Federal Reponse to Elder Abuse Fragmented

Federal Reponse to Elder Abuse Fragmented


 State agencies — the front lines — are swamped

by: Jim Toedtman
from: AARP Bulletin
April 1, 2011

"Listen and learn."

With that exhortation, a familiar character in an unfamiliar role entered the hall and took his seat. Mickey Rooney, now 90 after a lifetime of Hollywood stardom, was ready to tell a congressional hearing that despite vast experience, a long life and a coterie of counselors and advisers, he had been fleeced.

"Even with this success, my money was stolen from me by someone close," he told the Senate Special Committee on Aging last month. "I felt trapped, scared, used and frustrated. Above all, I felt helpless."

Sadly, Rooney speaks for too many. One of every seven older Americans has been victimized physically, emotionally or financially, a recent survey found. Some $2.6 billion of their savings and investments were lost, mishandled, squandered or stolen last year. These are ominous numbers that will only get worse as the older population grows dramatically, from 13 percent of the population to 20 percent by 2030.

Rooney's Capitol Hill appearance exposed the scattershot public response to elder abuse. For the most part, prevention, investigation and resolution of abuse are the responsibility of state governments, though the federal government has taken a greater role since enactment of the Elder Justice Act last year.

Predictably, the federal response has been fragmented, with responsibilities divided among seven offices and agencies with unclear, underfinanced and sometimes overlapping duties. The Elder Justice Act provides $100 million for grants to state and local Adult Protective Service agencies, which spend more than $500 million a year to prevent, investigate and resolve elder abuse cases. These state agencies are the front lines, but they are swamped by the growing number and greater complexity of cases as more people live longer. Florida, for example, saw its caseload grow by 20 percent, to 51,539 incidents, from 2006 to 2008.

'I felt trapped, scared, used and frustrated. Above all, I felt helpless.' —Mickey Rooney

The states' responses are complicated by combined pressures of an expanding older population and severe budget deficits. As state lawmakers face a cumulative budget deficit of $130 billion this year, services for older people have been a frequent first slice for budget cutters.

The fact is, Rooney's most important audience was the people who know him best and love him most — us. Far too frequently, victims of elder abuse don't seek help until it's too late. They are too trusting, too proud or too embarrassed to simply call for help.

Even after the publicity his case received, it's difficult to imagine someone of Mickey Rooney's stature and experience being victimized. Yet there he was. "I know because it happened to me," he testified. "My money was taken and misused. I was told it was for my own good and that it was none of my business. I was literally left powerless."

Where to turn? New government agencies may help. But the more immediate need is for greater individual responsibility and self-awareness.

Rooney sensed as much. As he turned from the congressional committee, he nodded to the senators. But his final words were for the public audience: "Don't let it happen to you."

Jim Toedtman is editor and vice president of AARP Bulletin.

Please read complete article at link below:

http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-04-2011/elder-abuse.html

Editor's note: "Don't let it happen to you."  At this very moment, the Probate Court of Cook County is fleecing the elderly through, "Court Sanctioned Financial Abuse".  Spider like webs are in place on the 18th floor of the Daley Court House to snare the assets of the dead, dying and disabled. 

One disabled little girl, a ward of the Probate Court of Cook County, is finally getting the desperately needed care she is entitled to.  Her GALs, a father and daughter team are sabotaging the effort.  We sharks and sharkettes cannot decide whether it is greed or nastiness  or a combination of both that is motivating this GAL's law firm to prevent the application of this care. It is almost childlike behavior on the part if the GALs...if we can't get our way...she just won't get any care...Na! Na! Na!...  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

PROBATE LAW AND THE WARD'S RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY

PROBATE LAW AND THE WARD'S RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY




Here's the link to Probate Law: It may also be found in the index to the right of our ProbateSharks website:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=075500050HArt%2E+XIa&ActID=2104&ChapterID=60&SeqStart=14300000&SeqEnd=17600000

Here's the sections on the ward's right to an atty:

You have the following legal rights:

(1) You have the right to be present at the court
hearing.

(2) You have the right to be represented by a lawyer,
either one that you retain, or one appointed by the Judge.

(3) You have the right to ask for a jury of six
persons to hear your case.

(4) You have the right to present evidence to the
court and to confront and cross‑examine witnesses.

(5) You have the right to ask the Judge to appoint an
independent expert to examine you and give an opinion about your need for a guardian.

(6) You have the right to ask that the court hearing
be closed to the public.

(7) You have the right to tell the court whom you
prefer to have for your guardian.

You do not have to attend the court hearing if you do not want to be there. If you do not attend, the Judge may appoint a guardian if the Judge finds that a guardian would be of benefit to you. The hearing will not be postponed or canceled if you do not attend.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU ATTEND THE HEARING IF YOU DO NOT WANT A GUARDIAN OR IF YOU WANT SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE PERSON NAMED IN THE GUARDIANSHIP PETITION TO BE YOUR GUARDIAN. IF YOU DO NOT WANT A GUARDIAN OF IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PROBLEMS, YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY OR COME TO COURT AND TELL THE JUDGE.

Here's more on the rights of the ward:

You do not have to attend the court hearing if you do not want to be there. If you do not attend, the Judge may appoint a guardian if the Judge finds that a guardian would be of benefit to you. The hearing will not be postponed or canceled if you do not attend.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU ATTEND THE HEARING IF YOU DO NOT WANT A GUARDIAN OR IF YOU WANT SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE PERSON NAMED IN THE GUARDIANSHIP PETITION TO BE YOUR GUARDIAN. IF YOU DO NOT WANT A GUARDIAN OF IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PROBLEMS, YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY OR COME TO COURT AND TELL THE JUDGE.

Here's the section on the hearing, and the ward's right to an atty:

(755 ILCS 5/11a‑11) (from Ch. 110 1/2, par. 11a‑11)

Sec. 11a‑11. Hearing.

(a) The respondent is entitled to be represented by counsel, to demand a jury of 6 persons, to present evidence, and to confront and cross‑examine all witnesses. The hearing may be closed to the public on request of the respondent, the guardian ad litem, or appointed or other counsel for the respondent. Unless excused by the court upon a showing that the respondent refuses to be present or will suffer harm if required to attend, the respondent shall be present at the hearing.

(b) (Blank)

(c) Upon oral or written motion by the respondent or the guardian ad litem or on the court's own motion, the court shall appoint one or more independent experts to examine the respondent. Upon the filing with the court of a verified statement of services rendered by the expert or experts, the court shall determine a reasonable fee for the services performed. If the respondent is unable to pay the fee, the court may enter an order upon the petitioner to pay the entire fee or such amount as the respondent is unable to pay. However, in cases where the Office of State Guardian is the petitioner, consistent with Section 30 of the Guardianship and Advocacy Act, no expert services fees shall be assessed against the Office of the State Guardian.



Any statements by an attorney or judge which lead a ward or his/her family members to believe that the ward is not entitled to an attorney are false. These types of statements constitute Fraud on the Court.

Marie Long one step away from getting her wish

"Marie Long one step away from getting her wish"

courthousesteps
April 28, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Categories: Uncategorized
URL: http://wp.me/p1e3qW-2J

Marie Long one step away from getting her wish
- Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic published April 27, 2011

At long last, Marie Long is one simple signature away from getting her wish. Well, one of her wishes anyway.
Undoubtedly, she would wish to have some of her money back, the $821,000 sucked up by guardians and lawyers appointed to protect her from unscrupulous types who might come after an old lady's life savings.
Marie's attorneys, who for years have worked for free, are appealing her case. They hope to force Maricopa County's probate court to reconsider Commissioner Lindsay Ellis' decision that it was “reasonable” for Marie's so-called protectors to basically drain an estate once worth $1.3 million, leaving her penniless and dependent on taxpayers for support.
But Marie is 89. She can't wait forever to see justice. She knows that, which brings me to wish No. 2.
“I would like,” she told me last fall, “that this doesn't happen to anybody else.”
This week or next, Marie's wish could be granted, assuming Gov. Jan Brewer signs Senate Bill 1499 – and assuming the county's probate judges burn their well-worn rubber stamps and remember who it is that they are there to protect.
Credit the Arizona Legislature. In between birther bills and tea party license plates, when they weren't belatedly disclosing Fiesta Bowl junkets or lopping poor people off the state's health care rolls, our leaders did a really good thing last week.
They passed a probate bill aimed at better protecting vulnerable people and giving them a voice in what happens to them and their money. The vote was unanimous.

…Unanimous, to allow those under the protection of probate to see monthly bank statements rather than waiting more than a year -- or in the case of Marie, three years -- to find out how the people appointed to watch over their money have spent it.

…Unanimous, to make it easier for wards to rid themselves of fiduciaries they don't like. For years, fiduciaries have basically run the court and if you tried to fire them, they got to spend a good chunk of your money fending you off. The bill makes it clear that judges can – and should – remove a fiduciary if it's in a ward's best interest.

…Unanimous, to reinforce a recent appellate court ruling that says what should have been obvious all along – that fiduciaries and lawyers can't run up charges that do nothing to benefit the vulnerable person footing the bill.

That they can't raise their rates without first disclosing it, as the Sun Valley Group did when CEO Peter Frenette quietly boosted his pay by 26 percent, to $145 an hour, even as Marie's funds were running low. As attorney Scott Ferris did when he raised his rate by 18 percent to $325 an hour, without telling R.B. Sleeth, whose “protection” included 10 weeks locked away in an Alzheimer's unit -- never mind that he didn't have Alzheimer's.

…Unanimous, that judges must in all things consider the “best interest” of the protected person, as they were always supposed to do. Just in case judges forget that -- again, that is -- the soon-to-be new law repeats it 17 times.

The bill isn't perfect. Parts of it wouldn't be needed had probate commissioners acted like judges rather than friends of for-profit fiduciaries.

But SB 1499 is a good start on granting Marie's wish, that never again should an old lady be “protected” into the poorhouse while a judge does nothing to stop it and in fact actually approves it.

“This is a wake-up call,” said Marie's attorney Jon Kitchel. “If nothing else, it's a reminder to the judges that they need to be making decisions …in their (the ward's) best interest. I think that's a good thing.”
It is a good thing and I never thought I'd be saying this to the Arizona Legislature, but…
Thank you.

Editor's note: Roberts' sister, Arizona Court of Appeals Chief Judge Ann Timmer, chairs a committee to review probate-court practices. The Republic is disclosing the relationship to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest.

(Column published April 27, 2011, The Arizona Republic)
 
Editor's note:  Why can't we have laws like this to control the crooks in the corrupt Probate Court Of Cook County?  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Yesterday, Governor Brewer used her mighty pen to sign HB 2424, a key probate reform bill. The Bill, which will become law 90 days from April 20, passed unanimously just nine days ago.  This would really scare away the crooks on the 18th floor of the Daley Center.


  AZ HB 2424 establishes a landmark “Probate Advisory Panel."
 
 To read the engrossed version of the bill, click on link below. 

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/50leg/1r/bills/hb2424s.pdf

Ex-nursing home supervisor acquitted in deaths of 6 residents

Ex-nursing home supervisor acquitted in deaths of 6 residents


 Prosecutors failed to prove she had 'sinister' motives, judge says
By Amanda Marrazzo, Special to the Tribune
9:32 p.m. CDT, April 27, 2011

A nursing home supervisor accused of looking the other way while a co-worker allegedly dispensed overdoses of morphine has been cleared of all charges in the case.
Wednesday's acquittal of former Woodstock Residence supervisor Penny Whitlock for obstruction of justice — a day after the same judge dismissed criminal neglect charges against her — brought a swift end to a legal ordeal for Whitlock that dates to 2006, when state police began probing the deaths of six nursing home residents.
Whitlock, 62, showed no emotion as McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon rendered his not-guilty verdict, saying prosecutors failed to prove that she had "sinister" motives, tried to cover up evidence or even knew state police were investigating activities at the former nursing home.
The judge said he found nothing improper in Whitlock ordering the disposal of patient medication. He noted she documented what she had done — hardly the actions of someone trying to cover up wrongdoing.
In a statement read by her attorney after the verdict, Whitlock compared herself to McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi, who was cleared last month of unrelated conspiracy and official misconduct charges and said he would never forget what it was like to be falsely accused.
"What Bianchi doesn't know is what it is like losing your professional license to false accusations, what it is like losing your job to false accusations, what it is like losing your income to false accusations," Whitlock said in the statement.
Her attorney, Nils von Keudell, lamented the toll the case has taken on his client and her reputation in the three years since she was charged. He held up a supermarket tabloid story with Whitlock's mug shot under the headline "Angel of Death." That became the catchphrase of the trial after authorities said Whitlock used those words in reference to Marty Himebaugh, the nurse accused of overmedicating elderly and terminally ill patients with morphine.
After the verdict, Whitlock denied she ever made the "angel of death" statement.
Said her attorney: "The only angel that was here in this case was the angel of justice, whose wings were heard beating from Judge Condon's bench."
Prosecutors said they still intend to move forward with Himebaugh's trial this year. She is charged with criminal neglect and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.
Disappointed by the verdict, a relative of one patient who died at the nursing home said he hopes to see justice served in the pending civil lawsuits against the facility's operators, Whitlock and Himebaugh.
"The law is the law, and the judge made his decision," said Frank Lund, son-in-law of Virginia Cole, who died at the nursing home in 2006 and whose body was exhumed as part of the investigation. He and other relatives of Cole wore white ribbons in court Wednesday in her memory.
"Obviously, we're a little disappointed. We feel that we will prevail in a civil trial because (that) is a totally different burden of proof," Lund said.
An attorney for the Cole relatives, Steven Levin, said the testimony at the trial showed a systemic problem at the care facility.
"The nursing home should have been aware of the wrongdoing that was happening in the home," Levin said. "The saga is that administration would let this go on without doing anything."
Woodstock Residence has since closed. Another care facility that has opened at the same location, Crossroads Care Center, is owned and operated by a separate company.

Please read complete article at link below:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-nursing-home-deaths-20110427,0,463448.story

Lovera Staples' Children Sue Ridgeview Nursing Home

Lovera Staples' Children Sue Ridgeview Nursing Home


By Erline Aguiluz on April 25, 2011 12:15 PM

Chicago resident Mary Staples and two of her siblings have filed a lawsuit against Ridgeview Nursing Home in the city's North Side and accused the facility of negligence after it allegedly failed to inform them about their mother's death in May 2010.

The three family members claimed Ridgeview did not notify them about Lovera Staples' death until Mary called four months later to wish her mother a happy birthday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The family contends they had suffered emotional distress from the incident and seek over $50,000 in damages from the nursing home.

The suit, which was filed in Cook County Circuit Court, said Mary last visited Staples at Ridgeview on April 25, 2010. Two days later, her mother was admitted to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, and Mary came to see her again on April 29, 2010. The next day, a nursing employee notified Mary that Staples had returned to the facility after getting released from the hospital.

More than four months after Lovera Staples died, a Ridgeview employee told Mary no one by her mother’s name resided at the nursing home when she called to greet her mother on September 11, 2010. An administrator eventually notified Mary and her two brothers, Roy and Sylvester Staples, that their mother had passed away when the three came to the hospital two days after Mary’s phone call.

The siblings found out that the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office had kept Staples’ body since May. On September 14, 2010, they learned the Cook County Department of Health had buried their mother’s body without their consent and were told that Ridgeview Nursing Home had authorized Staples’ removal from the county morgue


Please read complete article below:

http://chicagopersonalinjurylegalblog.com/2011/04/lovera-staples-children-sue-ridgeview-nursing-home.html

Editor's note:  Kids; If the above article is correct, how come none of you called to check on Mom's condition and welfare in 4 months? The nursing home was sure neglectful in not calling in 4 months and should be punished... but still...  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Those under guardians get rights

Those under guardians get rights



Article by: JAMES ELI SHIFFER , Star Tribune
Updated: April 20, 2011 - 3:32 PM
The Legislature responded to cases of misconduct involving vulnerable people.

An estimated 22,000 Minnesotans live under the authority of court-appointed guardians and conservators, and about 3,000 new cases are added each year. Now those individuals, many of them suffering from mental illnesses or dementia, have new protections from misconduct on the part of those appointed to make decisions for them.

Motivated by stories about questionable behavior by guardians and conservators, the state Legislature voted overwhelmingly to strengthen oversight of what had been a virtually unregulated profession in Minnesota.

The law, which Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed Friday, creates a "bill of rights" for wards and protected persons, bolsters their ability to challenge decisions made on their behalf and requires guardians and conservators to register with the state courts starting in 2013.

The law stops short of requiring certification of people wanting to be guardians and conservators, a measure required in several other states. The original bill passed by the Senate included that requirement, but Sen. Mee Moua, the St. Paul DFLer who championed the guardianship reforms, said she agreed to take it out in order to reach a compromise.
The guardian bill was a victory for advocates for the mentally ill, disabled and seniors, as well as individuals who came to the Capitol with horror stories about a family member's treatment by a guardian or conservator.
Some of those families brought their stories to Whistleblower, and my report in February about the costly guardianship and conservatorship of Peggy Greer of Excelsior was cited by lawmakers and advocates as the kind of situation they hope greater oversight will prevent.
Under the new law, guardians and conservators will have to make themselves and their decisions more visible to the court and interested persons, while wards have an affirmation of their rights to exercise as much liberty as their situations allow.
"We really think it will create more transparency to actions by guardians and more opportunities for court oversight," said Patricia Siebert, an attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center.
"It's not going to solve every problem out there," said Rep. Paul Thissen, the Minneapolis DFLer who drove the bill in the House. "It does start down path of bringing more transparency and more eyes to the process."

Please read complete article at link below:
 
http://www.startribune.com/investigators/45881177.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Editor's note:  While in theory, the new law appears to create more transparency.  Would this law assist helpless wards in a corrupt environment such as the Probate Court of Cook County?  As long the the judges dispense "Greylord" type justice the answer is no. In a current case in the Probate Court of Cook County,  annuity checks, in excess of $15,000 were missing from from a disabled ward's estate. Why didn't the judge report this criminal activity to the Illinois State's Attorney.  Could it be because the court may be involved?  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Man, 81, beaten by relative; goat, horses removed from ‘squalid’ property

Man, 81, beaten by relative; goat, horses removed from ‘squalid’ property


 BY ROSEMARY SOBOL Staff Reporter rsobol@suntimes.com  Apr 23, 2011 10:56PM

Denise Thomas, 49, of the 20900 block of South Cottage Grove in Ford Heights has been charge with one count of domestic battery to a person over 60, repeatedly beating an elderly relative according to a sheriff's release.
Photo provided by Cook County Sheriff's Office
A south suburban woman living in “squalid’’ conditions with an 81-year-old relative was charged with repeatedly beating the elderly man with a stick, the Cook County Sheriff’s office said Saturday.
Officials also removed a sickly goat and three horses from their property, which had no running water, heat or electricity and was littered with animal feces.
Denise Thomas, 49, of Ford Heights, has been charged with one count of misdemeanor domestic battery to a person over 60, the sheriff said in a written statement.
A friend of the elderly victim tipped police to the situation.
On April 15, Cook County Sheriff’s Police patrol went to the home on the 20900 block of South Cottage Grove, and found “squalid conditions, with animal feces, urine, trash and clothing covering the living areas, kitchen and bedroom,’’ the statement said.
There was no water or heat and the food in the refrigerator spoiled because there was no electricity, the statement said.
The victim told police that the day before, after returning from a trip to the store with Thomas, she accused him of talking too much.
He said Thomas — whose specific relation to the victim was not released — starting hitting him in the back with a stick as he attempted to get out of her car, officials said.
On Thursday, investigators with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Animal Crimes Unit and Cook County Code Enforcement returned to the victim’s 13-acre property, where he also keeps livestock.
The investigators found none of the animals had food or water, and they were housed in “filthy’’ stalls, the sheriff said.
Officers removed an unhealthy goat, a pregnant mare suffering from edema, a mare bloated as a result of parasites, and her newborn foal, the sheriff said.
 
Please read complete article at link below:
 
http://www.suntimes.com/4988468-417/man-81-beaten-by-relative-goat-horses-removed-from-squalid-property.html
 
Editor's note:  Probate Sharks will be following this case very closely. If the circumstances described in the Sun-Times article are accurate, the 81 year old victim is obviously in need of much assistance and intervention.  The fact the elderly gentleman owns property, places him in a position whereby he may be victimized a second time, by the predatory vultures from the probate court system or the public guardian. The question remains; who will get to his estate first, a bunch of relatives, uncaring mean rotten bastards, who would beat up an old man and let him languish in filth, or the greedy lawyers and judges in the Probate Court of Cook County?  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

NY man charged with strangling 88-year-old mother

Apr 22, 4:24 PM EDT

NY man charged with strangling 88-year-old mother
By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press
US Video

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) -- A man who neighbors say spent many years caring for his elderly mother strangled the 88-year-old woman with a necktie in their home, then attempted to commit suicide several hours later before calling 911, police said Friday. Authorities also said he had secretly spent much of her money during that time.

James Olsen, 56, was ordered held without bail on a murder charge during a bedside arraignment at the Nassau University Medical Center, said a spokeswoman for District Attorney Kathleen Rice. He did not enter a plea.
Olsen, who was hospitalized for self-inflicted slash wounds to his wrist, was represented by a lawyer from Legal Aid, which has a policy of not commenting on pending cases. His next court appearance is Tuesday.
His mother, Ruth Olsen, was found dead inside the Garden City home she shared with her son when he called 911 shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday. Detective Lt. John Azzata, commander of the Nassau County homicide squad, said it appeared she had been strangled earlier that same day. An estimate on the time of death was expected after a medical examiner's autopsy, he said.
Police said a preliminary investigation revealed the son, who is unemployed, had emptied much of his mother's bank account over the years. Azzata said it was not apparent that the woman knew of the financial situation; neighbors said it appeared she had been ill in recent years.
"We do not believe that mom was aware of this dollar loss," Azzata said, adding that investigators had yet to determine the amount involved. "We believe he was conflicted over the amount of money he was spending and didn't want mom to know."
Police said Olsen had two prior arrests for drunken driving, once in 1998 and a second time in 2005.
Neighbors in the tony Long Island community, where nearly every lawn is professionally landscaped, said they would occasionally see Olsen walking with his mother around the neighborhood, but those sightings had become rare in recent years.
Sarah Ewing, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1946, said she used to babysit for the younger Olsen and his two siblings. She said it appeared he was Ruth Olsen's sole caretaker; no nurses were ever seen coming or going from the two-story brick house.
"I think that upset him because he was taking care of her," Ewing said. "He was the sole one taking care of her and I mean that's very upsetting." She described James Olsen as "a very cheerful, nice person; he would always say hello to me."
Ewing's daughter, Margo Almeida, recalled seeing Olsen at a block party several years ago.
"All I know is he really loved his mother, and he really took care of her," Almeida said. "Maybe he just broke down after a while."

Please read complete article at link below:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_STRANGULATION_DEATH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

TX Senate Passes Protections for Wards in Guardianship

TX Senate Passes Protections for Wards in Guardianship


From staff reports

Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 1:29 PM CDT

The Texas Senate today passed Senate Bill 220, legislation authored by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) to increase protections of wards in guardianship and make it easier for families to navigate the guardianship system. The bill now goes to the House.

"Reforms in this bill will protect the civil liberties of persons who come under the state guardianship system. They also will help family members understand and follow the process," Nelson said.

Senate Bill 220:
· clarifies that wards and proposed wards may hire an attorney as long as they have capacity to contract;
· requires courts to inform family members of their right to be notified of all actions relating to a guardianship;
· clarifies that when a guardian is removed, family members can apply to serve as the ward's guardian;
. encourages the use of volunteers to assist with the state's Guardianship Services Program; and
· directs the agencies involved with this program to streamline their guardianship procedures

Please read complete article at link below:

http://www.flowermoundleader.com/articles/2011/04/21/flower_mound_leader/news/381.txt

Editor's note: Your Probate Shark will reserve judgement on Senate Bill 220.  Hopefully Texas can have more control over possible excesses than we have with our Illinois criminal element running the Probate Court of Cook County.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Why do 3 supporters own Obama's home?

Why do 3 supporters own Obama's home?

Listed as property tax payers for family's Chicago mansion


Please read complete articles at links below

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=289501

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83760

Editor's note:  To understand how "Clout" and corruption operate in Chicago, one must understand its origins and underpinnings. View these links and you will understand how the Probate Court of Cook County remains unscathed by the FEDS and continues to dispense its "Greylord" type of justice.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

"...Sykes is a poster board case..."

"...Sykes is a poster board case..."

Law Offices
KENNETH DITKOWSKY
5940 W TOUHY AVE
NILES, ILLINOIS,60714
Telephone 847 600 3421
Fax 847 600 3425

April 22, 2011

Mr., Randy Wilson, Assistant Director
US Department of Justice
Washington DC 20530

Re: Letter of April 18, 2011

Dear Mr. Wilson:

The purpose of my letter apparently has been misinterpreted. I am not seeking legal advice, but I am seeking that the United States of America investigate another Greylord type of case that is pending in the Circuit Court Cook County, Illinois.

As I pointed out in my March 30, 2011 letter that the Government Accounting Office and investigators across the United States have ascertained that the Courts of various States are aiding and abetting the theft (Financial Exploitation) of the assets of seniors. Various web-sites disclose details on dozens of cases in which the aggrieved citizens have become frustrated by law enforcement unwillingness to address these issues. One of the web-sites is “Probate Sharks.”

All that said, a civil lawsuit will go nowhere. The ‘probate exception’ to 42 USCA 1983 will thwart attorneys from taking these cases, and even meritless FRCP 11 motions are expensive and discouraging. Thus, even though Congress has enacted legislation such as the Elder Justice Act form is being thwarted by substance. In the State proceedings the allegations that a judicial appointee (such as a guardian ad litem) or a Judge did a miscreant act are going to viewed like a ‘skunk in the living room.’ When the United States of America brought the ‘greylord’ indictments the legal community was hostile to the Federal prosecutors in word at least! Imagine, a private attorney bringing a lawsuit in which he claimed that the ‘chief judge of the Chancery Division’ took a bribe of two hundred dollars! It would have been professional suicide!

However, as this elder abuse is reaching unacceptable proportions ( 1 in 7 – see article attached) only the United States Justice Department has the ability to address this matter. In the Sykes case family members have reported that Mary Sykes had a safety deposit box in which there was a large quantity of gold coins and other valuables. In addition a cache of cash was kept in a mattress. None of these items were inventoried and the two guardian ad litem defend the actions of the plenary guardian as if she had Devine powers. This very same plenary guardian during this recession did expensive remodeling on her home – even though her husband was unemployed! They act as her advocates rather than advocates of the alleged disabled person.

Unfortunately Sykes is not unique – however, Sykes is a poster board case as it has all the elements. The probate exception does not apply when the United States of America is the moving party and does not apply to the continuing investigation of official corruption in the State of Illinois. In addition, if a fiduciary misappropriates funds or property of his/her ward that creates a taxable event. The conservative estimates of the value of the Sykes estate that has not been inventoried is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Ditkowsky

Cc: Gloria Sykes, Bev Cooper, United States Senator Mark Kirk.

Enclosure: “Curtain Call” April 2011, AARP magazine.

Ken Ditkowsky
http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/


Editor's note: A few lines dedicated to the "Sykes" victims...BEWARE...


"A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,...
...

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Her flashing eyes, her floating hair!
Weave a circle round her thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For she on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise."

When old age isn't golden - An international conspiracy!

When old age isn't golden - An international conspiracy! 


1. Jerusalem Post - Jerusalem

Author: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

Date: Feb 7, 2010

Sarah Halperin, a Jerusalem Municipality social worker who focuses on the treatment, intervention and prevention of elder abuse, said that from her experience, many old people talk about their fears of being preyed upon when they go to cash their National Insurance Institute old-age pension, worried that someone will pounce on them to take it. She added that there are cases of bank accounts and other property being taken over by relatives. Grown children may threaten to disconnect their parents from beloved grandchildren unless they sign over property. They may denigrate them by saying they have "one foot in the grave" or treating the old person like a child and calling him or her "sweetie."

 "Elder abuse occurs in every community and culture. It can be active or passive neglect, such as making sure the refrigerator is almost empty," said Halperin. She presented a heartrending, 30-minute, Hebrew film made by Yohanan Veller about a serious but fictional case of elder abuse that begins happily. A widow lives alone in her apartment, is physically and socially active, friendly with neighbors, able to take care of herself and her devoted dog. She hosts her single daughter for Shabbat meals, is able to shop for food and cook. Her refrigerator is full. Her son, however, almost never comes to visit, as he is always "busy" and full of excuses about having to care for his own family.

[Sara Alon] notes that since 1989, a series of laws has been passed aimed at protecting the elderly from abuse; professionals in the field are required to know their details so they can intervene more effectively. A 2005 Israeli national survey of a representative sample of old people living alone showed that 18.4% admitted suffering some kind of abuse or neglect during the previous year. "Although the extent of the problem is worrisome," she writes, "we witness difficulties in exposing it."

Editor's note: How this statement resounds from the halls of the 18th floor of the Daley Center in the corrupt Probate Court of Cook County, IL.      "we witness difficulties in exposing it."

Ex-Chicago cop convicted of swindling elderly man with Alzheimer's disease

Ex-Chicago cop convicted of swindling elderly man

Please note: Comments in red are those of editor Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com.


A former veteran Chicago police officer was convicted Thursday of swindling an elderly man with Alzheimer's disease out of his $1 million estate more than 10 years ago, AG Madigan, why did it take 12 years to convict this ex-cop? I'm sure the relatives were screaming bloody murder! authorities said.

Donald Owsley, 63, was found guilty of financial exploitation of the elderly and forgery following a weeklong bench trial before Cook County Criminal Court Judge Timothy Joyce. The judge acquitted him of official misconduct. Why was this ex-cop aquitted?
Owsley, a veteran of more than 30 years with the department, faces a sentence ranging from probation to 15 years in prison, said a state's attorney's office spokesman. Want to bet he never spends a day in jail.
Authorities alleged that in 1999 Owsley met Theodore Hoellen, then in his 80s, after a neighbor contacted police with concerns about Hoellen's mental state. Hoellen is now deceased.
Authorities contended that over time Owsley persuaded Hoellen to sign over his Northwest Side residence as well as investment accounts worth a combined $1 million.
Owsley was charged criminally in late 2004 hours after a Cook County judge, ruling in a civil lawsuit filed by the Cook County public guardian's office, found that the officer had swindled Hoellen out of his estate. Why is it necessary to to file a civil suit in order to have criminal charge brought?
The public guardian alleged at the time Why wasn't he charged for those crimes? Was the Probate Court of Cook County involved in any of those crimes? that Owsley attempted the same scheme on three other elderly victims, but he was charged criminally in only the Hoellen case.
In an email, Hoellen's nephew John Hoellen said the family was pleased that Owsley was finally "being held accountable for his abuse of the public trust."
"This could have been anyone's elderly relative," he said.  The public trust is abused every day in the corrupt Probate Court of Cook County.
Attorney Jed Stone, who defended Owsley at the bench trial, insisted his client and Hoellen had a special father-son relationship and that Hoellen had told others he didn't want his family to share in his inheritance. Jed, is that the best you can do?
Owsley resigned from the department after he was criminally charged in 2004.

Please read complete article at link below:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-cop-bilked-elderly-20110421,0,780714.story

Editor's note:  Your ProbateShark is amazed that Officer Owsley is criminally charged for robbing a disabled person of a million dollars, thus denying the legitimate family heirs of their inheritance. The Probate Court of Cook County is also converting the estates of the elderly into the the pockets of greedy lawyers and judges, thus denying the legitimate family heirs of their inheritance.  Why isn't the Illinois Attorney General or the State's Attorneys Office charging the corrupt Probate Court of Cook County similarly?  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Series on probate court wins reporting award

Series on probate court wins reporting award


Staff report

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Doug Pardue, The Post and Courier's watchdog and special-assignments editor, has won the 2010 Taylor/Tomlin Award for investigative reporting for a series he wrote last year on how the probate court system can victimize vulnerable adults.

The series, "The Price of Living," revealed how the probate court, which is supposed to protect the incapacitated elderly from abuse and financial exploitation, can turn against them. The stories, which ran on Nov. 28 and 29, detailed how the court can empty an elderly person's life savings through court-approved fees for lawyers, guardians and conservators.

A week after the newspaper's series ran, Jean Toal, the chief justice of the S.C. Supreme Court, which oversees the state's courts, characterized the reporting as "thoughtful and powerful."

She said the newspaper's "excellent research has given me much to ponder. I will be taking action to move this issue forward." Toal has not revealed what that action will be.

While the series was being reported, the Charleston County Probate Court also began limiting fees.

The Taylor/Tomlin judges called the series "a classic example of excellent investigative reporting by a reporter who used all of the tools of his trade -- energy, doggedness, documents and personal contacts -- to shed light on the plight of elderly citizens in the probate court system."

The judges said the series also accomplished two important criteria for the award -- it heightened public awareness and performed a public service by causing beneficial change.

The award was presented Wednesday during a ceremony at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication, which administers the news competition.

Please read complete article at links below:

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/apr/14/series-on-probate-court-wins-reporting-award/

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/nov/29/special-report-the-price-of-livinghow-can-courts/

Alzheimer's Association

The good news is that death rates for many major diseases - HIV, stroke, heart disease, prostate cancer, and breast cancer - are declining. Sadly, we can't yet say the same about Alzheimer's. This year, the first of the Boomer Generation turns 65. To bring urgently-needed attention to the risk facing the Boomers, Alzheimer's Association recently released a groundbreaking study Generation Alzheimer's: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers. Please view link below:


http://alz-news.org/
 
Editor's note:  Alzheimer's Association is  great organization that supports individuals and families fighting this terrible disease affliction.  Your Probate Shark's father-in-law died as a result of Alzheimer's Disease.  We watched him go from a dynamic sportsman to a needy childlike state in a very short period of time.  Please support Alzheimer's Association at the link above.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Nursing boss allegedly turned blind eye to ‘Angel of Death’

Nursing boss allegedly turned blind eye to ‘Angel of Death’



Warned that a nurse was giving excessive doses of morphine to patients, Penny Whitlock took no action — except to dub her employee the “Angel of Death,” McHenry County prosecutors said Tuesday.

Despite being nursing director, Whitlock never tried to stop Marty Himebaugh from allegedly overmedicating patients at a Woodstock nursing home, including at least one who died from a morphine overdose, prosecutors contended.

“She did nothing,” prosecutor Philip Hiscock said of Whitlock as her trial opened, claiming she showed “cold, callous, indifference to her patients.”

Whitlock, 62, was charged with criminal neglect and obstruction of justice following a lengthy investigation into six suspicious deaths in 2006 at the Woodstock Residence nursing center in the far northwest suburb. The bodies of three nursing home patients who died there during that time were later exhumed as part of the 15-month probe into the deaths.

Himebaugh, 60, still is awaiting trial on charges of criminal neglect and improperly dispensing morphine.

Neither woman was charged in the deaths of any patients at the 115-bed nursing home, though Hiscock told jurors medical tests show at least one of the patients there died of morphine intoxication.

Whitlock allowed Himebaugh to give hefty doses of the powerful narcotic to control or even hasten the deaths of troublesome patients, authorities have alleged.

Nurse Lori McConnell testified she became concerned when she found a bottle of morphine “almost empty” after 78-year-old Virgina Cole died abruptly at the nursing home in September 2006.

“There was a substantial amount gone and a lot had been given to the patient,” McConnell said, recounting how she and several other nurses concerned that “inappropriate doses” were being given had marked the morphine bottles to more accurately gauge how much was being used.

After Cole’s death, McConnell said she called Whitlock to voice her suspicions.

“Nothing was done,” McConnell testified.

Nurse Eleanore LaRocco testified that hours before patient Jean Hannah died on April 8, 2006, she saw Himebaugh come out of Hannah’s room carrying a morphine bottle.

LaRocco and another nurse, along with Whitlock and Himebaugh, were later discussing the death when Whitlock made a stunning remark to Himebaugh, LaRocco testified.

“Penny said, ‘I don’t care if you play Angel of Death, just don’t let me know about it,’” LaRocco said.

Whitlock’s attorney denied that she ever acted improperly or neglected patients.

“How does someone who’s cold and callous get to be promoted to director of nursing?” defense attorney Nils von Keudell said, dismissing the charges against her as “rumor, circumstance, hearsay and innuendo.”

If convicted, Whitlock faces up to three years in prison.

Please read complete article at link below:

http://www.suntimes.com/4918351-417/nursing-boss-allegedly-turned-blind-eye-to-angel-of-death.html

Editor's note:  I wish our Cook County Prosecutors where as "on the ball" as the McHenry County Prosecutors.  We have a case in Cook County where an aged aunt was kidnapped by her nephew from her Chicago lake front apartment, placed in a nursing home, had her teeth pulled, was sedated and died 7 days after admission to the nursing home. No autopsy was allowed by the nephew. The aunt was in good health prior to admission to nursing home.  While aunty was drugged up, the nephew brought in an attorney and "witnesses" and had the aunt's will changed to exclude the other 13 nephews and nieces and have him as the sole beneficiary of her 12 million dollar estate.  This case is presently in the Probate Court of Cook County.  Why isn't the Cook County State's Attorney prosecuting this case for MURDER!????  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Elder Abuse: America's Worst Son?

Elder Abuse: America's Worst Son?

Could a California Investment Banker named Leroy Newton be America's Worst Son? That's the question in the case of Erna Boldt of Sandy, Oregon. She raised her son Leroy, put him through college, and then experienced the ultimate betrayal as he and his lawyer harnessed a court's incompetence to seize her money, home, stocks and other assets. Not possible? It happened in Oregon, and Clackamas County officials told Erna they don't have the manpower to investigate the crime.


Please view video at link below:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orl_ENo2uwo
 
 
Editor's note:  America's Worst Son? - You be the judge!

Interview with the Children's Administration and the Probate Court hearing

Interview with the Children's Administration and the Probate Court.

Please view video at link below:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9IEHcHdR6Q&feature=related

This sure sound like a source  the Probate Court of Cook County uses to develop their policies.  Just change the word children to disabled, dead, dying and aged and the shoe fits.
****************************************
One of our research sharks found this gem on the NASGA blog. We believe video accurately reflects the mischief taking place in the Probate Court of Cook County and other courts throughout the nation. Please view the video at link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vG_Dmtf9Gs

Normandy nursing home is target of inquiry

Normandy nursing home is target of inquiry


An agency in Missouri that is commissioned by the federal government to protect the disabled is investigating allegations of abuse and neglect involving a 37-year-old Normandy Nursing Center resident.
Shawn de Loyola, executive director of Missouri Protection & Advocacy Services, confirmed that the organization is investigating allegations of abuse and neglect regarding the nursing home and the resident's court-appointed guardian.
The resident's sister, Crystal Miller of Big Rock, Tenn., said she contacted the agency after her brother John Patrick Maloney was brought by ambulance Sunday to St. Mary's Health Center dehydrated, malnourished and in respiratory and renal failure.
Miller, a nurse in Tennessee, said her brother's ventilator was nearly turned off Monday due to instructions relayed from his guardian that he not be resuscitated or intubated. But she said a St. Mary's physician intervened at the family's request.
A hospital spokesman said Thursday that Maloney was in critical condition when he arrived and that his condition had since been upgraded to serious.
The doctor Miller credits with intervening to keep Maloney alive, Dr. Stephen Osmon, could not comment due to patient-privacy laws, the spokesman said.
Maloney's guardian, Cape Girardeau Public Administrator Phyllis Schwab, did not return calls. Her attorney, Chris Weiss, said he could not comment on the matter or any details about the guardianship.
"We think she does a fine job in representing her wards," Weiss said. "She works hard to try to keep their best interest in everything she does."
Miller said that hasn't been the case with her brother. She said she's furious over his treatment at Normandy Nursing Center and with the guardian's failure to identify problems there.
"This man was in 24-hour nursing care, and he was not taken care of," Miller said.
She said her brother, who is epileptic and developmentally disabled, looks as if he has lost nearly 100 pounds in the three years he has been in the Normandy home. One of his big toes is blackened with infection and appears to not have been treated, she said.
Miller said she hasn't been allowed to visit her brother at the home due to a major family rift. She said her mother is deceased. Her father, now a prisoner in Tennessee, made her brother a ward of the state without letting anyone else in the family know.
"This is the first time I have been allowed to see him in two years," she said.
Kerry Kaufmann, Normandy Nursing Center's chief administrator, said Thursday that the home — a secure skilled-nursing center at 7301 St. Charles Rock Road — had done nothing wrong.
"The resident is very sick, but he's been very sick for a long time, and if the family actually saw him and had interaction with him, they would know more about him," Kaufmann said. "This is a family that has not seen the resident in over a year. There is a public administrator for a reason."
Kaufmann said the guardian, Schwab, came to see Maloney monthly or every other month and that she was "very involved" with his care.
Miller disputed that. She said nursing home employees have said Schwab does not visit. She added that relatives in the St. Louis area had visited Maloney several times and expressed concern over his living conditions.
Miller said she and a handful of Maloney's relatives have a meeting with a Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services investigator today.
The center has been investigated before. In 2009, a 46-year-old mentally ill resident, William Christopher Jones, was found to have died from a morphine overdose despite the fact he wasn't prescribed the drug, or any other opiate, and was not known to seek out drugs.
Normandy police and county and state officials investigated the death and looked into a second incident two months later involving another mentally ill resident found to have opiates in her system. But how Jones ended up with a fatal amount of morphine in his body remains a mystery.
The federal website — medicare.gov — gives the nursing home a two-star rating, meaning "below average." Medicare uses a five-star scale to rate homes and takes into account inspections, staffing and quality measures.

Read complete article at link below:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/364fa938-69d9-53d7-8fb5-6cd15fa3b3c2.html
 
Editor's note: It appears that the Cook County Probate Court does not have the exclusive tactic of preventing family members from seeing loved ones with the almost fatal results in the above article.  It appears that these court vermin have a master manual or syllabus used nationwide.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

IS A TEA PARTY FORMING IN CUBA?

Cuban leader proposes term limits ( IS A TEA PARTY FORMING IN CUBA?)


Raul Castro says politicians and other officials, including himself, should be restricted to two, five-year terms.

Last Modified: 16 Apr 2011 22:29

Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman reports on the major reforms proposed by President Raul Castro at the congress [EPA]

Raul Castro, the Cuban president, has proposed term limits for Cuban politicians -- including himself -- a remarkable gesture on an island ruled for 52 years by him and his brother.

Castro said politicians and other important officials should be restricted to two, five-year terms, including "the current president of the Council of State and his ministers" -- a reference to himself.

The proposal was made on Saturday at the opening of the congress where delegates are meeting to ratify sweeping economic reforms proposed last year.

The 79-year-old president lamented the lack of young leaders in government, saying the country was paying the price for errors made in the past.

Castro told delegates attending a crucial Communist Party summit that he would launch a "systematic rejuvenation" of the government.

The proposal was made at the latter stage of a two-and-a-half hour speech in which the Cuban leader forcefully backed a laundry list of economic changes to the country's socialist system, including the eventual elimination of the ration book and other subsidies, the decentralisation of the economy and a new reliance on supply and demand in some sectors.

Economic woes

Castro said that economic changes would not allow the accumulation of private property.

He said some proposals along those lines had been rejected for being "in contradiction with the essence of socialism".

Al Jazeera's Latin America editor Lucia Newman said this was undoubtedly the most important Cuban Communist Party congress in decades.

"In fact, 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba is now attempting to decentralise its Soviet-style economy while maintaining a one-party state. This very, very significant.

"President Raul Castro made it very, very clear that the days of the Cuban state providing from cradle-to-grave are over and that Cubans have to decentralise or 'we will go over the precipice'.

"He also said that no Cuban will be left destitute but that subsidies and others will only be earmarked for the most needy."

The 1,000 delegates will, over four days, vote on economic reforms proposed by Castro and officially relieve

Fidel Castro, Raul's brother and former president, as party leader.

The congress will elect a new 100-member Central Committee, as well as the more elite 19-member Politburo and 10-member Secretariat.

The government has said the congress will formally enshrine many economic reforms the government has adopted over the past year.

Reforms

Reforms are desperately awaited in a country where the average salary is $17 a month, domestic food production is a problem and corruption widespread.

Among the moves put on track in 2010: eliminating 20 per cent of state employees.

To help pick up slack on the unemployment front, Havana is expanding the categories of legal self-employment, decentralising the food distribution system, expanding allowable areas of foreign investment, slashing subsidies and imposing a tax system.

"Let's see what comes out of all this. It is unbelievable that this country does not produce what it eats," said Ana Rosa Rodriguez a 28-year-old worker in Havana.

"Raul is trying to improve the economy and he's started to approve some steps, but you don't see results yet."

Please read complete article at link below:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/04/201141621331753822.html

Editor’s note: If a dictatorship such as Cuba can institute sweeping reforms, why can’t Illinois' dictatorship reform the corrupt Probate Court of Cook County? " Yes, even in the worker's paradise..."and corruption widespread."     The the greedy lawyers habitating the Probate Court of Cook County who craft OBRA  trust accounts to line their pockets would agree with Fidel's statement,  "would not allow the accumulation of private property"    Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com


 

The Interdiction Case from Louisiana, The Response

The Interdiction Case from Louisiana, The Response


Louisiana Belle,

I understand your frustration as well as the frustration of all the persons who are similarly situated.

Corruption in any form is intolerable, however, there are good people out there who are repulsed by court approved corruption. There appear to be many people similarly situated to Gloria Sykes. If each of the aggrieved writes to their Congressional representatives and everyone else in sight the political elite will have to take notice - each senator and each representative is going to grow old and he/she might be a victim of this miscreant behavior. (Mickey Rooney was!)

Ken Ditkowsky

http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/

********************************************************

To: Ken@DitkowskyLawOffice.com

Sent: Sat, April 16, 2011 7:36:41 PM

Subject: The Interdiction Case from Louisiana

Dear Mr. Ditkowsky, Thank you for your advice. However, I did file complaints with the Louisiana Judiciary Commission and the Louisiana Board of Attorney Ethics. In Louisiana Judicial complaints have to be filed with the Office of Special Counsel who decides if the complaint will be investigated. The Special Counsel would not investigate and their reason was that the allegations in the complaint did not constitute any violations of the Code of Ethics. Although 1) he appointed a close personal friend as the curatrix, 2) his judgments were obviously biased, 3) he abused or misused his discretionary power, 4) and my right to due process was violated. These are just 4 violations that I could identify as a layperson; there may have been others in my 80 page complaint report and 4 inch binder of supporting documents. The Louisiana Board of Attorney Ethics never responded to the complaints I filed with them. My family, friends and I have been fighting this injustice but during the interdiction the judge denied every motion we set before him and would not let me present 'new' evidence that I did not fit the criteria for interdiction. This judge forced my family to appeal everything successfully depleting their resources. He attempted to talk my family out of trying to get the interdiction terminated and would NOT remove the curatrix and replace her with a family member. The petitioning attorney filed suit against my sister and she was threatened with jail is she didn’t stop interfering. The law clearly states that an interdiction cannot be modified, extended, or changed in any way without proper motion and a full evidentiary hearing. But the judge signed an Ex-Parte Order for the curatrix allowing her to maintain authority past the termination date of the interdiction. Then a month after the termination date this judge re-interdicted me at a status conference. I wasn't even in the courthouse much less at the status conference. When the attorneys representing my family and I questioned him about the missing proper motion and full evidentiary hearing, this judge told them that he didn't interpret this law to mean that he couldn't interdict me again. As far as the curatrix's bond, it is $2,500 and has to be renewed annually. The curatrix's bond expired the day after she got the judge to sign the Ex-Parte Order to extend her authority and I do not think that she ever renewed her bond. This judge is very well known and politically connected and I cannot find an attorney that will risk his career for me. The same goes for the curatrix because her husband is a city councilman and lifelong best friend of the judge. I was warned NOT to try and do anything that would undo any of the judgments as the judge might interdict me again. I filed a complaint with the FBI and they threw it away. When I asked the FBI what I would have to do to get them to investigate they told me that they would not listen to me unless I had an attorney willing to file a complaint for me. I have contacted every office in the chain of command only to be informed that they could not help me. I tried to get the Office of the Aging and Disabled to investigate the curatrix. They said that they were going to get the full accounting with my financial records (which the curatrix consistently refuses to provide.) (The judge also signed an order whereby the curatrix does not have to provide my financial records.) The Office of the Aging and Disabled did not get these financial records and told me that since the judge approved her petitions and invoices that my allegations were unsubstantiated. Next I am writing U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter. I do not thing they can or will do anything because this judge is very politically connected as was his father. I am also trying to put a letter together to send to the investigative reporters in the area but I doubt this will go anywhere either. I am only one voice with no credibility. With the interdiction petition, I became invisible as my credibility was instantly destroyed never to be regained. I have been fighting but the force I'm fighting is behind every door I open. The curatrix is not concerned in the least because she knows that she is protected. She didn't even bother to fulfill her legal obligation to turn over my accounts and I have been working since the termination to get my accounts and disability income back in my name. They know I can't do anything to them or get any justice and that I am just spinning my wheels. Even if I could find an attorney to sue the curatrix, the case would just end up in front of the same judge.

I apologize for the tedious rendition of a few of the facts; but I wanted you to know that I didn't just give up and that I have been fighting although it has been futile. I couldn't give up before I exhausted every resource.

Thank you again for responding to my blog comment. And thank you for being the one in a million.

With warmest regards,
 
Louisiana Belle
 
Editor's Note: Yes, Louisiana Belle, Ken Ditkowsky is a one in a million.  In this age of corrupt legal  garbage, a Ken Ditkowsky, Attorney at Law, an honest man of complete integrity, is indeed refreshing. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Madigan letters offer glimpse of clout in Cook County judge selection

chicagotribune.com


Madigan letters offer glimpse of clout in Cook County judge selection

House Speaker Michael Madigan and other politicians often weigh in on the selection of Cook County associate judges — a process supposed to be free of political influence.

By Jeff Coen and Todd Lighty, Tribune reporters

11:20 PM CDT, April 15, 2011

The letters from Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan are short and to the point.

"Dear Judge," begins one, written on Madigan's General Assembly stationery. "I believe that these people would be excellent members of the judiciary."

Tucked into the letter to Cook County's Circuit Court judges are the names of a handful of lawyers, blessed by Madigan to fill judicial openings.

Madigan's letters provide a glimpse of his influence in what passes for merit selection of associate judges, who are chosen by the county's 275 circuit judges.

Many of those full circuit judges were publicly elected with the help of the Democratic Party that Madigan controls — and the judicial slating committee run by Ald. Edward Burke, 14th. While the party wields overt power in those elections, the process of picking associate judges is touted as a way for talented lawyers to make the bench without bowing to political bosses or wooing uninformed and uninterested voters

Please read complete article at link below:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-judges-madigan-take2-20110415,0,4162119.story?page=3&track=rss

Editor's note:  Your ProbateShark would sound sarchastic if he stated that he was "shocked" by the very innuendo of impropriety of "clout" being applied in the selection of judges in Cook County.  The Cook County Court system has been long reputed to be a "criminal activity".  What astounds ProbateShark is that Mr. Coen would even print an incipient article, soft peddling this clout as an every day occurrence that has no effect on the citizens.  Msrs. Coen and Lighty, spend some time on the 18th floor of the Daley center and watch families and helpless disabled wards being destroyed by the bunch of crooks inhabiting the Probate Court of Cook County.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

The Whores of Justice, A Response

Thank you for sending me a copy of the letter. My response is as follows:


Every morning when we get up in the morning we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask the question do I like the person that I have become. Part of liking the person I am is to stand up for your rights.

A conservator or other person who assumes the duties of a guardian is a fiduciary. A fiduciary owes the highest degree of loyality to his/her ward as a matter of law. It may not be politically correct to complain concerning Court appointed fiduciaries, and it may be expensive - BUT it must be done if they in fact committed some wrongdoing. The fiduciary who steals or misapplies a dime creates a taxable event. Thus, if your assets were indeed misused you have a bunch of remedies:

1) the fiduciary to assume his/her appointment must put up a bond. This bond reimburses the Estate (you) for any misdeeds.

2) a fiduciary who is negligent or intentionally miscreant also has liability and any personal profit is presumed to be wrongful. Thus, a fiduciary can be sued in State Court for his/her negligence or wrongful act. A constructive trust then can be imposed upon the assets for the benefit of the Estate (you). Most states charge the attorney fees to the wrongdoing fiduciary. (Check with your State Bar association - they are very nice people and may be able to direct you to an attorney who would be willing to address the wrong that you have suffered).

3) If all else fails Mr. Obama needs the tax money - and each dime misused and/or mis-spent is ordinary income to the miscreant fiduciary. ergo, the errant fiduciary should be paying substantial income taxes (and penalties and interest) on the funds he/she misapplied.

It has been said that the reason that the ten commandments were removed from the Court house is that their presence created a hostile work environment for the lawyers and judges. The ten commandments were not removed for that reason and Civil Rights is not a 'game' it is serious business. We have laws in the United States and if we do not exercise them and do not take advantage of them we lose them. The Justice Department has a Civil Rights Division - become pen-pals with them. The Congress has committees on aging - become pen-pals with them. Do not accept an injustice as a 'given!' There are attorneys out there who believe that parens patrie is not a code word for screw the lame, the sick, the elderly etc. The league of Women Voters published a statement "democracy is not a spectator sport."

Gloria Sykes is fighting back! She filed complaints against the attorneys with the Illinois Supreme Court's Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission. She filed complaints with the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board. She has written to her Federal Representatives and Senators. Yes, so far the response has been silence and inaction. I guess that is not entirely accurate - the Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission is investigating me! I had the temerity to do a bit of investigation of the Sykes case. HOWEVER IF ENOUGH VICTIMS OF THIS TERRIBLE SCANDAL WRITE AND FILE COMPLAINTS THE VICTIMS WILL BE HEARD! At the very least the United States Department of the Treasury (IRS) will collect enough money to make a dent in the deficit!

Getting old or disabled is not a criminal act or an opportunity for the political elite and their cronies to profit. Fight back! Fight back by flooding your Congressman and Senators with polite, accurate, and informative information concerning the wrong that was done you! 42 USCA 1983 has been violated. The 'probate exception' that has been carved into the law should not be shield for the criminal activities of Court appointed fiduciaries.

Ken Ditkowsky

http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/
 
Editor's note:  The letter Mr. Ditkowsky is referring to can be found on this blog and the NASGA blog as commentary to the March editorial, "The Whores of Justice" on the links below. Reporters or investigators would be best served by contacting your ProbateShark, Lucius Verenus or Mr.Ditkowsky at his contact email listed above.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
 
http://probateshark.blogspot.com/2011/03/whores-of-justice.html
 
http://nasga-stopguardianabuse.blogspot.com/

Editor's note:  A few lines dedicated to the "Sykes" victims...BEWARE...

"A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,...
...
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Her flashing eyes, her floating hair!
Weave a circle round her thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For she on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise."

University of Chicago Medical Center heads off Medicare penalty for medical error

University of Chicago Medical Center heads off Medicare penalty for medical error



News that the federal government had threatened to strip a key financial lifeline at the University of Chicago Medical Center after the death of Chicago business executive James Tyree reflects how seriously the government and health industry are dealing with medical errors.


Following an investigation into Tyree's death, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in a public notice Wednesday that it was terminating U. of C.'s Medicare payments on April 28. It determined "deficiencies … so serious they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety."

Read complete article at link below:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0415-uofc-tyree-20110414,0,2494883.story

Editor's note: Your ProbateShark is concerned with Medicare and Medicaid payments going into OBRA trust accounts that are intended to benefit helpless disabled wards. These OBRA accounts are used to pay lawyers rather than support the wards. In one case the benefits for the ward were about $500.00 and the court parasites got over $60,000.  Any FEDS interested who are presently investigating U of C, please contact your ProbateShark for case numbers and details.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

CASE LAW EXAMPLES OF ATTORNEY FEES ISSUES

CASE LAW EXAMPLES OF ATTORNEY FEES ISSUES


The following link shows case law examples of issues that may arise with attorney's fees during guardianship proceedings:

http://www.gac.state.il.us/osg/caselaw/2002/clawIV.htm#b.


Here is an example of an attorney whose license was suspended in Wisconsin for collecting unreasonable attorney's fees during guardianship proceedings:

Board of Professional Responsibility v. Glynn, Wisconsin Supreme Court, 225 Wis. 2d 202, 591 N.W.2d 606 (1999). A Milwaukee attorney who was appointed guardian in two routine guardianship cases was suspended from the practice of law for one year. “By collecting unreasonable attorney fees from three clients without the approval of the court in which their matters resided, by failing to file the necessary reports with the court in those matters and act competently and timely in them, and by using false statements and documents to justify his excessive fees and to mislead the person investigating his conduct, Attorney Glynn has demonstrated a willingness to place his own pecuniary interests above the interests of the clients whose representation he undertook by court appointment and to create false documents to prevent that conduct from being discovered. In the administrative process brought against the attorney, the referee appointed to investigate the charges recommended only a six-month suspension, but the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility appealed and argued in favor of the one-year suspension.

Signed,

Your ProbateSharks Case Law Research Team

Shocking Facility Elder Abuse Caught on Tape

Shocking Facility Elder Abuse Caught on Tape

NEWSER) – Three workers at a nursing home in Pennsylvania have been arrested after being caught on tape hitting and mocking an elderly woman who suffers from dementia. Relatives of the 78-year-old woman installed a hidden camera after officials at the home rejected their suspicions that she was being abused, ABC News reports. The woman had told her daughter she was being punched and slapped by staff, asking: "Why do they keep picking on me?"


The video shows the employees "engaging in acts which I can only describe as humiliating, taunting and abusive of the victim in this case, including forcing the victim to stand topless for several minutes while the defendant and the other employees mocked her," the district attorney said. "The way the defendants allegedly abused this victim is inexcusable. Patients suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s are among our most vulnerable citizens." The three employees have been charged with offenses including aggravated assault
 
Read complete article at link below:
 
http://www.newser.com/story/115915/shocking-elder-abuse-caught-on-tape-at-facility.html
 
Editor's note:  When family of wards under the supervision of the Probate Court of Cook County make complaints of nursing home elder abuse to GAL's, nothing is done to remedy the situation. The incestuous relationship between the court and the bribes provided by the nursing homes assures a blind eye by the court.  The judges will do nothing to abridge their proprietary interest in their cash cows.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Editor's note:  Tami's comment 4-14-11.  Tami, interesting that you bring up this point of the family's desperate act of "videoing" the act of brutality. Evidently, the court mentioned in the article is far ahead morally when compared to the Probate Court of  Cook County.  When your ProbateShark requested his GAL to present recorded evidence to the judge in a case involving illegality, the judge refused to hear the recordings.

VA Trustee Program is Hurting Veterans

Monday, April 11, 2011


Instead of Helping, VA Trustee Program is Hurting Veterans, Families Say

During the Korean War, Billy Brown faced enemy bullets, starvation and bitter cold. Now the benefits that he earned for his sacrifice have been tied up by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which in 2009 diverted his payments to trustees who have taken control not only of those funds, but of his life savings of some $100,000 as well.

Richard Wortham, Mr. Brown’s son, gained power of attorney for his father four years before the department stepped in, and found out about his father’s new financial minder only when he tried to withdraw money from the bank. “They said we no longer had access to his money — we could only get it from the fiduciary,” Mr. Wortham said.

What began as a broad effort to safeguard ailing veterans and their families from financial loss and abuse has turned into what lawyers and veterans’ advocates call a mismanaged and poorly regulated bureaucracy that not only fails to respond to veterans’ needs but in some cases creates new problems.

Families of veterans like Mr. Brown, 80, and William E. Freeman, whose sister was denied the ability to manage his benefits, and beneficiaries like Dennis Keyser, whose appointed trustee turned out to be a felon, say the system is badly flawed.

The department says it has appointed people to manage 111,407 accounts with a cumulative value of more than $3.2 billion. They earn up to 4 percent commission on the money under their care. The department, in a statement, said that beneficiaries had access to due process before a final decision was reached about appointing a beneficiary, and that the financial managers were carefully vetted. Once appointed, they “may also be required to prepare annual accountings.” In making the choice, the agency said, “priority is given to a family member if qualified and willing to serve.”

The report stated that 315 fraud investigations from October 1998 to March 2010 had “resulted in 132 arrests and monetary recoveries of $7.4 million in restitution, fines, penalties and administrative judgments.”

Full Article and Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/us/08vets.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1302307211-01oT/3TTkfmA1KZTNoz+2Q
 
Editor's note:  Your ProbateShark is aware of many cases in the Probate Court of Cook County, whereby the funds meant for assisting disabled veterans end up in the pockets of corrupt officials.  Any VA investigators interested may contact ProbateSharks for specifics including dates and case numbers.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Melrose Park man stole $900K from disabled aunt

Melrose Park man stole $900K from disabled aunt

A Melrose Park man “methodically drained” more than $900,000 from his elderly aunt who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, using the woman’s money for his own personal use, including buying a brand new car and paying for a vacation for eight, authorities said.


Chester Czernwinski, 59, of the 2700 block of Geneva was indicted Thursday for financial exploitation of the elderly/disabled, as well as two felony counts of theft over $100,000, a release from the Cook County Sheriff’s office said.

In total, Czernwinski stole more than $900,000 from his aunt after first gaining power of attorney in Feb. 2005 when she was 91. The woman, who suffered from dementia, was a widower with no children, the release said.

She ended up living with Czernwinski and he controlled her finances until she died in April 2008.

During that time, Czernwinski cashed out the woman’s stocks, life insurance, annuities and solder her Broadview home, using the profits and money from joint bank accounts for his personal benefit, the release said.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Financial Crimes Unit began investigating Czernwinski in April 2010 after a relative expressed concerns about money missing from the woman’s estate.

The relative filed a civil lawsuit against Czernwinski alleging he had “methodically drained” the woman’s assets while having power of attorney, the release said.

As part of the investigation, Sheriff’s Police detectives conducted interviews, subpoenaed bank records and depositions from the civil suit.

Czernwinski had been unemployed since 1998, receiving only disability from Social Security.

Investigators learned Czernwinski cashed checks from the victim’s accounts for his personal use, ranging from a couple hundred dollars to $166,000, the release said.

He also used his aunt’s money to pay for a $53,000 Lincoln Navigator, a vacation for eight to San Antonio, Texas, jewelry and a $30,000 wedding for his son, among other items, the release said.

Over the years, suspicious family members tried to intervene and visit the woman, but Czernwinski blocked access, housing his aunt in the basement of his house until she was placed in a nursing home, the release said.

Czernwinski appeared in Maywood bond court on Friday and is scheduled for an April 14 preliminary hearing, the release said
 
Read complete article at link below:
 
http://www.suntimes.com/4749237-573/melrose-park-man-stole-900k-from-disabled-aunt.html?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4da0b61697bf5d2b%2C0
 
Editor's Note: Is your ProbateShark the only person who sees something missing in the above article? "subpoenaed bank records and depositions from the civil suit." "controlled her finances until she died in April 2008" " first gaining power of attorney in Feb. 2005 when she was 91."  What was the involvement of the banks, lawyers, judges and lastly, the Probate Court of Cook County.  Did the Probate Court of Cook County have their hooks into this case?    

Medicare fraud-busters target Chicago

Medicare fraud-busters target Chicago


As scams targeting seniors proliferate, fraud-fighting efforts intensify

Day after day, the delivery trucks arrived at the building on Chicago's North Side, bringing walkers, hospital beds and wheelchairs to residents.

But there was a problem: Most of the older men and women getting the equipment were healthy and didn't need it, according to Jessica Moon, resident coordinator at the apartment complex.

The elderly residents, immigrants from Japan, Korea and China, had agreed to accept the deliveries after smooth-talking marketers went door to door, getting their Medicare numbers and telling them they might need the items if they got sick, Moon reported.

Then, the equipment supplier persuaded doctors — it's not clear how many — to sign the orders, completing the deception.

It was an all-too-typical scam targeting vulnerable seniors, according to Erin Weir, coordinator of Illinois Senior Medicare Patrol, who got involved in the case and helped stop the deliveries. Older adults were manipulated, a duplicitous company raked in money from Medicare, and taxpayers paid a bundle for unnecessary services, she said.

Weir declined to name the company, saying authorities were looking into the case

Read complete article at link below:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-health-fraud-seniors-20110407,0,7642542.story

Editor's note: Erin, contact your ProbateShark for the name of a bank in Chicago and account numbers involved in scamming seniors in conjunction with the probate racketeers. The FEDS are presently investigating this bank, however another set of eyes looking into the crooks never hurts. Some of the parasitic health care management companies have even moved their offices within 5 minutes of the bank in order to be closer to their prey.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com