Man Acquitted of Kidnapping his Mother from Assisted Living Facility

A Cascade County jury has acquitted a South Dakota man of charges he kidnapped his mother from an assisted living facility in Montana.

James Wainscoat was arrested last August in California after he took his 93-year-old mother from Renaissance Senior Care in Great Falls. Prosecutors argued the woman was kidnapped because he could not legally make decisions for his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Wainscoat told the Great Falls Tribune he was acting on his mother’s wishes and wasn’t aware of the legal guardianship or Alzheimer’s diagnosis until later.

Wainscoat’s mother, Troy Wainscoat, now lives with one of her daughters in California.

Full Article and Source:
SD Man Acquitted of Kidnapping Mother

>SD Supreme Court Suspends Atty for Acting Improperly in Guardianship and Conservatorship Case

>The South Dakota Supreme Court has suspended an Aberdeen attorney for 45 days for acting improperly in a guardianship and conservator case. The suspension begins May 27.

The American News reports that Tom Tobin did not contest the recommendation from the State Bar’s disciplinary board. He did not immediately return a telephone call to The Associated Press on Tuesday seeking comment.

Tobin served as city attorney for Aberdeen from 1986-1999. The disciplinary board said he has been the subject of previous complaints and has been publically censured in the past.

Full Article and Source;
SD Supreme Court Suspends Aberdeen Attorney

>SD Lawyer Sees Blessing in the Fall

>It’s hard to know when things went bad for Mary Ann Giebink. It’s hard to know when she took the irreversible steps that led to the collapse of her law career.

But it’s easy to know when things began to get better.

That would be this summer and fall, when Giebink stepped up to the South Dakota legal system, explained her crimes, addiction and depression, and began to heal.

Giebink, 50, pleaded guilty to three charges she faced after a police chase last May that reached 100 mph. One charge was the felony of “aggravated eluding” that put herself and others at risk of injury or death. Another was second-offense drunken driving, a misdemeanor. The third was felony grand theft by embezzlement, a shuffling of money at her law office that began the sequence that led to her drunken binge at a Sioux Falls bar and the chase.

Her actions startled a community that knew her as a leader on social, legal and gender issues.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Lawyer Sees Blessing in the Fall: ‘I Was Dying Inside’

Isolated From Her Family

Dorothy Driesen, a 90 year old widowed Mother, has had her estate taken away from her by court decree and forced to reside at a nursing home that has had multiple felony accounts charged against it in 2003.

The judge took our Mother into his chamber, asked her a few questions and then declared her incompetent, fired her son as Trustee, appointed a bank to be her new Trustee and set a court appointed guardian over her. All of this happened within one days time upon the filing of court documents by the wannabe guardian and friend of the court.

After this drastic and unbelievable event in the local district court, the two sons of our Mother have been falsely accused of various things and incarcerated on three separate occasions. To add insult to injury, the two sons of our Mother and their families have not been able to visit their Mother since August of 2008.

The last call that was made from our Mother during New Years weekend in 2009 was a call of desperation in which our Mother claimed her life was in danger and she pleaded with us to get her out of this nursing facility. That is the last time that the family of our Mother has heard her voice. Mail that the family tries to send our Mother is received by the guardian and does not seem to reach or Mother.

Shortly after our Mother was incarcerated in this nursing home after the disastrous court decision, the family would attempt to visit our Mother and shortly after we would arrive, either the guardian would show up standing in the door way and demand that we leave or the town police officer would show up and demand the same.

The family of our Mother is still fighting off attacks made on us by the county court system which is bleeding us dry financially. We are currently looking to reverse the decision of the district court regarding our Mother’s Irrevocable Trust and we are looking to gain a court order from Federal Court to restore our Mother’s rights per the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987.

Source:
Dorothy Driesen, South Dakota Victim

EA Advocate Holds Meeting

Wes Bledsoe is founder of A Perfect Cause, an Oklahoma organization dedicated to ending elder abuse in long-term care facilities. Local complaints about Castle Manor Nursing Home brought him to Hot Springs, where he conducted a town hall-style meeting involving more than 200 people on March 5.

Since then, Bledsoe said he has received more calls from current and former workers about additional alleged abuse, as well as allegations of neglect and billing issues.

Bledsoe was asked if he had attempted to contact the nursing home administration to arrange a meeting, to which he replied, “I don’t make a practice to meet with administrators. By the time I am called, the time for talking is past, and it is time to take action.”

There is an ongoing investigation by local and state authorities into allegations of sexual abuse involving a former male nursing assistant last fall. Bledsoe said he had met with Fall River County State’s Attorney Jim Sword to discuss the case and additional allegations. Sword by telephone confirmed the meeting but did not discuss details.

Full Article and Source:
Elder care advocate holds another meeting in Hot Springs

>EA Advocate Holds Meeting

>

Wes Bledsoe is founder of A Perfect Cause, an Oklahoma organization dedicated to ending elder abuse in long-term care facilities. Local complaints about Castle Manor Nursing Home brought him to Hot Springs, where he conducted a town hall-style meeting involving more than 200 people on March 5.

Since then, Bledsoe said he has received more calls from current and former workers about additional alleged abuse, as well as allegations of neglect and billing issues.

Bledsoe was asked if he had attempted to contact the nursing home administration to arrange a meeting, to which he replied, “I don’t make a practice to meet with administrators. By the time I am called, the time for talking is past, and it is time to take action.”

There is an ongoing investigation by local and state authorities into allegations of sexual abuse involving a former male nursing assistant last fall. Bledsoe said he had met with Fall River County State’s Attorney Jim Sword to discuss the case and additional allegations. Sword by telephone confirmed the meeting but did not discuss details.

Full Article and Source:
Elder care advocate holds another meeting in Hot Springs