Portlanders charged with abuse of elderly Mo. couple
September 26, 2008
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland couple who offered to care for a developmentally delayed pair stand accused of defrauding them of more than $50,000 in pension and Social Security payments and physically abusing them for years.
Police say Charles and Tammy Whitworth of St. Louis were virtual indentured servants and endured nearly three years of financial, psychological and physical abuse including strangulation, assaults, and dog bites.
The Whitworths are back home in Missouri thanks in part to an alert Plaid Pantry clerk and collaboration of city and county investigators.
Similar cases often go unreported because victims are kept in isolation, Robinson said. Though Dr. Bennett Blum, an Arizona-based forensic and geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in what he calls undue influence cases, said they are tragically frequent.
He said this case has all the hallmarks: vulnerable adult abuse, isolation, dependency, emotional manipulation and deception.
Daniel Anderson faces 31 counts of criminal mistreatment, 22 counts of theft, three counts of strangulation, seven counts of assault, seven counts of harassment and four counts of coercion.
His wife faces 26 counts of criminal mistreatment, 22 counts of theft, three counts of assault, two counts of criminal mischief, and two counts of harassment and coercion.
Both pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Their trial date is Nov. 12.
Abridged
SOURCED: Fort Mills Times - Fort Mill,SC,USA
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