NCEA | Newsfeed Collection

NCEA Newsfeed – Friday, May 25, 2012 (only 21 days until World Elder Abuse Awareness Day)

The newsfeed includes articles and stories related to abuse of elders and adults with disabilities.  Articles related to elders appear in the top half of the newsfeed.  Articles related to abuse of adults with disabilities appear towards the bottom.  To subscribe to the NCEA listserv, please send an email with your name, occupation, your organization/agency name, city and state, and a statement about your professional interest or expertise in elder abuse to NCEA@UCI.edu.  Like us on Facebook!

 Calendar of upcoming elder abuse and neglect events can be found at the bottom of the newsfeed entries.

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ELDER ABUSE NEWSFEED

1.            NATIONAL, KFYI, May 24, 2012
Millions of Cases of Elderly Financial Abuse Go Unreported Every Year
http://politics.kfyi.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=118695&article=10151744
One million cases of financial elder abuse are reported every year. Frank Keating of the American Bankers Association estimates it's more like 25 million.

2.            CALIFORNIA (Auburn), Auburn Journal, May 22, 2012
Colfax woman arrested on elder abuse charges
http://auburnjournal.com/detail/208830.html?content_source=&category_id=2&search_filter=&user_id=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&event_ts_to=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=1&sub_type=&town_id=
A Colfax woman turned herself into the Auburn Police Department Monday on charges of elder abuse. On April 17 a victim reported to the Auburn Police Department that she found at least 10 fraudulent accounts on her credit report. The victim said she did not know about the accounts previously and said she did not authorize anyone to open them.

3.            CALIFORNIA (Fresno), ABC Local, May 21, 2012
Porterville assisted living facility shut down amid investigation
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8671084
A South Valley assisted living facility has been shut down after an investigation into financial elder abuse. Police say the owner stole $28 thousand dollars from one of her client's bank accounts and gambled a lot of the money away at a local casino.

4.            CALIFORNIA (Tulare County), Recorder Online, May 21, 2012
Woman accused of stealing $28,000 from elderly lady
http://www.recorderonline.com/news/woman-52819-accused-old.html
Police arrested a Porterville woman accused of taking approximately $28,000 from an 87-year-old woman who was in her care.

5.            COLORADO (Boulder), Daily Camera, May 21, 2012
Trial opens against Julianna Rigby, accused of trying to bilk elderly Boulder man
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_20675866/trial-opens-against-julianna-rigby-accused-trying-bilk
Prosecutors said Rigby, 50, took advantage of retired University of Colorado professor Louis Hall in his last days, isolating him from his friends and family, while her attorney said Rigby was merely trying to help a friend battling his failing health. Rigby is facing attempted theft charges in Boulder District Court after police say she became Hall's caretaker but tried to get him to leave much of his estate to her. Hall died at the age of 93 in 2011.

6.            FLORIDA (Daytona Beach), The Daytona Beach News-Journal, May 24, 2012
Police look for ‘pros’ in $62k scam of Daytona Beach woman
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2012/05/24/police-look-for-pros-in-62k-scam-of-daytona-beach-woman.html
A pair of scammers talked an 87-year-old woman into giving them $62,000 before running off, and it's likely they've done it before, the police chief said.

7.            MARYLAND (Frederick), Frederick Newspost, May 24, 2012
Free workshops on elder domestic violence, abuse, neglect awareness
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/art_life/display_features.htm?StoryID=136130
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office Victim Services Unit, in collaboration with the SALT Council of Frederick County, present a series of free community workshops to help prevent and identify victims of elder abuse, violence and neglect.

8.            MINNESOTA (Duluth), Northland News Center, May 24, 2012
Elder Abuse: Part 2
http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Elder-Abuse-Part-2-153626465.html
Last July, retired Duluth police officer Timothy Campbell was sentenced to jail for stealing more than a hundred-thousand dollars from his own mother who had dementia. The crime led to a change in Minnesota law.

9.            MINNESOTA (Duluth), Northland News Center, May 23, 2012
Easy Targets: Elder Abuse
http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Easy-Targets-Elder-Abuse-153075015.html
Every year between one and two million vulnerable adults are abused or neglected, and the experts say for every report of abuse, five reports are not made.

10.          MONTANA (Billings), Billings Gazette, May 24, 2012
Prevention is key to stopping elderly abuse
http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/conference-addresses-rise-in-elder-abuse/article_a6666006-b5fe-598f-bc27-42ba24208f8f.html
One in four elderly Montanans fall victim to scams. Prevention, not prosecution, is the only sure-fire way to cut down on this type of fraud, according to a Thursday conference on elder abuse at the Bighorn Resort in Billings.

11.          MONTANA (Billings), KTVQ.com, May 23, 2012
Billings to host 2^nd annual conference on elder abuse prevention
http://www.ktvq.com/news/billings-to-host-2nd-annual-conference-on-elder-abuse-prevention/
New statistics show that Montana will have the 4th oldest population in the country by 2025. The second annual conference, ‘How Elder Abuse Effects Us All', will be held in Billings on Thursday, May 24th from 8:00 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. at the Bighorn Resort in Billings.

12.          NEW YORK (Brooklyn), Huffington Post, May 21, 2012
Thomas Parkin Sentenced: New York Man Dressed As Dead Mom To Collect Social Security, Keep House
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/thomas-parkin-dressed-as-dead-mom-brownstone-new-york_n_1534619.html?1337644491&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D162868
A man who dressed up as his mother in a bizarre real estate fraud that involved doctoring her death certificate and cashing her Social Security checks for six years after she died was sentenced Monday to more than 13 years behind bars.

13.          NEW YORK (Brooklyn), Elder Law Answers, May 24, 2012
Man Who Dressed as His Elderly Mother to Regain Her Home Gets 13 Years
http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=9894&Section=4&state=
A 51-year-old Brooklyn, New York, man has been sentenced to at least 13 2/3 years in prison for impersonating his deceased mother and collecting her Social Security payments in an attempt to win back the home she had given him.

14.          NEW YORK (New York City), Main Street, May 23, 2012
Protect Your Elderly Relative From Credit Card Fraud
http://www.mainstreet.com/node/26681
The author gives several helpful tips on preventing elder financial abuse, in honor of Older Americans Month in May.

15.          OREGON (Douglas County), Register Guard, May 24, 2012
Caretaker fraud case deepens
http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/28120936-41/cody-arnold-charged-care-state.html.csp
A federal judge on Wednesday denied pretrial release to a Cottage Grove woman charged with stealing more than $200,000 in retirement benefits intended for a man she allegedly secretly buried after he died in her care in the mid-1990s. The suspect has been linked to at least three suspicious deaths beyond that of John Arnold, whose checks she allegedly cashed for at least 16 years.

16.          OREGON (Portland), NECN.com, May 24, 2012
Cottage Grove caretaker held in benefits theft
http://www.necn.com/05/24/12/Cottage-Grove-caretaker-held-in-benefits/landing_nation.html?&apID=349b3b8073c6476bbab0a2a531a8dc7a
Neighbors observed a former caregiver physically abusing and publicly berating the elderly and disable patients at her foster home.

17.          PENNSYLVANIA (Harrisburg), The Mercury, May 22, 2012
Four charged with fraud scheme that targeted seniors
http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120522/NEWS01/120529774/four-charged-with-fraud-scheme-that-targeted-seniors
Four defendants are accused of conspiring to operate a financial fraud scheme specifically aimed at elderly victims who were deceived into spending thousands of dollars for “home care” or “home security” services that would supposedly assist seniors with their future care.

18.          PENNSYLVANIA (Harrisburg), Gant Daily, May 23, 2012
Four Face Charges in ‘Operation False Comfort’
http://gantdaily.com/2012/05/23/four-face-charges-in-operation-false-comfort/
Agents from the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section and Elder Abuse Unit have filed criminal charges against four Philadelphia area men accused of operating an elaborate financial fraud scheme targeting hundreds of senior citizens across Pennsylvania.

19.          PENNSYLVANIA (Philadelphia), Philly Burbs, May 23, 2012
More than 200 seniors defrauded in home-care scam
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/crime/ag-more-than-seniors-defrauded-in-home-care-scam/article_64e9eec1-be7d-5b22-93cf-3582b499f54f.html
An Upper Southampton man is among four suspects arrested Monday on charges of bilking more than a combined $700,000 from 200-plus seniors in a multi-pronged fraud scam involving home care, home security services and long-term care insurance.

20.          VERMONT (Burlington), NECN.com, May 24, 2012
Police officer to investigate Vt. elder abuse
http://www.necn.com/05/24/12/Police-officer-to-investigate-Vt-elder-a/landing_politics.html?&apID=30170acd1e99447bbc256052af8cac1d
Vermont's Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living has hired the deputy police chief in Burlington to help with a backlog of abuse cases. Walter Decker will join an adult protective services unit. It was sued by advocacy groups last fall alleging the state was months behind in investigating hundreds of claims alleging physical abuse and financial exploitation of the elderly and disabled.

21.          VERMONT (Burlington), Burlington Free Press, May 24, 2012
Burlington deputy police chief takes state job
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120524/NEWS02/120523045/Burlington-deputy-police-chief-takes-state-job-?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs
The state Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, under fire to reduce a backlog of elder and disabled person abuse cases, has hired the deputy chief of the Burlington Police Department to be one of its adult protective services investigators.

22.          INTERNATIONAL (Dublin, Ireland), Irish Times, May 23, 2012
Reported abuse of elderly rose 9% last year, HSE figures show
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0523/1224316552656.html
The Health Service Executive’s elder-abuse services said the number of referrals of elder abuse it received rose by 9 per cent compared with 2010, when 2,111 referrals were made.

23.          INTERNATIONAL (Dublin, Ireland), Irish Examiner, May 22, 2012
Mental bullying ‘accounts for one in three cases of elder abuse’
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/mental-bullying-accounts-for-one-in-three-cases-of-elder-abuse-552493.html
Psychological bullying accounted for more than a third of all cases of reported elder abuse last year. A quarter of older people fell victim to financial abuse in 2011, with a fifth suffering neglect and 12% being physically attacked.

24.          INTERNATIONAL (London, United Kingdom), Homecare.co.uk, May 22, 2012
Network to protect vulnerable adults reaches 200 members in four weeks
http://www.homecare.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1557065/network-to-protect-vulnerable-adults-reaches-200-members-in-four-weeks
A leading charity that campaigns against the abuse of vulnerable adults has revealed that 200 practitioners have joined a new support network that was only established only four weeks ago.

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Upcoming Elder Abuse Conferences/Training Events (in chronological order):     

·           National Survey on Abuse of People with Disabilities:  Add your knowledge and expertise regarding abuse and individuals with any type of disability across the lifespan.  Take

the survey then forward it widely, to help in the dissemination effort. Click here to take the survey.  

·         9^th Annual National Summit will be held on May 24, 2012 presented by Elder Financial Protection Network in San Francisco at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway. http://www.bewiseonline.org/call-to-action-2012/

·         Providing Trauma-Informed Care to Sexual Violence Survivors in Later Life. A free webinar  on May 29, 2012 presented by the Lifespan project of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Presenters will be Holly Ramsey-Klawsnik, PhD, Nancy Newton, MFA, and Karla Vierthaler, MPA. RSVP to kdaugherty@nsvrc.org

·         Virginia Coalition for the Prevention of Elder Abuse 18th Annual Conference, May 30 - June 1, 2012, Virginia Beach Resort & Conference Center, Virginia Beach, VA. Online Registration at www.VCPEA.org

·       “New Federal Efforts to Combat Elder Financial Abuse”  is a webinar presented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It will take place on June 6, 2012 at 11:00am PT. Registration is limited, so please register early by emailing your request to academylms@projects.sdsu.edu.

·         Tools of the Trade – Building Financial Exploitation Cases, in Orlando, Florida, June 6-8, 2012. Presented by the Florida Attorney General’s Office and the Florida Bar Elder Law Section’s, Committee on Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation. More information at: http://www.fcpti.com/fcpti.nsf/forms/994CFB73522535CA852579CD0072AAA1

●    2012 Florida Conference on Aging (August 20-22, 2012).  Presented by The Florida Council on Aging  (FCOA) and the Florida Association of Aging Services Providers (FASP), in partnership with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA). The theme this year will be Aging: New Game – New Rules http://www.fcoa.org/FCOA%20Sponsor%20Brochure%202012%20FINAL.pdf

·         The Consumer Voice recently announced a brand new "Advocacy in Action" day of training, sharing and advocating, September 10, 2012 in Washington, DC and they will host our day of training in conjunction with the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) National Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Conference starting September 11th.

●    The 19th Annual New York State Adult Abuse Training Institute will be held October 2-4, 2012, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, Albany , New York . This year’s theme is Broken Trust: How to Recognize and Respond to Financial Exploitation. Oct 2 : Financial Exploitation Summit. More information: http://www.compassionandsupport.org/pdfs/news/10212-AATIConf.pdf

●    2012 NAPSA Conference: Ending Adult Abuse: On the Horizon? (October 16-18).  This event in Phoenix, Arizona will be followed by the 3rd Annual Elder Financial Exploitation Summit on October 19, 2012. Email info@apsnetwork.org for more information.

·         Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving, 25th Annual National Summit, Enabling Caring Communities: Promoting Evidence-Based Programs Across the Lifespan, October 24-25, 2012, Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, GA  For more information go to : http://www.rosalynncarter.org/

·         California District Attorneys Association 2012 National Elder Abuse Symposium (December 4-7, 2012) Guest speakers to include Paul Greenwood, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney, Bob Nichols, Retired Marin County Deputy District Attorney, and many more. More information coming soon

 National Center on Elder Abuse

Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse & Neglect

University of California, Irvine

Program in Geriatrics

101 The City Drive South

Orange, CA 92868

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