Elderly woman makes strikes toward getting her house back

Elderly woman makes strikes toward getting her house back


The 78-year-old woman moved into the assisted living home last October, after a bad fall.



One month later, Pauline Balseiro gave away her north Phoenix house to the owner of that assisted living home. Within two months, police say the owner, Maria Barbu, forged two $2,500 checks from the older woman’s accounts, payable to her business.



Now Barbu stands charged with three felonies and she’s surrendered her state license. She’s also offered to give Pauline her house back.



But first, she wants the elderly woman to pay her for work she had done after taking over the house.



“It would be unjust …,” Barbu’s attorney wrote in court documents, “to allow (Pauline) to obtain the premises without payment for the renovations that (the Barbus) paid for with their personal funds.”



Unjust is certainly a word that applies in this case. I’m just not sure I’d peg Marie Barbu as the victim.



You may recall the startling story of Pauline Balseiro. Like a lot of older Arizonans, she retired here from another state, far from family and friends. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2002 and lately had begun having trouble.



In October, she fell and several days apparently passed before she could summon help. Mayo Hospital called in a senior placement agency – one of those services that are paid handsomely by assisted living centers for sending clients their way. The placement people offered Barbu two options, based on her desire to be near her home, and on Oct. 18 Pauline moved into Barbu’s Golden Creek Assisted Living.



Almost immediately Pauline’s daughter in California and her north Phoenix neighbor began having trouble making contact with Pauline. The two women say Pauline’s attitude quickly hardened toward them.



On Nov. 18, Pauline signed over her Tatum Ranch house to Barbu, in exchange for “care taking services.”



Barbu and her daughter moved in almost immediately but didn’t bring over Pauline until January, after her daughter began calling Arizona authorities. Once home, the daughter said Pauline was sleeping on a mattress on the floor while Barbu took the master bedroom.



Barbu was arrested in March for forgery and in April, she gave up her license to run an assisted living home. This, after the state Department of Health Services notified her that it intended to revoke her license due to “financial exploitation” stemming from the forgery charges.



DHS officials told me that surrendering the license allows Barbu time to sell the business rather than being immediately shut down.



Barbu’s attorney, Lynda Vescio, says it’s all a “misunderstanding”. Pauline, she says, freely signed over the house in return for Barbu’s promise to care for her in the home. Vescio said her client has done nothing wrong but felt she had to give up her license.



“Given the allegations of this lawsuit and given the publicity going on already, Maria was put in an untenable situation,” she said. “It just made it impossible for her to continue operating.”



I would guess so. Getting an elderly woman – one whom Mayo admissions records had flagged for “Alzheimer’s/Dementia” – to sign over her house is not likely to land you on the cover of Modern Maturity.



Especially when a formal diagnosis of dementia was forthcoming just weeks later, after Pauline was removed from Barbu’s care. And when some of her furniture was found at the assisted living home. And when some of her jewelry and furs have turned up missing, according to court records.



So now comes the push to get Pauline’s house back. Her newly appointed guardian has filed a lawsuit and Barbu has offered to return the property. But she wants Pauline to pay for $30,000 for renovations that she claims were to help the older lady -- things like hardwood flooring, new kitchen countertops and a new dishwasher.



Pauline’s attorney Tom Asimou is amazed that Barbu wants to bill Pauline.



“It’s the functional equivalent of you taking your neighbor’s car, driving to Vegas, scraping the sides of the bridge over the dam, returning the car with the hubcaps missing and an empty tank of gas and saying, ‘Hey, what’s the problem?. We gave you your money back.’ ” he said.



Barbu is scheduled to go to trial on the criminal charges in August.



Meanwhile, it appears there will be a happy ending for Pauline, who is, I’m told, anxious to go home once the legalities are settled and she can be set up with some care.



But I wonder how many other vulnerable retirees are out there, willing to give away everything they own to someone they’ve known for a month?



(Column published June 5, 2012, The Arizona Republic)






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