Judge Defers Sentence

A former Carmel woman was sent to prison for a 90-day evaluation to determine if she should be sentenced to a longer term for bilking her elderly mother out of $300,000 worth cash and property and abandoning her.

Lisa MacAdams, 53, was remanded into custody by Judge Terrance Duncan. Prison officials and psychiatrists will recommend whether she should be sentenced to prison or probation and jail time.

MacAdams and her daughter, Christi Schoenbachler, the victim’s 30-year-old granddaughter, were convicted in a nonjury trial before Judge Terrance Duncan in November. Schoenbachler will be sentenced Jan. 29. The women could be sentenced to more than four years in prison.

In 2002, the 72-year-old victim moved with MacAdams to Carmel to be near Schoenbachler, who was part-owner of a Pacific Grove Pilates studio. The victim had money from the sale of her mobile home, an annuity worth $90,000, furniture, art and jewelry worth up to $200,000. Two years later, it was gone and she was abandoned at a local nursing home.

Source:
Judge Defers Sentence in Elder Case

See Also:
Found Guilty of Bilking More Than $300K

Preying on the Elderly: An Age Old Problem Worsens

It’s an old story with a couple of twists.

When we age, strength and memory decline and we depend more on others, who don’t always do right by us.

What’s new is that reports of abuse of senior citizens are increasing, and “abuse” has come to include theft.

Older people are being robbed by their children, grandchildren, caregivers, friends and strangers. It can be as devastating as physical abuse, since people on fixed incomes usually have little chance to recover from the loss of money and property.

It makes sense that seniors are targeted, since 70 percent of all the country’s wealth belongs to people age 50 and older, said Marie Johnson, executive director of Senior Services of Stamford, a 101-year-old organization that helps seniors manage their money, offers financial aid and connects them to services.

According to the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, half of those who steal from seniors are adult children and other relatives.

Full Article and Source:
Preying on Elderly: An Age-Old Problem Worsens

CA: Sacramento County In-Home Care in Jeopardy

About 22,000 low-income elderly and disabled Sacramento County residents are in the middle of a fight over state finances.

As part of his budget plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating IHSS, the state’s fastest growing social services program, which pays caregivers to help the disabled and the frail elderly.

With the graying of the population, IHSS enrollment has soared, and so has its price. Founded in 1973, the program serves 400,000 Californians and will cost an estimated $1.5 billion this year.

Sacramento County spent $23.5 million on the program in 2009, up from $5.9 million in 2001.

Last year the governor also proposed eliminating the program, but a political and legal fight instead resulted in deep cuts.

With more cuts, or the program’s elimination, on the horizon, administrators are scrambling to find alternatives. So far they’ve found none.

Full Article and Source:
California’s Proposed In-Home Care Cutoff Leaves Few Options

Schwarzenegger Calls for Increased Policing of Health Care Workers

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Friday for 107 new investigative staffers to improve the discipline of errant nurses and other health professionals, a rare push for more in a budget proposing less in almost every area.

The $12.8 million spending request came as Schwarzenegger proposed deep cuts throughout California government for the fiscal 2011 budget, which takes effect July 1. If approved, the additional staff would be paid from the individual budgets of health care boards, which are supported by licensing fees. The money would not come from the cash-strapped general fund.

The governor’s proposal follows reports last year by ProPublica and the Los Angeles Times detailing how it took on average of more than three years to resolve complaints against registered nurses in California, even those accused of serious misconduct. The lag time allowed them to continue practicing and in some cases put patients in harm’s way.

Full Article and Source:
Schwarzenegger’s Budget Calls for Increased Policing of Healthcare Workers

See Also:
The Governor’s Proposal

Octomom Prevails

A child actors’ advocacy group trying to have a guardian appointed to oversee the financial interests of octuplet mother Nadya Suleman was dealt another legal setback Friday when a state appeals court denied its request.

Suleman’s attorney Jeff Czech confirmed his client won her appeal to overturn a lower court’s ruling granting the appointment of a financial guardian.

“For now let me quote the court: This is an unprecedented, meritless effort by a stranger to a family to seek appointment of a guardian of the estates of the minor children,” Czech said.

Gloria Allred, who represents former child actor Paul Petersen, president of a Minor Consideration, which is seeking to become the financial guardian of Suleman’s 14 children, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Petersen’s organization wants to oversee the financial interests of the children because he believes Suleman has a conflict of interest regarding her contract with Eyeworks UK Group Ltd. that allows the octuplets and their six older siblings to be featured on a reality show.

Full Article and Source:
Octomom Prevails in Case Against Child Actor’s Group

See Also:
Octo-Guardianship?

Triple Damages

In a rarity, an arbitrator last month cited elder abuse in tripling the damages a discount securities firm must pay a 95-year-old client.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel awarded the elderly investor, David Wolfson, $1.6 million in a case involving StockCross Financial Services Inc. of Beverley Hills, Calif. Mr. Wolfson accused StockCross, along with two of its brokers, of misconduct and self dealing. He claimed the brokers recommended and solicited unsuitable and overly risky investments that were actively traded on margin.

The claim, which was filed in March, also alleged that StockCross and the two brokers, Thomas B. Cooper and Peter L. Boorn, put Mr. Wolfson’s home at risk. According to the complaint, they “encouraged and invited Mr. Wolfson to leverage the equity in his home with a reverse-mortgage transaction to utilize as investment capital.”

While many arbitration claims charge elder abuse, it is extremely rare for Finra panel to cite such abuse in an award, said David Liebrader, an attorney that represents both investors and brokers against securities firm. Under California law, elder abuse entitles plaintiffs triple the damages.

Full Article and Source:
Discount Broker Slapped With Triple Damages in Rare Elder Abuse Award

Sentenced to 3 Years and Ordered to Pay Resitution

An in-home caregiver was sentenced to three years in state prison Thursday for embezzling more than $80,000 from the retired Fairfax couple who hired her.

Jane Macam McClellan, a 47-year-old mother of eight, was also ordered to pay $83,099 in restitution to the couple, who are in their 90s.

McClellan, also known as Jane Macam Deleon, was sentenced by Judge James Ritchie after two days of hearings over the amount of money she owed. Prosecutors and McClellan’s lawyer disagreed on whether certain funds were borrowed, stolen or used for legitimate expenses and services.

“The judge felt he had to trust the numbers that were provided by the family,” said Anthony Lowenstein, McClellan’s defense attorney. “This is a very hard case where no one really wins. It was a very emotional court hearing.”

McClellan worked for the Fairfax couple, a 98-year-old woman and her 92-year-old husband, for about six months. She was fired in August when the couple’s family discovered financial irregularities.

Full Article and Source:
Fairfax Couple’s Caregiver Gets Prison for Embezzlement

Former Attorney Pleads Not Guilty to 119 Elder Abuse Charges

A former Clovis attorney pleaded not guilty on Monday to 119 elder-abuse charges that could put him behind bars for 122 years.

James Saccheri is charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from an elderly client.

He resigned from the state bar nine years ago after being suspended for incompetence.

Source:
<a href="
http://www.kmjnow.com/pages/landing_news?Former-Clovis-Attorney-Pleads-Not-Guilty=1&blockID=111571&feedID=806″>Former Clovis Attorney Pleads Not Guilty

3 Nursing Facility Patients Killed by ‘Chemical Restraints’

California Attorney General Says Nursing Director Drugged Patients to Control Them.

What happened in a bucolic nursing home nestled in the California mountains starting in 2003 shocked investigators. When residents at the Kern Valley Nursing Home complained or annoyed nursing director Gwen Hughes, prosecutors say she chemically restrained them with powerful anti-psychotic drugs. Her methods were so severe, three residents died.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown says that Hughes ordered one patient drugged just for glaring at her, and another for throwing a carton of milk. Some residents were left drooling, dehydrated, and dangerously thin.

According to Brown, “In a couple cases, elderly people were actually held down, restrained against their will, and given excessive amounts of medicine to keep them quiet.”

Even more shocking — Hughes had been fired for over-drugging once before, from a nursing home in nearby Fresno, Calif. The administrator of that nursing home said they told her next employer only the dates she worked there, out of fear of lawsuits.

On Tuesday, three nursing home officials appeared at a hearing on charges of elder abuse at the Kern Valley facility from 2003 to 2007 — Gwen Hughes, as well as administrator Pamela Ott and staff physician, Dr. Hoshang Pormir. The three defendants each face up to 11 years in prison, and all have pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing is set for March 9, 2010.

Additionally, a former pharmacist at the facility, Debbi Gayle Hayes, accepted a plea bargain on the condition that she testifies for the prosecution.

What happened in the rural California nursing home may be an extreme case, but experts say over-drugging is common nationwide, and the number of nursing home residents who are given these drugs is rising.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Three Nursing Home Patients Killed by ‘Chemical Restraints’

Jeffrey Gordon Butler Gets 90 Years

A San Juan Capistrano man convicted last year of bilking 124 elderly investors of more than $11 million in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced to 90 years and eight months in prison.

Jeffrey Gordon Butler, 51, was convicted in June of 694 felony counts of stealing from elderly investors through the illegal sale of unqualified securities and filing false tax returns.

The case is one of the largest elder-abuse cases ever prosecuted in the history of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The final sentence – handed down over a period of days by Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler – likely means that Butler will not live long enough to become eligible for parole.

Stotler later sentenced Butler’s wife, Peggy Warmath Butler, 49, to one year in jail, to be served during seven years probation on her convictions of aiding another in the preparation of a false tax return and three counts of filing false tax returns. Stotler warned her that if she could be sent to prison later if she violates any conditions of probation.

The judge sentenced Jeffrey Butler to consecutive terms in prison on dozens of counts after he heard emotional victim-impact statements last month from victims who said they lost most of their retirement savings to a man they had trusted.

“I’ve never known a man who can look you straight in the eye and lie,” victim Larry Schiel told the judge. “He didn’t show any compassion for his victims or what they’ve been through.”

Full Article and Source:
Man Gets 90 Years for Bilking Elderly Investors of $11 Million

See Also:
Jeffrey Gordon Butler Victims Give Impact Statements