Scammed veteran gets help managing finances

Scammed veteran gets help managing finances


Written by Macklin Reid

Thursday, 19 April 2012 05:00

Chris Murray, left, is working to raise money to help World War II bomber pilot Roger McCollester, right, who amassed debts after falling victim to a scam artist.

It just didn’t sit well — a veteran who’d faced Nazi flak in a B-24 Liberator to defend America facing eviction from public housing — so Chris Murray decided to get involved.

Now Mr. Murray, who serves on Ridgefield’s Board of Education, is in the process of being made a conservator who will oversee 88-year-old Roger McCollester’s finances.

He is starting to raise money for a fund that will pay off debts Mr. McCollester accumulated after falling victim to a scam artist, and ensure the former bomber pilot may remain in his apartment at the Ridgefield Housing Authority’s Congregate Housing on Prospect Ridge.

“Roger’s a friend of mine, and I did not know about his circumstances until I read it online,” said Mr. Murray, who saw a story from the March 15 Ridgefield Press on TheRidgefieldPress.com.

“He is a friend of mine,” Mr. Murray continued. “We had him for Thanksgiving last year, and my son had escorted Roger to the Veterans Day events at East Ridge (Middle School) last fall.

“I decided to intervene, and I met with Roger within days of the article, and Roger agreed, readily so, to my help,” Mr. Murray said.

He consulted with attorney Robert Jewell and Probate Judge Joseph Egan about the legal options.

“We decided that voluntary conservatorship was the way to go, and the process is underway with the probate court,” Mr. Murray said.

The idea is to set up a vehicle for helping Mr. McCollester, and also guard against future scam attempts.

“Roger has provided me with his file of scam letters — it’s got to be at least 50, and that doesn’t include the Internet solicitations,” Mr. Murray said.

“These scam artists know precisely when Roger is getting his monthly benefit and Social Security checks, and they inundate him with calls, repeatedly, on the day before and the day of,” Mr. Murray said.

“They are not unsophisticated scam artists.”

So, the voluntary conservatorship will be set up.

“He’s taking over my finances,” Mr. McCollester said.

“Basically, control of Roger’s checkbook, to be granted to me, exclusively, by the probate court,” Mr. Murray said.

“I’m hopeful that this will give the all-clear sign to many people who helped Roger in the past and have expressed an interest in helping Roger now, that their donations will solve Roger’s financial obligations, and put him on the right course with respect to his living arrangements and his day-to-day living expenses.”

Things are looking up for Mr. McCollester, and eviction proceedings have been staved off.

“I intervened on Roger’s behalf and held him up financially for a short period of time, and then relied on the generosity of several friends of mine to help. Many of them have been very forthcoming and generous,” Mr. Murray said, “and Roger’s kind of back in the good graces of the Ridgefield Housing Authority.”

“His car insurance has been reinstated, his phone has been turned back on. I’ve renegotiated several of his bills. His life is getting back toward normal.”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Mr. McCollester added.

“But we need to raise around $20,000 to completely solve his problems,” Mr. Murray said.

The hope is to raise enough to provide Mr. McCollester with a small financial cushion — $4,000 or so — to fall back on.

Mr. Murray believes there are people who would be willing to support the effort.

“There was a gentlemen who called the Housing Authority and offered to pay a certain amount of Roger’s back rent. They didn’t get his information,” he said.

“There are a lot of people who want to help and they just need to know where to send the money and to know it’s properly allocated.

“They can make a check out to Roger McCollester, and send it to my address, for now,” Mr. Murray said. “Once we’ve established a formal authority, we can set up one of the local banks as the recipient of the monies, on Roger’s behalf.”

Donatoins may be sent to:

“Roger McCollester c/o Christopher Murray, 124 Ivy Hill Road, Ridgefield, CT 06877.

Mr. Murray and his wife Lisa have lived in Ridgefield for 15 years. He was elected to the Board of Education last fall, and has served on the Republican Town Committee since 2007.

Mr. Murray owned a Manhattan-based real estate brokerage company, Development Strategies Inc., which specialized in high tech clients.

His wife is in real estate management in Scarsdale, with a private developer, Rabina Realty.

He feels lucky to be in a position to help people like Mr. McCollester.

“Through my wife’s company we invested in data centers, and have done well,” Mr. Murray said.

“This is my fourth veterans associated money-raising project. The first one was in 2006. We raised about $5,000 and we gave it to The Charlie Company Family Assistance Fund. It’s our reserve unit in Connecticut. The men at that time were serving in Fallujah, Iraq, including four of our local Marines,” he said.

Please read complete article's part 2 at link below:


http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/theridgefieldpress/news/localnews/119914-scammed-veteran-gets-help-managing-finances.html