No One is Safe: Parents Say Hospital Kidnapped Their Daughter

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Parents Say Hospital Kidnapped Their Daughter

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NASGA:  No one is safe!

"I Made a Small Change"

Tara Wilson

Attorney Tara Wilson of Andover, MA, had many of her own estate planning documents in order. But after her grandmother fell ill at 84 and her relatives disagreed on her care, the court appointed a stranger as guardian, overruling her grandmother’s wishes.

“The guardian kept her from her loved ones, put a reverse mortgage on her house, moved her to a nursing home and squandered her savings. From all this I learned that I needed to name a second and third choice for healthcare proxy and power of attorney, and add a provision to my will that the court is not to appoint anyone else to represent the interests of my children. And I keep my will up to date.”

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“I Made a Small Change”

Ex-banker allegedly swindled $2m from clients

WOBURN — A former personal banker on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to charges that she swindled more than $2 million from her relatives and elderly customers at the Bank of America branch in Reading.

Elaina Patterson, 53, was charged with 16 counts of larceny over $250 and 15 counts of larceny from a person over 60. She was released without bail, but prohibited from working in financial services.

Patterson, of Wilmington, used her position as a longtime, trusted employee and a favorite of elderly bank customers to carry out a Ponzi-like scheme for nearly 12 years, according to court documents.

Patterson, who left the bank in 2011, bought Cadillac Escalades, took vacations in Aruba and Las Vegas, stayed at glitzy hotels, and paid her children’s college and private school tuitions with money she allegedly stole from her cousins, aunts, and uncles — as well as elderly customers — according to the complaint.

 

Patterson’s lawyer, Michael Smerczynski, said his client is cooperating with the authorities, noting that she had turned over files to investigators.

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Ex-banker allegedly swindled $2m from clients

Conversation Project testifies before Senate

Cambridge — Harriet Warshaw, executive director of the Conversation Project of Cambridge — a national public engagement campaign supporting “respectful end-of-life care,” participated in a committee hearing, “Renewing the Conversation: Respecting Patients’ Wishes and Advance Care Planning,” organized by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Warshaw was joined by James Towey, founder of Aging with Dignity; Amy Vandenbroucke, executive director of National Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Paradigm Task Force; and Gloria Ramsey, associate professor at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, to discuss advance0care planning and the importance of discussing end-of-life issues. Warshaw and colleagues presented their testimonies to committee chairman Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida), ranking member Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) and other members of the committee.

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Conversation Project testifies before Senate

Editorial: Not Enough Protection for Elders

June 14 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Financial exploitation of elders is becoming the primary form of elder abuse, often involving family members or even close elderly friends who prey on seniors to gain control of assets. The elder need not have dementia to be victimized. These predators take advantage of physical disabilities — vision, hearing, mobility — to gain an elder’s trust and isolate the elder, to control communication, transportation, medical care and to access mail and credit cards, bank accounts and investments.

Legal mechanisms like power of attorney (POA), guardianship/conservatorship or healthcare proxy (HCP) can be obtained through misrepresentation, coercion, isolation and intimidation of an elder. The abuser then can use the victim’s assets to fight those trying to stop the exploitation.

Another form of abuse is “granny snatching”; an elder is taken out of state under false pretenses (a vacation?) to a perpetrator’s turf, isolated from the elder’s friends, family and familiar medical care. Once there, new legal and financial oversight (guardian, conservator, POA) is obtained. The elder rarely returns.

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Not Enough Protection for Elders

"I Made a Small Change"

Source: Woman’s Day Magazine, May 2013

Note: Attorney Tara Wilson is the daughter of NASGA Member Diane Wilson

MA Lawyer Admits Facts in Multiple Cases Against Him

A disbarred Edgartown attorney admitted to sufficient facts on several charges last week in Edgartown district court, including identity fraud, credit card fraud and a removed attorney practicing law.

John C. McBride, 64, was facing 18 charges in five different cases for allegedly continuing to provide legal services after being disbarred and taking money from two clients. In one case from March 2011, he allegedly provided legal help for a 21-year-old Oak Bluffs man who believed he was facing criminal charges after a car accident in Rhode Island. The man allegedly paid more than $3,000 to Mr. McBride for legal services and later came to the police after reading about Mr. McBride’s other legal problems.

Police determined that the man was not charged with a criminal offense and said in the report that Mr. McBride “took advantage of a young adult who was under the impression that he was in legal trouble.” Mr. McBride admitted to sufficient facts on a charge of a removed attorney practicing law; the case was continued without a finding for two years and he was ordered to pay $3,325 in restitution. Charges of unauthorized practice of law and larceny more than $250 by single scheme were dismissed.

In another case, Mr. McBride allegedly represented an Edgartown man who was seeking an insurance claim following a bicycle accident. In September 2011, Mr. McBride allegedly accepted a $5,000 settlement check, forged the man’s signature and deposited the check into his own account. Mr. McBride said he did not intend to keep the money in his account and was going to give it to the man, whom he considered a friend. He admitted to sufficient facts on a charge of removed attorney practicing law; the case was continued without a finding for two years. A charge of unauthorized practice of law was dismissed.

He also admitted to sufficient facts on charges of forgery of a check and uttering a promissory note falsely endorsed; the case was continued without a finding for two years. A charge of larceny more than $250 was dismissed.

Mr. McBride also admitted to sufficient facts on four counts of credit card theft under $250 and the matter was continued without a finding for two years. In that case from November 2011, he was charged with fraudulently using a credit card left in an ATM machine. Two charges of forgery of a document and two charges of utter false writing were dismissed upon request of the commonwealth because of a lack of jurisdiction.

Mr. McBride admitted to sufficient facts on two counts of identity fraud from June 2012, also continued without a finding for two years. He was ordered to have an evaluation for and participate in counseling as mandated by probation.

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Disbarred Attorney Admits Facts in Multiple Cases Against Him

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Boston Probate – Targeting Wealthy Elders

Join us this evening as Lisa Belanger joins us from Boston to report on the ongoing abuses in the Boston probate system.

Boston, which is notorious for forcing court employees, attorneys and others out of the system for refusing to participate in the corruption, rolls on in its efforts to target and loot the estates of elderly individuals who committed what must be the new age crime of “aging with assets”.

All to benefit the ward of course!

Across the country, an estimated 3 billion is stolen from vulnerable elderly individuals annually in what is nothing less than grand larceny with the sole intention of personally profiting from theft of an estate.

All of it sanctioned and facilitated by the probate court judges. This system is protected by the ubiquitous “BAR Association” and judicial oversight boards which seem to exist to provide cover for the egregious activities taking place in courts across the country.

5:00pm PST … 6:00pm MST … 7:00pm CST … 8:00pm EST

LISTEN to the show LIVE or listen to the archive later

Disbarred Attorney Will Serve One Year in Prison for Stealing Nearly $900,000

A disbarred Bedford attorney who stole nearly $900,000 from several people, including an 85-year-old client, will pay restitution to her victims, serve one year in a house of correction, and an additional year-and-a-half under house arrest, prosecutors said today.

Maureen F. Pomeroy, 46, was sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court Monday, after she pleaded guilty March 4 to two counts of larceny from a person over 60, one count of larceny, and one count of embezzlement by fiduciary, Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a statement. Pomeroy was accused of stealing from two clients and one of their sons.

“This defendant took advantage of clients who entrusted her with access to their funds and believed that she would assist them with their best interests in mind. … This defendant is being held accountable for these injustices and is no longer able to practice law,” Coakley said.

Pomeroy will be required to pay $277,292 in restitution to her victims, the statement said.

Coakley’s office said that during the summer of 2008, Pomeroy stole more than $810,000 from an 85-year-old man who had hired her to draft his will, estate planning documents, and assist him with several bank accounts.

Pomeroy embezzled some of that money for personal gain and used the rest to repay two other people whom she had previously misappropriated money from, the statement said.

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Disbarred attorney will serve one year in prison for stealing nearly $900,000

Lawless America: Sharyn Eklund

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Lawless America: Sharon Eklund