A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

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Free Danny Tate

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Facebook: Friends for Danny Tate’s Defense

Family Upset With Care of Elderly Aunt

The family of a 94-year-old woman kept vigil this week at her bedside in an Orland Park nursing home, protesting strong pain medication being administered to her that they believe is slowly killing their beloved aunt.

They’ve picketed outside the Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Community to bring attention to the end-of-life care they say Lydia Tyler’s court-appointed guardian has initiated without their input.

“It’s just wrong,” said Tyler’s niece, Mary Sue Richards. “We’re watching it play out and we’re totally helpless.”

But others say the story of Tyler is centered on a family spat over her estate that may, or may not, be worth a lot of money.

For the past year, Tyler has been watched over by a court-appointed guardian, Pamela Chwala, a registered nurse who is not a family member. Tyler has been at Brighton Gardens since January 2007 and previously lived at a nursing home in Burr Ridge.

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Family Members Upset With Care of Elderly Aunt

Former Lawyer Indicted for Fraud

Mingo County lawyer has been indicted in federal court on charges of defrauding West Virginia Public Defender Services.

William Duty, Jr., a self-employed attorney in Williamson, faces charges of submitting payment vouchers for services he did not perform.

Duty was appointed, at various times, to represent indigent clients in criminal procedures in Mingo County Circuit Court. The procedure for payment for these legal services was that Duty would obtain a payment voucher, signed by the Circuit Judge, verifying the amounts owed and the services rendered for the various clients. These vouchers were submitted to the West Virginia Public Defender Services for payment.

[F]rom June 2005 until December 2007, Duty allegedly altered signed payment vouchers with false names and other false information.

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<a href="
http://www.williamsondailynews.com/view/full_story/7576636/article-Former-lawyer-indicted-for-fraud?instance=secondary_news_left_column”>Former Lawyer Indicted for Fraud

Lawyer Disbarred Over Trust Fund Theft

A Bartlett lawyer suspended in March after he was charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a children’s trust fund now has been disbarred.

James M. Hoots was arrested in February.

He was charged with felony theft of property for allegedly stealing some $76,000 and gambling it away at the Tunica casinos.

The Tennessee Supreme Court announced Tuesday that Hoots has consented to disbarment because he cannot successfully defend himself on a complaint of misappropriation of funds.

Hoots, 56, admitted to the administrator of the children’s estate that he had taken the money and that he had a gambling problem, according to an affidavit.

“I took the children’s money and took it to Tunica to try to make more money,” administrator Lana Scott said Hoots had told her in November.

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Memphis Lawyer Disbarred Over Children’s Trust Fund Theft

Guardianized for Hoarding?

A Cook County Circuit Court judge gave Chicago officials the green light to begin cleanup of a South Shore two-flat where a reclusive elderly couple were rescued this week from under mounds of debris.

Thelma and Jesse Gaston may have been trapped for as long as two weeks — the last time they were seen, authorities said.

Judith Frydland, acting deputy counsel for the city, estimated the cleanup of the yard, home and garage in the 1500 block of East 69th Street could take about 10 days. Judge James McGing authorized the Cook County Public Guardian’s Office to investigate whether the county should take guardianship of the Gastons, who are in their 70s.

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City Gets OK to Clean Up Hoarding Couple’s Home

Elderly to Outnumber Children Within Ten Years

The US Census Bureau, the fine folks that write you a letter every ten years asking how many toilets you have, have now released a study stating that within the next decade, people over the age of 65 will outnumber children under 5 for the first time in history. Unlike the toilet thing, this is pretty serious, with quite a few ramifications.

It forecasts that over the next 30 years the number of over-65s is expected to almost double, from 506 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion – a leap from 7% of the world’s population to 14%. Already, the number of people in the world 65 and over is increasing at an average of 870,000 each month.

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Elderly to Outnumber Children Within Ten Years

No Money, No Cry

A few nuggets we found interesting from today’s Nashville Scene follow-up article posted below.

“Danny’s investments and nest egg are all but spent.”

“Yet David Tate says he had nothing but the best intentions in seeking conservatorship over his brother.”

“In David Tate’s eyes, the winner was the system trying to help his recalcitrant brother, as much as he fought it every step of the way. And in his brother’s estimation, Danny didn’t get much for the money he spent fighting it.”

David Tate doesn’t think Danny’s freedom from an oppressive conservatorship was “worth the money”. We beg to differ. Danny did what he HAD to do under the circumstances. It cost money to pursue his freedom through the court system David Tate so dearly loves. Danny was, and is, entitled to spend his OWN money to defend himself, or any other way he wants. What wasn’t right, was David Tate being allowed to handle his brother’s hard earned cash.

We’re STILL curious to see how he’s going to explain all those checks he wrote when he submits his accounting to the court. And FDT won’t rest until Danny’s got every dime back..and then some!!!

Boycott Signet Inc.

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Free Danny Tate!!!

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What Has Danny Tate Really Won?

CA Probate Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

An attorney in Pasadena, Calif., has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 from his clients’ estates, according to prosecutors.

Oscar Cruz Parra, 67, a probate attorney who was arrested in March at his home in San Dimas, Calif., agreed in a plea deal to serve five years in state prison and pay $441,000 in restitution to five former clients. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 15.

On Friday, Parra pleaded guilty to four counts of embezzlement, according to the Los Angeles County, Calif., district attorney’s office. He stole the money beginning in 2000, filing false court papers to cover up his actions.

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Probate Attorney Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

Doctors Enlisted to Look Out for Elderly Fraud

Older people are one of the hottest targets for scams, and lack of financial knowledge makes them all the more vulnerable.

The issue is so important that the North American Securities Administrators Association will soon start a campaign aimed at reducing financial fraud against the elderly.

“A very large number of [elderly] fraud victims are suffering from diminished mental capacity,” said Denise Voigt Crawford, association president and Texas state securities commissioner. “It makes them more vulnerable to pitches by fraudsters.”

The association’s campaign will include the creation of a pocket guide to help doctors determine whether their patient is a victim of investment fraud.

Among the signs are whether a patient is having trouble paying bills because he or she is confused by them or is giving away money he or she can’t afford.

Full Article and Source:
<a href="
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/pyip/stories/DN-moneytalk_17bus.State.Edition1.105c8f37.html”>Doctors Enlisted to Look Out for Elderly Fraud

What Has Danny Tate Really Won?

The mood was completely different from last December, when an attorney for the Nashville composer, songwriter, former pop-rocker and recovering crack addict had pleaded for him to be restored control of his life. But the strange assortment of spectators wasn’t the only thing that had changed. Over the months since, the case had become a cause célébre detailed in a Scene cover story (“Court-Ordered Hell,” Jan. 21, 2010). Now there was a TV camera, its lens and the eyes of its viewing audience trained on Judge Kennedy. There was even an observing member of the disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary, who requested anonymity and would not speak on the record.

Tate himself, with nine months of hard-won sobriety under his belt, sat composedly in a smart dark-gray suit, his face clean-shaven, his hair neatly parted. After nearly two and a half hours of testimony — and two and a half years of incredibly expensive legal warfare — Judge Kennedy spoke.

“He’s the captain of his ship,” the judge said, as the room held its breath. “He’s the master of his own destiny. The conservatorship served its purpose, and no longer serves a purpose.”

Danny told the Scene once that he would only be set loose from the conservatorship after his assets were drained. Intentionally or not, it turned out to be technically almost true.

The absence of process served to Danny at the outset was troubling. So was the ease with which he was made a ward — a state in which a man legally becomes a cipher, a nonentity with no say over his assets. Legal scholars have long warned of the hazards of such deprivation.

So if the ward believes this is wrong, does he fight it (as is his right) with everything he has — which will only double the rate at which he loses his assets?

There is one group, however, that emerges from this story as a clearcut winner: the attorneys. Paul Housch, David’s attorney for the conservatorship, has billed roughly $100,000 since October 2007. Danny’s attorney, Michael Hoskins, has also run up an expensive tab since he was hired in the fall of 2008 — nearly as much as Housch. At the moment, to pay them, Danny faces the prospect of selling his already flood-gutted Bellevue home.

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Danny Tate’s Conservatorship Comes to an Eruptive End in a Nashville Courtroom — But What Has He Really Won?