Planning for incapacity in blended families is essential
Dana and Jerry have been married for 25 years. Both have children by previous marriages. Jerry’s three children never forgave him for divorcing their mother and have never accepted Dana. Consequently, Jerry and the children rarely see each other.
Jerry has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is currently in middle stage of the disease with serious memory problems. Dana recently acquired home health services to assist with Jerry’s care.
Jerry’s children are in their fifties and scattered across the country. Concerned could take action against her, particularly if there are conflicts over Jerry’s care and his property, Dana has not yet informed of his condition.
Dana Should Seek Legal Counsel to Protect Herself
Dana should seek legal counsel to understand her options. The options available will depend, in part, upon the steps Jerry and Dana have taken before he developed Alzheimer’s. If Jerry has signed a Statutory Durable Power of Attorney (POA) and a Medical Power of Attorney giving Dana the power to manage his financial affairs and make medical decisions for him, Dana should take over and do so.
Although Jerry’s children might challenge the validity of these documents on the grounds that he was not competent or unduly influenced by Dana when he gave the power, the expense of such a challenge may be a deterrent in Dana’s favor. Also, if Jerry had an attorney prepare the POA and he signed it when there was no question of his competency and Dana was not being present when the documents were prepared or signed, she would be in a good position to prevail against a challenge by the children on these grounds.
If Jerry has lucid moments in which he retains the capacity to contract, Jerry could give Dana the power to handle his legal affairs and make medical decisions on his behalf even now.
If Jerry has a valid will naming Dana as executrix and leaving her property, she should safeguard that will. If Jerry does not have a valid will, Dana should discuss with counsel, her rights in accordance with the laws of descent and distribution. The lawyer can explain the property that Dana will receive. Jerry’s children will inherit the rest.
Additional Steps Could Have Been Taken Prior to Jerry’s Diagnosis
In the instance of blended families such as theirs, an irrevocable trust can be an effective tool to protect both the spouse and the children by a previous marriage.
In blended families - particularly if there is animosity toward the non-parent spouse - each spouse should designate through a Declaration of Guardian in the form provided under Texas Estates Code § 1104.201, the person(s) that they do and do not want to be named guardian of the person and guardian of the estate if the need for a guardianship arises.
If one or more of the children applies to be appointed guardian for Jerry, Dana can join the suit and request to be named guardian instead. In accordance with Texas Estates Code §1104.102, Dana is the preferred guardian if more than one person is eligible.
Sandra W. Reed is an attorney with Katten & Benson, an Elder Law firm in Fort Worth. She lives and practices in beautiful Somervell County, near Chalk Mountain.
Labels: Alzheimer's, blended family, Medical Power of Attorney, POA, Texas
Woman who stole from elderly goes to prison
Coliene Moore
With documented losses well into the six figures, Illinois State Police continue to investigate a theft case that already has resulted in a prison sentence.
Coliene Moore, 69, was hit with a restitution order exceeding $636,000 when Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Belz sentenced her last month to four years for stealing from her elderly aunt. Ruth Lanier, now deceased, was 85 when Moore stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from her during a three-month period that ended in February of 2012.
Authorities say that Moore also stole nearly $82,000 from her mother, Mary Catherine Dormire, who was in her 90s when her daughter, her mother’s caretaker, raided bank accounts. Dormire is now deceased.
“Make no mistake, this is a callous, cold, calculating elder abuse crime spree,” Belz said when he sentenced Moore on Aug. 15. “Money was taken in astronomical, almost unbelievable amounts from people who didn’t deserve it.”
Authorities are still trying to determine whether there are additional culprits, as well as the extent of losses from a thief who stole both from relatives and from coworkers at the Illinois State Department of Transportation, where Moore worked as a secretary for nearly 40 years.
“It is still under investigation,” says Sangamon County state’s attorney John Milhiser. “And additional charges are possible.”
Moore convinced friends from work to loan her money – in one case, a former coworker gave her $287,000, according to police files -- and was slow to pay it back. In another instance, Moore convinced a coworker to loan her $48,000. She eventually made good on some debts to IDOT colleagues, according to police files and court records, but with stolen money. When victims asked for their money, Moore would typically tell them that she was expecting a sizable inheritance and would pay up when the money arrived.
“It is apparent that she continually seems to await the death of a relative and an opportunity to inherit their money in order to pay off prior thefts that she has committed,” assistant state’s attorney John Morse told the judge in arguing for a prison term.
In arguing for leniency, Dan Fultz, Moore’s lawyer, told the judge that “the problem may fix itself.”
“Nobody is ever going to trust Ms. Moore with their money again, as they shouldn’t,” Fultz told the court.
If nothing else, Moore was brazen. She gave the state’s attorney’s office a $473,500 check for restitution to cover losses in the Lanier case even before charges were filed in 2013. The check was signed by Moore’s mother, who suffered from mental disabilities to the point that she couldn’t handle her affairs, according to court files.
“The state’s attorney called and said ‘Carol, you won’t believe it – are you sitting down?’” recalls Carol Shepard, executor of Lanier’s estate, of a call she got from the Sangamon County state’s attorney’s office when the check was delivered in January of 2013. Shepard says that she advised the state’s attorney’s office to verify that funds actually were in a trust account that was in the name of Moore’s mother. Sure enough, the check bounced. “The state’s attorney called back and said, ‘Carol, you were right again: There’s no money there,’” Shepard said.
The check bounced nine months after police obtained bank records and confronted Moore. But charges weren’t filed until the spring of 2013, one year after police, interrogated Moore. Why weren’t charges filed earlier?
“There were ongoing negotiations as to restitution,” answers Milhiser. The state’s attorney adds that Moore lost power of attorney, which allowed her to raid bank accounts, when losses came to light, long before charges were filed.
Over the objection of Moore’s lawyer, a guardian in the spring of 2013 was appointed to protect Moore’s mother, who continued living with her daughter, described as her primary caregiver in court documents. Dormire, Moore’s mother, continued living with her daughter even after prosecutors in 2014 charged Moore with stealing from Dormire. Charges involving Moore’s mother ultimately were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea in the Lanier case.
Moore spent plenty of money on herself, paying off at least $20,000 in credit card debt and a $16,000 note on a Nissan titled in her mother’s name but that she drove. Checks went to merchants ranging from Walmart to the Fifth Street Flower Shop to Victoria’s Secret. Tens of thousands of dollars also were spent for the benefit of friends and relatives from pilfered accounts belonging to Moore’s aunt and mother, according to court and police files. A hairdresser got a check for $2,500. Moore’s son, Brian, received checks totaling nearly $16,000, and Moore also paid $11,700 in rent for the duplex where her son lived. Meanwhile, a nursing home where her aunt stayed after breaking a hip went unpaid and ultimately sued Lanier and Moore to collect more than $20,000.
“This is an elder abuse ATM,” Judge Belz decreed as he sent Moore to prison.
Shortly after obtaining power of attorney from her aunt, who told police that she didn’t realize that she had given her niece access to bank accounts, Moore in 2011 wrote a check for $19,000 to help Mark and Christine Kolaz buy a 2007 Mercedes Benz sedan, making the check out to the dealership. Kolaz, a lobbyist who was once chief of staff for Central Management Services, insists that he knew nothing about the deal, even though his name appears as a purchaser on the sales invoice and delivery sheet from Friendly Chevrolet.
“I’m not really familiar with that situation,” Kolaz said.
Mark and Christine Kolaz were divorced in 2002 but continued living in the same house. The dealership delivery sheet shows they had the same address and same home phone number in 2011. Mark Kolaz declined to discuss whether he still lives with his ex-wife, who in 2007 was accused by her father’s beer distributorship of embezzling $1.3 million after Christine Kolaz filed for bankruptcy, according to bankruptcy court files and stories published by the Associated Press. The U.S. attorney’s office investigated the alleged embezzlement, according to the Associated Press, but filed no charges.
Fultz, Moore’s attorney, told the judge that relatives “clearly had to understand that she wasn’t able to afford the things that she was providing, based on an Illinois Department of Transportation secretarial salary.” The judge found it odd that people who benefited from Moore’s thievery accepted large amounts of money from a woman who earned less than $54,000 a year.
“This is not stealing from the rich and giving to the poor,” Belz said as he pronounced sentence. “You know, I have to question some of these other people, if they didn’t know what was going on, that were the recipients of this.”
Fultz told the court that Moore’s son and daughter, Kimberly Krum, declined to testify on their mother’s behalf at the sentencing hearing after being told that they could be cross-examined to determine whether they knew that their moher was a thief and whether they benefited from her crimes.
Joby Crum, Kimberly Crum’s husband, said that neither his wife nor anyone else in the family knew about any thefts until last month, when Moore was taken into custody four years after charges were filed. He told Illinois Times that he has been appointed to speak for relatives.
“This completely blindsided the family,” said Joby Crum, who is the boys basketball coach at Springfield High School. “I would consider us to be fairly intelligent people, and we had no idea what was going on. … We don’t want anyone hurt any further than what has happened, and our fear is that might have happened.”
Moore’s husband filed for divorce on Sept. 13, telling the court that he had no idea that his wife was in legal trouble or had stolen money until she was arrested at Memorial Medical Center in August, two days after going to the hospital with complaints of a blood clot instead of going to court, where she was due to be sentenced. The no-show prompted Judge Belz to issue an arrest warrant. In his divorce petition, Jeffrey Moore says he believes that his wife might have a gambling problem.
The first sign of trouble came on Nov. 8, 2011, when a Sangamon County sheriff’s detective was summoned to St. Johns Hospital to speak with Don Lerch, a former IDOT employee who was dying from lung cancer.
Lerch told the detective that Moore, whom he knew from work, had asked to borrow money in 2007 to help a relative who was in a squeeze. Don’t worry, Moore told Lerch: My aunt is about to die and I’ll repay you from my inheritance.
It started out with $6,500, and loans kept coming until Lerch had given Moore $287,000 over a two-year period, according to police reports. Lerch continually asked for repayment, but never got it. Eventually, Moore told Lerch that her aunt had died, but had given all her money to Moore’s mother. Moore told Lerch that her mother was nearly dead and that she’d repay him once she got her inheritance.
Shortly after Lerch spoke with police, Moore obtained power of attorney from Lanier, which gave her access to her aunt’s bank accounts. Using her aunt’s funds, Moore obtained a $246,000 cashier’s check to pay Lerch, who died two weeks before the check was written. Nonetheless, the check cleared, according to police files. It’s not clear how, nor is it clear whether the money ended up in Lerch’s estate.
Police next encountered Moore in March 2012, when Senior Services of Central Illinois reported that Moore had been draining her aunt’s bank accounts since obtaining power of attorney three months earlier. Lanier told police that she was “shocked and very upset” that her niece had been taking money. After being confronted by a sheriff’s detective who asked about questionable withdrawals from Lanier’s accounts, Moore said that she’d been good to her aunt.
“I want you to know, and I’ll put this on the record: There has been no one that has been any better to Ruth than my family and myself,” Moore told the detective. “I have done everything for the last 40 years plus, never ask for anything, OK? I have cared for her, I have taken her to doctor appointments. … I’m not making any excuses for myself, but I did everything I could for her. I don’t know what she’s saying, but I know what she said to me. (It) sounds terrible, but I have been good to her.”
Moore, however, wasn’t an exemplary caregiver for her mother, according to court files. In moving to appoint a guardian for Dormire after thefts from Lanier came to light, Kevin McDermott, Sangamon County public guardian, told the court that Moore’s mother, who was born in 1919, was found alone in her Moore’s home a half-dozen times between August of 2012 and February of 2013 by Senior Services of Central Illinois. Over the objection of Moore’s lawyer, the court appointed McDermott as Dormire’s temporary guardian. But Dormire kept living with her daughter, even after Moore was charged with stealing from her mother.
McDermott says the only other option was a nursing home, and there had never been an allegation of physical or emotional abuse.
“That being the case, she’s probably just as well off with her daughter, staying with her,” McDermott said.
Labels: Illinois, sentenced, stealing from elderly relative
Boynton area couple take plea deal in elderly exploitation case
Cindy Heller
WEST PALM BEACH - A suburban Boynton Beach couple has been placed on probation, barred from working with the elderly and ordered to pay $33,000 in restitution after being accused of stealing money from an 87-year-old woman who was suffering from severe dementia.
Franklin David Squires, 59, and Cindy Heller, 60, both pleaded guilty in their best interest Monday to charges of exploitation of an elderly person and money laundering in connection with money missing from bank accounts of their neighbor, 87-year-old Belle Winters.
Their best-interest pleas, which means they didn’t admit guilt, came as a jury was being selected to weigh the evidence against them. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes withheld adjudication before placing them both on probation for four years.
Howard Gale, who had travelled from Connecticut to testify against the couple in connection with his mother’s missing money, said he was disappointed they weren’t punished more severely. Winters died in 2015 shortly after Heller and Squires were charged.
“If it was up to me, I would have sent them to prison,” Gale said. “When you take advantage of an old person or a kid … you lose your right to live in society.”
But attorney Guy Fronstin, who represented Heller, said the couple didn’t steal money from Winters. The money was to reimburse Heller and Squires, who often dug into their own pockets to pay for Winters’ doctors visits, household expenses and utility bills. They even bought Winters a new refrigerator, he said.
A doctor told Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies that Winters suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was incapable of making decisions. But Fronstin said a bank official who quizzed Winters before she gave large sums of money to Heller and Squires was going to testify that the elderly woman knew exactly what she was doing. Winters wanted to repay the couple, he said.
As his mother’s health declined, Gale said he hired Heller, then Squires, who lived next door, to care for her. In January 2015, he discovered her bank accounts had been cleared out. Palm Beach County sheriff’s detectives said they traced the money to accounts held by Squires and Heller.
While Kastrenakes ordered both to make monthly payments to Winters’ estate, Gale said he doesn’t expect to ever recoup all of it. Fronstin agreed. Both Heller and Squires are disabled, he said.
Gale said his experience should serve as a warning to others whose elderly parents are unable to take care of themselves. “Put all of the assets in your name and don’t trust anybody,” he said.
Labels: exploitation of an elderly, Florida, plea deal
Tonight on T. S. Radio with Marti Oakley: Yolanda Bell: Medical kidnap..Anastasia’s condition worsens
5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm..... CST … 8:00 pm EST
Sep 26, 2017 —It has been 219 days since my sister Anastasia Adams was abducted by Inova Fairfax Hospital and their designated guardians; 219 of her looking to me to help and save her from the injuries that have been inflicted upon her whether through alleged direct intent, inattention, or neglect; 219 days of wanting to be home sleeping in her own bed and my wanting her home where she will be safe and protected. I miss her smile, her mischievous side, and her laugh…yes she does laugh or at least she did prior before all of this and I pray she will again.
I had a rather interesting meeting today. There were a few red flags but only time will tell if it will bear fruit or if the items discussed will just be pencil whipped and tossed under the rug.
I saw Anastasia today, Thanks be to God. She is pale, more pale than she was last week. It appears she will be receiving another blood transfusion. If you recall she had to receive 2 pints of blood when she was hospitalized on September 6, 2017. Here it is barely 3 weeks later and she needs another one yet to my knowledge still no testing has been done to determine the source of the bleeding. Instead as I posted before the guardians would like to place her in hospice and increase her pain medication which we all know is code for…
The medical kidnapping is now turning to Hospice….palliative care….meaning “futility of care”.
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Labels: Hospice, Hospital, Marti Oakley, Radio, T. S. Radio, Virginia
How to Make Probate Pay: The Ugly World of Human Predators
by Marti Oakley
The redistribution of wealth so often wailed about by the wealthy, whereby they believe if they have to pay taxes in direct proportion to income like every other taxpayer is forced to do, it is somehow because “some people just want a hand-out”, is a true diversion from the actual redistribution of wealth that occurs everyday in probate courts across the country.
The only thing of real value ever possessed by any country is its people. Through successive administrations, whether Republican or Democrat, our country has been robbed of its economic dominance, its ability to produce the best, the most and the most valuable commodities on the globe. The only thing left to buy, sell and trade of any value are the people themselves. And we the people have been commodified…turned into the last market for fast money to facilitate the greed of the few.
While the battle rages in the public as to whom is hellbent on destroying the traditional American family, the truth is, only the government has the power to do this. It is the government through policy, program creation, and bribery (funding) that families are ripped apart. Block grants to states facilitate the unconstitutional tribunal systems for which there is little to no oversight. This is intentional.
What is overwhelming most normal people is the vast number of sociopathic predators who make a parasitic living off assuming the identity of a living human being, then presenting themselves as that person and availing themselves of the benefits of someone elses life work. In legal circles they are called professional guardians. To the rest of the sane world they are predators; parasites on society at large.
Quoted from “The Dark Side..A law treatise on Judging” by Caroline Douglas J.D.
Page 307 para 4,5,6 (Continue Reading)
Labels: Editorial, Marti Oakley, New York
Jury pool shrinks for attempted murder trial of former Sarasota deputy
SARASOTA — The pool of around 140 potential jurors who were interviewed Monday in the trial of a former Sarasota County Sheriff’s deputy charged with attempted murder, was reduced to around 65 who will return Tuesday for a final round of questions.
Jury selection was the beginning of the trial for Frank Bybee, 46, who is facing 18 felonies, including attempted murder, exploitation of the elderly, burglary, theft and kidnapping. He faces a life sentence if he is convicted of the first-degree felony charge for attempted murder.
His trial was postponed for 20 days after his attorney withdrew and a former Manatee County judge, John Lakin, joined the defense team causing a conflict of interest with 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Thomas Krug. Lakin is currently under investigation by the Florida Bar for actions taken while he was on the bench.
Krug recused himself from the case and Chief Judge Charles E. Williams asked the Florida Supreme Court to appoint a judge from outside of Sarasota County. Judge Donald H. Mason of Charlotte County was assigned to the case that was original scheduled to begin Sept. 5.
Assistant State Attorneys Karen Fraivillig and Art Jackman, and defense attorneys John Lakin and Ronald Kurpiers, must now choose 12 jurors and two alternates to sit on the jury.
The trial will likely begin Wednesday and is expected to last for two weeks.
Prospective jurors were questioned in two different sessions Monday, with attorneys deciding after each session whether hardships and established opinions produced by jurors were enough to strike them from the roster.
Many jurors raised their hands when asked if they had read or watched coverage of the Bybee case. Some said they already had preconceived notions of guilt and could not be impartial.
Among the reasons jurors gave for being unable to render a fair verdict were being caretakers themselves for disabled relatives, “personal feelings,” and one said a family member was convicted of murder and died in his jail cell. The statements came after jurors were informed that the case could take up to two weeks. Some expressed worries over financial hardships.
“I just could not do it,” said the female juror whose family member died in jail.
Another female juror said she decided she could not be fair after hearing the charges in the case, which involves an elderly woman.
A male juror said he is retired and takes care of his mother.
“I bathe her, toileted her, and fed her,” the male juror said. “You don’t want me on that trial.”
A juror in the afternoon session said she lost a lot of work during Hurricane Irma and is responsible for watching her grandchild.
The hurricane hardship excuse was the most common reasoning for many jurors, besides vacations, seeking to be exempt from the trial. Judge Donald H. Mason of Charlotte County said that nearly every juror present will suffer a financial inconvenience. He said it jury duty was part of living in America.
The attorneys released most of the jurors who cited hardships.
Several jurors felt they could be fair, but made the judge aware of possible issues that could arise during the trial.
“I wanted to let you know that my husband is a police officer,” a female juror said.
Two additional jurors just wanted the court to know they worked with the elderly, but felt “presumption of innocence” was not a problem.
Judge Mason and Fraivillig told the panel to be blunt with their answers.
Fraivillig asked the potential jurists if they would participate in the selection process. When they did not reply, she asked again, sparking a “yes” response.
“The most important thing for you to do is be candid with us,” Fraivillig said. “We are looking for jurors that have no preconceived notions or biases. We need you to be a blank slate.”
Two jurors said they had family members in law enforcement — one said they could be fair, the other said they might be tempted to side with a law enforcement officer.
A female juror said her uncle is a sheriff’s deputy being called as a witness. She said even if he was a plumber, she would trust her relative’s opinion.
Long after the potential jurors were asked if they had conflicts, two men said that they might have issues with “the system.”
“I have had dealings with State Attorney and sometimes I see how things go,” a male juror said. “Sometimes I agree and sometimes I don’t agree — because I am exposed to it, I’m probably not the best person.”
Both sides agreed to strike one female juror who told the court, “If I’m not getting paid, I will have an attitude.”
A male juror in the afternoon session asked whether he could make a fair judgement based on the charges he heard in the case said, “No, I can’t. I personally feel this guy is a low life.”
Another female juror says she works at the Sheriff’s Office and has been subjected to “negative opinions” about Bybee.
A male juror who said he was had to attend a paramedics test to become a firefighter was also excused. He received soft applause from the crowd when Judge Mason released him.
Bybee, an 18-year employee of the Sheriff’s Office, was arrested Jan. 23 after a 79-year-old woman called the Sheriff’s Office for help on Oct. 21.
Bybee, a patrol deputy, was sent to the call and took the woman to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where the former deputy prayed with her before he left, according to an investigation.
About two months later, the woman reported that Bybee had inserted himself into her personal life and had become too controlling. She asked the Sheriff’s Office for help in severing the relationship with the deputy.
Bybee was placed on administrative leave Jan. 9 and three days later, according to court documents, he went back to elderly woman’s home and attempted to kill her.
The Sheriff’s Office terminated his employment on Jan. 31 after enough information was discovered through an internal affairs investigation to sustain allegations of conduct unbecoming and conformance with laws, on top of criminal charges.
Bybee has been in custody at the Sarasota County Jail on a $380,120 bail.
Jury selection is expected to last until at least Tuesday.
Labels: attempted murder, burglary, exploitation of elderly, Florida, former deputy, Kidnapping, theft
Caregiver sentenced for stealing from elderly woman
Berlicia Chambers
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A former caregiver will serve jail time and probation after pleading no contest to stealing thousands of dollars from an elderly woman with dementia.
Tallahassee police arrested 46-year-old Berlicia Chambers in May on elderly exploitation charges.
Court documents allege Chambers stole at least $14,800 over a four year span from a woman who she was hired to care for. Investigators say the 78-year-old victim had memory problems and showed signs of dementia.
Arrest records say Chambers used an ATM card to withdraw cash from the victim’s account, and used the victim’s credit card to pay for personal expenses, including her satellite TV and cell phone.
Chambers was sentenced to 120 days in jail, with 88 days credit for time already served. She was also ordered to serve 6 years of probation and pay restitution of $12,980.
Labels: caregiver sentenced, Florida, stealing from elderly woman
JPMorgan Ordered to Pay More Than $4 Billion to Widow and Family
JPMorgan Chase & Co. was ordered by a Dallas jury to pay more than $4 billion in damages for mishandling the estate of a former American Airlines executive, but the verdict will probably be knocked down on appeal.
Jo Hopper and two stepchildren won the probate court verdict over claims that JPMorgan mismanaged the administration of the estate of Max Hopper, who was described as an airline technology innovator in a statement issued by the family’s law firm.
Large punitive damages verdicts like the one in the Hopper case are often scaled back because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled they can’t be disproportionate to actual damages. In this case, the jury awarded less than $5 million in actual damages.
The bank said it acted in a professional manner and in good faith on Hopper’s estate and is “highly confident” the jury verdict won’t stand under Texas law.
“Clearly the award far exceeds any possible interpretation of Texas tort reform statutes,” Andrew Gray, a spokesman for the bank, said in an emailed statement. “There has been no judgment entered by the court based on this verdict.”
Max Hopper, who pioneered a reservation system for the airline, died in 2010 with assets of more than $19 million but without a will and testament, according to the statement. JPMorgan was hired as an administrator to divvy up the assets among family members.
Putters, Wine
“Instead of independently and impartially collecting and dividing the estate’s assets, the bank took years to release basic interests in art, home furnishings, jewelry, and notably, Mr. Hopper’s collection of 6,700 golf putters and 900 bottles of wine,” the family’s lawyers said in the statement. “Some of the interests in the assets were not released for more than five years.”
"The nation’s largest bank horribly mistreated me and this verdict provides protection to others from being mistreated by banks that think they’re too powerful to be held accountable," Jo Hopper said in the statement.
The court’s verdict form shows jurors awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against the bank. Alan Loewinsohn, attorney for Jo Hopper, said in an interview there may be duplication of some of the damage findings. As a result, he said, the punitive damage award could end up being “somewhere between $4 billion and $8 billion.”
Loewinsohn said he asked the jury to take into account the bank’s worth and asked them for $2 billion in punitive damages. “I believe they used that figure for the other parties in the case as well,” he said.
The jury found that the bank committed fraud, breached its fiduciary duty and broke a fee agreement, according to court papers.
At the lower end of that range, the jury’s award would erase almost two-thirds of the $6.6 billion profit that JPMorgan generated globally during the second quarter.
And it would rank high among the largest sanctions ever levied against the bank -- somewhere between the $2.6 billion it agreed to pay in 2014 for allegedly failing to stop Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and a $13 billion settlement it reached with government authorities in 2013 for its handling of mortgage bonds that fueled the financial crisis.
The verdict form shows jurors were advised to consider factors including “the net worth of JPMorgan.” Indeed, the bank has a stock market value of about $330 billion.
Labels: court order, damages awarded, mishandling estate, Texas
“The elders have the right to be heard and respected.”
Me Ann Soden
Instead of going through the courts to address issues of financial exploitation or abuse towards the elderly, Me Ann Soden offers mediation to simplify the process and make the elders a quality of life and the respect of their rights.
The lawyer and mediator licensed montreal is a pioneer in the area of elder Law. It opened in 2007, a legal clinic, a mobile pro bono (free services). She was passing through the area in mid-September, to represent an elderly person.
there are so much injustice to the elderly, this is terrible inhumanity in the face of them. For me it is a privilege and an honor to help them. They are grateful for
“It serves the whole of the province and meeting with seniors in a familiar environment in order to make them more comfortable. It also allows us to check if the people around, often family, control or manipulate our client, stresses Me Soden.
“The elders do not know their rights and families. They do not abuse it, not always intentionally, but in some cases they give themselves the right to take the money, because they take care of the person,” laments the lawyer.
Rights violated
For Me Ann Soden, the cases of injustice and abuse against seniors are many. “The basis, the seniors have the right to be involved in the decisions, of having their wishes honored and to get respect, she said.
“The legal representatives think that as soon as a mandate in case of incapacity is certified, they can take all the decisions without regard to the wishes of their mother or their father. This is not the case, says Me Soden.
“The problem is that they choose depending on their values and decisions will often go against what it wants to the person. It is insulting to the latter.”
Simplified process
The legal clinic founded by Me Ann Soden, is designed to streamline the process in cases of abuse and allows you to avoid prosecution of fraud against the legal representatives, among others.
“The person may have memory loss, but is very capable of understanding that his nephew has neglected to pay for their accommodation. It assists in there, arrangements are made simple with something like a pre-authorized payment and revokes the power of attorney to the nephew, quotes the lawyer as an example.
“It involves the elder in all decisions. We made an assessment of the degree of skill, but also of the legal representative to determine whether he has a heart to help the elder, if he is honest or is a good manager, ” she adds.
“If there has been financial exploitation, are discussed in the presence of a banker, an accountant and a social worker. If the elder has money, we will hire someone to take care of its finances. Otherwise, it puts in place measures of protection. We are trying to recover the money, either directly or on the inheritance on the death of the customer,” mentions Me Soden.
Labels: Canada, Elder Law, Financial Exploitation, Mediation, Pro Bono
Police looking for woman accused of stealing from elderly man
Lanique Elaine Pettus
A woman accused of stealing nearly $10,000 from an elderly man by falsifying his signature on checks and using his debit card to make rent and car payments is being sought by authorities, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and court documents.
Lanique Elaine Pettus, 32, is wanted on one count of exploitation of an older person, 16 counts of forgery and six counts of fraudulent use of credit card; all felonies, according to a criminal complaint filed in a Henderson courthouse.
The 80-year-old man was victimized through “deception intimidation or undue influence” last year from Feb. 1 to March 31, according to the complaint.
The fraudulent checks were written for amounts ranging from $150 to $780, and the debit card was used for payments in the range of $268 to $888, totaling about $9,500, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors today released photos of Pettus allegedly cashing the fraudulent checks at valley banks.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the case was filed.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or crimestoppersofnv.com
Labels: accused of exploitation of older person, deception, intimidation, Nevada, Undue Influence
Lawyer heads to trial for $400G theft from clients
Gregory G. Stagliano
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Delaware County personal injury attorney waived arraignment Wednesday on charges that he stole more than $400,000 in settlement funds that were supposed to go to his clients.
Gregory G. Stagliano, 61, of the 500 block of Chaumont Drive in Radnor, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft of services, theft by deception, and receiving stolen property, all felonies of the third degree, in allegedly pocketing money that was supposed to go to nine different victims he represented in personal injury cases. Stagliano is additionally charged with unauthorized practice of law.
District Attorney Jack Whelan said when announcing the charges in May that investigators led by county Detective Michele Deery began looking at Stagliano in July 2016, based on a tip from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Investigators found a similar pattern of theft in each of the nine cases, with Stagliano allegedly depositing funds meant for clients into his own Santander Interest on Lawyers Trust Account for personal use.
In one case, Stagliano received $65,000 that was supposed to go to the victim in a car accident, according to a release from the District Attorney’s office. But prosecutors claim Stagliano paid the victim only $7,500, then warned her to stop contacting him seeking the balance.
“I wish you to cease your continued harassing communications in this regard and if you do not, we will go about it in a different way,” he allegedly told that victim.
An investigation by the Disciplinary Board revealed that Stagliano still owed that victim $40,000. Deery looked into the bank records and found just $133.77 remained in the account, according to the release.
“As prosecutors, we find the violation of his sworn fiduciary responsibly especially disturbing and Mr. Stagliano used this position in order to fund his own lavish lifestyle and pay his own personal debts with his clients’ money,” said Whelan. “Individuals should be able to trust their attorneys and abusing that trust is both unethical and in this case criminal. Today’s arrest of Mr. Stagliano should send a clear message that no one is above the law.”
A pretrial conference date was not immediately available. Anyone who believes they also have been victimized by Stagliano is urged to contact Deery at 610-891-8745.
Labels: attorney charged, Pennsylvania, receiving stolen property, settlement funds, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, theft from clients, theft of services
Paramedic accused of taking selfies with incapacitated patients gets 6 months in jail
Christopher Wimmer
That'll teach him.
A Florida paramedic accused of taking selfies with incapacitated patients and sending them to a co-worker in a "selfie war" has been sentenced to jail time, according to the Panama City News Herald.
Christopher Wimmer has been sentenced to six months in jail and three years or probation, the outlet reported.
He'll also have to perform 100 hours of community service and pay court fees.
Okaloosa County Circuit Judge William Stone barred Wimmer, 35, from working as a paramedic while completing his sentence, the News Herald reported.
He's said to have told the judge he "deeply regretted" what he had done.
"When I see ambulances drive by every single time in Boston, it reminds me of the mistakes that I've made and how it affected everyone else that was involved," he said.
"To all the patients and their families, I want you to know how sorry I am for the things that I did and the crimes I committed."
The embattled paramedic reportedly pleaded no contest to seven felony counts of interception and disclosure of oral communications.
Kayla Dubois and Wimmer took compromising photos of patients inside ambulances without their knowledge or consent.(Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office)
He also pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of battery, which he was charged with after it came to light that he held open the eyelids of a sedated woman while posing for a photo.
One patient, Pamela Burman, told the paper she felt justice had not been served.
"For him not to get more jail time than he did is adding insult to injury," she said. "We were devalued as human beings … and he felt that he could laugh at us."
Wimmer and a female paramedic, Kayla Dubois, were investigated and charged in 2016 amid allegations that the pair were locked in an ongoing "selfie war," according to the News Herald.
The duo were believed to have photos of patients that were in their care inside ambulances on their cell phones.
An investigation revealed that 41 patients were photographed and/or recorded without their knowledge or consent.
Dubois was sentenced to two years of probation last month.
Wimmer reported to jail on Sept. 22 to start his sentence.
Labels: Florida, paramedic accused, selfies of incapacitated patients, sentenced
GBI makes arrest in disabled, elderly exploitation case
WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports
ALBANY, GA (WALB) - Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made an arrest in a multi-county investigation of the exploitation of disabled or elderly adults.
Michelle Oliver, 39, was arrested Tuesday at her home in Forsyth after investigators with several agencies searched a personal care facility in Albany.
Oliver has been transported to the Dougherty County Jail and will have her first court appearance Thursday morning.
According to officials, the investigation began in July when neighbors told police that residents renting from Oliver were begging for food.
During the search at the homes at South Jackson Street and Flintside Drive, seven disabled or elderly adults were found. They were treated by EMS and Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and relocated to licensed facilities.
The apartments were condemned by Albany Code Enforcement because of the living conditions.
When officials searched Oliver's home in Forsyth and a residence connected to Oliver in Macon, seven additional elderly or disabled adults were found. They were all relocated.
Oliver is facing charges for exploitation and intimidation of disabled adults, elder persons, and residents (felony); neglect of a disabled adult, elder person, and resident (felony); and for operating an unlicensed personal care home (misdemeanor).
The investigation is still active and more charges against Oliver are expected. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the GBI office in Sylvester at 229-777-2080.
Labels: elderly exploitation case, financial exploitation of disabled person., Georgia, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, unlicensed personal care facility
Ambitious guardian changes proposed
A special commission on Friday unveiled a slate of ambitious proposals to strengthen oversight of the state’s ailing guardian and conservator system, which oversees finances and other major decisions for many of New Mexico’s most vulnerable citizens.
The Supreme Court-appointed commission’s recommendations include hiring special court employees to hear grievances and requiring more accountability from the professionals appointed to make decisions for incapacitated people.
Other recommendations include requiring mediation or “facilitated family meetings” between feuding relatives in contested cases and creating an “adult protected person” oversight board to regulate professional guardians and conservators, who must be certified and bonded.
The initial set of proposals, due to the Supreme Court by Oct. 1, focus on ways to improve the professionalism of corporate guardians and conservators who handle a protected person’s finances by requiring bonding to protect an incapacitated person’s assets.
The state’s courts are responsible for appointing guardians and conservators for incapacitated individuals who can’t handle their own affairs. Often family members are appointed, but if there is no family or if family members are feuding, courts would appoint third-party professional guardians.
Dozens of families have come forward since a Journal series highlighted the problem, detailing concerns and potential deficiencies in the system, sparking the decision to make changes.
The commission also proposed requiring certification of all corporate guardians and conservators, presumably by a national guardianship agency, but backed off the idea of requiring a state license that an oversight board could revoke for malfeasance or misconduct.
Chaired by retired state District Judge Wendy York, the group was tasked in April with providing the Supreme Court with concrete ways to improve the system that, in an attempt to protect the incapacitated person, operates out of the public eye. All hearings are held in closed courtrooms, with few participants and with nearly all court records sealed.
Typically, the only oversight of such cases has been the guardian’s or conservator’s filing of a several-page annual report to the judge each year, but the commission is recommending enhanced reporting to include bank and financial statements. Such filings would continue to be sealed.
Family members who have in the past been stymied by a lack of access to the courts to air complaints about a loved one’s treatment or a guardian or conservator’s conduct could file grievances with an independent court commissioner who would investigate and, if warranted, report to the judge in the case.
Under the recommendations, judges in appointing a guardian or conservator also would have to make specific findings of fact if they deviate from an incapacitated person’s advance directive, trust, will or estate plan.
“I feel like we’ve made some headway,” said Emily Darnell Nuñez, the sole layperson appointed to the commission. “We haven’t solved all the problems, but we have made a good first step.”
Last year, the Journal series “Who Guards the Guardians?” prominently featured the protracted guardianship/conservator case of Nuñez’s mother, Blair Darnell.
Secrecy issue
The thorny issue of secrecy and sequestration of such cases wasn’t addressed in the initial set of proposals but is scheduled to be discussed by the commission later this year, along with other possible recommendations for changes in state law.
A final commission report is expected by Jan. 1, ahead of a 30-day legislative session, and could include funding proposals for reforms if approved by the Supreme Court and endorsed by Gov. Susana Martinez.
Over the past decade, there have been prior attempts at reform involving commissions appointed by the Legislature.
But state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said this marks the first time the state Supreme Court has taken the lead.
“The court, in bringing this to the forefront, has to do something. We (state legislators) have to do something; we can’t let this fester any longer,” said Ortiz y Pino, a commission member and longtime advocate for reform.
The 16 commission members include judges, attorneys, a psychologist, two appointees from Martinez’s administration and current and former legislators.
Although mostly disgruntled family members testified at monthly commission meetings, the commission’s work gathered momentum after July’s federal criminal indictment of top executives of a longtime Albuquerque-based corporate guardianship/conservatorship firm, Ayudando Guardians, for alleged embezzlement of millions in client funds.
Weeks earlier, state financial regulators announced they had found evidence of siphoning of $4 million of client trust funds at Desert State Life Management, which originally handled special trusts and guardianships for special needs clients and still retained some court-appointed conservator cases.
Just this week, State Auditor Tim Keller alerted state officials to an initial audit finding that New Mexico’s Office of Guardianship, which provides guardianship services to about 900 indigent clients through private contracts with guardianship firms, had lax internal controls, failed to investigate complaints about contractors and performed required annual compliance reviews on only two of 21 state-funded guardianship companies last year.
Ortiz y Pino said the recent revelations about guardianship companies “have reinstated the belief that this is a big mess.”
“The question will be: Is the state willing to spend the money to bring about these changes?”
Labels: guardian oversight, New Mexico, proposals, special commission
Protect nursing home residents, not bad facilities
When they get together in Tallahassee on Friday, the members of Florida’s nursing-home industry can either circle the wagons or lay the groundwork to take a deep, honest look at how best to confront one of the worst tragedies the industry has seen.
The Florida Health Care Association has called a “summit” to address emergency preparedness. This comes after eight, then nine and, as of Thursday, 10 elderly residents in a Hollywood Hills nursing home were left to suffer and die because they were in an stiflingly hot facility that lost electricity as Hurricane Irma blew through.
The industry is rattled by Gov. Rick Scott’s emergency rule requiring that all nursing homes and assisted living facilities have a generator and fuel to keep buildings cool for four days after losing power.
It’s the right call now, and the right call back in 2006, when a similar proposal died in the Legislature. The industry helped throw it under the bus. And look what happened.
The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills had a generator, but not to power air conditioning, which made it useless as the residents were overcome. It also had a hospital across the street. But nursing-home residents were never evacuated there, not until after the first deaths among them.
Nursing home officials, inexplicably, blame Scott for their troubles, whom they called for help as the situation got worse. The governor had given his cell-phone number to a group of nursing home owners during a pre-hurricane strategy session.
But in a state report, Scott put the blame where it squarely belongs: “This facility is failing to take responsibility for the fact that they delayed calling 911 and made the decision to not evacuate their patients to one of the largest hospitals in Florida, which is directly across the street.
“The more we learn about this, the more concerning this tragedy is.”
But zoom out from this one particular tragedy, and Floridians will find that, big picture, the Scott administration as well as industry muscle continue to give cover to nursing homes that shouldn’t be in business.
Time and again, the Legislature and the governor have failed to insist that nursing homes and ALFs are responsible actors in caring for sick and vulnerable Floridians. The failed generator legislation is but one example. Pushback against stringent state monitoring is another.
The Herald now reports that nursing home inspection results are heavily censored, blacking out unpleasant findings such as “bruises,” “substance,” and “accidentally.” This means that families looking for a safe facility for an elderly loved one can’t get a full accounting; and troubled families who suspect all is not well in a nursing home are left with more questions than answers — and little recourse.
This is wrong, especially when the state tries to hide behind the federal government’s skirts, alleging that its rules mandate keeping sensitive information from the public. The truth is, the Herald reports, the state must submit inspection reports to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which are available for public scrutiny — uncensored.
The people of this state deserve better than this. The discussion at Friday’s summit can’t stop at generators. Industry leaders must far more discussion about meeting the needs of such vulnerable residents. Why wait for another tragedy?
Labels: Editorial, emergency rule, Florida, Florida Health Care Association, Nursing Homes
Son pleads guilty to his role in exploiting mother's estate for $340,000
MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — Michael Scott Christie, 63, of Lame Deer, Montana, pleaded guilty Monday in Chippewa County District Court to two felony charges of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult for his role in taking $340,000 from the estate of his mother.
A pre-sentence investigation was ordered and sentencing scheduled for Oct. 31.
Christie's wife, Martina Annette Christie, 61, faces 12 felony charges for alleged financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. She made her first court appearance earlier this month.
The charges allege that the couple exploited $340,000 from the estate of Michael Christie's mother.
They allegedly used more than $40,000 of her financial resources for their own lifestyles. Court documents also allege that Michael Christie transferred two parcels of Chippewa County farmland worth a combined $300,000 to Martina Christie for consideration of less than $500.
Michael Christie's mother died in February 2015.
Prior to that, the Clarkfield woman was evicted from the Clarkfield Care Center for non-payment in late 2014 and accumulated over $72,000 in expenses.
The criminal complaint says Michael and Martina Christie paid the Care Center only $200 during that period, while they spent over $6,000 on clothing for themselves and wrote themselves $6,000 worth of checks.
Labels: financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, Minnesota, pleads guilty
Tonight on T. S. Radio with Marti Oakley: Abolishing the Probate System & Family Courts
This evening we have three guests:
Luanne Fleming & Robin Astin F.A.C.E.U.S. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150521624978726/
Brian Kinter: Judicial Accountability Movement (JAM)https://www.facebook.com/groups/jam2016/
We will be discussing the demand to end the probate system in all its forms, including family courts, guardianship/conservator ship, and returning to a system of law where our rights are preserved and protected.
BECOMING A “WARD OF THE STATE” SHOULD NOT BE USED TO DEPRIVE YOU OF YOUR OWN IDENTITY AND CAUSE YOU TO CEASE BEING RECOGNIZED AS A LIVING, BREATHING HUMAN BEING IN SOME FICTIONALLY CREATED SYSTEM OF STATUTES AND CODES.
NO ONE SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO COURT SANCTIONED IDENTITY THEFT AND BE ROBBED OF THEIR NATURAL RIGHTS & LIBERTIES, THEIR ESTATE, OR THEIR CHILDREN AND BANKRUPTED BY THIS CORRUPT SYSTEM.
We can no longer allow these unconstitutional administrative tribunals to destroy families and steal the lives of their victims.
We can no longer allow the judiciary to turn a blind eye to the destruction of families and individuals, including children taking place every day across the country. All for profit.
PLEASE JOIN BRIAN, LUANNE, ROBIN & MY SELF FOR THIS VERY IMPORTANT SHOW!
Labels: FACE.US, Marti Oakley, T. S. Radio
Who guards the guardians? State auditor says agency fails to oversee firms
State Auditor Tim Keller’s office on Thursday issued an “emergency risk” advisory for the state Office of Guardianship based on an initial review that showed the agency has failed to properly oversee more than 20 private companies that are paid by the state to provide guardian services for vulnerable, indigent New Mexicans.
The Guardianship Office, which has about 900 clients, is responsible for monitoring and enforcing state contracts with private firms appointed by the courts to make the legal and other decisions for people deemed incapacitated through disability.
Keller’s office launched an audit of contract guardianship firms at the request of state District Judge Shannon Bacon of Albuquerque after one of the Office of Guardianship’s contractors, Ayudando Guardians, and two company executives were indicted in July on federal charges related to the alleged embezzlement of up to $4 million in client funds.
“The OSA’s (Office of State Auditor) initial fact-finding revealed a widespread failure of the Office of Guardianship to oversee contract guardians,” Keller said in a letter Thursday to officials with the state Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, which oversees the Guardianship Office.
“In short, although the courts and our citizens rely on the Office of Guardianship to protect against fraud and abuse by contract guardians, the Office has few systems in place or resources to discharge that duty,” the letter said.
For example, the office monitored only two of 21 guardianship contracts last fiscal year, the letter said. The office didn’t address complaints about contract guardians and didn’t have formal approved policies for contract guardians for the last fiscal year.
Required periodic reporting by contract guardians was irregular, and the office failed to follow up with those companies that hadn’t reported.
“Without these basic systems in place, the Office could not have been monitoring the accuracy of billing or identifying early signs of the types of fraud and abuse that led to the Ayudando indictments,” the letter said.
Since the indictment, the U.S. Marshals Service has closed the Albuquerque-based Ayudando Guardians. Ayudando was paid more than $650,000 a year under its state contract but also had private-pay clients and disbursed federal veterans’ and Social Security benefits to other clients.
The letter said that the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council “suggests that a severe lack of resources and capabilities are contributing to the problems at the Office of Guardianship. Monitoring efforts have been hampered by a lack of adequate staffing, expertise and travel budget.”
John Block III, executive director of the disabilities council, didn’t return a Journal request for an interview Thursday.
But in August, Block told the Journal the Office of Guardianship had two compliance officers to monitor the cases of about 900 clients. To be eligible, clients cannot earn more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
An estimated 100 people were on a waiting list for guardianship services, Block said.
With a $6.4 million annual budget, Block told the Journal, “We do the best we can to stretch the funding as much as we can.”
Aside from the Guardianship Office, the only other oversight of the 900 state guardianship clients is through the courts, which require a confidential annual report from each guardian.
The state’s guardian and conservator system has been under study by a state Supreme Court commission that is set to unveil its initial recommendations for reform at a meeting today.
During a May commission meeting, then-Ayudando Chief Financial Officer Sharon Moore testified that her agency is subject to regular audits by the Office of Guardianship.
But Block later told the Journal the audits aren’t financial, but are technical reviews to ensure proper documentation of client information.
Moore and Ayudando President Susan Harris are accused of siphoning client funds to finance a lavish lifestyle for themselves and their families. They have pleaded not guilty.
Keller’s letter to Block, which was forwarded to the state Attorney General, legislative leaders and the state Department of Finance and Administration, was obtained by the Journal.
The letter recommended that the Guardianship Office “immediately be subject to more thorough oversight and management. This may necessitate bringing in staff on loan from other agencies or a contracted firm to assist with the Office of Guardianship’s day-to-day work and to address the backlog of unresolved complaints and irregular reporting.”
It may also require additional funding on an emergency basis or through a budget transfer, Keller wrote.
He also recommended that, in advance of the legislative session that starts in January, the Legislature and Gov. Susana Martinez consider “possible enhancement, revision or restructuring” of the office and its responsibilities, including evaluating whether the planning council is the appropriate agency to oversee the Guardianship Office. Up until 2003, the Guardianship Office was overseen by the Attorney General’s Office.
Labels: Audit, emergency risk advisory, failure to oversee, New Mexico, The Guardianship Office, Who Guards the Guardians?
Katrina Nursing Home Owners Acquitted
Salvador and Mabel Mangano
The owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died after Hurricane Katrina were acquitted Friday of negligent homicide and cruelty charges for not evacuating the facility as the storm approached.
The jury took about four hours to acquit Sal and Mabel Mangano, the husband-and-wife owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish, just outside of New Orleans.
"I can't tell you how good this feels, how good those people are," Mabel Mangano said outside the courthouse in St. Francisville, the town about 112 northwest of New Orleans where the trial was moved. "This has been a very rough road."
They had faced 35 counts of negligent homicide and 24 counts of cruelty to the elderly or infirm after the patients drowned — some in their beds — when the monster hurricane swept through the area in 2005.
Judge Jerome Winsberg asked the defendants to stand when the verdicts were read. When Mabel Mangano did so, she buried her face in her husband's shoulder.
Afterward, the Manganos sat back down and hugged each other. Their daughter, Tammy White, sobbed quietly.
"I'm very gratified that the two-year ordeal they've been through is finally over," defense attorney John Reed said.
The victims' family and friends — all wearing black, some with buttons with a picture of the person who died at St. Rita's — sat stoically. None cried.
Assistant Attorney General Burton Guidry read a statement from his boss, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti: "I feel for the victims of this tragedy, and my heart goes out to them. I hope they will be able to put this behind them."
Yolanda Hubert's 72-year-old mother, Zerelda Delatte, died when the home flooded; her aunt, Gilda Raklen, 90, survived. Hubert said she traveled from Texas to attend the trial.
"The jury may not have found them guilty, but our savior says they are. When they face our maker, they'll have to answer then," she said. "They still have never said they were sorry. They haven't said 'I'm sorry I let your mother drown like a rat.' They're guilty as hell," she said.
The prosecution maintained that the Manganos should have heeded warnings and evacuated before the massive storm roared ashore. Failing to do so led directly to the patients' death and suffering, prosecutor Paul Knight had argued.
The defense argued that the Manganos had safely sheltered in their brick facility for 20 years, and that if the levees had not broken, the home would have been safe.
The trial lasted three weeks. The prosecution put on 40 witnesses, including Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who testified that she left the decision on mandatory evacuations to local officials. St. Bernard Parish never called a mandatory evacuation.
The defense featured five people and took just three days. Neither defendant testified.
The defense was prohibited from using testimony or documents showing that the majority of nursing homes in the path of the storm
36 of 57 — did not evacuate, or that there were deaths at other homes, including 22 at a New Orleans nursing home.
The prosecution, however, did show that three other nursing homes in St. Bernard evacuated.
More than 30 lawsuits have been filed against the Manganos by patients injured at the nursing home and the families of people who died there.
The couple were the only people in Louisiana to face criminal charges stemming directly from Hurricane Katrina, and jurors said that played a key role in their decision.
"We talked about that," said juror Kim Maxwell, 46. "There were a lot of mistakes made, and it should have been a lot of people answering for it. So why just these two people?"
Said juror Michael Cavalier, 39: "The state was responsible for the safety of nursing home residents. They didn't do what they should have. They didn't make the decisions they should have. So when the Manganos made their decision, why should they try to crucify them for it? That isn't right."
Dane Ciolino, a professor at Loyola University's College of Law in New Orleans, said the verdict was not surprising, "given the state was trying to characterize as gross negligence something that tens of thousands of others in south Louisiana did."
"To say what they did was grossly different than what others did, it really raised the question of, 'Why were the Manganos singled out?"' he said.
The only other criminal charges connected to Katrina deaths are against six former or current New Orleans police officers who face murder or attempted murder counts from a shooting after the storm. But the case is not tied to flooding or a direct impact of Katrina.
At one time, Foti's office said investigations into scores of patient deaths at nursing homes and hospitals during and after Katrina were likely to lead to more arrests. Six hospitals and 13 nursing homes in Louisiana were investigated. At least 140 patients died in the storm and its aftermath.
No fewer than 34 people died at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after the hurricane, but three women arrested by the attorney general's office will not stand trial. A grand jury refused to indict Dr. Anna Pou. Charges against nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry were dropped.
Twenty-two people died at Lafon Nursing Home, run by nuns of the Holy Family order in eastern New Orleans. Residents were moved to the second floor as flooding began, but the home lost electricity. Rescuers did not arrive at Lafon until days later amid a heat wave that had gripped the city.
Foti investigated the deaths at Memorial Medical Center, St. Rita's and LaFon. The results of the LaFon investigation were turned over to the New Orleans district attorney a year ago, but no action has been taken. A spokesman for Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said the case remains under investigation.
Labels: Katrina, Louisiana, negligent homicide, nursing home owners acquitted
Guardianship reform advocates turn up the heat with town hall, protest
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Martin Colin announced he would not run for re-election
Despite legislative and policy strides, advocates for guardianship reform says little has changed in the courtroom: Incapacitated seniors and their families are still being taken advantage of by lawyers and court-appointed professionals while judges turn a blind eye.
So in an effort to bring further attention to the issue, an advocacy group that brought about some of those changes plans a town hall on Tuesday in West Palm Beach, followed by a protest in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
“It’s an attitudinal shift we are looking for in the judges,” said Sam Sugar, co-founder of American Against Abusive Probate Guardianship, who organized all three events. “Somehow these judges shifted position — from implementing laws designed to help vulnerable people and their families to a position of exploiting them instead.”
In Palm Beach County, the chief judge last year handed down reforms after The Palm Beach Post reported on conflict of interest, favoritism and complaints concerning former Circuit Judge Martin Colin and his wife, Elizabeth “Betsy” Savitt, who works as a professional guardian.
And Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga has a task force looking into the issue.
On Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Sugar will give a lecture to inform seniors and families about how to protect themselves from unethical guardians and their attorneys, followed by a town hall. On Thursday, he will lead a protest march in St. Petersburg that culminates at a meeting of the Pinellas Guardianship Association.
“We are going to have a very raucous crowd because a lot of victims are coming,” Sugar said of the town hall in West Palm Beach.
“This is directed toward the general public to educate, to talk about the risks families face simply by the virtue of their address in Palm Beach County and how the probate courts operate,” he said.
Then on Thursday in St. Petersburg, the group will march to the Yacht Club where professional guardians are meeting to put pressure on the association to rid itself of what the group believes are bad actors depleting the life savings of incapacitated seniors.
“We want to demand that Pinellas Guardianship Association start protecting people,” he said.
Guardianship town hall
Where: Embassy Suites, 1601 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach
When: Tuesday 5 p.m. lecture, 6:15 panel
Who: Sam Sugar and panel, including state Rep. Emily Slosberg, D-Delray Beach; attorney Greg Coleman, past president of the Florida Bar; and Anthony Palmieri, deputy inspector general and chief guardianship investigator for Palm Beach County's Clerk & Comptroller. The Palm Beach Post’s John Pacenti will also be on the panel to speak about work on The Post’s series, Guardianships: A Broken Trust.
Labels: AAAPG, Florida, Guardianships: A Broken Trust, Protest
Largest Assisted Living Chain In U.S. Sued For Poor Care Of Elderly
Twenty residents of an assisted living complex in Palm Springs, Calif., missed their medications in a single day because no medical technician was on duty. A woman in a Paso Robles home for seniors pushed her emergency call button after falling in her room and waited 22 hours on the floor with broken bones until staff members responded.
A class-action lawsuit filed last month in a federal district court in Northern California details those incidents and other similar ones, which allegedly occurred in facilities owned by Brookdale Senior Living, the nation’s largest assisted living provider.
The complaint alleges that inadequate staffing, poor worker training and rising fees are part of a “callous and profit-driven approach” that has had “devastating” consequences for Californians living in Brookdale assisted living homes. Residents, it claims, “are left without assistance for hours after falling, they are given the wrong medications, they are denied clean clothing, showers, and nutritious food, and they are left in their own waste for long periods of time.”
Relatives of the seniors involved in the lawsuit declined to comment. The California Assisted Living Association, an industry group, also declined to comment.
Brookdale spokeswoman Heather Hunter said in an email that the lawsuit is “without merit” and the company will defend itself “vigorously.”
Tennessee-based Brookdale, which operates 1,121 facilities serving about 100,000 patients in 47 states, has encountered similar complaints elsewhere in the country. A class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alleges that the company does not adequately staff its assisted living facilities and is not providing the care it promises residents.
The plaintiff in that lawsuit, Gloria Runton, claimed the Brookdale home where she lives had assured her she would get personal care services based on an assessment of her individual needs, but that as those needs grew over time, the level of her care did not increase. At the same time, Brookdale nearly tripled her fees, she alleges.
The California lawsuit, believed to be the first class-action claim against an assisted living company under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), was filed on behalf of four people currently residing in assisted living homes that Brookdale operates in the state. If the judge certifies the case as a class-action suit, the outcome could affect all residents of Brookdale assisted living facilities in California.
The lawsuit cites not only the federal disabilities law but also several California statutes, including ones that protect against unfair business practices and financial abuse of elders.
Because the goal is to win the case, good lawyers often file a number of claims, said Stephen Rosenbaum, a lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley’s law school and a directing attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, which is not involved in the lawsuit. “Whether the ADA is the strongest claim is unclear from a strategic standpoint,” he said.
Rosenbaum said case law has not established exactly how the federal disability law applies to assisted living facilities. It is “ironic” that the attorneys in this case are using the disability law to sue Brookdale, given that the company by definition serves people with some kind of disability, he said.
The California lawsuit alleges that some of Brookdale’s facilities don’t meet federal and state accessibility standards. Some of their bathrooms can’t accommodate wheelchairs, and the company doesn’t have an evacuation or emergency plan for disabled residents, the suit claims. Of the four plaintiffs named in the complaint, three require wheelchairs.
If the case is certified as a class-action lawsuit under the ADA, that would be “big news,” said William Goren, a Decatur, Ga.-based attorney and consultant who helps clients comply with the law. That’s because of the nature of the law itself, he said.
The ADA is designed to address the disabled as individuals whose disabilities can be accommodated in different ways, Goren said. But a class-action lawsuit requires the “class” of plaintiffs to show that they’ve been injured in the same way.
“It’s very, very unusual that you could go in and get a class-action certified under the ADA,” Goren said. “It can happen, but not often.”
In California, Brookdale Senior Living runs 89 homes and serves up to 5,000 patients, offering various combinations of independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing.
In 2014, the company acquired another large assisted living provider, Emeritus, which expanded its presence in California. But the $2.8 billion deal left publicly traded Brookdale with significant staff turnover, declining occupancy and a shaky stock price. A Chinese real estate conglomerate’s recent bid to buy the company reportedly has stalled, creating more uncertainty for Brookdale and the people living in its senior homes.
Residents of Brookdale’s assisted living facilities don’t require the kind of specialized medical care provided in skilled nursing facilities, but they may need help bathing, using the toilet, taking medications, eating or walking. Some residents need walkers or wheelchairs, while others have mild cognitive impairments or dementia. Seniors who require less care and can cook their own meals often choose independent living homes, which Brookdale also operates.
Like many assisted living companies, Brookdale typically charges monthly room and board fees, plus separate charges for additional care, such as help with medications. Its average monthly rate for assisted living, including rent, food and some personal care services, is about $4,000, according to the company’s website.
Both the California and Florida lawsuits claim that to keep its occupancy levels up, Brookdale accepted assisted living residents who might have required higher levels of care, then failed to provide enough staff to meet their needs.
The consequences of leaving residents unsupervised can be severe. In one case, a wheelchair-bound resident of the Brookdale assisted living facility in Elk Grove, Calif., rolled herself out an open door and fell off a curb, breaking her neck, according to an investigation by the California Department of Social Services, which regulates assisted living facilities. The April 2 incident merited a civil penalty, still to be determined, according to the agency’s investigator. That episode was not mentioned in the lawsuit.
Tony Chicotel, a staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, which is not involved in the suit, said inadequate staffing is a problem at many assisted living facilities.
Assisted living salespeople tell seniors they can meet all their current and future needs, Chicotel said. “But … the facility will only staff based on revenue they’re getting … at least at the big facilities.” The bottom line, he said, is that residents “don’t get the care they need.”
Labels: assisted living facility, California, class action lawsuit, poor care
Legislature to consider bill to allow removal of mentally incapacitated elected officials
Gary Ott
SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would allow the removal of mentally incapacitated elected officials and address troubling situations such as what happened with former Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott will have a new chance to become law next year.
But it's quite different from proposed legislation that failed to pass in the Utah Legislature earlier this year. And it would only apply to six counties — that is, if they choose to adopt it.
The bill has not yet been publicly filed, but its sponsor, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, described it as setting the "highest bar possible" to remove an elected official with a permanent mental incapacity in order to gather as much support possible from those who fear it could be used as a political weapon.
Though situations like what happened with Ott — whose health became the subject of more than a year and a half of public questioning and controversy following a Deseret News investigation — are rare, Thatcher said the issue is too important to ignore.
Thatcher has said he once knew Ott as a mentor as a friend, before his health began declining.
"Sometimes doing nothing is the best possible thing you can do," he said. "This is not one of those cases."
Thatcher urged lawmakers to support the bill so it could be considered by the House and Senate in January, giving it the highest possible chance of passing so counties have a way to address such situations.
Salt Lake County leaders were able to work with Ott's family to craft the recorder's resignation effective Aug. 1, which was approved by a judge. But that came after more than a year of grappling with how to address the situation, while Ott continued to collect about $190,000 in taxpayer-paid salary and benefits.
"At the end of the day, this is what I care about," Thatcher said. "I care that (Ott's) condition was hidden from the public. I care that Salt Lake County came to us and specifically said, 'Please give us a tool to address this in the future and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.' This is the best option I could come up with."
The Legislature's Political Subdivisions Interim Committee voted Wednesday to pass a draft of Thatcher's bill so it can be considered during the 2018 Legislature.
The bill alters a previous proposal from Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, that would have implemented a three-tiered process to remove an elected official — requiring a voter petition, a unanimous vote from the applicable governing body, and a court proceeding where a judge could order a medical evaluation of the public officer in question.
Thatcher's bill would not include a voter petition — which lawmakers previously feared could be used to attack a person's political career — but would require a unanimous vote of the elected body (excluding the elected official in question) and would only be applicable to counties that have at least five elected officials on their council or commission.
"A unanimous vote is much more compelling than a unanimous vote of two," Thatcher said, noting that many counties in Utah have only three commissioners.
That would leave only six counties — Salt Lake, Summit, Grand, Cache, Morgan and Wasatch — where the new law would apply, but only if those counties choose to adopt the measure, he said.
A unanimous vote would then only refer the question of the elected official's removal to a judge, who would then decide whether to order a competency evaluation. That competency evaluation would be carried out by a medical professional who would then report one of only three findings to protect the individual's privacy: "competent, competent with reasonable accommodations, or not competent," Thatcher said.
He also noted that if the judge orders a competency evaluation, the county would be required to pay for it. If the judge doesn't order a competency evaluation, the county would then pay the elected official's legal fees.
The court could also rule whether the council "acted in bad faith" when voting to refer the matter to court, Thatcher said.
"So the county has an incentive not to use it unless for reasons as obvious and as egregious as in Salt Lake County (with Ott)," he said.
If the competency review finds the person incompetent, the legislative body could then vote whether to remove the person from office.
"I know it's complicated," Thatcher said, "but we've tried to keep it as simple as possible while still making sure there is absolutely no window through which this process can be abused."
Though Thatcher urged the interim committee for unanimous support, Rep. Karen Kwan, D-Murray, voted against it — not because she didn't support it, she said, but so it's not rushed through.
"We still have questions in the air about this," Kwan said, echoing a concern raised by Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, about whether an incompetence ruling from a judge might impact an elected official's political future if he or she eventually recovers from the condition.
"Is this like the death penalty for this person's political career?" Hall questioned.
Thatcher said lawmakers could consider "a million hypotheticals, but at the end of the day, my concern isn't a hypothetical."
"Well, we write statutes off of hypotheticals all the time," Hall said.
"Actually, I wrote this for a friend," Thatcher rebuked.
Because the vote on the bill wasn't unanimous, it will first be considered in a Senate committee during the 2018 legislative session. That panel will then decide whether to send the bill to the full Senate for further debate.
Labels: bill, Legislation, removal of mentally incapacitated elected officials, Utah
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Royal Visit 2016-Junior Team Tours the West Coast
As published in the Victoria Standard: October 11, 2016.
The September 2016 royal tour of British Columbia may temporarily boost Canadian monarchism but a recent Forum poll indicates that support for the house of Windsor is waning. Increasingly, public veneration of royal personalities resembles celebrity wordship; not unlike that bestowed upon movie stars and reality show presidential candidates.
As Canadians bask in the reflected grace of the recently-departed royals; I’m compelled to examine our puzzling relationship with this controversial dynasty. Of course, clever language has always helped create mythologies that discourages dissent and fosters deference and obedience to both legitimate and illegitimate authority.
Aside from the official line that the English queen is Canada’s head of state; I fail to see any legitimate reasons to hold royalty in such high esteem nor do I feel personal loyalty to her or anyone arbitrarily presented as my leader. While the queen has little direct power in Canada, her continued presence subtly dignifies our often-ruthless political process with ancient notions like “the crown” and a host of crests and coats of arms.
As well, public approval of royalty by elected officials and senior bureaucrats lends credibility to the institution and creates an official barrier to dissent. Underlying it all is an unspoken assumption that the endurance of royalty somehow justifies its highly-subsidized presence.
The world is replete with people who are smarter, kinder, tougher, prettier and far nobler than British royalty. Nevertheless, the queen’s family still enjoys pompous descriptors like highness and majesty based mainly on coincidental birth into a family of great wealth and privilege; surrounding by sycophants eager to protect the highly-profitable royal illusion. From time to time; notable individuals are offered a knighthood or membership in some exclusive clique to perpetuate the notion of noble elitism.
Strict social protocols are another device employed to enhance the royal mystique and solidify the gulf between monarch and “commoner”; a term overdue for deletion. While minor transgressions against the monarch were formerly punished with extreme brutality; today’s trespassers against royal dignity are subject merely to social scorn and catch-all legal sanctions like trespass or public nuisance. The sight of the queen reminds me that she descends from a line that long defended its capricious power to torture and kill as they pleased.
While the duke and duchess of Cambridge confined themselves to Canada’s West coast, the financial burden will be evenly distributed from sea to sea. We are often told that the monarchy is “good value for the money spent” and that eliminating its role in Canadian governance would be “very difficult and might involve changing the constitution” to install a symbolic Canadian-born head of state. However, further empowering a symbolic figure like the governor general to perform all the duties of the monarchy would be very economical. The only way to truly test the subjective value for money claim is to try an alternative. Finally, while changing the constitution was difficult, so was Confederation and World War Two; but we managed those graver situations quite effectively.
As a person of Highland ancestry I’ve always been slightly amused to see members of the royal family clad in kilts since they never wear traditional Scottish garb but rather a tartan of their own invention. The Balmoral Tartan is a particularly glaring example of cultural appropriation in that the tartan was created for the royal family’s exclusive use and is protected from commoners by trademark and good taste. Imagine a regular person attempting to attach a patent to one of these fancy hats favored by the queen.
Queen Victoria purchased Balmoral Castle and estate in 1852 with her personal wealth. Not surprisingly, royal “purchases” are a fairly modern phenomenon since the possession of massive military power made the historical acquisition of royal possessions a mere matter of declaration backed by naked or threatened force. In a recent display of diminishing influence, the Queen has been reduced to offering her official blessing to Canadian institutions like Cape Breton’s Gaelic College, whose board refused the dubious honor.
British citizens may share the royal family’s habit of acquiring Scottish titles like baron or baronet if they are willing to pay thousands and accept the notion of adding only a noble suffix to their name. Only royals, whose titles came gratis, may use a prefix to denote their status. Conrad Black’s lost citizenship case illustrates the headaches of the noble life if one abandons their homeland for a foreign title.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, “While the costs of the upcoming Canadian tour won’t be revealed until after the eight-day trip, past royal visits have yielded hefty price tags. Will and Kate’s 2011 tour cost $1.2 million, a two-day visit by Princess Ann last year cost $128,000, and the Queen’s 2010 nine-day tour came in at $2.79 million…” I’ve never heard a public word of thanks from the Queen regarding the expense of these neocolonial expeditions. Undoubtedly, the royals could afford to finance the privilege of presenting themselves as unique and superior beings. Perhaps the Monarchist League could ease the public burden by volunteering to finance Charles and Camilla’s upcoming vacation to Canada.
At a time of ostensible austerity; Harper’s government spent $ 8.1 million public dollars to finance the pomp and ceremony of the queen’s Royal Diamond Jubilee. The original budget was $7.5 million. According to the National Post, “…there were the automatic recipients, not all of whom are held in the highest esteem by Canadians simply by virtue of their positions: Every MP; every Senator; every ambassador, high commissioner and consul general; and the chair of the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians, just to name a few…” A total of 60,000 medals were created and, “…there was the politics. Rideau Hall didn’t just hand every Canadian MP and Senator in the country his own medal, but 30 each (50 to each minister), and a total of 6,000 to the provincial premiers, to dole out as they saw fit.” This bonanza was concurrent with the cynical closing of Veterans Affairs offices across the nation. Heritage minister James Moore stated in the Globe and Mail that, “Canadians should feel honoured to be able to celebrate the “Diamond Jubilee” of a reigning Queen, or the 60th anniversary of the monarch ascending the throne.” I’m not alone in resisting emotive political attempts to define my priorities.
Fortunately, the royal family is mainly subsidized by the taxpayers of Great Britain. For example, returning to the Globe and Mail: “The Queen’s accounts show a 6.7% increase in funding last year to £37.9m, of which she spent £35.7m, setting the rest aside in a reserve account…Royal travel costs rose to £5.1m, up 21% on 2013-4…” Of course, royal protection costs in the UK and during foreign travel are excluded from these totals on convenient basis of national security. Staying home is always an option.
Of course, Canadians are free to line the roads to smile and wave as the royal carriage glides but ultimately; they are cheering foreign strangers vastly removed from their own daily lives. Nevertheless, the cult yet lives. As monarchist David Warren once said of Queen Elizabeth II, “I shouldn’t have to adore her personally. That she is my Queen is enough.”


Home » Scholarship and Determination Lead to Success
Scholarship and Determination Lead to Success
School of Education scholarship student, Ka Baw Say
Ka Baw Say immigrated to the United States with his older brother and sister when he was 19 years old. The Thomas and Theresa Sullivan Scholarship he received in 2018 enabled him to improve his education and his life.
“We wanted a good future,” says Say of him and his siblings. “Our parents did not come with us. They were worried, but they didn’t want to stop us. They wanted us to have a good life.”
Say is a member of the Karen immigrant community. Because of political unrest and civil war in his home country of Myanmar, he and his family were constantly moving. At age 7, Say entered a Karen refugee camp in Thailand. He says the next ten years were a struggle.
“Living in the refugee camp was like animals living in their stables,” Say says. “We did not have an identity. Lives do not really mean anything there.”
He felt different when he came to the United States and Kansas City. Within the first few weeks of being in the U.S., Say learned he had many opportunities and could pursue a career if he was willing to work hard.
“It was a moment when I felt so empowered and so great about myself,” Say says. “All these images came into my mind, my fears were minimized and the same feeling of wanting to become a teacher that I had when I was little came back.”
Say spent his first three years in Kansas City getting oriented, working and teaching himself English. He did not go to classes or use a tutor, but instead relied on the Internet. He learned quickly and earned his high school equivalency certificate.
When he felt he was ready he began to look for the best fit for college, he chose UMKC in part because of the diversity.
“I’m not afraid to express myself here. I needed to be in a place where I could be what I want to be,” he says.
A student in the School of Education, he secured teaching certificates in five subject areas and during his student teaching, discovered a lot about his strengths and weaknesses. He feels that experience will help him do a good job as an educator.
Receiving the Thomas and Teresa Sullivan Scholarship last year meant more than just financial support.
“In my family, I am the first generation to attend college,” Say says. “I feel so courageous. Receiving a scholarship is not just getting help to pay off some of my class expenses, but a lot more. It makes me realize that there is someone who does care about me, who does care about my future, who does care about my story and does care about my success. It is amazing to own this feeling and to be filled with what we call spiritual nutrition.”
Teresa Sullivan, Ph.D., who established the scholarship with her late husband in 2004, was also the first person in her family to go to college. A former teacher, she attended Queens College in New York City. She worked and went to school to pay her expenses, just as Say does. Sullivan encourages students to work hard and persevere.
“The need for college graduates is high,” Sullivan says. “Some people say they can’t afford to go to college. I say you can’t afford to not go to college. There are many scholarships available. Apply!”
While Say is still humble about his accomplishments, he recognizes that he has learned so much on his journey.
“Be determined,” he advises. “Life is not simple and easy. Put yourself out there, challenge yourself and get to know your environment.”
Beyond the work, he has gained insight into what will drive his life’s success. He would like to share his story — perhaps by writing a book — so other people know that they can accomplish the same things.
“When you can be who you are, that’s when you’re perfect. Be a simple human. Simple, but perfect.”
Tags: Scholarships, School of Education
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ANDREW OPILA is an editor, photographer & videographer. In those rare moments when he's not holding a camera, he guides active vacations for Backroads. With a B.A. in Broadcasting & Entrepreneurial Leadership from Gonzaga University, he is most at home telling stories in hard to reach, foreign places. It's safe to say he is comfortable with the uncomfortable.
He has filmed all over the world and enjoys each step in the digital storytelling process from the conception of a client's idea, to the polished delivery of a work of art. For Andrew, it's not just about making a beautiful image, it's about telling an authentic story. Good storytelling is about capturing the human experience and sharing it in a way people can see & understand. It's about connecting people to ideas that will inspire, challenge & educate. Andrew does all this because it's his way of sharing his time, treasures & talents with the world, in an effort to make our planet and the people in it, better than he found it.
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