Friends In Need
A textbook case of financial elder abuse in Aptos becomes part of a nationwide push to protect seniors from swindlers.
By Jessica Lussenhop
10/29/09
LOOKING BACK, James "Pops" Lee's loved ones say they now read a lot more into things that, at the time they were happening, seemed like nothing special. Lee's son Bob dwells on the first time he met Fenita Caldwell, a medical supplies saleswoman in her early 40s who lived down the street from his father on Dolphin Drive in Aptos. "She seemed like a sweet lady, professional, highly educated," he says. "She said, 'Oh, I love old people.' I look back on that."
Seven years later, in May 2008, Bob Lee stood in front of a courtroom, after Caldwell had pled guilty to misdemeanor financial elder abuse, and read a statement he'd prepared, though he says he was almost too angry to deliver it. "Your actions betrayed someone who genuinely loved and cared about you," he read. "You not only broke his spirit, you broke his heart."
Less than two weeks later, James Lee died at 95, his health having rapidly declined over the course of the investigation against his former caregiver.
Last week, Congress heard the story in a short documentary film prepared by the Elder Justice Now campaign, a partnership of the National Council on Aging and WITNESS, a human rights video documentary group, in an effort to push the passage of the so-called Elder Abuse Justice Act. Says Lee, "I hope I accomplished out of this two things: I hope, number one, I make people aware of this, and also I hope that she'll never do it again. She was real good at this. If I hadn't taken over my dad's finances, I think she would have fleeced him."
(Great article. Please go to Source for full-text)
Abridged
SOURCE: METRO SANTA CRUZ
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