Disrespecting Our Elders

A lonely 80-year-old Huntington Beach woman is befriended by a charity volunteer, then quickly loses her home and money. The volunteer’s lifestyle soars. The assets are recovered and police seek a complaint, but the case is never prosecuted.

A retired Los Angeles judge is gradually bilked of more than a million dollars in cash and belongings. Police are still looking for his housekeeper.

A 77-year-old Hollywood man marries a 36-year-old ex-convict and five months later is dead from starvation. Charged with murder, she pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter and forgery and is sent to prison.

People 65 and older are the wealthiest and fastest-growing group of Americans, and they are being swindled at such an alarming rate that one investigator terms it “open season on the elderly.”

Many housekeepers, nurses, neighbors and friends can’t resist the easy pickings. Most often, however, it’s the elder’s own family members who do the damage, rationalizing that if they’re going to inherit Grandma’s money someday, they might as well start spending it now.

Some even resort to a subtle form of murder--withholding food or medication until the elder dies a seemingly natural death. It is “the easiest way to cover the crime,” says Huntington Beach Police Det. David A. Goss, an elder-fraud specialist.

More than 1,000 cases of “fiduciary elder abuse” were reported to social and police agencies in Los Angeles County last year and more than 800 in Orange County, but authorities say many go unnoticed.

The state attorney general’s office estimates only one in 14 instances is reported. A quarter-million elders are bilked each year, according to estimates by the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, a nonprofit private advocacy group based in Massachusetts. Even reported cases can easily fall through the cracks. Most police are not trained to recognize this subtle crime. The state Legislature has set a 1999 deadline for training all California police officers.

Before the Legislature is a long list of bills intended to make prosecution easier.

And an idea born in Los Angeles--the Fiduciary Abuse Specialist Team (FAST) of legal, financial and other experts to train and advise police and social workers--is spreading. Orange, San Diego and San Luis Obispo counties have versions. Ventura and Kern counties are considering creation of similar teams.

The Los Angeles County FAST team is funded mainly by federal funds from the Older Americans Act of 1965. These funds are funneled to FAST via Los Angeles city and county area agencies on aging. Additional funding comes from WISE Senior Services, a nonprofit private organization headquartered in Santa Monica, which manages the FAST services.

Prosecution remains unusually difficult, says Ardith Javan, chief of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s elder abuse section.

The great majority of victims are too addled to testify in court, and sometimes they even side with the victimizer, Javan says. Sometimes jurors don’t regard the case as a serious crime, or even a crime at all.

In reality, says Newport Beach psychiatrist Bennett Blum, it’s a matter of life and death for elders. Taking their money often means sentencing them to a rapid decline and an early death.

If Grandma lets Grandson use her credit card or Grandma lovingly signs over her stock for his birthday, how can that be a crime?

The distinction turns on the elder’s mental state, says Dave Harned, one of two Los Angeles police detectives who specialize in elder fraud.

Is the elder’s mind sharp enough to make sound financial decisions? That is, can the elder foresee the consequences?

“We have to show that there was a taking and the person who did the taking should have known the elder had a mental impairment,” Harned says. The impairment makes the elder’s willingness legally irrelevant.

The investigator’s problem is that, at first, victimizers behave no differently than those genuinely helping an elder. That is, they take over the elder’s life.

In both cases, they offer help, then usually obtain access to the elder’s bank accounts, credit cards and stock. They become joint or sole owners of the elder’s home and other property. They may have the elder sign a power of attorney, granting authority over all financial and personal affairs.

Yet warning signs appear, according to Chayo Reyes, Harned’s partner and supervisor of LAPD’s elder persons estate unit.

Victimizers “isolate the elder,” Reyes says. “And once they get legal access, they use the documents like they’re a license to steal.”

They may use Grandma’s money to buy themselves an expensive car, rationalizing that they need it to take her to the doctor. They may decide their elderly relative needs a vacation and take a trip to Las Vegas, where he passes the time in a hotel room.

Worse yet, they may sell the victim’s house and pocket the money--or mortgage it and let it go into foreclosure.

Reyes says the predator is usually someone new on the scene--a stranger, an acquaintance, a family member who before spent little or no time with their elderly relative. Typically, this newcomer’s personal finances are shaky.

Soon, the newcomer’s financial situation dramatically improves, while the victim’s bank balance declines. This, says Reyes, is the onset of financial ruin for the elder.

“If law enforcement doesn’t intervene quickly, the elder can lose everything,” says Reyes.

“We’re not talking about people who are so demented they just lie in bed and don’t recognize people,” says psychiatrist Blum.

“We’re talking about the person whose ability to quickly grasp concepts and think strategically is impaired even slightly. This person can be manipulated, even if their memory is intact. If there’s a slight memory impairment, it makes manipulation all that much easier.”

Intelligence and sophistication of the elder don’t seem to matter in such cases, Blum says.

“I’ve worked on several cases where the victim was mentally intact, physically healthy, intelligent--retired CEOs and retired university professors,” Blum says. “They marry women two to five decades younger than themselves. They’ll admit to their families and investigators, ‘I know she just wants my money, but that’s better than being alone.’

“What they don’t realize is that when the money’s gone, so is the perpetrator. I’ve seen it happen in less than a month--a couple of weeks, even.”

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Criminals have discovered that stealing from elders is easy and relatively safe, Reyes says. Some learn about it in prison, he adds.

“There are the cons who come out of the joint and become care providers. Believe me, they’re doing it. We had one who starved a person to death and inherited $1.5 million.”

Or they go to a place where they can strike up a conversation with a well-heeled and lonely elder--church, the supermarket, a bus stop and, especially, a bank.

“Usually, the perpetrator’s approach is very subtle,” Reyes says. “They’ll ask for directions and, you know, ‘Can you show me where that is?’ They’ll use that as an excuse to take them out to lunch or send them a bowl of fruit out of gratitude.”

“A lot will use children as props,” Harned says. “The kid will say, ‘Oh, you’re so nice, you remind me of my grandfather. In fact, you’re nicer than my grandfather.’

“They take him to Disneyland. They visit him. They take a lonely man and bring him into their family unit.”

Soon there’s news of a “crisis” in the perpetrator’s family, one that only money can solve. They’re going to lose their house or business. The child needs a critical operation. Could they borrow $50,000? The elder feels obligated.

“After he turns over the money, he never sees them again,” Harned says.

Still, all agree the more common predator is the opportunist--an acquaintance, a neighbor or family member who can’t resist temptation or doesn’t even try.

“I do believe that with some of the perpetrators, there are times when they actually think they’re doing the best they can and it’s OK,” says Rebecca Guider of Orange County’s Adult Protective Services.

“They believe they’re entitled to the money. It’s going to be theirs when Mom’s gone anyway, and they’re just using it now. It’s amazing how people’s principles, if they had any, can be compromised once money becomes a factor.”

But Reyes says it’s not hard to see through such rationalization. It comes down to where the money’s going, he says. Is it being spent on the elder, or is it feathering the relative’s nest? “It’s not that hard a call.”

Whether perpetrated by strangers, friends or relatives, the crimes usually follow a pattern, psychiatrist Blum says.

The elder is befriended, then isolated. Mail and telephone calls are intercepted, and neighbors, friends and family are told the elder doesn’t want to see them.

A sort of brainwashing begins. The predator panders to the elder’s fears, usually of being sent to a rest home, and portrays him or herself as the elder’s only true friend.

Finally, the predator gains access to the elder’s bank accounts and real estate. Sometimes the documents are forged, but most often the elder signs willingly.

“This whole pattern is basically what cults do to their victims,” Blum says. “It’s the formation of a mini-cult.”

This pattern was officially acknowledged as a crime in 1986, when the state penal code was amended to impose stiffer-than-usual penalties for caretakers and others “in a position of trust” who steal from or defraud someone 65 or older.

The following year, the LAPD became the first to assign a detective solely to fiduciary elder abuse.

More than a decade later, California law enforcement as a whole remains “grotesquely undertrained and understaffed” to deal with this often subtle crime, says Blum, a member of both Los Angeles and Orange County FAST.

In 1993, Los Angeles was first to create a FAST task force of volunteer experts to advise and train social workers and police. Without such training, they are likely to overlook the cases they encounter, Harned says.

Even if they recognize it, says Harned, they might blow the investigation by using standard police interview techniques.

“The suspect has basically brainwashed the senior. Possibly there’s intimidation. Possibly the senior would rather have the suspect involved in his life than no one at all.

“What happens is that if you just ask the senior whether he’s being ripped off, he usually denies it.”

Reyes and Harned teach investigators to conduct a leisurely, low-key interview that approaches the subject slowly and obliquely.

You try to build a case, but “prosecution isn’t necessarily what you want to do,” says Huntington Beach Det. Goss.

“It’s one of the options, but most important is getting control back, returning assets, reestablishing the quality of life for the elder. We’re not doing the traditional things cops do, but maybe we save the victim.”

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Elder Population

* Americans 65 and older, the fastest-growing segment of the population, are expected to top 35 million by 2000.

* Americans 100 and older will top 1 million by 2050.

* Elders, about 13% of the population, own more than half of all savings and 75% of all personal property. Individual assets average $29,000, but there is wide disparity.

U.S. Census estimates for 65 and older, by county

Los Angeles--916,106

San Diego--310,904

Orange--250,125

Riverside--191,127

San Bernardino--146,386

Ventura--70,078

Kern--61,702

Santa Barbara--49,845

San Luis Obispo--34,708

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Financial Abuse of Elders

* Studies estimate that at least 1 million American elders have been financially exploited by their own families or close friends.

* If fraud by strangers and newcomers is included, about one in 20 elders has been victimized. But only about one in 14 instances is reported.

* Reports of all elder abuse reached 293,000 in 1996, a 10-year increase of 150%. About a quarter of cases involve fraud or theft.

* The typical victim:

--Lives alone.

--Is socially isolated.

--Has physical or mental disabilities.

--Fears being removed from home.

--Does not report the victimizer.

--Lies to protect the victimizer.

--Is shattered by self-reproach and self-doubt for being gullible.

* The typical perpetrator:

--Is a family member or caregiver.

--Has no criminal record.

--Is an opportunist with only one victim.

--Provides only minimal support for the victim.

* A new friend spending lots of time with elder.

* A relative, previously inattentive, now spending time or moving in with elder.

* Elder promised lifelong care in exchange for money or property.

* Big changes in banking activity, such as:

--Large withdrawals.

--Certificate of deposit cash-outs with penalties.

--Automated teller withdrawals when elder is disabled.

--A new credit card.

--Transfer of accounts.

--A new name on accounts.

--A change in beneficiary.

* A new will or power of attorney when elder is clearly incapable.

* A recent change in title to elder’s home in favor of new friend.

* Missing personal belongings, such as art, silver and jewelry.

* Caregiver asks only financial questions about elder.

* Caregiver seems to have no means of support.

* Caregiver tries to isolate or intimidate elder.

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Fighting Financial Abuse

If you’re suspicious:

* Inform the elder’s bankers and brokers of your suspicions. (Doing so in good faith protects you from liability under state law.)

* Inform the county Adult Protective Services in the elder’s county of residence.

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For More Information

To report elder abuse, call (310) 394-9871 and ask for the Los Angeles County Ombudsman or Los Angeles County Adult Protective Services.

For information, call WISE Senior Services at the same number.

National Center on Elder Abuse: https://www.gwjapan.com/NCEA

National Aging Information Center: https://www.aoa.dhhs.gov/naic

Federal Administration on Aging: https://www.aoa.dhhs.gov