Fraud against elderly on the upswing
Saturday, October 7, 2006 11:51 PM PDT
By Amy M. E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleAs Baby Boomers hit their golden years and human life-spans lengthen, financial fraud schemes against the elderly are becoming the fastest growing crime in the United States, according to attorney Jessica Dimitrov, whose Vancouver practice focuses on guardianship, estate planning and vulnerable adult abuse cases.
The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates that only 1 in 25 financial exploitation cases is reported, suggesting an excess of 5 million victims each year.
"People are seeing it everywhere, and no one knows what to do about it," Dimitrov said.
The cases typically involve family members who illegally use power of attorney and quitclaim deeds to plunder the assets of vulnerable elderly relatives, she said. The formerly financially secure victims are often left penniless and reliant on state-provided services, she said.
Perpetrators are rarely held accountable, Dimitrov said. Cases that are reported often aren't prosecuted, because courts historically have viewed them as civil matters, she said.
"There's only so much anyone can do if law enforcement isn't willing to acknowledge a crime has been committed," said Dimitrov, a frequent speaker at the state and national level on issues involving financial exploitation and abuse of the elderly.
Frustrated by the lack of prosecution, Dimitrov and the Clark County Prosecutor organized the Clark County Vulnerable Adult Task Force two years ago. Since then, a growing number of other counties statewide have formed similar coalitions of law enforcement agencies, residential care services, and social and health service organizations that work together to ensure victims' safety and investigate and prosecute the crimes against them.
Cowlitz County has yet to form such a coalition, but it may. County Prosecutor Sue Baur is reviewing Clark County's task force investigative protocol that was recently given to her, she said Thursday.
"I see the value in this for every type of crime, as well as elderly abuse," she said.
Local advocates for the elderly who've seen many cases of exploitation, abuse and abandonment say a task force is badly needed.
Court-appointed guardian Kathy Stratton said she recently represented a man who was dumped at the doorstep of St. John Medical Center, near death and destitute after his daughter-in-law raided his bank accounts. Another of her clients, an elderly Portland businessman formerly worth $750,000, had lost every dime and had his house repossessed by the time she was assigned his case, she said.
Privacy laws make investigation so difficult that, if the embezzlement or fraud occurred before a court-appointed guardian takes the case, the perpetrator usually goes free, she said.
"We do need a task force to go after these people," Stratton said. "It isn't done. It's left undone."
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