lehr now faces a charge of first-degree felony theft of more than $200,000. Lehr's attorney would not talk on camera, saying he wants to see the state's evidence and it was wrong for caseworkers to come in and cut Lehr off from Barrett.
Bailey says she saw the once fiercely independent woman she knew become disoriented, paranoid, and agitated.
It's because of cases like Barrett's that district attorney Craig Washington is asking Dallas County for a special prosecutor to go after people taking advantage of the elderly, saying current prosecutors are already overloaded.
“With the surge in these types of cases that we see developing within the county, I think it behooves us to have someone whose primary focus is these cases,” said Kevin Brooks, who is the Dallas County Felony Trial Bureau Chief.
The district attorney is scheduled to go before the County Commissioners on Tuesday, July 31 to make his request for the special prosecutor.
Source: MyFox
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