Editor's note: Alice R. Gore Estate value about 1 million dollars is reminiscent of this "Granny Snatching" article below. Alice was, however "snatched" by the court. Alice R. Gore, deceased, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County, Judge Kawamoto’s courtroom was hours away from ending up in the Cook County Morgue. Alice's estate was depleted by probate court parasites and there were reportedly no funds to bury her. Her loving family paid for the burial expenses so that Alice would not have to suffer the indignity of being stacked like an Auschwitz inmate in the Cook County morgue. The judge allowed an easily manipulated, court documented, mentally disabled granddaughter to be appointed as Alice’s guardian and yet no sanctions were instituted against the judge or court officers for this blatant infraction of the law.
Strangely, 16 of Alice’s annuity checks, two of which show forged endorsements, disappeared. Alice’s daughter has a copy of a check with her signature possibly forged. The daughter’s attorney has been trying to obtain copies of the 16 other annuity checks for two years without success. Even more puzzling is a $150,000 life insurance policy owned by Alice and not inventoried into the estate by the court. The Probate Court of Cook of Cook County refuses to investigate these blatant infractions of the law. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
COLLITON: ‘Anti-Granny Snatching’ law passed in Pa.
By JANET M. COLLITON
Guest ColumnistPosted: 07/23/12 02:10 pm Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on stumbleuponShare on pinterestMore Sharing ServicesLaws, even popular and necessary ones, take some time to travel through the system. This fact became apparent again when Pennsylvania passed its version of a model uniform law for guardians with the jaw breaking title of the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA). The law will go into effect on Sept. 5, 2012.
CONTRIBUTE
Story IdeasSend CorrectionsIn a model of cooperation, Pennsylvania’s law passed the House last year 196-0 and the Pennsylvania Senate this year 49-0. It was supported by the Pennsylvania Association of Elder Law Attorneys (PAELA) to which I belong and by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. I first wrote about the need for uniform guardianship laws on May 4, 2009. See www.dailylocal.com under search for Colliton and 2009. Why the law is important to average people is because one of the specific problems it deals with is the issue popularly referred to as “Granny snatching.”
Suppose, for instance, you apply for guardianship in Pennsylvania for your mother who has lived here all her life. Another relative or acquaintance, without your knowledge, signs her out of a personal care home or takes her from homeand makes arrangements to transport her out of state. That person files for guardianship in another state. Without a uniform act where each state recognizes the other state’s proceedings, the result could be a nightmare.
Decisions made in one jurisdiction might or might not be enforced in another. Each state could have conflicting orders. This was an issue already dealt with in custody matters where the concern was that an order entered in one state granting custody to a parent could be nullified when the other could simply take the child to another jurisdiction and have a conflicting order entered. The result there was the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which has been passed in almost every state. Similarly, the model Uniform Guardianship act is being considered throughout the country to make the system consistent throughout the United States.
Here is some background.
Guardianship, which in some states, is referred to as conservatorship, involves the appointment of someone or some entity to make decisions for an incapacitated person. This is different from a Power of Attorney. In simple terms, a Power of Attorney gives authority to act with the approval of the person giving it. With a guardianship, where the person is determined to be “incapacitated,” the guardian can act even without the initial approval of the person who is under consideration. If personal decisions are involved such as where the person might live or what kind of medical treatment he would receive, the appointee is “guardian of the person.” Financial and money decisions are handled as “guardian of the estate.” The same person or entity could serve as both. The appointment is made by court order after a petition is filed alleging incapacity and a hearing is held.
Frail incapacitated seniors can be especially at risk where there is conflict among relatives, heirs, and associates involved in their finances. Seniors may own properties in more than one state. They may travel from one residence to another such as those who own winter homes in Florida or a southern state and spend the summer in Pennsylvania or they could live with different family members and friends in different jurisdictions as sons, daughters and others care for them.
As one example, prior to adoption of the act in these states, in Guardianship of Loyce Juanita Parker (2008), Parker, a lifelong resident of Oklahoma, went to Texas to be near her daughter and wait for an assisted living opening in Oklahoma. While her daughter filed for guardianship in Texas, her son filed in Oklahoma. After much time and expensive litigation, the Oklahoma Court took jurisdiction.
Cases can be complicated also where parents of incapacitated older children try to move. One state might be willing to close the file if the new state accepts the case. The new state may be unwilling to open a new file if the parties have not already moved. These can be handled through the new law.
Under the new Uniform Guardianship law, there would be a “home state” for proper jurisdiction initially which can significantly reduce confusion.
For more, listen on Wednesdays at 4:30p.m. to radio WCHE 1520, “50+ Planning Ahead,” with Janet Colliton and Phil McFadden, Home Instead Senior Care. Live streaming is available at that time on www.wche1520.com.
Janet Colliton, Esq., limits her practice, Colliton Law Associates, to elder law, Medicaid, life care, special needs, and estate planning and administration with offices at 790 East Market St., Suite 250, West Chester, Pa., 19382, 610-436-6674, colliton@collitonlaw.com. She is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and, with Jeffrey Jones, CSA, co-founder of Life Transition Services, LLC, a service for families with long term care needs.
http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20120723/NEWS01/120729891/colliton--anti-granny-snatching-law-passed-in-pa=
KawamotoDragon.com
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Red River Justice
Thanks to "Grits for breakfast blog" for this story....be sure to read complete article at link below.
Red River Justice
In an East Texas county known for corrupt law enforcement, Mark Lesher fought the justice system—until it came for him too.by Patrick Michels SUPPORT Font Size decrease font size increase font size Print Facebook Twitter Share Published on: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
PHOTOS BY PATRICK MICHELS
East Texas lawyer Mark Lesher says he and his wife were targeted by law enforcement for stirring up trouble in Red River County. The law caught up with Rhonda Lesher on a quiet Monday afternoon in April 2008. She was doing the books at Unique Touch, the hair salon and day spa she owned in the small northeast Texas town of Clarksville. She didn’t take appointments on Mondays, so the cutting stations, blow dryers and massage tables were empty when the deputies walked in.
The officers had a warrant for her arrest, but wouldn’t explain the charges. They promised more details at the sheriff’s office, and Rhonda wondered why they hadn’t just asked her to drop by. She would have walked the five blocks. They let Rhonda make a call, so she picked up a phone on the back wall and dialed her husband’s Clarksville law office. Mark wasn’t always good about answering his phone, but she knew his assistant Kenny Mitchell would be there.
“Kenny, I’m here at the shop, and I’m getting arrested.”
“For what?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” she said. “I guess it’s that crap on the Internet.” Call Mark, she told him, and hung up.
Rhonda followed the deputies out to the street fronting the town square. She knew her arrest would soon be big gossip. She’d been a pretty teenager in the late 1970s at Clarksville High, and some folks still whispered about her like they had in the high school halls. Rhonda, like many who grew up in town, remained an object of fascination into adulthood. Gossip is a popular way to fill time in Red River County, especially for those who can’t find jobs. Some county residents work at the Campbell Soup factory in Paris, 40 minutes to the west, in the neighboring county. There is a hospital in Red River, ranch land, and not much else.
People are fleeing Red River County, seeking success elsewhere. The county seat of Clarksville, population 3,300, has shrunk by a quarter over the past 20 years. More leave every year, and the empty buildings stand there and age. Like the rusting trailers and truck parts in yards on the edge of town, it’s just easier to leave them.
Certain relics are accorded higher honors. A hanging tree still presides over the main cemetery, marked by a plaque from the Clarksville High School Junior League. A statue in the town square of Confederate Col. John C. Burks faces northwest, according to local lore, because Burks is keeping watch over the historically black section of town.
Clarksville remains deeply segregated. The town is majority black today, but county law enforcement is almost completely white. Some residents say the Red River County justice system saves its harshest treatment for the black community. It got so bad decades ago that a federal judge had to set up a civil rights commission just for Red River County. By some accounts, justice in Red River hasn’t gotten much better since.
“Instead of hanging blacks from trees, nowadays they do it in the court system,” says Fred Stovall, former pastor of a black church in Detroit, Texas, west of Clarksville. He says most people in the black community there don’t trust the police—but they’re terrified to draw attention to themselves. “Somebody’s got to say something or it’s gonna be all of us in the courtrooms,” he says.
Mark Lesher said something. He’d spent a decade fighting the Red River County justice system, until they came for him too. When his wife was being arrested that Monday afternoon in 2008, Mark Lesher was an hour away, at his other office in Texarkana. After he got his assistant’s call, Mark got into his silver Chevrolet truck and headed west to bail Rhonda out, like he’d done for countless clients before. He didn’t get far. Another sheriff’s deputy was waiting for Mark on Highway 82 inside the Red River County line. He cuffed Mark’s hands behind his back—so tightly his wrists bled when the cuffs came off—and stowed him in his cruiser. The deputies searched his truck while rubberneckers on the highway slowed down for a better look. Stuck in the back seat with the air conditioning off, Mark began to sweat.
Mark was a defense attorney, but, more accurately, he was a professional agitator. As a trial lawyer, Lesher prided himself on “defending the little guy.” He looked for every chance to challenge the county establishment, gambling on lawsuits against the government and the hospital, where he could score a cut of a big award. Raised in the Panhandle, Lesher had come to East Texas in the early 1970s to work in the Texarkana district attorney’s office. Lesher says the D.A. at the time, Lynn Cooksey, was wasting money on a personal vendetta against the sheriff and neglecting good cases. Lesher left for private practice and led a successful movement to vote Cooksey out of office. In 1996, Lesher moved to a ranch in Red River County, bought some cattle, opened a second office just off the Clarksville town square, and soon met and married Rhonda. He had landed in another bubble of local power run wild. Emboldened by success in Texarkana, he started speaking out. “I thought I could turn Red River County around,” he says, “just like I did in Bowie County.” He also made enemies. “Because I will sue people, because I will represent the poor people, I get identified as the guy that’s got the black hat.”
When Mark and Rhonda both arrived at the county jail, they learned they were facing sexual assault charges. A county grand jury had secretly indicted them without ever hearing testimony from Mark or Rhonda. A few months later, they were indicted again on enhanced charges of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison. The allegations were lurid: Prosecutors told of homemade drugs, sex parties, and a bizarre rape scenario. Mark had spent a decade airing the county’s secrets in court. Now it looked like the law in Red River County might have the last say.
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/red-river-justice
Red River Justice
In an East Texas county known for corrupt law enforcement, Mark Lesher fought the justice system—until it came for him too.by Patrick Michels SUPPORT Font Size decrease font size increase font size Print Facebook Twitter Share Published on: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
PHOTOS BY PATRICK MICHELS
East Texas lawyer Mark Lesher says he and his wife were targeted by law enforcement for stirring up trouble in Red River County. The law caught up with Rhonda Lesher on a quiet Monday afternoon in April 2008. She was doing the books at Unique Touch, the hair salon and day spa she owned in the small northeast Texas town of Clarksville. She didn’t take appointments on Mondays, so the cutting stations, blow dryers and massage tables were empty when the deputies walked in.
The officers had a warrant for her arrest, but wouldn’t explain the charges. They promised more details at the sheriff’s office, and Rhonda wondered why they hadn’t just asked her to drop by. She would have walked the five blocks. They let Rhonda make a call, so she picked up a phone on the back wall and dialed her husband’s Clarksville law office. Mark wasn’t always good about answering his phone, but she knew his assistant Kenny Mitchell would be there.
“Kenny, I’m here at the shop, and I’m getting arrested.”
“For what?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” she said. “I guess it’s that crap on the Internet.” Call Mark, she told him, and hung up.
Rhonda followed the deputies out to the street fronting the town square. She knew her arrest would soon be big gossip. She’d been a pretty teenager in the late 1970s at Clarksville High, and some folks still whispered about her like they had in the high school halls. Rhonda, like many who grew up in town, remained an object of fascination into adulthood. Gossip is a popular way to fill time in Red River County, especially for those who can’t find jobs. Some county residents work at the Campbell Soup factory in Paris, 40 minutes to the west, in the neighboring county. There is a hospital in Red River, ranch land, and not much else.
People are fleeing Red River County, seeking success elsewhere. The county seat of Clarksville, population 3,300, has shrunk by a quarter over the past 20 years. More leave every year, and the empty buildings stand there and age. Like the rusting trailers and truck parts in yards on the edge of town, it’s just easier to leave them.
Certain relics are accorded higher honors. A hanging tree still presides over the main cemetery, marked by a plaque from the Clarksville High School Junior League. A statue in the town square of Confederate Col. John C. Burks faces northwest, according to local lore, because Burks is keeping watch over the historically black section of town.
Clarksville remains deeply segregated. The town is majority black today, but county law enforcement is almost completely white. Some residents say the Red River County justice system saves its harshest treatment for the black community. It got so bad decades ago that a federal judge had to set up a civil rights commission just for Red River County. By some accounts, justice in Red River hasn’t gotten much better since.
“Instead of hanging blacks from trees, nowadays they do it in the court system,” says Fred Stovall, former pastor of a black church in Detroit, Texas, west of Clarksville. He says most people in the black community there don’t trust the police—but they’re terrified to draw attention to themselves. “Somebody’s got to say something or it’s gonna be all of us in the courtrooms,” he says.
Mark Lesher said something. He’d spent a decade fighting the Red River County justice system, until they came for him too. When his wife was being arrested that Monday afternoon in 2008, Mark Lesher was an hour away, at his other office in Texarkana. After he got his assistant’s call, Mark got into his silver Chevrolet truck and headed west to bail Rhonda out, like he’d done for countless clients before. He didn’t get far. Another sheriff’s deputy was waiting for Mark on Highway 82 inside the Red River County line. He cuffed Mark’s hands behind his back—so tightly his wrists bled when the cuffs came off—and stowed him in his cruiser. The deputies searched his truck while rubberneckers on the highway slowed down for a better look. Stuck in the back seat with the air conditioning off, Mark began to sweat.
Mark was a defense attorney, but, more accurately, he was a professional agitator. As a trial lawyer, Lesher prided himself on “defending the little guy.” He looked for every chance to challenge the county establishment, gambling on lawsuits against the government and the hospital, where he could score a cut of a big award. Raised in the Panhandle, Lesher had come to East Texas in the early 1970s to work in the Texarkana district attorney’s office. Lesher says the D.A. at the time, Lynn Cooksey, was wasting money on a personal vendetta against the sheriff and neglecting good cases. Lesher left for private practice and led a successful movement to vote Cooksey out of office. In 1996, Lesher moved to a ranch in Red River County, bought some cattle, opened a second office just off the Clarksville town square, and soon met and married Rhonda. He had landed in another bubble of local power run wild. Emboldened by success in Texarkana, he started speaking out. “I thought I could turn Red River County around,” he says, “just like I did in Bowie County.” He also made enemies. “Because I will sue people, because I will represent the poor people, I get identified as the guy that’s got the black hat.”
When Mark and Rhonda both arrived at the county jail, they learned they were facing sexual assault charges. A county grand jury had secretly indicted them without ever hearing testimony from Mark or Rhonda. A few months later, they were indicted again on enhanced charges of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison. The allegations were lurid: Prosecutors told of homemade drugs, sex parties, and a bizarre rape scenario. Mark had spent a decade airing the county’s secrets in court. Now it looked like the law in Red River County might have the last say.
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/red-river-justice
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Attorney pleads guilty to financial exploitation
By TARA BECKER tbecker@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 570
Attorney pleads guilty to financial exploitation
DIXON – The status of a Dixon attorney’s law license is uncertain after he pleaded guilty this week to bilking thousands of dollars from a now-deceased Dixon woman.
“When we’re dealing with allegations of conversion or theft from an elderly person, we always ask for a substantial penalty, like disbarment or a long suspension,” said Jim Grogan, deputy administrator and chief counsel of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
Al Henry Williams, 63, pleaded guilty Thursday in Lee County court to financial exploitation of a disabled person, a Class 4 felony, and was sentenced to 6 months of conditional discharge.
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office dropped the more serious charges of financial exploitation of an elderly person and theft of between $10,000 and $100,000.
He also was ordered to pay $15,992 in restitution to the estate of Dorothy Gaul, and $593 in court fees.
If Williams successfully completes the terms of his discharge and pays all fines and restitution, the case will be dismissed.
Williams’ attorney, Jim Mertes, said in a written statement Friday that “with this disposition, he has been able to put this matter behind him and all involved.”
“He recognizes the importance of integrity in the legal profession,” Mertes said in the statement. “He hopes that by accepting full responsibility for his own actions, while fully repaying all funds to the estate, he has begun the process of restoring his own.”
According to court documents:
Gaul, then 97 and living in a nursing home, hired Williams in August 2008 to handle her financial assets, which included her Dixon home and more than $113,000 in checking and savings accounts.
Williams opened a joint checking account with Gaul, to be used to pay her expenses.
Between December 2008 and August 2009, Williams wrote 25 checks to himself, totaling $95,000. He deposited 19 of them, totaling $92,800, into three bank accounts, then used the money for his own “business and/or personal purposes.”
In August 2009, Gaul hired a new attorney to look into Williams’ use of her funds. That November, Williams sent the attorney a check made out to Gaul for $61,383.85, according to the documents.
Williams, then an assistant state’s attorney in Lee County, was indicted by a grand jury in July 2010.
Julie Farster, the administrator of Gaul’s estate, filed a lawsuit against Williams in Lee County 2 months earlier.
In July 2011, the IARDC filed a complaint against him, accusing him of “dishonesty,” “deceit,” and breaching his “fiduciary obligations” to Gaul.
Williams denied the allegations, according to a response to the complaint filed in September by his attorney, Samuel Manella of Chicago.
On Sept. 7, a 3-member panel will hear the case and will make a recommendation to the Illinois Supreme Court for final disciplinary action, which could be to suspend Williams’ law license or disbar him.
Grogan said the agency is awaiting official conviction documents before deciding whether to ask the court to immediately suspend Williams’ license prior to a final disposition in the case.
Grogan said he hopes to get those documents next week.
Manella could not be reached Friday for comment.
http://www.saukvalley.com/2012/07/20/attorney-pleads-guilty-to-financial-exploitation/ayj0k0o/
Editor's note: Wow! ARDC Grogan and Lee County Judge you really put the fright into crooked lawyers with this slap on the wrist
"to financial exploitation of a disabled person, a Class 4 felony, and was sentenced to 6 months of conditional discharge""which could be to suspend Williams’ law license or disbar him".
Catch those words "conditional" and "could". Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Attorney pleads guilty to financial exploitation
DIXON – The status of a Dixon attorney’s law license is uncertain after he pleaded guilty this week to bilking thousands of dollars from a now-deceased Dixon woman.
“When we’re dealing with allegations of conversion or theft from an elderly person, we always ask for a substantial penalty, like disbarment or a long suspension,” said Jim Grogan, deputy administrator and chief counsel of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
Al Henry Williams, 63, pleaded guilty Thursday in Lee County court to financial exploitation of a disabled person, a Class 4 felony, and was sentenced to 6 months of conditional discharge.
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office dropped the more serious charges of financial exploitation of an elderly person and theft of between $10,000 and $100,000.
He also was ordered to pay $15,992 in restitution to the estate of Dorothy Gaul, and $593 in court fees.
If Williams successfully completes the terms of his discharge and pays all fines and restitution, the case will be dismissed.
Williams’ attorney, Jim Mertes, said in a written statement Friday that “with this disposition, he has been able to put this matter behind him and all involved.”
“He recognizes the importance of integrity in the legal profession,” Mertes said in the statement. “He hopes that by accepting full responsibility for his own actions, while fully repaying all funds to the estate, he has begun the process of restoring his own.”
According to court documents:
Gaul, then 97 and living in a nursing home, hired Williams in August 2008 to handle her financial assets, which included her Dixon home and more than $113,000 in checking and savings accounts.
Williams opened a joint checking account with Gaul, to be used to pay her expenses.
Between December 2008 and August 2009, Williams wrote 25 checks to himself, totaling $95,000. He deposited 19 of them, totaling $92,800, into three bank accounts, then used the money for his own “business and/or personal purposes.”
In August 2009, Gaul hired a new attorney to look into Williams’ use of her funds. That November, Williams sent the attorney a check made out to Gaul for $61,383.85, according to the documents.
Williams, then an assistant state’s attorney in Lee County, was indicted by a grand jury in July 2010.
Julie Farster, the administrator of Gaul’s estate, filed a lawsuit against Williams in Lee County 2 months earlier.
In July 2011, the IARDC filed a complaint against him, accusing him of “dishonesty,” “deceit,” and breaching his “fiduciary obligations” to Gaul.
Williams denied the allegations, according to a response to the complaint filed in September by his attorney, Samuel Manella of Chicago.
On Sept. 7, a 3-member panel will hear the case and will make a recommendation to the Illinois Supreme Court for final disciplinary action, which could be to suspend Williams’ law license or disbar him.
Grogan said the agency is awaiting official conviction documents before deciding whether to ask the court to immediately suspend Williams’ license prior to a final disposition in the case.
Grogan said he hopes to get those documents next week.
Manella could not be reached Friday for comment.
http://www.saukvalley.com/2012/07/20/attorney-pleads-guilty-to-financial-exploitation/ayj0k0o/
Editor's note: Wow! ARDC Grogan and Lee County Judge you really put the fright into crooked lawyers with this slap on the wrist
"to financial exploitation of a disabled person, a Class 4 felony, and was sentenced to 6 months of conditional discharge""which could be to suspend Williams’ law license or disbar him".
Catch those words "conditional" and "could". Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Bank manager charged with stealing elderly man's money
Bank manager charged with stealing elderly man's money
By Kate Thayer
Tribune reporter
11:40 AM CDT, July 25, 2012
A St. Charles bank branch manager faces charges and is accused of withdrawing money from an elderly man’s accounts over a two-year period, police said Wednesday.
Lynn A. Pranga, 56, of the 200 block of Fairhaven Drive in St. Charles, is charged with one count each of financial exploitation of the elderly, forgery and theft – all felonies. She was arrested Tuesday night and released on $3,000 bond.
She could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
St. Charles police were led to Pranga, who worked as a manager at an MB Financial Bank branch at 2607 Lincoln Highway, during a six-month investigation that ultimately revealed she stole about $20,000 from an elderly man she knew, according to police.
In January, police met with bank representatives after a customer reported his five-year CD had been changed to a one-year CD and had unauthorized withdrawals.
During the investigation, police said they found several withdrawals and deposits made on the man’s CD, as well as two of his other accounts at the bank. These transactions occurred between June 2009 and June 2011.
Police identified Pranga, who had control over the accounts, as responsible for the transactions.
Pranga is due next in Kane County court on Aug. 8.
kthayer@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/st_charles/chi-bank-manager-charged-with-stealing-elderly-mans-money-20120725,0,6823082.story
By Kate Thayer
Tribune reporter
11:40 AM CDT, July 25, 2012
A St. Charles bank branch manager faces charges and is accused of withdrawing money from an elderly man’s accounts over a two-year period, police said Wednesday.
Lynn A. Pranga, 56, of the 200 block of Fairhaven Drive in St. Charles, is charged with one count each of financial exploitation of the elderly, forgery and theft – all felonies. She was arrested Tuesday night and released on $3,000 bond.
She could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
St. Charles police were led to Pranga, who worked as a manager at an MB Financial Bank branch at 2607 Lincoln Highway, during a six-month investigation that ultimately revealed she stole about $20,000 from an elderly man she knew, according to police.
In January, police met with bank representatives after a customer reported his five-year CD had been changed to a one-year CD and had unauthorized withdrawals.
During the investigation, police said they found several withdrawals and deposits made on the man’s CD, as well as two of his other accounts at the bank. These transactions occurred between June 2009 and June 2011.
Police identified Pranga, who had control over the accounts, as responsible for the transactions.
Pranga is due next in Kane County court on Aug. 8.
kthayer@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/st_charles/chi-bank-manager-charged-with-stealing-elderly-mans-money-20120725,0,6823082.story
complaints against judges and lawyers
By Tiffany Y. Latta
Staff writer
SPRINGFIELD —
A former member of a state disciplinary board that hears complaints against judges and lawyers said how the board dismissed a complaint against a Clark County common pleas judge was rare but not unheard of.
Judge Douglas Rastatter was cleared of wrongdoing earlier this month after a two-day hearing when his attorneys asked for two of the six counts to be dismissed. The panel instead dismissed the entire case, which included allegations of failing to uphold the integrity of the judiciary.
Michael E. Murman, a private practice attorney with Murman & Associates in Lakewood, was a member of the Board of Grievances and Discipline at the Ohio Supreme Court from 2001 to 2003 and has since argued cases before the panel.
Even if there is enough in the complaint to constitute a violation, disciplinary panels can exercise discretion for judges who they feel are not likely to put themselves in similar situations again, Murman said.
“Our job is to protect the public from lawyer and judge misconduct. If it’s not necessary … what would be the point of sending this to the Supreme Court? It’s not about punishing lawyers and judges. Sanctions are a way to protect the public and the legal system,” Murman said.
Murman said Rastatter’s testimony and demeanor could have suggested to the panel that he had learned from mistakes.
He also said the friction with local defense attorneys Richard Mayhall and John R. Butz, who initiated the 13-page complaint, may have also played a role in the dismissal.
Disciplinary action against judges is rare in Ohio. For example, only four judges have been disbarred in more than 50 years.
Since 2007, less than 20 judicial misconduct cases have been filed with the Ohio Supreme Court, compared to more than 500 cases involving attorneys.
During that time, 10 judges have faced sanctions ranging from a public reprimand to disbarment. And each year, it’s estimated that only a handful of cases that have been brought before a state disciplinary panel involving lawyers and judges get dismissed.
In a six-count complaint, the Ohio State Bar Association accused Rastatter of violating a number of laws governing judges, including failing to follow the law and engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Panelists Charles Coulson of Lake County, David Tschantz of Wayne County and Lynn Jacobs of Lucas County dismissed the case, citing insufficient evidence.
Afterward, Coulson, who led the panel, offered Rastatter support and admonished the appeals court.
“All of your responses with the court of appeals, I think they were correct. And some of their opinion language, I think, was inexplicable,” Coulson said.
Rastatter’s attorney, George Jonson, who has represented lawyers and judges accused of misconduct for years, asked the panel to dismiss two of the six charges.
“I wanted to ask for them to dismiss the whole thing, but I didn’t want to be greedy,” Jonson joked afterward.
Jonson said allegations of misconduct can sound serious but added that complainants must prove their case.
“They didn’t present any evidence that got them to clear and convincing standards,” Jonson said.
Rastatter held Butz and Mayhall in contempt and fined $2,000 after a 2006 capital murder trial in which the attorneys were accused of “manipulating the court” and trying to get the judge off the case.
The contempt charges were later reversed, but Mayhall said he began keeping records of Rastatter’s reversals and accusations of misconduct by other attorneys.
Rastatter’s opponents portrayed him during the disciplinary hearing as vindictive, biased, rude and disrespectful to attorneys, and ruling without regard to the law and higher courts.
His attorneys, Jonson and Lisa Zaring, however, said Rastatter had simply made mistakes as he struggled to make the transition from an assistant Clark County prosecutor to judge after he took the bench in January 2005.
Rastatter denied all misconduct charges, but admitted to struggling early in his career as judge.
When he was elected, he said his goal was to run a more efficient court, require directness and candor from all parties, and offer no-nonsense and “just grind out justice.”
He denied wrongdoing when asked about a confrontation with Mayhall and Butz during the capital murder case that led to the contempt charge against the two and which in part lead to the reversal of the death sentence Rastatter imposed on their client.
“I think they manipulated some evidence in order to judge-shop … and have the case sent to the only other judge that would hear a capital case. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had more serious matters at hand, and that was the capital case,” Rastatter testified.
“I had not formed an opinion about the contempt charge. I don’t think I ever used the word contempt. I may have after they brought it up.”
Attorneys appointed by the bar association Laurence Turbow and Amelia Bower called other attorneys, including assistant prosecutor William Merrell and John Paul Rion of Dayton, who also feuded with Rastatter.
Rion accused Rastatter of “feigning” memory loss in a case in which he, the judge and a prosecutor agreed his client would remain free on bond as part of a plea agreement.
His client was found guilty, ordered to jail and Rastatter refused to meet with Rion and the prosecutor afterward, said Rion, who was later held in contempt and fined $500.
Rastatter disagreed.
“I never made that agreement,” Rastatter testified.
He said in retrospect he should have talked to Rion and the prosecutor, but testified that he refused to speak with them then because “I wasn’t amenable to reconsidering my decision.”
Murman said judges are typically sanctioned for personal misconduct or misconduct in office or on the bench.
“To be disbarred a judge has to be involved in a crime,” Murman said.
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Hoskins was permanently disbarred by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2008, becoming the fourth judge to be disbarred in 50 years, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Hoskins was disbarred for his dealings with a con artist that started with a $25,000 loan when he was that man’s attorney. After taking the bench, Hoskins devised a schemed to get the money back by convincing the con man to buy a building he had an interest in at an inflated price.
Other judges who have sanctioned include: Mason Municipal Court Judge George Parker, who in 2007 was suspended 18 months with six months stayed after he was charged with 31 counts of misconduct, including riding along on an arrest on a case he would preside over later.
Former Xenia Municipal Court Judge Susan Goldie received a public reprimand for imposing jail sentences “in flagrant disregard for the law.”
Van Wert Municipal Court Judge Phil Campbell was suspended for 12 months with six months stayed in 2010 for improperly questioning witnesses in a police investigation, pressuring the city law directors secretary to give him criminal investigation files compelling the Van Wert mayor to appear in his courtroom for questioning about an administrative matter and other violations.
Sanctions are pending against Massillon Municipal Court Judge Edward Elum who was accused of using foul language and addressing a man who was not following the condition of his probation without an attorney or prosecutor present.
Elum also ordered evidence in a case involving a police officer, which included lewd photographs and texts messages, be turned over to the court without providing a judicial reason.
“The (board) has not hesitated to impose discipline on judges. We would hope that judges could be saints, but that would be unrealistic,” Murman said.
“(Misconduct and disciplinary action) happen because judges are human. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen that frequently.”
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/news/local/judges-disciplinary-case-rare/nPzSb/
Staff writer
SPRINGFIELD —
A former member of a state disciplinary board that hears complaints against judges and lawyers said how the board dismissed a complaint against a Clark County common pleas judge was rare but not unheard of.
Judge Douglas Rastatter was cleared of wrongdoing earlier this month after a two-day hearing when his attorneys asked for two of the six counts to be dismissed. The panel instead dismissed the entire case, which included allegations of failing to uphold the integrity of the judiciary.
Michael E. Murman, a private practice attorney with Murman & Associates in Lakewood, was a member of the Board of Grievances and Discipline at the Ohio Supreme Court from 2001 to 2003 and has since argued cases before the panel.
Even if there is enough in the complaint to constitute a violation, disciplinary panels can exercise discretion for judges who they feel are not likely to put themselves in similar situations again, Murman said.
“Our job is to protect the public from lawyer and judge misconduct. If it’s not necessary … what would be the point of sending this to the Supreme Court? It’s not about punishing lawyers and judges. Sanctions are a way to protect the public and the legal system,” Murman said.
Murman said Rastatter’s testimony and demeanor could have suggested to the panel that he had learned from mistakes.
He also said the friction with local defense attorneys Richard Mayhall and John R. Butz, who initiated the 13-page complaint, may have also played a role in the dismissal.
Disciplinary action against judges is rare in Ohio. For example, only four judges have been disbarred in more than 50 years.
Since 2007, less than 20 judicial misconduct cases have been filed with the Ohio Supreme Court, compared to more than 500 cases involving attorneys.
During that time, 10 judges have faced sanctions ranging from a public reprimand to disbarment. And each year, it’s estimated that only a handful of cases that have been brought before a state disciplinary panel involving lawyers and judges get dismissed.
In a six-count complaint, the Ohio State Bar Association accused Rastatter of violating a number of laws governing judges, including failing to follow the law and engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Panelists Charles Coulson of Lake County, David Tschantz of Wayne County and Lynn Jacobs of Lucas County dismissed the case, citing insufficient evidence.
Afterward, Coulson, who led the panel, offered Rastatter support and admonished the appeals court.
“All of your responses with the court of appeals, I think they were correct. And some of their opinion language, I think, was inexplicable,” Coulson said.
Rastatter’s attorney, George Jonson, who has represented lawyers and judges accused of misconduct for years, asked the panel to dismiss two of the six charges.
“I wanted to ask for them to dismiss the whole thing, but I didn’t want to be greedy,” Jonson joked afterward.
Jonson said allegations of misconduct can sound serious but added that complainants must prove their case.
“They didn’t present any evidence that got them to clear and convincing standards,” Jonson said.
Rastatter held Butz and Mayhall in contempt and fined $2,000 after a 2006 capital murder trial in which the attorneys were accused of “manipulating the court” and trying to get the judge off the case.
The contempt charges were later reversed, but Mayhall said he began keeping records of Rastatter’s reversals and accusations of misconduct by other attorneys.
Rastatter’s opponents portrayed him during the disciplinary hearing as vindictive, biased, rude and disrespectful to attorneys, and ruling without regard to the law and higher courts.
His attorneys, Jonson and Lisa Zaring, however, said Rastatter had simply made mistakes as he struggled to make the transition from an assistant Clark County prosecutor to judge after he took the bench in January 2005.
Rastatter denied all misconduct charges, but admitted to struggling early in his career as judge.
When he was elected, he said his goal was to run a more efficient court, require directness and candor from all parties, and offer no-nonsense and “just grind out justice.”
He denied wrongdoing when asked about a confrontation with Mayhall and Butz during the capital murder case that led to the contempt charge against the two and which in part lead to the reversal of the death sentence Rastatter imposed on their client.
“I think they manipulated some evidence in order to judge-shop … and have the case sent to the only other judge that would hear a capital case. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had more serious matters at hand, and that was the capital case,” Rastatter testified.
“I had not formed an opinion about the contempt charge. I don’t think I ever used the word contempt. I may have after they brought it up.”
Attorneys appointed by the bar association Laurence Turbow and Amelia Bower called other attorneys, including assistant prosecutor William Merrell and John Paul Rion of Dayton, who also feuded with Rastatter.
Rion accused Rastatter of “feigning” memory loss in a case in which he, the judge and a prosecutor agreed his client would remain free on bond as part of a plea agreement.
His client was found guilty, ordered to jail and Rastatter refused to meet with Rion and the prosecutor afterward, said Rion, who was later held in contempt and fined $500.
Rastatter disagreed.
“I never made that agreement,” Rastatter testified.
He said in retrospect he should have talked to Rion and the prosecutor, but testified that he refused to speak with them then because “I wasn’t amenable to reconsidering my decision.”
Murman said judges are typically sanctioned for personal misconduct or misconduct in office or on the bench.
“To be disbarred a judge has to be involved in a crime,” Murman said.
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Hoskins was permanently disbarred by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2008, becoming the fourth judge to be disbarred in 50 years, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Hoskins was disbarred for his dealings with a con artist that started with a $25,000 loan when he was that man’s attorney. After taking the bench, Hoskins devised a schemed to get the money back by convincing the con man to buy a building he had an interest in at an inflated price.
Other judges who have sanctioned include: Mason Municipal Court Judge George Parker, who in 2007 was suspended 18 months with six months stayed after he was charged with 31 counts of misconduct, including riding along on an arrest on a case he would preside over later.
Former Xenia Municipal Court Judge Susan Goldie received a public reprimand for imposing jail sentences “in flagrant disregard for the law.”
Van Wert Municipal Court Judge Phil Campbell was suspended for 12 months with six months stayed in 2010 for improperly questioning witnesses in a police investigation, pressuring the city law directors secretary to give him criminal investigation files compelling the Van Wert mayor to appear in his courtroom for questioning about an administrative matter and other violations.
Sanctions are pending against Massillon Municipal Court Judge Edward Elum who was accused of using foul language and addressing a man who was not following the condition of his probation without an attorney or prosecutor present.
Elum also ordered evidence in a case involving a police officer, which included lewd photographs and texts messages, be turned over to the court without providing a judicial reason.
“The (board) has not hesitated to impose discipline on judges. We would hope that judges could be saints, but that would be unrealistic,” Murman said.
“(Misconduct and disciplinary action) happen because judges are human. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen that frequently.”
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/news/local/judges-disciplinary-case-rare/nPzSb/
Judges & justice
Judges & justice
About The Tribune-Review
The Tribune-Review can be reached via e-mail or at 412-321-6460.
By Tribune-Review
Published: Friday, July 13, 2012, 8:57 p.m.
Updated: Saturday, July 14, 2012
People deserve to appear before fair, impartial, courteous and respectful judges (“Pittsburgh police to track the actions of judges,” July 6 and TribLIVE.com).
If judges fail to meet those standards, they should be investigated and prosecuted by the Judicial Conduct Board and disciplined by the Court of Judicial Discipline. But judges should not be targeted because of the rulings they make.
Dissatisfaction with judicial decisions should be handled through the appellate process. We are troubled that the Pittsburgh police union seems to ignore this distinction in its new complaint procedure about magisterial district judges.
Problems regarding judges’ bias and demeanor should be raised with the county president judge or with the Judicial Conduct Board, especially if a pattern of such conduct is documented. But judges should not be targeted because police officers disagree with their decisions on the setting of bonds. And the promise that the Fraternal Order of Police will use the complaints when making its judicial endorsements undermines the ability of judges to act independently when deciding cases.
It is critical to ensure our judges adhere to the highest ethical standards. But seeking to affect judicial decisions by threats to report judges is directly contrary to the operation of our justice system.
Shira Goodman & Lynn A. Marks
Shira Goodman and Lynn A. Marks are the deputy director and executive director, respectively, of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a statewide court-reform organization (pmconline.org).
http://triblive.com/opinion/2175697-74/judges-judicial-decisions-police-conduct-justice-appellate-board-court-director
About The Tribune-Review
The Tribune-Review can be reached via e-mail or at 412-321-6460.
By Tribune-Review
Published: Friday, July 13, 2012, 8:57 p.m.
Updated: Saturday, July 14, 2012
People deserve to appear before fair, impartial, courteous and respectful judges (“Pittsburgh police to track the actions of judges,” July 6 and TribLIVE.com).
If judges fail to meet those standards, they should be investigated and prosecuted by the Judicial Conduct Board and disciplined by the Court of Judicial Discipline. But judges should not be targeted because of the rulings they make.
Dissatisfaction with judicial decisions should be handled through the appellate process. We are troubled that the Pittsburgh police union seems to ignore this distinction in its new complaint procedure about magisterial district judges.
Problems regarding judges’ bias and demeanor should be raised with the county president judge or with the Judicial Conduct Board, especially if a pattern of such conduct is documented. But judges should not be targeted because police officers disagree with their decisions on the setting of bonds. And the promise that the Fraternal Order of Police will use the complaints when making its judicial endorsements undermines the ability of judges to act independently when deciding cases.
It is critical to ensure our judges adhere to the highest ethical standards. But seeking to affect judicial decisions by threats to report judges is directly contrary to the operation of our justice system.
Shira Goodman & Lynn A. Marks
Shira Goodman and Lynn A. Marks are the deputy director and executive director, respectively, of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a statewide court-reform organization (pmconline.org).
http://triblive.com/opinion/2175697-74/judges-judicial-decisions-police-conduct-justice-appellate-board-court-director
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A federal judge has denied motions to dismiss corruption charges
Villalobos, Lucio trials delayed until April
July 18, 2012 9:50 AM
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E-Mail StoryCHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press
(AP) — A federal judge has denied motions to dismiss corruption charges against the Cameron County district attorney and a former law partner implicated in a judicial bribery scheme.
The judge on Wednesday also agreed to postpone until April the trial for Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos and lawyer Eddie Lucio on racketeering charges. The trial had been scheduled for August in Brownsville.
A May indictment alleges the pair schemed to make money gaming the local legal system. Lucio and Villalobos have pleaded not guilty.
Both said the indictment was too vague to defend against.
They're among a dozen swept up in a federal investigation of former state district Judge Abel Limas, who already has pleaded guilty to similar charges.
The judge also postponed the trial of Attorney Marc Rosenthal, who is also linked to the Lima case. Rosenthal's trial was scheduled to begin in October, but has now been pushed back to February.
Rosenthal is charged with conspiracy to violate the RICCO statute, tampering with a witness, aiding and abetting, tampering with a proceeding, extortion, and fraud.
Brownsville Herald Laura B. Martinez contributed to this report.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/dismissal-142598-lucio-seek.html
July 18, 2012 9:50 AM
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Print Story
E-Mail StoryCHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press
(AP) — A federal judge has denied motions to dismiss corruption charges against the Cameron County district attorney and a former law partner implicated in a judicial bribery scheme.
The judge on Wednesday also agreed to postpone until April the trial for Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos and lawyer Eddie Lucio on racketeering charges. The trial had been scheduled for August in Brownsville.
A May indictment alleges the pair schemed to make money gaming the local legal system. Lucio and Villalobos have pleaded not guilty.
Both said the indictment was too vague to defend against.
They're among a dozen swept up in a federal investigation of former state district Judge Abel Limas, who already has pleaded guilty to similar charges.
The judge also postponed the trial of Attorney Marc Rosenthal, who is also linked to the Lima case. Rosenthal's trial was scheduled to begin in October, but has now been pushed back to February.
Rosenthal is charged with conspiracy to violate the RICCO statute, tampering with a witness, aiding and abetting, tampering with a proceeding, extortion, and fraud.
Brownsville Herald Laura B. Martinez contributed to this report.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/dismissal-142598-lucio-seek.html
Probate judge OKs payment for trustee under investigation
Probate judge OKs payment for trustee under investigation
John E. Larkin will receive $50,000 from the trust fund of an 88-year-old heiress while the FBI probes his handling of her finances.
By Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times
July 18, 2012
The Los Angeles County probate judge who oversees an elderly heiress' trust fund approved $50,000 in compensation Tuesday for a Kabbalah Centre official who is under criminal investigation for his handling of the woman's financial affairs.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael I. Levanas signed off on John E. Larkin's payment request without comment. The money covers work that Larkin, a veteran Hollywood financial advisor, performed last year as a trustee for an $11-million family trust fund benefiting 88-year-old Susan Strong Davis. The probate court approves such payments because the trust fund was set up by Davis' mother's will.
Davis' nieces have said she has suffered from dementia for several years, a period in which Larkin sold her a vacant lot he owned in Beverly Hills for what public records indicate was a $300,000 profit. Davis, who has lived in the same home in Palos Verdes Estates for three decades, borrowed more than $2 million from her trust fund to buy the Beverly Hills land and build a four-bedroom home there.
After a Times report detailing the transaction and a $600,000 donation she made to the Kabbalah Centre in 2005, police in Palos Verdes Estates launched an investigation into her finances, an inquiry taken over last month by federal agents. The IRS has been investigating the Kabbalah Centre for possible tax evasion since 2010. Larkin helps oversee the religious organization's finances.
Through his lawyer, Larkin has said he did nothing wrong and consistently acted in Davis' best interests.
In an April court filing, a lawyer for Larkin and another trustee wrote that the men had "managed and administered the trust estate frugally and without waste" and should each be paid $50,000. The request was accompanied by a statement signed by Davis that said she "does hereby urge the court" to pay the money from the family trust.
Fourteen distant relatives will inherit the trust fund assets upon Davis' death. Some have consulted an attorney about Larkin's conduct, but none objected to the $50,000 payout.
"You are always concerned when these kind of things are going on, but at the moment, we don't have any reason to not have him on" as a trustee, said Steven Rivers, a Sherman Oaks architect and Davis' great-step-nephew. He said Larkin had told him the Beverly Hills home would be put up for sale at the end of the summer and the proceeds would be used to repay the trust.
harriet.ryan@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kabbalah-20120718,0,2574125.story
John E. Larkin will receive $50,000 from the trust fund of an 88-year-old heiress while the FBI probes his handling of her finances.
By Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times
July 18, 2012
The Los Angeles County probate judge who oversees an elderly heiress' trust fund approved $50,000 in compensation Tuesday for a Kabbalah Centre official who is under criminal investigation for his handling of the woman's financial affairs.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael I. Levanas signed off on John E. Larkin's payment request without comment. The money covers work that Larkin, a veteran Hollywood financial advisor, performed last year as a trustee for an $11-million family trust fund benefiting 88-year-old Susan Strong Davis. The probate court approves such payments because the trust fund was set up by Davis' mother's will.
Davis' nieces have said she has suffered from dementia for several years, a period in which Larkin sold her a vacant lot he owned in Beverly Hills for what public records indicate was a $300,000 profit. Davis, who has lived in the same home in Palos Verdes Estates for three decades, borrowed more than $2 million from her trust fund to buy the Beverly Hills land and build a four-bedroom home there.
After a Times report detailing the transaction and a $600,000 donation she made to the Kabbalah Centre in 2005, police in Palos Verdes Estates launched an investigation into her finances, an inquiry taken over last month by federal agents. The IRS has been investigating the Kabbalah Centre for possible tax evasion since 2010. Larkin helps oversee the religious organization's finances.
Through his lawyer, Larkin has said he did nothing wrong and consistently acted in Davis' best interests.
In an April court filing, a lawyer for Larkin and another trustee wrote that the men had "managed and administered the trust estate frugally and without waste" and should each be paid $50,000. The request was accompanied by a statement signed by Davis that said she "does hereby urge the court" to pay the money from the family trust.
Fourteen distant relatives will inherit the trust fund assets upon Davis' death. Some have consulted an attorney about Larkin's conduct, but none objected to the $50,000 payout.
"You are always concerned when these kind of things are going on, but at the moment, we don't have any reason to not have him on" as a trustee, said Steven Rivers, a Sherman Oaks architect and Davis' great-step-nephew. He said Larkin had told him the Beverly Hills home would be put up for sale at the end of the summer and the proceeds would be used to repay the trust.
harriet.ryan@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kabbalah-20120718,0,2574125.story
Monday, July 23, 2012
Financial elder abuse the focus of Wednesday CFPB forum in Cleveland
Financial elder abuse the focus of Wednesday CFPB forum in Cleveland
elder abuseJuly 23, 2012
By: John Michael Spinelli0 Email.Get Government alerts!
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The Cleveland CFPB forum, "Financial Protection for Older Adults," runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. July 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Carnegie Ave. It includes sessions on reverse mortgages, medical fraud and financial exploitation.Related topics
•elder abuse•financial exploitation•guardianships•Richard Cordray•Mickey Rooney.Advertisement
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now run by former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, will hold a forum in Cleveland Wednesday, where the agency's head of the Office of Older Americans will headline an event focused on the growing industry of opportunity many see in financially exploiting the nation's elderly.
Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III will give the keynote speech at a free forum on financial abuse and the elderly at the Hilton Garden Inn on Carnegie Ave.
Under the direction of the U.S. Administration on Aging, The National Center on Elder Abuse reports that accurate national statistics about how many older Americans are being neglected, exploited and abused are extremely difficult to gather, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union. The newspaper said that the varying state definitions of elder abuse, the lack of a uniform reporting system and the fact that it is often a hidden problem hinder national efforts to provide precise numbers.
One expert said the Cleveland forum will explore ways that the professionals who come into contact with senior citizens can help protect them. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional the Affordable Care Act, which enables the Elder Justice Act contained in it to unfold into action, President of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, Richard Browdie, says "it's a good time to put bankers, social workers, financial planners and lawyers together to talk about the financial exploitation of seniors," the Cleveland Plain Dealer (CPD) reported.
For others, though, they see the professionals who do come into contact with senior citizens, sometime through guardianship arrangements blessed by judges, as the problem, not the solution. Long-time elder abuse advocate Tom Fields of Mentor asks, why does everyone assume the incapacitated can tell they’re being swindled? "When will somebody other than us get that, such as the lawyers and the doctors and the notaries and all the rest who choose to believe this doesn’t' exist?"
A new study done by researchers at USC's Davis School of Gerontology has found that Latino elders suffer high rates of abuse but their mistreatment goes largely unreported. More than 40 percent of the Spanish-speaking elders sampled by the researchers had been abused or neglected in the last year, yet fewer than 2 percent reported abuse to authorities.
Many cases demonstrate the need for legal reforms to discourage the financial exploitation of individuals with severe cognitive impairment at the time they execute wills, trusts, POAs (Power of Attorney), deeds, mortgages and other important legal/financial documents, Field's notes, adding that adherance to a simple 5-step protocol will do much to "discourage the ruinous litigation which often results under such circumstances."
Here's Field's 5-step protocol:
STEP 1: Use a CHECKLIST to identify situations which involve individuals with severe cognitive impairment and so require the rest of the protocol to be followed.
STEP 2: Have an independent examiner ask the transferor OPEN-ENDED questions to learn what business, if any, he wants or expects to conduct at this time.
STEP 3: Have an independent examiner ask the transferor to provide details about what he expects the document to include.
STEP 4: Have an independent examiner ask the transferor questions which others might reasonably want to ask if they were present, including questions about the transferor's understanding of the suspicions that his signing the document might raise and the transferor's ability to address those suspicions.
STEP 5: Have an independent examiner explore potential conflicts between the transferor's expectations and the content of the document.
Fields has presented his protocol and information to the Elder Abuse Commission in the Office of Ohio Attorney General, led by Mike DeWine. He says, "At the very least, I believe this forum needs to (1) feature the ABC News video and report and (2) make clear the distinction between efforts to protect older adults with “mild” cognitive impairment and efforts like that focused upon here to protect older adults with “severe” cognitive impairment.
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional the Affordable Care Act, which enables the Elder Justice Act contained in it to unfold into action, President of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, Richard Browdie, says "it's a good time to put bankers, social workers, financial planners and lawyers together to talk about the financial exploitation of seniors," the Cleveland Plain Dealer (CPD) reported.
"Older Americans face many financial challenges as they age," the homepage of the Office of Older Americans says. "They have opportunities to travel, explore new fields of work or hobbies, or spend time with family and friends. But often scam artists or bad advice take away these opportunities."
Seniors want and need information and tools to navigate safely through financial challenges, and OOA is well-designed and well-resourced to supplying it.
Elder abuse generally falls into three categories – domestic, institutional and self-abuse. Domestic abuse refers to maltreatment caused by someone with a special relationship with the elder such as a spouse, a sibling, a child, a friend or a caregiver. Institutional abuse refers to that which occurs in residential facilities like nursing homes, group homes and varieties of care facilities where the abuse is usually perpetrated by people who have a contractual obligation to provide for elders. It's often prosecuted in different ways by different people, regardless of whether they are family or friends, who through intention or ignorance go awry, or through malice aforethought by unscrupulous strangers whose mission is to prey successfully on unsuspecting elders who can be bamboozle into signing away their money, investments, homes and other assets, maybe even their lives, at a time when they are at their least competent.
Elder abuse advocates point to a 3-minute video aired by ABC News as the kind of treatment that needs to be stopped, and that judges and other in the judicial system who can prevent it are often the very enablers who pave the way for it to happen. For this and other reasons, some critics argue the Elder Justice Act and the Elder Abuse Victims Act don't have enough teeth to really take a bite out of the problem by effectively and reliably preventing crimes like the one portrayed in the ABC News video.
Mickey Rooney, the iconic American child actor who won fame and fortune over many decades, starring in such great movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's, Requiem for a Heavyweight, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World and many more, is starring in what may be his last great role, that of a financially abused elder.
The idea that a homegrown star of Rooney's Hollywood caliber could be taken advantage of by a family member might seem far fetched, but that's exactly what happened. NBC Los Angeles reported recently that Rooney attended a conservatorship hearing tied to his allegations that he has been emotionally, verbally and financially abused by his stepson, Christopher Aber and his wife, Christina, who have been accused of "depriving Rooney of 'food and medications, and prohibited him from leaving his house.'"
Other efforts at tackling the subject are afoot, too. "Last Will and Embezzlement," a movie that takes a crack at the topic of financial elder abuse, features Rooney and his saga. Movie tagline: "If it can happen to Mickey Rooney, it can happen to anybody."
Browdie of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging told the Plain Dealer, "Because the financial marketplace has become more complicated, the intervention is more complicated." The goal, he said, is to devise better, more proactive strategies for keeping seniors and their money safe. "It isn't a scam until somebody says yes."
The U.S. Administration on Aging offers these statistics on elder abuse overall:
• In 2003, there were approximately, 381,430 reports of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation made to some Adult Protective Services programs.
• Some estimate that only one in 14 cases of elder abuse comes to the attention of authorities.
Many agree that reforms in long-term care are needed, but with so little attention focused on it due in large part to under-reporting, abusing the elderly, financially and otherwise, may be a crime that pays off. Other concerns include understaffing at many assisted living and nursing homes and the increased harm that comes from politicians who continue to want to wield a budget ax on these same facilities.
http://www.examiner.com/article/financial-elder-abuse-the-focus-of-wednesday-cfpb-forum-cleveland?cid=rss
elder abuseJuly 23, 2012
By: John Michael Spinelli0 Email.Get Government alerts!
E-mail *
+Show do not change Contact Email Contact Email2 Contact Url Subscribe to Blog Remember my Info . .
The Cleveland CFPB forum, "Financial Protection for Older Adults," runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. July 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Carnegie Ave. It includes sessions on reverse mortgages, medical fraud and financial exploitation.Related topics
•elder abuse•financial exploitation•guardianships•Richard Cordray•Mickey Rooney.Advertisement
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now run by former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, will hold a forum in Cleveland Wednesday, where the agency's head of the Office of Older Americans will headline an event focused on the growing industry of opportunity many see in financially exploiting the nation's elderly.
Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III will give the keynote speech at a free forum on financial abuse and the elderly at the Hilton Garden Inn on Carnegie Ave.
Under the direction of the U.S. Administration on Aging, The National Center on Elder Abuse reports that accurate national statistics about how many older Americans are being neglected, exploited and abused are extremely difficult to gather, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union. The newspaper said that the varying state definitions of elder abuse, the lack of a uniform reporting system and the fact that it is often a hidden problem hinder national efforts to provide precise numbers.
One expert said the Cleveland forum will explore ways that the professionals who come into contact with senior citizens can help protect them. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional the Affordable Care Act, which enables the Elder Justice Act contained in it to unfold into action, President of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, Richard Browdie, says "it's a good time to put bankers, social workers, financial planners and lawyers together to talk about the financial exploitation of seniors," the Cleveland Plain Dealer (CPD) reported.
For others, though, they see the professionals who do come into contact with senior citizens, sometime through guardianship arrangements blessed by judges, as the problem, not the solution. Long-time elder abuse advocate Tom Fields of Mentor asks, why does everyone assume the incapacitated can tell they’re being swindled? "When will somebody other than us get that, such as the lawyers and the doctors and the notaries and all the rest who choose to believe this doesn’t' exist?"
A new study done by researchers at USC's Davis School of Gerontology has found that Latino elders suffer high rates of abuse but their mistreatment goes largely unreported. More than 40 percent of the Spanish-speaking elders sampled by the researchers had been abused or neglected in the last year, yet fewer than 2 percent reported abuse to authorities.
Many cases demonstrate the need for legal reforms to discourage the financial exploitation of individuals with severe cognitive impairment at the time they execute wills, trusts, POAs (Power of Attorney), deeds, mortgages and other important legal/financial documents, Field's notes, adding that adherance to a simple 5-step protocol will do much to "discourage the ruinous litigation which often results under such circumstances."
Here's Field's 5-step protocol:
STEP 1: Use a CHECKLIST to identify situations which involve individuals with severe cognitive impairment and so require the rest of the protocol to be followed.
STEP 2: Have an independent examiner ask the transferor OPEN-ENDED questions to learn what business, if any, he wants or expects to conduct at this time.
STEP 3: Have an independent examiner ask the transferor to provide details about what he expects the document to include.
STEP 4: Have an independent examiner ask the transferor questions which others might reasonably want to ask if they were present, including questions about the transferor's understanding of the suspicions that his signing the document might raise and the transferor's ability to address those suspicions.
STEP 5: Have an independent examiner explore potential conflicts between the transferor's expectations and the content of the document.
Fields has presented his protocol and information to the Elder Abuse Commission in the Office of Ohio Attorney General, led by Mike DeWine. He says, "At the very least, I believe this forum needs to (1) feature the ABC News video and report and (2) make clear the distinction between efforts to protect older adults with “mild” cognitive impairment and efforts like that focused upon here to protect older adults with “severe” cognitive impairment.
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional the Affordable Care Act, which enables the Elder Justice Act contained in it to unfold into action, President of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, Richard Browdie, says "it's a good time to put bankers, social workers, financial planners and lawyers together to talk about the financial exploitation of seniors," the Cleveland Plain Dealer (CPD) reported.
"Older Americans face many financial challenges as they age," the homepage of the Office of Older Americans says. "They have opportunities to travel, explore new fields of work or hobbies, or spend time with family and friends. But often scam artists or bad advice take away these opportunities."
Seniors want and need information and tools to navigate safely through financial challenges, and OOA is well-designed and well-resourced to supplying it.
Elder abuse generally falls into three categories – domestic, institutional and self-abuse. Domestic abuse refers to maltreatment caused by someone with a special relationship with the elder such as a spouse, a sibling, a child, a friend or a caregiver. Institutional abuse refers to that which occurs in residential facilities like nursing homes, group homes and varieties of care facilities where the abuse is usually perpetrated by people who have a contractual obligation to provide for elders. It's often prosecuted in different ways by different people, regardless of whether they are family or friends, who through intention or ignorance go awry, or through malice aforethought by unscrupulous strangers whose mission is to prey successfully on unsuspecting elders who can be bamboozle into signing away their money, investments, homes and other assets, maybe even their lives, at a time when they are at their least competent.
Elder abuse advocates point to a 3-minute video aired by ABC News as the kind of treatment that needs to be stopped, and that judges and other in the judicial system who can prevent it are often the very enablers who pave the way for it to happen. For this and other reasons, some critics argue the Elder Justice Act and the Elder Abuse Victims Act don't have enough teeth to really take a bite out of the problem by effectively and reliably preventing crimes like the one portrayed in the ABC News video.
Mickey Rooney, the iconic American child actor who won fame and fortune over many decades, starring in such great movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's, Requiem for a Heavyweight, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World and many more, is starring in what may be his last great role, that of a financially abused elder.
The idea that a homegrown star of Rooney's Hollywood caliber could be taken advantage of by a family member might seem far fetched, but that's exactly what happened. NBC Los Angeles reported recently that Rooney attended a conservatorship hearing tied to his allegations that he has been emotionally, verbally and financially abused by his stepson, Christopher Aber and his wife, Christina, who have been accused of "depriving Rooney of 'food and medications, and prohibited him from leaving his house.'"
Other efforts at tackling the subject are afoot, too. "Last Will and Embezzlement," a movie that takes a crack at the topic of financial elder abuse, features Rooney and his saga. Movie tagline: "If it can happen to Mickey Rooney, it can happen to anybody."
Browdie of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging told the Plain Dealer, "Because the financial marketplace has become more complicated, the intervention is more complicated." The goal, he said, is to devise better, more proactive strategies for keeping seniors and their money safe. "It isn't a scam until somebody says yes."
The U.S. Administration on Aging offers these statistics on elder abuse overall:
• In 2003, there were approximately, 381,430 reports of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation made to some Adult Protective Services programs.
• Some estimate that only one in 14 cases of elder abuse comes to the attention of authorities.
Many agree that reforms in long-term care are needed, but with so little attention focused on it due in large part to under-reporting, abusing the elderly, financially and otherwise, may be a crime that pays off. Other concerns include understaffing at many assisted living and nursing homes and the increased harm that comes from politicians who continue to want to wield a budget ax on these same facilities.
http://www.examiner.com/article/financial-elder-abuse-the-focus-of-wednesday-cfpb-forum-cleveland?cid=rss
Lawless America — The Movie’ & the Filming of the Gary & Sara Harvey Case
Lawless America — The Movie’ & the Filming of the Gary & Sara Harvey Case
July 22, 2012 · By Carrie K. Hutchens · 3 Comments
diggThe Star Gazette’s Ray Finger was on hand during filming for “Lawless America — The Movie”, which took place Thursday, July 19, 2012 in Elmira, New York. The subjects of the Elmira segment were Gary & Sara Harvey and the government officials and their attorneys who have kept Gary Harvey isolated in a hospital room with little stimulation and extremely restricted visitation.
Finger reports:
Filmmaker and activist William Windsor is a man on a mission, and that mission brought him to Elmira on Thursday as he seeks to battle what he calls 14 categories of corruption.
“Our challenge is to educate and reach a million-plus people,” said Windsor, who started June 14 on a 143-day trip through all 50 states to work on “Lawless America – The Movie.”
“I’m having trouble knowing what day of the week it is. I usually know what state I’m in, but not always,” he said with a chuckle as he prepared to begin filming Thursday at St. Joseph’s Boulevard and High Street.
Through the project, he is recording the stories of people who say they are victims of judicial and governmental corruption.
“The name ‘Lawless America’ was developed not to say our country is lawless or that we have a lot of lawless people,” he said.
“It’s to say that we have laws and they aren’t enforced, and we have people who are supposed to enforce the law and they don’t do the right thing, so they’re lawless. The judges change the law at a moment’s notice.”
Finger further reports:
Windsor called the Harveys’ situation a horrible story.
“He has no business having a guardian other than his loving wife,” he said.
“From my experience with the people I’ve filmed for guardian abuse, they go for the money. Guardians get put in place when you have family members that are ready, willing and able to do it and care for their loved ones,” he said.
Victims end up getting bled dry of their money, he said. “That’s a disgrace, and we have to try to expose it.”
Mr. Windsor has taken note of the Harvey story, (as well as the stories of numerous other victims), and he is taking the story out of the guarded territory and out into the public eye. No longer will it matter if the mainstream media ignores these stories, failing to give victims a voice. No longer will it matter who has turned (or is attempting to turn) a blind eye or only listened to half a story. Now the truth will be told and the victims will be heard.
Gary fell down the basement steps at his home in January 2006 and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Since the accident, he has been in either a nursing home or the hospital. Being under the authority of Chemung County, NY, who was involved in a so-called ethics committee decision to petition to starve & dehydrate him to death, Gary has been basically isolated and allowed only restricted (and very limited) visitation from his wife and friends.
Sara wants her husband to receive a second opinion — an independent second opinion — and for Gary to have every chance possible to recover to whatever level he is able. She has, after all, repeatedly seen him be meaningfully responsive in his interactions with her and others. But those in control of Gary refuse to acknowledge this fact while at the same time refusing to allow him to receive an outside second opinion at a leading-edge brain injury hospital with much-higher-level experts. This is despite the fact that it appears over one million dollars has been spent in the past year on supposed health care for Gary that has not included any significant rehabilitative therapies. Sara Harvey believes that with physical therapy and a healthy dose of interaction with people that Gary knows that his quality of life will have a chance to improve drastically. She is prepared to give him that chance. She is prepared to bring him home where he would want to be. (In that Cold Room of Isolation: The Case of Gary Harvey- Dakota Voice – Aug. 24, 2011)
Chemung County would have people believe that Sara is somehow a danger to her husband. Their accusations of abuse have all been debunked, yet they repeat them or leave the insinuation in the air and left up to one’s imagination. The truth is that those in charge of Gary Harvey, petitioned the court to have him starved and dehydrated to death. They were attempting to kill him off, yet feel the rest of us should believe it is Sara, not they, who endanger his well-being?
How stupid they must feel others are. Or, perhaps it is more that they feel they have the information contained and too few will know the true story behind the Gary Harvey case. Perhaps that was once true, but things changed on Thursday, July 19, 2012 when William Windsor came to Elmira, New York to film the Harvey segment of “Lawless America — The Movie”. It all changed!
The isolation of Gary Harvey and Sara’s desperate fight to save her husband from an uncaring system, will no longer be a campaign controlled and directed by those in power. A new director did indeed come to town and his name is William Windsor. He’s on a mission to out the offenders and bring lawfulness back into the rules.
The filmmaker is William Windsor. The film is “Lawless America — The Movie”. The once silenced truth is about to make it’s way to the screen in shocking revelation. Yes, America, this is what is happening. It’s time to stop the abuse.
(More on William Windsor’s endeavor at http://lawlessamerica.com/ and www.facebook.com/lawlessamerica )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.americanclarion.com/10298/2012/07/22/lawless-america-movie-filming-gary-sara-harvey-case
July 22, 2012 · By Carrie K. Hutchens · 3 Comments
diggThe Star Gazette’s Ray Finger was on hand during filming for “Lawless America — The Movie”, which took place Thursday, July 19, 2012 in Elmira, New York. The subjects of the Elmira segment were Gary & Sara Harvey and the government officials and their attorneys who have kept Gary Harvey isolated in a hospital room with little stimulation and extremely restricted visitation.
Finger reports:
Filmmaker and activist William Windsor is a man on a mission, and that mission brought him to Elmira on Thursday as he seeks to battle what he calls 14 categories of corruption.
“Our challenge is to educate and reach a million-plus people,” said Windsor, who started June 14 on a 143-day trip through all 50 states to work on “Lawless America – The Movie.”
“I’m having trouble knowing what day of the week it is. I usually know what state I’m in, but not always,” he said with a chuckle as he prepared to begin filming Thursday at St. Joseph’s Boulevard and High Street.
Through the project, he is recording the stories of people who say they are victims of judicial and governmental corruption.
“The name ‘Lawless America’ was developed not to say our country is lawless or that we have a lot of lawless people,” he said.
“It’s to say that we have laws and they aren’t enforced, and we have people who are supposed to enforce the law and they don’t do the right thing, so they’re lawless. The judges change the law at a moment’s notice.”
Finger further reports:
Windsor called the Harveys’ situation a horrible story.
“He has no business having a guardian other than his loving wife,” he said.
“From my experience with the people I’ve filmed for guardian abuse, they go for the money. Guardians get put in place when you have family members that are ready, willing and able to do it and care for their loved ones,” he said.
Victims end up getting bled dry of their money, he said. “That’s a disgrace, and we have to try to expose it.”
Mr. Windsor has taken note of the Harvey story, (as well as the stories of numerous other victims), and he is taking the story out of the guarded territory and out into the public eye. No longer will it matter if the mainstream media ignores these stories, failing to give victims a voice. No longer will it matter who has turned (or is attempting to turn) a blind eye or only listened to half a story. Now the truth will be told and the victims will be heard.
Gary fell down the basement steps at his home in January 2006 and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Since the accident, he has been in either a nursing home or the hospital. Being under the authority of Chemung County, NY, who was involved in a so-called ethics committee decision to petition to starve & dehydrate him to death, Gary has been basically isolated and allowed only restricted (and very limited) visitation from his wife and friends.
Sara wants her husband to receive a second opinion — an independent second opinion — and for Gary to have every chance possible to recover to whatever level he is able. She has, after all, repeatedly seen him be meaningfully responsive in his interactions with her and others. But those in control of Gary refuse to acknowledge this fact while at the same time refusing to allow him to receive an outside second opinion at a leading-edge brain injury hospital with much-higher-level experts. This is despite the fact that it appears over one million dollars has been spent in the past year on supposed health care for Gary that has not included any significant rehabilitative therapies. Sara Harvey believes that with physical therapy and a healthy dose of interaction with people that Gary knows that his quality of life will have a chance to improve drastically. She is prepared to give him that chance. She is prepared to bring him home where he would want to be. (In that Cold Room of Isolation: The Case of Gary Harvey- Dakota Voice – Aug. 24, 2011)
Chemung County would have people believe that Sara is somehow a danger to her husband. Their accusations of abuse have all been debunked, yet they repeat them or leave the insinuation in the air and left up to one’s imagination. The truth is that those in charge of Gary Harvey, petitioned the court to have him starved and dehydrated to death. They were attempting to kill him off, yet feel the rest of us should believe it is Sara, not they, who endanger his well-being?
How stupid they must feel others are. Or, perhaps it is more that they feel they have the information contained and too few will know the true story behind the Gary Harvey case. Perhaps that was once true, but things changed on Thursday, July 19, 2012 when William Windsor came to Elmira, New York to film the Harvey segment of “Lawless America — The Movie”. It all changed!
The isolation of Gary Harvey and Sara’s desperate fight to save her husband from an uncaring system, will no longer be a campaign controlled and directed by those in power. A new director did indeed come to town and his name is William Windsor. He’s on a mission to out the offenders and bring lawfulness back into the rules.
The filmmaker is William Windsor. The film is “Lawless America — The Movie”. The once silenced truth is about to make it’s way to the screen in shocking revelation. Yes, America, this is what is happening. It’s time to stop the abuse.
(More on William Windsor’s endeavor at http://lawlessamerica.com/ and www.facebook.com/lawlessamerica )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.americanclarion.com/10298/2012/07/22/lawless-america-movie-filming-gary-sara-harvey-case
Sunday, July 22, 2012
2 tied to false confessions now instruct cops on investigating
chicagotribune.com
2 tied to false confessions now instruct cops on investigating
2 men tied to tainted Lake County prosecutions now training cops in state to be 'lead homicide investigators'
By Dan Hinkel, Chicago Tribune reporter
April 6, 2012
Hoping to prevent bungled police probes and prosecutions like those that have plagued Illinois' legal system, state lawmakers mandated the creation of a class to certify officers as "lead homicide investigators."
But one of the teams being paid tax dollars to teach the five-day course consists of two law-enforcement figures who were involved in — and sometimes central to — a spate of collapsing prosecutions in Lake County, including high-profile cases that disintegrated in the face of contradictory evidence.
In December, appeals judges called out former Waukegan Detective Lou Tessmann by name as they ordered the release of Juan Rivera after almost 20 years in prison. The judges questioned Tessmann's interrogation tactics and the believability of the confession he took from Rivera in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
The other trainer, Jeffrey Pavletic, has spent 15 years as second-in-command in the Lake County state's attorney's office, an agency battered by recent legal losses in cases where defendants were pursued for years after DNA seemed to suggest their innocence.
Pavletic prosecuted Rivera and handled pretrial hearings for Jerry Hobbs, who was released in 2010 after evidence pointed toward another man in the stabbing deaths of two Zion girls. Like Rivera, Hobbs had confessed after a grueling interrogation that prosecutors defended as legally sound.
Pavletic also tried another man, James Edwards, whose guilt has been called into question by DNA.
The legal and financial fallout from these cases promises to trouble Lake County for years, and critics of its judicial system said they were disturbed to learn that officers around the state are being taught by two of the county's key law enforcement figures — at taxpayer expense.
Proper police training could help stem the flow of false confessions and wrongful convictions revealed in the last 25 years by advancing DNA technology, experts said. Steven Drizin, legal director of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, said he fears Lake County's approach to investigations, interrogations and prosecutions could be transmitted "like a virus."
"Are they spreading the wrong lessons throughout the state?" he asked.
Legislators who pushed the certification law, which took effect Jan. 1, questioned the vetting process for instructors. Sen. William Haine, the former Madison County state's attorney, was "shocked" when told by the Tribune that the men taught the course in a nearby county in December.
"I'm at a loss as to why they went up to Chicago to get (instructors with) more baggage than a Greyhound bus when they have diamonds right there in their own backyard," he said.
Pavletic declined to comment. But the lawyer defending him against Hobbs' civil lawsuit, James Sotos, called his client an "extremely ethical and diligent prosecutor."
Tessmann declined to comment.
David Zulawski, chairman of Wicklander-Zulawski & Assocs., the firm that hires out Tessmann and Pavletic for state-sponsored courses, expressed confidence in the men and questioned Rivera's innocence.
"I don't have any doubts about their integrity at all," Zulawski said. "If I did have doubts, they wouldn't work for me."
Cashing in on courses
Although the lead homicide investigator certification class is new, Tessmann and Pavletic have been teaching similar ones for years. Taxpayers have paid nearly $300,000 for courses involving one or both men since 2007, a Tribune investigation has found.
They aren't the only Lake County law enforcement figures who teach police. The Tribune revealed in 2010 that Waukegan Officer Domenic Cappelluti — who helped obtain confessions from Hobbs and another murder suspect who was later cleared — teaches investigation and interrogation through a private firm.
Newly obtained documents show public agencies statewide have paid about $158,000 for classes involving Cappelluti since 2007.
In Illinois, much of the training that police receive comes through 16 regional organizations affiliated with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The local agencies are almost entirely responsible for selecting and evaluating instructors, state training board officials said, and often hire private firms such as Wicklander-Zulawski.
The firm advertises Tessmann and Pavletic as seasoned professionals from the elite ranks of law enforcement.
Tessmann, a decorated Vietnam veteran, spent 21 years as a police officer, led the county's Major Crimes Task Force and served as Waukegan's deputy police chief. He retired in 2005.
Pavletic has been in the state's attorney's office since 1984 and has worked on about 150 jury trials, according to online promotional materials.
From 2007 to 2011, before the advent of the lead homicide investigator certification, agencies across the state already had paid Wicklander-Zulawski $267,450 total for training sessions involving Tessmann, Pavletic or both, according to records provided to the Tribune.
State Sen. John Millner, R-Carol Stream, pushed for the law, passed in 2010, that mandated the lead homicide investigator training program. A former Elmhurst police chief and police trainer himself, Millner was alarmed by headlines exposing botched investigations and worried that some detectives were "flying by the seat of their pants."
The certification is not mandatory, but police forces across the state appear to value it. As of mid-March, about 2,500 officers had either taken the classes or were certified based on past training and experience, said Larry Smith, deputy director of the state board.
Wicklander-Zulawski is one of three firms teaching the course. Pavletic and Tessmann had taught the class twice as of January.
The men tackle separate sections, with Pavletic teaching about Miranda rights, search warrants, interrogation, report-writing and testifying, according to a teaching outline shared by Pavletic's lawyer. Tessmann, meanwhile, focuses on crime scene investigation and suspect interrogation, said a detective who took the class.
Though it is not required by the state's curriculum, Zulawski said any class offered through his company would cover the possibility of false confessions. Through his lawyer, Pavletic said risk factors and warning sings of false confessions are discussed.
Two officers who participated gave their teachers positive reviews.
They "had a deep commitment to what we do as police officers, and it came through in the training," said Carbondale Sgt. Anthony Williams.
Though Tessmann and Pavletic have been associated with flawed cases, training officials noted that mistakes happen to everyone in law enforcement.
"A lot of people have something in their history that they're not proud of," said Kevin McClain, executive director of the Training and Standards Board.
But the problems with the cases Tessmann and Pavletic worked go beyond simple mistakes, experts on false confessions and wrongful convictions said.
"Its almost like the Lake County criminal justice system should be in receivership," said Richard Leo, a University of San Francisco law professor who studies false confessions.
Collapsing cases
Tessmann's record on interrogations is highlighted on the Wicklander-Zulawski website, where his bio touts that he has "obtained over 80 homicide confessions during his career with only three instances where he was unable to obtain a confession from the homicide suspect."
Defense lawyers and experts find that claim unsettling.
"Unless he is making near-perfect clinical judgments (of a suspect's guilt) … that is a confession rate that should be a source of concern," said Saul Kassin, a psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Tessmann's most famous interrogation involved Rivera, who was questioned two months after 11-year-old Holly Staker was raped and stabbed to death in Waukegan in 1992.
Then 19, Rivera confessed after polygraph testing and an interrogation that stretched across four days. After twice being convicted, Rivera was granted a third trial in 2009 based on DNA evidence showing another man's semen was in Holly's body.
Prosecutors sought to explain the evidence by saying the girl had sex with another man around the time of her killing, and the confession was essential to the case. Authorities maintained Rivera gave details only the killer could know.
Rivera's lawyers argued that Tessmann's sworn testimony as to how Rivera confessed was "difficult to take seriously." They sought to convince jurors that Tessmann had supplied the details in a confession the detective himself had typed for the suspect to sign.
Jurors again found him guilty. But last December, appeals judges reversed that, writing in a withering opinion that "no rational trier of fact" could have found him guilty.
The judges noted that Tessmann and another officer acknowledged they might have asked Rivera leading questions, and the judges wrote that the evidence did not "inspire belief in the defendant's candid acknowledgment of guilt." Rivera was freed after 20 years in prison.
The Rivera trial was not the first time Tessmann's account of an investigation had been questioned.
In 1990, a 19-year-old Lombard man was charged with robbing a woman at knifepoint after Tessmann told a grand jury the victim had identified the man in a photo lineup, according to court records. But those charges were quickly dropped when another man admitted to the crime.
The Lombard man sued Tessmann and Waukegan, and the witness said in a deposition she had told the detective something very different about the lineup. She said she told Tessmann, "This is the guy who looks the closest, but it's not him," according to a transcript.
Jurors awarded the man a $71,500 judgment against Tessmann, which Waukegan paid, according to a city attorney.
As to Tessmann's educational credentials, online biographies published by Wicklander-Zulawski raise more questions than they answer.
Until 2004, Tessmann's bio on the site said he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1974, but the schools in the state's university system reported he had not graduated from their institutions.
DNA problems
During Pavletic's 15 years as chief deputy prosecutor, two cases have been dismantled by DNA, and two more remain in question. He tried or handled pretrial activities for three of the four cases.
At two trials in the 1990s, Pavletic worked to convince jurors that a confession outweighed other evidence. He personally prosecuted the first Rivera trial. The other was that of James Edwards, whose conviction in the 1994 killing of Fred Reckling in Waukegan has been cast into doubt by blood evidence linking another felon to the scene.
Then in 2005, Pavletic was called to help handle the case against Hobbs, who was charged with the heinous stabbing deaths of his daughter Laura, 8, and her friend Krystal Tobias, 9, in a Zion park.
A recent transplant from Texas with a long record and little education, Hobbs had confessed at the end of intermittent questioning that lasted about 24 hours.
By August 2007, defense lawyers had learned semen found in Laura Hobbs' body didn't match that of her father.
Pavletic was in court in 2008 when then-Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel told a judge the semen didn't indicate Hobbs' innocence, according to a transcript. Couples sometimes had sex in the woods, Mermel said, and the girl could have touched some semen and then wiped herself.
Almost three years after the DNA mismatch was revealed — and after Hobbs had spent nearly five years in jail — the FBI's DNA database revealed a link between the semen and former Marine Jorge Torrez, a Zion native and close friend of Krystal Tobias' brother, according to court records. Pavletic appeared in court to drop the charges against Hobbs in 2010.
While Hobbs was jailed, prosecutors in Virginia allege, Torrez killed a Navy petty officer in her barracks. He faces trial in that case and is already serving five life sentences for attacks on women in Virginia.
The cases of Hobbs and Rivera could be used to show police and prosecutors how not to try to solve a murder, experts said, from the long, aggressive interrogations of the suspects to prosecutors' unwillingness to change course in the face of forensic evidence.
Although it's unclear exactly what Pavletic and Tessmann are teaching, Williams, the Carbondale sergeant who took the class, recalled one thing the former detective discussed — the Rivera case.
The retired detective told his pupils that Juan Rivera gave details of the crime only the killer could have known, Williams said.
On the last day of that downstate training in December, the appeals court disagreed.
A few weeks later, Rivera walked free. The Staker killing remains unsolved.
dhinkel@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-police-training-20120406,0,7358533.story
2 tied to false confessions now instruct cops on investigating
2 men tied to tainted Lake County prosecutions now training cops in state to be 'lead homicide investigators'
By Dan Hinkel, Chicago Tribune reporter
April 6, 2012
Hoping to prevent bungled police probes and prosecutions like those that have plagued Illinois' legal system, state lawmakers mandated the creation of a class to certify officers as "lead homicide investigators."
But one of the teams being paid tax dollars to teach the five-day course consists of two law-enforcement figures who were involved in — and sometimes central to — a spate of collapsing prosecutions in Lake County, including high-profile cases that disintegrated in the face of contradictory evidence.
In December, appeals judges called out former Waukegan Detective Lou Tessmann by name as they ordered the release of Juan Rivera after almost 20 years in prison. The judges questioned Tessmann's interrogation tactics and the believability of the confession he took from Rivera in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
The other trainer, Jeffrey Pavletic, has spent 15 years as second-in-command in the Lake County state's attorney's office, an agency battered by recent legal losses in cases where defendants were pursued for years after DNA seemed to suggest their innocence.
Pavletic prosecuted Rivera and handled pretrial hearings for Jerry Hobbs, who was released in 2010 after evidence pointed toward another man in the stabbing deaths of two Zion girls. Like Rivera, Hobbs had confessed after a grueling interrogation that prosecutors defended as legally sound.
Pavletic also tried another man, James Edwards, whose guilt has been called into question by DNA.
The legal and financial fallout from these cases promises to trouble Lake County for years, and critics of its judicial system said they were disturbed to learn that officers around the state are being taught by two of the county's key law enforcement figures — at taxpayer expense.
Proper police training could help stem the flow of false confessions and wrongful convictions revealed in the last 25 years by advancing DNA technology, experts said. Steven Drizin, legal director of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, said he fears Lake County's approach to investigations, interrogations and prosecutions could be transmitted "like a virus."
"Are they spreading the wrong lessons throughout the state?" he asked.
Legislators who pushed the certification law, which took effect Jan. 1, questioned the vetting process for instructors. Sen. William Haine, the former Madison County state's attorney, was "shocked" when told by the Tribune that the men taught the course in a nearby county in December.
"I'm at a loss as to why they went up to Chicago to get (instructors with) more baggage than a Greyhound bus when they have diamonds right there in their own backyard," he said.
Pavletic declined to comment. But the lawyer defending him against Hobbs' civil lawsuit, James Sotos, called his client an "extremely ethical and diligent prosecutor."
Tessmann declined to comment.
David Zulawski, chairman of Wicklander-Zulawski & Assocs., the firm that hires out Tessmann and Pavletic for state-sponsored courses, expressed confidence in the men and questioned Rivera's innocence.
"I don't have any doubts about their integrity at all," Zulawski said. "If I did have doubts, they wouldn't work for me."
Cashing in on courses
Although the lead homicide investigator certification class is new, Tessmann and Pavletic have been teaching similar ones for years. Taxpayers have paid nearly $300,000 for courses involving one or both men since 2007, a Tribune investigation has found.
They aren't the only Lake County law enforcement figures who teach police. The Tribune revealed in 2010 that Waukegan Officer Domenic Cappelluti — who helped obtain confessions from Hobbs and another murder suspect who was later cleared — teaches investigation and interrogation through a private firm.
Newly obtained documents show public agencies statewide have paid about $158,000 for classes involving Cappelluti since 2007.
In Illinois, much of the training that police receive comes through 16 regional organizations affiliated with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The local agencies are almost entirely responsible for selecting and evaluating instructors, state training board officials said, and often hire private firms such as Wicklander-Zulawski.
The firm advertises Tessmann and Pavletic as seasoned professionals from the elite ranks of law enforcement.
Tessmann, a decorated Vietnam veteran, spent 21 years as a police officer, led the county's Major Crimes Task Force and served as Waukegan's deputy police chief. He retired in 2005.
Pavletic has been in the state's attorney's office since 1984 and has worked on about 150 jury trials, according to online promotional materials.
From 2007 to 2011, before the advent of the lead homicide investigator certification, agencies across the state already had paid Wicklander-Zulawski $267,450 total for training sessions involving Tessmann, Pavletic or both, according to records provided to the Tribune.
State Sen. John Millner, R-Carol Stream, pushed for the law, passed in 2010, that mandated the lead homicide investigator training program. A former Elmhurst police chief and police trainer himself, Millner was alarmed by headlines exposing botched investigations and worried that some detectives were "flying by the seat of their pants."
The certification is not mandatory, but police forces across the state appear to value it. As of mid-March, about 2,500 officers had either taken the classes or were certified based on past training and experience, said Larry Smith, deputy director of the state board.
Wicklander-Zulawski is one of three firms teaching the course. Pavletic and Tessmann had taught the class twice as of January.
The men tackle separate sections, with Pavletic teaching about Miranda rights, search warrants, interrogation, report-writing and testifying, according to a teaching outline shared by Pavletic's lawyer. Tessmann, meanwhile, focuses on crime scene investigation and suspect interrogation, said a detective who took the class.
Though it is not required by the state's curriculum, Zulawski said any class offered through his company would cover the possibility of false confessions. Through his lawyer, Pavletic said risk factors and warning sings of false confessions are discussed.
Two officers who participated gave their teachers positive reviews.
They "had a deep commitment to what we do as police officers, and it came through in the training," said Carbondale Sgt. Anthony Williams.
Though Tessmann and Pavletic have been associated with flawed cases, training officials noted that mistakes happen to everyone in law enforcement.
"A lot of people have something in their history that they're not proud of," said Kevin McClain, executive director of the Training and Standards Board.
But the problems with the cases Tessmann and Pavletic worked go beyond simple mistakes, experts on false confessions and wrongful convictions said.
"Its almost like the Lake County criminal justice system should be in receivership," said Richard Leo, a University of San Francisco law professor who studies false confessions.
Collapsing cases
Tessmann's record on interrogations is highlighted on the Wicklander-Zulawski website, where his bio touts that he has "obtained over 80 homicide confessions during his career with only three instances where he was unable to obtain a confession from the homicide suspect."
Defense lawyers and experts find that claim unsettling.
"Unless he is making near-perfect clinical judgments (of a suspect's guilt) … that is a confession rate that should be a source of concern," said Saul Kassin, a psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Tessmann's most famous interrogation involved Rivera, who was questioned two months after 11-year-old Holly Staker was raped and stabbed to death in Waukegan in 1992.
Then 19, Rivera confessed after polygraph testing and an interrogation that stretched across four days. After twice being convicted, Rivera was granted a third trial in 2009 based on DNA evidence showing another man's semen was in Holly's body.
Prosecutors sought to explain the evidence by saying the girl had sex with another man around the time of her killing, and the confession was essential to the case. Authorities maintained Rivera gave details only the killer could know.
Rivera's lawyers argued that Tessmann's sworn testimony as to how Rivera confessed was "difficult to take seriously." They sought to convince jurors that Tessmann had supplied the details in a confession the detective himself had typed for the suspect to sign.
Jurors again found him guilty. But last December, appeals judges reversed that, writing in a withering opinion that "no rational trier of fact" could have found him guilty.
The judges noted that Tessmann and another officer acknowledged they might have asked Rivera leading questions, and the judges wrote that the evidence did not "inspire belief in the defendant's candid acknowledgment of guilt." Rivera was freed after 20 years in prison.
The Rivera trial was not the first time Tessmann's account of an investigation had been questioned.
In 1990, a 19-year-old Lombard man was charged with robbing a woman at knifepoint after Tessmann told a grand jury the victim had identified the man in a photo lineup, according to court records. But those charges were quickly dropped when another man admitted to the crime.
The Lombard man sued Tessmann and Waukegan, and the witness said in a deposition she had told the detective something very different about the lineup. She said she told Tessmann, "This is the guy who looks the closest, but it's not him," according to a transcript.
Jurors awarded the man a $71,500 judgment against Tessmann, which Waukegan paid, according to a city attorney.
As to Tessmann's educational credentials, online biographies published by Wicklander-Zulawski raise more questions than they answer.
Until 2004, Tessmann's bio on the site said he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1974, but the schools in the state's university system reported he had not graduated from their institutions.
DNA problems
During Pavletic's 15 years as chief deputy prosecutor, two cases have been dismantled by DNA, and two more remain in question. He tried or handled pretrial activities for three of the four cases.
At two trials in the 1990s, Pavletic worked to convince jurors that a confession outweighed other evidence. He personally prosecuted the first Rivera trial. The other was that of James Edwards, whose conviction in the 1994 killing of Fred Reckling in Waukegan has been cast into doubt by blood evidence linking another felon to the scene.
Then in 2005, Pavletic was called to help handle the case against Hobbs, who was charged with the heinous stabbing deaths of his daughter Laura, 8, and her friend Krystal Tobias, 9, in a Zion park.
A recent transplant from Texas with a long record and little education, Hobbs had confessed at the end of intermittent questioning that lasted about 24 hours.
By August 2007, defense lawyers had learned semen found in Laura Hobbs' body didn't match that of her father.
Pavletic was in court in 2008 when then-Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel told a judge the semen didn't indicate Hobbs' innocence, according to a transcript. Couples sometimes had sex in the woods, Mermel said, and the girl could have touched some semen and then wiped herself.
Almost three years after the DNA mismatch was revealed — and after Hobbs had spent nearly five years in jail — the FBI's DNA database revealed a link between the semen and former Marine Jorge Torrez, a Zion native and close friend of Krystal Tobias' brother, according to court records. Pavletic appeared in court to drop the charges against Hobbs in 2010.
While Hobbs was jailed, prosecutors in Virginia allege, Torrez killed a Navy petty officer in her barracks. He faces trial in that case and is already serving five life sentences for attacks on women in Virginia.
The cases of Hobbs and Rivera could be used to show police and prosecutors how not to try to solve a murder, experts said, from the long, aggressive interrogations of the suspects to prosecutors' unwillingness to change course in the face of forensic evidence.
Although it's unclear exactly what Pavletic and Tessmann are teaching, Williams, the Carbondale sergeant who took the class, recalled one thing the former detective discussed — the Rivera case.
The retired detective told his pupils that Juan Rivera gave details of the crime only the killer could have known, Williams said.
On the last day of that downstate training in December, the appeals court disagreed.
A few weeks later, Rivera walked free. The Staker killing remains unsolved.
dhinkel@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-police-training-20120406,0,7358533.story
Corruption filmmaker gathers local testimony
Corruption filmmaker gathers local testimony
Sandy Fonzo 1 of 7 area people Bill Windsor, of Georgia, videotaped for planned movie “Lawless America.”
MARK GUYDISH
11:09 pm
Photos
Filmmaker Bill Windsor prepares to interview Sandy Fonzo for an upcoming documentary at the Hampton Inn in Wilkes-Barre Township on Friday. Select images available for purchase in the
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Article appeared on page 3A of the Times Leader
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Get Text Alerts WILKES-BARRE TWP. – A man who dubs himself a leading authority on judicial corruption came to a place some would argue is the epitome of judicial corruption to interview a woman who has been the face of corruption victims.
Bill Windsor, a 63-year-old Georgian who claims to have been the victim of a corrupt judge himself, brought his documentary film venture to a room in the Hampton Inn Friday, videotaping testimony by seven area people who claim they are victims of corrupt public officials.
The avuncular Windsor is on a 143-day tour of all 50 states taking such testimonies, with plans to edit it all into a movie titled “Lawless America.” At 5 p.m. Friday, with pizza boxes on the bed and a root beer bottle on the dresser, he sat down to record Sandy Fonzo.
Fonzo gained national fame following the February 2011, conviction of former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella in the so-called “kids for cash” scandal, a moniker he was flatly rejecting on the courthouse steps after the verdict when Fonzo screamed her contention that Ciavarella’s mishandling of her son’s case as a juvenile led to his suicide.
“I’ve heard unbelievable stories,” Windsor said, “Sandy’s – as tragic as it is – at least it focuses a light on corruption here.
“And it’s not just here, there is rampant dishonesty bred from power, greed and ego.”
The son of a man who proved a bit of a lawbreaker himself – Windsor said his father wrote jokes at the age of 16 for W.C. Fields until his age was discovered – Windsor originally expected to get testimony from 750 people and now predicts at least 1,200.
He lapses effortlessly into storyteller mode, recounting a 15-year-old who claimed abuse by her father and was ignored by officials, a women who spent three years in jail following two minor traffic violations, and a man beaten “worse than Rodney King” by police.
“I’ve lost sight of what I would say was the worst story,” Windsor said.
Despite flying below the radar of most media, Windsor said the number of people approaching him at each stop has grown rapidly. He requires they write a three-page “testimony,” primarily to help organize their thoughts, and usually spends 30 to 60 minutes with each.
His itinerary and instructions on how to get in on his project are available on the website www.lawlessamerica.com.
He concedes this venture is likely to lead to lawsuits, joking there is a betting pool “on how many times I’m going to be sued.”
Yet he notes that no one has sued yet.
He also said he will check out all the stories, and invite those accused in the video to come for an interview.
The 143-day deadline – Friday was day 38 – was set so he’ll be home before Election Day in November. He said he is an independent candidate for U.S. representative. He’s planning to present the three-minute testimonies to Congress. He has also proposed changes in the law to stop judicial corruption, beginning with allowing anyone to record court proceedings.
“It’s been sad, exciting, maddening and motivational,” he said. “People told me I’d get worn out, but the experience has just made me that much more committed.”
Mark Guydish can be reached at 829-7161
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http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Corruption-filmmaker-gathers-local-testimony,179155
Illinois nursing homes mix felons, seniors
chicagotribune.com
Illinois nursing homes mix felons, seniors
Vulnerable residents sometimes in dangerous living situations
By David Jackson and Gary Marx
Tribune reporters
September 29, 2009
An elderly woman is raped in her room, and police arrest a 21-year-old ex-convict with acute psychiatric problems. When the victim is interviewed by investigators five days later, she shakes with fear.
A frail man blind in one eye is slashed in the throat by a gang member, police say. About a year earlier, the same assailant allegedly had stabbed him in the face with an ice pick.
A man in a wheelchair dies of head injuries so severe that his doctor says it looked like he was hit with a baseball bat. One of the suspects is a 24-year-old mentally ill woman with a history of drug use and prostitution.
These incidents didn't happen on a street corner, in an alley or inside a drug house.
They all took place inside Illinois nursing homes in the last 17 months, highlighting a new, volatile environment in some facilities where the elderly and sick expect a measure of care and peace.
More than any other state, Illinois relies heavily on nursing homes to house mentally ill patients, including those who have committed crimes. But a Tribune investigation found that government, law enforcement and the industry have failed to adequately manage the resulting influx of younger residents who shuttle into nursing facilities from jail cells, shelters and psychiatric wards.
Mentally ill patients now constitute more than 15 percent of the state's total nursing home population of 92,225, government records show, and the number of residents convicted of serious felonies has increased to 3,000. Among them are 82 convicted murderers, 179 sex offenders and 185 armed robbers.
Yet the state's background checks on new residents are riddled with errors and omissions that understate their criminal records, the Tribune found, and homes with the most felons are among those with the lowest nursing staff levels.
Meanwhile, state authorities don't track assaults and other crimes in nursing homes, making it difficult to uncover patterns and address the problems caused by unstable individuals.
Nursing home operators say the number of violent incidents is minuscule considering the millions of hours of care they provide annually to a sometimes difficult population. The homes, they say, offer a vital public service by taking in destitute people when no one else can or will. And they describe themselves as besieged by plaintiffs' attorneys, government inspectors and journalists.
But even Illinois' largest nursing home owners' association, the Health Care Council of Illinois, told the Tribune it was concerned about the practice of mingling mentally ill criminals with traditional, geriatric residents. The council advocates creating separate, specialized facilities that would provide mental health treatment to high-risk patients with felony convictions. State public health officials also said they would support a separate licensing and regulatory process for nursing facilities that serve psychiatric patients.
Those most affected are, by and large, those most easily forgotten by society. Many of the psychiatric patients are clustered in a relatively small subset of nursing facilities whose impoverished residents have few other options.
One of those residents was Ivory Jackson, a 77-year-old retired laborer who had been rendered helpless by a stroke. At All Faith Pavilion on Chicago's South Side last year, Jackson was placed in the same room with Solomon Owasanoye, a 50-year-old Nigerian immigrant who suffered fits of delirium after a brain aneurysm and had "a history of negative, aggressive, acting-out behavior," according to a state public health investigative report.
Owasanoye screamed and kicked doors during "periods of altered mental status," but the home's only actions were walking him outside to calm him down and continuing with psychological evaluations, state investigators found.
One morning in May 2008, Owasanoye beat Jackson in the head with a clock radio while the older man slept. Jackson died of brain injuries about three weeks later, according to a police report. Owasanoye is now in a state psychiatric center after being declared mentally unfit to be tried on first-degree murder charges, according to court records and interviews.
All Faith's owners and administrator declined to comment but, in contesting a lawsuit filed by Jackson's family, denied negligence.
Jackson's stepson, Russell Smith, said he visited All Faith to learn more about his stepfather's death and came away outraged. "What struck me was their matter-of-fact attitude: Like, you know, things happen, and get over it," Smith said.
He asked: "Why would you put this guy in the room with my dad?"
New day, new waysFor much of the last century, American nursing homes fulfilled one central mission: providing long-term custodial care to seniors. But the landscape at the homes is shifting, particularly in Illinois.
America's elderly population is growing, but those who can afford it increasingly choose home health care or assisted-living options instead of traditional nursing homes. Mirroring other states, Illinois' nursing home population has dropped 11 percent in the last decade.
At the same time, the nation's decades-long drive to "deinstitutionalize" mentally ill people had the consequence of discharging psychiatric patients from state-run asylums into taxpayer-subsidized nursing homes, which can admit disabled adults of all ages. These patients typically are referred to Illinois homes by doctors and discharge planners at hospitals, mental health centers, homeless shelters and probation departments.
The facilities had a financial motive for accepting them, suggested Richard Dees, chief of the state public health department's Bureau of Long-term Care. When "the number of seniors going into nursing homes began to decline, there were facilities with empty beds," Dees said.
Last year more than 15 percent of Illinois' nursing home residents had a primary diagnosis of mental illness -- a category that does not include age-related dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The number of these patients rose from 11,808 in 1998 to 14,258.
Federal statistics show Illinois ranked first last year in the percentage of nursing home residents with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder -- two of the most disabling psychiatric illnesses. In Illinois, two-thirds of those schizophrenic and bipolar residents were younger than 65, compared with one-third in all other states.
"Illinois is really unique in its blurring of long-term care and mental health resources," said Harvard Medical School associate professor David Grabowski, who studies nursing home populations. "Many of these patients were not appropriate for placement in a nursing home -- yet Illinois didn't have an alternative place for them."
Experts point out that mentally ill people, when receiving adequate treatment through medication or therapy, are no more likely than others to be dangerous. But several national studies question whether they receive meaningful psychiatric care in nursing facilities.
A pending class-action lawsuit, brought by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and the American Civil Liberties Union, describes some Illinois homes as filthy, frightening holding pens where "groggy" residents watch TV in crowded, noisy common areas or are directed over loudspeakers to wait for medication and meals in long lines.
The growing population of mentally ill nursing home residents overlaps with another group: convicted felons younger than 65, who can be placed in government-supported nursing homes if they have a psychiatric disorder or physical disability.
As of June, the state had identified 3,000 criminals in Illinois nursing homes who had been convicted of felonies including rape, murder and aggravated assault, health department records show. Three years ago, state authorities noted 812 such "identified offenders."
Better screening likely accounts for part of the increase, but from February to June, long after the screening process was well-established, the number of felons in nursing homes increased by nearly 10 percent.
Terry Sullivan, regulatory coordinator for the Health Care Council of Illinois, suggested the numbers are rising because state budget cuts make it less likely that people with mental illness get treatment at clinics and hospitals. Instead some are landing in jails after committing crimes. Once released from custody, "they're going to nursing homes because there's nothing else out there," Sullivan said.
These mentally ill criminals are not spread evenly through Illinois' 1,129 nursing homes. Nine out of 10 facilities house five or fewer felons, a Tribune analysis of health department data found. And some 800 facilities -- about 70 percent of the state's nursing homes -- have none.
Just 50 nursing homes in Illinois house more than half of the 3,000 offenders, according to the Tribune's analysis. In Chicago, many of those homes are clustered in a few ZIP codes in Uptown and on the South Side.
Because of poor tracking by the state, it is impossible to tally the violence taking place at nursing homes. But a Tribune analysis of preliminary Chicago police data -- which do not always specify whether the alleged offenders and victims were residents, staff or visitors -- gives a clue.
Those police reports show that since March 2008, police reported 511 cases of assault or battery, 27 cases of criminal sexual assault and 24 narcotics violations in city nursing homes. Nursing home operators asked about these figures said many of the allegations are petty or unfounded.
Safety breakdownsCritics have long said that the haphazard blending of psychiatric patients and seniors in some Illinois nursing homes serves neither population.
The Tribune in 1998 published a series, "Warehousing the Mentally Ill in Nursing Homes," that documented the violence erupting after mental patients were dumped into ill-prepared nursing facilities. More than a decade later, the problem has grown.
Breakdowns at every level put vulnerable residents at risk, reporters found in an examination of recent police files, state inspection reports and other public documents.
For instance, the 50 homes accepting the most criminals typically have the lowest staff levels, even though experts call intensive staffing a critical factor in protecting the vulnerable, a Tribune analysis of federal and state data shows.
Federal reports released in July rated 36 of these 50 homes "much below average" or "below average" for overall nursing staff hours. Two were average; 12 had not yet been rated. None was above average.
"I don't think the problem is with the laws as written -- the major problem is adequate staffing to implement the laws," said Southern Illinois University School of Medicine professor Marshall Kapp, who has studied nursing home safety.
Illinois' Medicaid program pays nursing homes an average of $117 per day to care for patients -- less than almost any other state, according to the health care council. The low rate means facilities struggle to offer competitive wages to aides and nurses, which can lead to high staff turnover.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is responsible for inspecting homes and ensuring that residents live in a safe environment. But state authorities cannot say how many injuries and attacks occur at nursing homes each year and how many involve identified offenders.
The Tribune documented instances in which nursing homes failed to report attacks to the state health department as required by law. At the same time, state inspectors do not compile incident reports in a central location. And because the health department's computerized case-tracking software is antiquated and ineffective, department officials have difficulty assembling and analyzing the facility reports to uncover patterns of attacks at unsafe homes, the Tribune found.
Even the health department fines meant to deter safety and care violations amount to a relatively minor cost of business. For example, an alleged rape at Elgin's Maplewood Care in January resulted in a $20,000 fine, but that home listed 2008 revenues of $7.7 million and profits of $624,000 in cost reports filed with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. State authorities say they are appealing a recent court ruling that limits their ability to impose heftier fines.
The limited state oversight extends beyond the public health department. The Illinois State Police helps root out and prosecute abuse at nursing homes, but the department says it has only four officers assigned to nursing homes in the Chicago area, where tens of thousands of patients live.
Meanwhile, health department inspectors are not required to seek out reports from local police, and those departments generally do not forward their records to the state authorities.
One facility cited in Chicago police data is Rainbow Beach Care Center, a brick building in the 7300 block of South Exchange Avenue. Facility administrators and owners declined interview requests.
State records from June show Rainbow Beach's roughly 200 residents included 24 felons. Chicago police list 12 battery or assault reports there since March 2008, and three arrests for narcotics possession. In July police arrested a 34-year-old resident with a history of prostitution convictions who had six packets of crack cocaine stuffed into her shoes and pants.
Dwayne Andre Cypress, 38, worked as a Rainbow Beach security guard for nine months before leaving this year because, he said, state authorities objected to a years-old criminal conviction on his record.
"I've been thrown into walls, been rassled, snagged with a knife," Cypress said of his time at Rainbow. "It was like working in a penitentiary almost."
Tribune reporters Joe Germuska and Darnell Little contributed to this report.
dyjackson@tribune.com
gmarx@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-nursinghome1-ledeallsep29,0,357882.story
Illinois nursing homes mix felons, seniors
Vulnerable residents sometimes in dangerous living situations
By David Jackson and Gary Marx
Tribune reporters
September 29, 2009
An elderly woman is raped in her room, and police arrest a 21-year-old ex-convict with acute psychiatric problems. When the victim is interviewed by investigators five days later, she shakes with fear.
A frail man blind in one eye is slashed in the throat by a gang member, police say. About a year earlier, the same assailant allegedly had stabbed him in the face with an ice pick.
A man in a wheelchair dies of head injuries so severe that his doctor says it looked like he was hit with a baseball bat. One of the suspects is a 24-year-old mentally ill woman with a history of drug use and prostitution.
These incidents didn't happen on a street corner, in an alley or inside a drug house.
They all took place inside Illinois nursing homes in the last 17 months, highlighting a new, volatile environment in some facilities where the elderly and sick expect a measure of care and peace.
More than any other state, Illinois relies heavily on nursing homes to house mentally ill patients, including those who have committed crimes. But a Tribune investigation found that government, law enforcement and the industry have failed to adequately manage the resulting influx of younger residents who shuttle into nursing facilities from jail cells, shelters and psychiatric wards.
Mentally ill patients now constitute more than 15 percent of the state's total nursing home population of 92,225, government records show, and the number of residents convicted of serious felonies has increased to 3,000. Among them are 82 convicted murderers, 179 sex offenders and 185 armed robbers.
Yet the state's background checks on new residents are riddled with errors and omissions that understate their criminal records, the Tribune found, and homes with the most felons are among those with the lowest nursing staff levels.
Meanwhile, state authorities don't track assaults and other crimes in nursing homes, making it difficult to uncover patterns and address the problems caused by unstable individuals.
Nursing home operators say the number of violent incidents is minuscule considering the millions of hours of care they provide annually to a sometimes difficult population. The homes, they say, offer a vital public service by taking in destitute people when no one else can or will. And they describe themselves as besieged by plaintiffs' attorneys, government inspectors and journalists.
But even Illinois' largest nursing home owners' association, the Health Care Council of Illinois, told the Tribune it was concerned about the practice of mingling mentally ill criminals with traditional, geriatric residents. The council advocates creating separate, specialized facilities that would provide mental health treatment to high-risk patients with felony convictions. State public health officials also said they would support a separate licensing and regulatory process for nursing facilities that serve psychiatric patients.
Those most affected are, by and large, those most easily forgotten by society. Many of the psychiatric patients are clustered in a relatively small subset of nursing facilities whose impoverished residents have few other options.
One of those residents was Ivory Jackson, a 77-year-old retired laborer who had been rendered helpless by a stroke. At All Faith Pavilion on Chicago's South Side last year, Jackson was placed in the same room with Solomon Owasanoye, a 50-year-old Nigerian immigrant who suffered fits of delirium after a brain aneurysm and had "a history of negative, aggressive, acting-out behavior," according to a state public health investigative report.
Owasanoye screamed and kicked doors during "periods of altered mental status," but the home's only actions were walking him outside to calm him down and continuing with psychological evaluations, state investigators found.
One morning in May 2008, Owasanoye beat Jackson in the head with a clock radio while the older man slept. Jackson died of brain injuries about three weeks later, according to a police report. Owasanoye is now in a state psychiatric center after being declared mentally unfit to be tried on first-degree murder charges, according to court records and interviews.
All Faith's owners and administrator declined to comment but, in contesting a lawsuit filed by Jackson's family, denied negligence.
Jackson's stepson, Russell Smith, said he visited All Faith to learn more about his stepfather's death and came away outraged. "What struck me was their matter-of-fact attitude: Like, you know, things happen, and get over it," Smith said.
He asked: "Why would you put this guy in the room with my dad?"
New day, new waysFor much of the last century, American nursing homes fulfilled one central mission: providing long-term custodial care to seniors. But the landscape at the homes is shifting, particularly in Illinois.
America's elderly population is growing, but those who can afford it increasingly choose home health care or assisted-living options instead of traditional nursing homes. Mirroring other states, Illinois' nursing home population has dropped 11 percent in the last decade.
At the same time, the nation's decades-long drive to "deinstitutionalize" mentally ill people had the consequence of discharging psychiatric patients from state-run asylums into taxpayer-subsidized nursing homes, which can admit disabled adults of all ages. These patients typically are referred to Illinois homes by doctors and discharge planners at hospitals, mental health centers, homeless shelters and probation departments.
The facilities had a financial motive for accepting them, suggested Richard Dees, chief of the state public health department's Bureau of Long-term Care. When "the number of seniors going into nursing homes began to decline, there were facilities with empty beds," Dees said.
Last year more than 15 percent of Illinois' nursing home residents had a primary diagnosis of mental illness -- a category that does not include age-related dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The number of these patients rose from 11,808 in 1998 to 14,258.
Federal statistics show Illinois ranked first last year in the percentage of nursing home residents with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder -- two of the most disabling psychiatric illnesses. In Illinois, two-thirds of those schizophrenic and bipolar residents were younger than 65, compared with one-third in all other states.
"Illinois is really unique in its blurring of long-term care and mental health resources," said Harvard Medical School associate professor David Grabowski, who studies nursing home populations. "Many of these patients were not appropriate for placement in a nursing home -- yet Illinois didn't have an alternative place for them."
Experts point out that mentally ill people, when receiving adequate treatment through medication or therapy, are no more likely than others to be dangerous. But several national studies question whether they receive meaningful psychiatric care in nursing facilities.
A pending class-action lawsuit, brought by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and the American Civil Liberties Union, describes some Illinois homes as filthy, frightening holding pens where "groggy" residents watch TV in crowded, noisy common areas or are directed over loudspeakers to wait for medication and meals in long lines.
The growing population of mentally ill nursing home residents overlaps with another group: convicted felons younger than 65, who can be placed in government-supported nursing homes if they have a psychiatric disorder or physical disability.
As of June, the state had identified 3,000 criminals in Illinois nursing homes who had been convicted of felonies including rape, murder and aggravated assault, health department records show. Three years ago, state authorities noted 812 such "identified offenders."
Better screening likely accounts for part of the increase, but from February to June, long after the screening process was well-established, the number of felons in nursing homes increased by nearly 10 percent.
Terry Sullivan, regulatory coordinator for the Health Care Council of Illinois, suggested the numbers are rising because state budget cuts make it less likely that people with mental illness get treatment at clinics and hospitals. Instead some are landing in jails after committing crimes. Once released from custody, "they're going to nursing homes because there's nothing else out there," Sullivan said.
These mentally ill criminals are not spread evenly through Illinois' 1,129 nursing homes. Nine out of 10 facilities house five or fewer felons, a Tribune analysis of health department data found. And some 800 facilities -- about 70 percent of the state's nursing homes -- have none.
Just 50 nursing homes in Illinois house more than half of the 3,000 offenders, according to the Tribune's analysis. In Chicago, many of those homes are clustered in a few ZIP codes in Uptown and on the South Side.
Because of poor tracking by the state, it is impossible to tally the violence taking place at nursing homes. But a Tribune analysis of preliminary Chicago police data -- which do not always specify whether the alleged offenders and victims were residents, staff or visitors -- gives a clue.
Those police reports show that since March 2008, police reported 511 cases of assault or battery, 27 cases of criminal sexual assault and 24 narcotics violations in city nursing homes. Nursing home operators asked about these figures said many of the allegations are petty or unfounded.
Safety breakdownsCritics have long said that the haphazard blending of psychiatric patients and seniors in some Illinois nursing homes serves neither population.
The Tribune in 1998 published a series, "Warehousing the Mentally Ill in Nursing Homes," that documented the violence erupting after mental patients were dumped into ill-prepared nursing facilities. More than a decade later, the problem has grown.
Breakdowns at every level put vulnerable residents at risk, reporters found in an examination of recent police files, state inspection reports and other public documents.
For instance, the 50 homes accepting the most criminals typically have the lowest staff levels, even though experts call intensive staffing a critical factor in protecting the vulnerable, a Tribune analysis of federal and state data shows.
Federal reports released in July rated 36 of these 50 homes "much below average" or "below average" for overall nursing staff hours. Two were average; 12 had not yet been rated. None was above average.
"I don't think the problem is with the laws as written -- the major problem is adequate staffing to implement the laws," said Southern Illinois University School of Medicine professor Marshall Kapp, who has studied nursing home safety.
Illinois' Medicaid program pays nursing homes an average of $117 per day to care for patients -- less than almost any other state, according to the health care council. The low rate means facilities struggle to offer competitive wages to aides and nurses, which can lead to high staff turnover.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is responsible for inspecting homes and ensuring that residents live in a safe environment. But state authorities cannot say how many injuries and attacks occur at nursing homes each year and how many involve identified offenders.
The Tribune documented instances in which nursing homes failed to report attacks to the state health department as required by law. At the same time, state inspectors do not compile incident reports in a central location. And because the health department's computerized case-tracking software is antiquated and ineffective, department officials have difficulty assembling and analyzing the facility reports to uncover patterns of attacks at unsafe homes, the Tribune found.
Even the health department fines meant to deter safety and care violations amount to a relatively minor cost of business. For example, an alleged rape at Elgin's Maplewood Care in January resulted in a $20,000 fine, but that home listed 2008 revenues of $7.7 million and profits of $624,000 in cost reports filed with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. State authorities say they are appealing a recent court ruling that limits their ability to impose heftier fines.
The limited state oversight extends beyond the public health department. The Illinois State Police helps root out and prosecute abuse at nursing homes, but the department says it has only four officers assigned to nursing homes in the Chicago area, where tens of thousands of patients live.
Meanwhile, health department inspectors are not required to seek out reports from local police, and those departments generally do not forward their records to the state authorities.
One facility cited in Chicago police data is Rainbow Beach Care Center, a brick building in the 7300 block of South Exchange Avenue. Facility administrators and owners declined interview requests.
State records from June show Rainbow Beach's roughly 200 residents included 24 felons. Chicago police list 12 battery or assault reports there since March 2008, and three arrests for narcotics possession. In July police arrested a 34-year-old resident with a history of prostitution convictions who had six packets of crack cocaine stuffed into her shoes and pants.
Dwayne Andre Cypress, 38, worked as a Rainbow Beach security guard for nine months before leaving this year because, he said, state authorities objected to a years-old criminal conviction on his record.
"I've been thrown into walls, been rassled, snagged with a knife," Cypress said of his time at Rainbow. "It was like working in a penitentiary almost."
Tribune reporters Joe Germuska and Darnell Little contributed to this report.
dyjackson@tribune.com
gmarx@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-nursinghome1-ledeallsep29,0,357882.story
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Cook County court staffer charged with shredding court files
Editor's note: Makes one wonder how many documents have been shredded in the corrupt Cook County Probate Court. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Cook County court staffer charged with shredding court files
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Criminal Courts Reporter/rhussain@suntimes.com
Last Modified: Jul 20, 2012 07:36PM
A veteran Cook County Circuit Court employee was charged Friday with official misconduct and tampering with court files for allegedly taking the official paperwork home and shredding it at her kitchen table.
Authorities didn’t know the quantity of the data that Jeannette Neibauer allegedly destroyed nor did they know how long they suspect it’s been going on, said Cook County Sheriff’s spokesman Frank Bilecki.
After Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s office was alerted about Neibauer’s activities, the sheriff’s office started its investigation ten days ago, Bilecki said.
Neibauer, who is assigned to handle case files for an unnamed judge in the law division, was arrested at the downtown Daley Center court complex on Friday. The law division handles a range of civil lawsuits, from medical malpractice to personal injury.
She has been with the Circuit Court for 17 years, according to Brown’s spokeswoman Yvonne Davila. Union rules prevent the clerk’s office from discussing Neibauer’s job status.
“As a sworn officer of the court who is charged with the safekeeping of court records, I’m deeply disappointed in any employee’s illegal actions,” Brown said in a statement.
Contributing: Lisa Donovan
http://www.suntimes.com/13896191-761/cook-county-court-staffer-charged-with-shredding-court-files.html
KawamotoDragon.com
Cook County court staffer charged with shredding court files
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Criminal Courts Reporter/rhussain@suntimes.com
Last Modified: Jul 20, 2012 07:36PM
A veteran Cook County Circuit Court employee was charged Friday with official misconduct and tampering with court files for allegedly taking the official paperwork home and shredding it at her kitchen table.
Authorities didn’t know the quantity of the data that Jeannette Neibauer allegedly destroyed nor did they know how long they suspect it’s been going on, said Cook County Sheriff’s spokesman Frank Bilecki.
After Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s office was alerted about Neibauer’s activities, the sheriff’s office started its investigation ten days ago, Bilecki said.
Neibauer, who is assigned to handle case files for an unnamed judge in the law division, was arrested at the downtown Daley Center court complex on Friday. The law division handles a range of civil lawsuits, from medical malpractice to personal injury.
She has been with the Circuit Court for 17 years, according to Brown’s spokeswoman Yvonne Davila. Union rules prevent the clerk’s office from discussing Neibauer’s job status.
“As a sworn officer of the court who is charged with the safekeeping of court records, I’m deeply disappointed in any employee’s illegal actions,” Brown said in a statement.
Contributing: Lisa Donovan
http://www.suntimes.com/13896191-761/cook-county-court-staffer-charged-with-shredding-court-files.html
KawamotoDragon.com
Subject: Media links re: Gary Harvey case documentary by Bill Windsor
Subject: Media links re: Gary Harvey case documentary by Bill Windsor
Here are the links from today media.
http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story/Film-Maker-Stops-In-Elmria-To-Expose-Injustices/2_6l8Ji14kuM2rz_IAz5SA.cspx?rss=127
http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?avis=cb&dato=20120719&kategori=news01&lopenr=207190801&ref=ph
http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story/Film-Maker-Stops-In-Elmria-To-Expose-Injustices/2_6l8Ji14kuM2rz_IAz5SA.cspx
Here are the links from today media.
http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story/Film-Maker-Stops-In-Elmria-To-Expose-Injustices/2_6l8Ji14kuM2rz_IAz5SA.cspx?rss=127
http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?avis=cb&dato=20120719&kategori=news01&lopenr=207190801&ref=ph
http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story/Film-Maker-Stops-In-Elmria-To-Expose-Injustices/2_6l8Ji14kuM2rz_IAz5SA.cspx
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Feds: 2 Cook Co. workers took bribe to lower assessments
Editor's note: Feds: 18th Floor Daley Center...loaded with crooks...your ProbateShark will point them out! Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
chicagotribune.com
Feds: 2 Cook Co. workers took bribe to lower assessments
Staff report
1:25 PM CDT, July 18, 2012
Two analysts for the Cook County Board of Review were arrested today on federal bribery charges for allegedly accepting $1,500 to help reduce property tax assessments on three residential properties by more than $14,000, according to prosecutors.
Thomas Hawkins and John Racasi provided recommendations on how members of the Board of Review should vote when reviewing appeals of property tax assessments.
Hawkins and Racasi were both on the staff of "Commissioner A" when they accepted the $1,500 bribe in September of 2008 to recommend reductions in assessments, according to the U.S. attorney's office, which said they were not charged at the time because of "ongoing investigations."
Hawkins, 48, and Racasi, 51, both of Chicago, were each charged with one count of accepting a bribe. They were scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole at 2 p.m. today.
Prosecutors said they were aided in the case by a Chicago police officer who is facing charges from an investigation of public corruption and gun-trafficking. The complaint doesn't name the officer, referring to him only as a "confidential source."
According to the complaint, the officer was introduced to Hawkins and Racasi in July of 2008 and recorded several meetings during which he discussed paying them bribes to get assessments lowered on homes in Chicago and Burbank, and on a condominium in Tinley Park.
"We’re analysts, so we handle all the property taxes and go through the files, find out if the assessor is," Hawkins said at one meeting at a restaurant, according to the complaint. "Most of them always come in high anyway until we knock it down.”
In September of 2008, the officer talked with Hawkins and Racasi about the amount of the bribe and also discussed what it might cost to get other assessments lowered in the future.
“We’re going to have a lot. Let’s do a $500 fee. Alright?" Hawkins said. "That’s the whole thing [inaudible] for every house because there’s going to be so many houses. That way nobody gets hoggish, and there is room to play if you want to play.”
Racasi and the officer agreed, the complaint states.
Later that month, Hawkins and Racasi agreed to reduce the values on the properties in Chicago, Burbank and Tinley Park, the complaint states. In return for $1,500, Hawkins and Racasi promised the officer he would save at least $14,209.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-2-cook-co-workers-accused-of-taking-bribes-20120718,0,450135.story
chicagotribune.com
Feds: 2 Cook Co. workers took bribe to lower assessments
Staff report
1:25 PM CDT, July 18, 2012
Two analysts for the Cook County Board of Review were arrested today on federal bribery charges for allegedly accepting $1,500 to help reduce property tax assessments on three residential properties by more than $14,000, according to prosecutors.
Thomas Hawkins and John Racasi provided recommendations on how members of the Board of Review should vote when reviewing appeals of property tax assessments.
Hawkins and Racasi were both on the staff of "Commissioner A" when they accepted the $1,500 bribe in September of 2008 to recommend reductions in assessments, according to the U.S. attorney's office, which said they were not charged at the time because of "ongoing investigations."
Hawkins, 48, and Racasi, 51, both of Chicago, were each charged with one count of accepting a bribe. They were scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole at 2 p.m. today.
Prosecutors said they were aided in the case by a Chicago police officer who is facing charges from an investigation of public corruption and gun-trafficking. The complaint doesn't name the officer, referring to him only as a "confidential source."
According to the complaint, the officer was introduced to Hawkins and Racasi in July of 2008 and recorded several meetings during which he discussed paying them bribes to get assessments lowered on homes in Chicago and Burbank, and on a condominium in Tinley Park.
"We’re analysts, so we handle all the property taxes and go through the files, find out if the assessor is," Hawkins said at one meeting at a restaurant, according to the complaint. "Most of them always come in high anyway until we knock it down.”
In September of 2008, the officer talked with Hawkins and Racasi about the amount of the bribe and also discussed what it might cost to get other assessments lowered in the future.
“We’re going to have a lot. Let’s do a $500 fee. Alright?" Hawkins said. "That’s the whole thing [inaudible] for every house because there’s going to be so many houses. That way nobody gets hoggish, and there is room to play if you want to play.”
Racasi and the officer agreed, the complaint states.
Later that month, Hawkins and Racasi agreed to reduce the values on the properties in Chicago, Burbank and Tinley Park, the complaint states. In return for $1,500, Hawkins and Racasi promised the officer he would save at least $14,209.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-2-cook-co-workers-accused-of-taking-bribes-20120718,0,450135.story
Monday, July 16, 2012
First Amendment and Abuse of grandmother - Motion in Limine
First Amendment and Abuse of grandmother - Motion in Limine
kenneth ditkowskyBEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINA...
8:27 AM (10 hours ago)
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINA...
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THEILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATIONANDDISCIPLINARY COMMISSION
In the Matter of: ) )
KENNETH KARL DITKOWSKY, ) ) Commission No. 2012 PR 00014 Attorney-Respondent, ) ) No. 642754 ) MOTION IN LIMINE Now comes Kenneth Ditkowsky moves for a Rule in Limine prohibiting further violation of his Rights protected under the Illinois Constitution of 1970 and the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution:1) That the respondent is a citizen of the United States of America and the State of Illinois and therefore entitled to the protections of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution of 1970.2) That the respondent is a citizen of the United States of America and the State of Illinois and therefore entitled to the protections of the First, Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,3) That the policy of the State of Illinois is stated in 735 ILCS 110/5. 735 ILCS 110/5 in words and phrases states:§ 5. Public policy. Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that the constitutional rights of citizens and organizations to be involved and participate freely in the process of government must be encouraged and safeguarded with great diligence. The information, reports, opinions, claims, arguments, and other expressions provided by citizens are vital to effective law enforcement, the operation of government, the making of public policy and decisions, and the continuation of representative democracy. The laws, courts, and other agencies of this State must provide the utmost protection for the free exercise of these rights of petition, speech, association, and government participation.Civil actions for money damages have been filed against citizens and organizations of this State as a result of their valid exercise of their constitutional rights to petition, speak freely, associate freely, and otherwise participate in and communicate with government. There has been a disturbing increase in lawsuits termed “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” in government or “SLAPPs” as they are popularly called.The threat of SLAPPs significantly chills and diminishes citizen participation in government, voluntary public service, and the exercise of these important constitutional rights. This abuse of the judicial process can and has been used as a means of intimidating, harassing, or punishing citizens and organizations for involving themselves in public affairs.It is in the public interest and it is the purpose of this Act to strike a balance between the rights of persons to file lawsuits for injury and the constitutional rights of persons to petition, speak freely, associate freely, and otherwise participate in government; to protect and encourage public participation in government to the maximum extent permitted by law; to establish an efficient process for identification and adjudication of SLAPPs; and to provide for attorney's fees and costs to prevailing movants. IL ST CH 735 § 110/5 4) That the First Amendment to the United States Constitution states:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. USCA CONST Amend. I-Full Text 5) That it axiomatic that a respondent is entitled to all the privileges and immunities of both the Constitution of the State and the United States of America[1]. The United States Supreme Court has stated in numerous cases ( previously cited - the citations are incorporated by reference and made part hereof as if set forth in detail) that limitations of Free Speech are intolerable and that Free Speech cannot be limited except in very special circumstances[2]. A lawyer objecting to corruption, fraud, legal proceedings commenced and prosecuted without jurisdiction and/or depriving a senior citizen of her liberty, property, civil rights and human rights are not among the categories of speech that the State or the Administration can bar.Wherefore the respondent moves that the Respondent be barred from presenting at any hearing or proceeding any testimony that the respondent (or any other citizen) made any statement as evidence of wrongdoing that is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In particular, the Administrator be barred from presenting as derogatory evidence the following: 1) Respondent was engaged by any other citizen to do any legal act. (Association)2) Respondent communicated in any way with another person or entity (free speech)3) Respondent communicated with any other attorney, judge, guardian, public official. (Right to petition government – free speech)4) Respondent made charges that a government official (including a judicial official) committed some wrongful act or refused to do some act. (right of petition)5) Respondent communicated with other persons that Cynthia Farenga, Adam Stern, Judge Connors, or some other persons did some act (including acts that might be deemed criminal) (free speech and assembly)6) Respondent disseminated words and phrases that placed and caused others to believe that Cynthia Farenga, Adam Stern, Peter Schmiedel, other lawyers, or other persons had been miscreant or otherwise committed acts that were improper.[3] (free speech, assembly and petition to government) 7) Respondent used words and phrases that might tend to cause anxiety or concern in 3rd persons that they might be or might have committed acts that were in derogation or neglect of their professional responsibilities. (free speech) 8) Respondent may have authored, disseminated or otherwise published any other and different statement containing words and phrases which was offensive to Adam Stern, Peter Schmiedel, Lea Black, Cynthia Farenga, one or more Judges, the Administrator and other members of the political elite or judiciary. (free speech and/or right of assembly)9) Respondent may have authored, disseminated or otherwise published words and phrases that were critical of judicial decision, legislation, law enforcement activities, or the policies of the ARDC and/or any other government agency or entity.10) Otherwise affecting Respondent’s right to communicate with regards to any other word, phrase, display, or other form of communication protected by the United States Constitution, Article One of the Illinois Constitution, or law of the United States of America.Respectfully Submitted Kenneth K. Ditkowsky Attorney number 0642754Pro se5940 W. Touhy AveNiles, Illinois 60714847 600 3421
[1] he first amendment to the United States Constitution states, in part, that “Congress shall make no law * * * abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” U.S. Const., amend. I. Although the amendment, by its terms, addresses only the power of Congress, the United States Supreme Court has long held that its provisions are also binding on the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment (U.S. Const., amend. XIV). See, e.g., Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105, 108, 63 S.Ct. 870, 872, 87 L.Ed. 1292, 1295 (1943). Imperial Apparel, Ltd. v. Cosmo's Designer Direct, Inc., 227 Ill. 2d 381, 393, 882 N.E.2d 1011, 1019 (2008) [2] “It is firmly settled that under our Constitution the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers” (Bachellar v. Maryland (1970), 397 U.S. 564, 567, 90 S.Ct. 1312, 1315, 25 L.Ed.2d 570, 574), and it is entirely clear that the wearing of distinctive clothing can be symbolic expression of a thought or philosophy. The symbolic expression of thought falls within the free speech clause of the first amendment (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731), and the plaintiff village has the heavy burden of justifying the imposition of a prior restraint upon defendants' right to freedom of speech (Carroll v. President of Princess Anne County (1968), 393 U.S. 175, 89 S.Ct. 347, 21 L.Ed.2d 325; Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971), 402 U.S. 415, 91 S.Ct. 1575, 29 L.Ed.2d 1).Vill. of Skokie v. Nat'l Socialist Party of Am., 69 Ill. 2d 605, 612, 373 N.E.2d 21, 23 (1978) [3] While objecting to Cynthia Farenga, Adam Stern, et al’s apparent active participation in the alleged deprivation of Mary Sykes’ liberty, property, civil and human rights as revealed in the Gloria Sykes affidavit , Scott Evans affidavit and ADA Federal Court complaint may appear to be unethical conduct on the part of the Respondent, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled: “The plain, if at all times disquieting, truth is that in our pluralistic society, constantly proliferating new and ingenious forms of expression, ‘we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes.’ Rowan v. Post Office Dept., (397 U.S. 728,) 736, 90 S.Ct. 1484, 25 L.Ed.2d 736. Much that we encounter offends our *619 esthetic, if not our political and moral, sensibilities. Nevertheless, the Constitution does not permit government to decide which types of otherwise protected speech are sufficiently offensive to require protection for the unwilling listener or viewer. Rather, absent the narrow circumstances described above (home intrusion or captive audience), the burden normally falls upon the viewer to ‘avoid further bombardment of (his) sensibilities simply by averting (his) eyes.’ Cohen v. California (403 U.S. 15,) 21, 91 S.Ct. 1780, 29 L.Ed.2d 284.” 422 U.S. 205, 210-11, 95 S.Ct. 2268, 2273, 45 L.Ed.2d 125, 131-32. Vill. of Skokie v. Nat'l Socialist Party of Am., 69 Ill. 2d 605, 618-19, 373 N.E.2d 21, 26 (1978)It is respectfully suggested that this panel, the Administrator, and the ARDC are barred from imposing restrictions on the free expression of the Respondent and his clients.
kenneth ditkowskyBEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINA...
8:27 AM (10 hours ago)
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINA...
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THEILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATIONANDDISCIPLINARY COMMISSION
In the Matter of: ) )
KENNETH KARL DITKOWSKY, ) ) Commission No. 2012 PR 00014 Attorney-Respondent, ) ) No. 642754 ) MOTION IN LIMINE Now comes Kenneth Ditkowsky moves for a Rule in Limine prohibiting further violation of his Rights protected under the Illinois Constitution of 1970 and the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution:1) That the respondent is a citizen of the United States of America and the State of Illinois and therefore entitled to the protections of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution of 1970.2) That the respondent is a citizen of the United States of America and the State of Illinois and therefore entitled to the protections of the First, Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,3) That the policy of the State of Illinois is stated in 735 ILCS 110/5. 735 ILCS 110/5 in words and phrases states:§ 5. Public policy. Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that the constitutional rights of citizens and organizations to be involved and participate freely in the process of government must be encouraged and safeguarded with great diligence. The information, reports, opinions, claims, arguments, and other expressions provided by citizens are vital to effective law enforcement, the operation of government, the making of public policy and decisions, and the continuation of representative democracy. The laws, courts, and other agencies of this State must provide the utmost protection for the free exercise of these rights of petition, speech, association, and government participation.Civil actions for money damages have been filed against citizens and organizations of this State as a result of their valid exercise of their constitutional rights to petition, speak freely, associate freely, and otherwise participate in and communicate with government. There has been a disturbing increase in lawsuits termed “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” in government or “SLAPPs” as they are popularly called.The threat of SLAPPs significantly chills and diminishes citizen participation in government, voluntary public service, and the exercise of these important constitutional rights. This abuse of the judicial process can and has been used as a means of intimidating, harassing, or punishing citizens and organizations for involving themselves in public affairs.It is in the public interest and it is the purpose of this Act to strike a balance between the rights of persons to file lawsuits for injury and the constitutional rights of persons to petition, speak freely, associate freely, and otherwise participate in government; to protect and encourage public participation in government to the maximum extent permitted by law; to establish an efficient process for identification and adjudication of SLAPPs; and to provide for attorney's fees and costs to prevailing movants. IL ST CH 735 § 110/5 4) That the First Amendment to the United States Constitution states:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. USCA CONST Amend. I-Full Text 5) That it axiomatic that a respondent is entitled to all the privileges and immunities of both the Constitution of the State and the United States of America[1]. The United States Supreme Court has stated in numerous cases ( previously cited - the citations are incorporated by reference and made part hereof as if set forth in detail) that limitations of Free Speech are intolerable and that Free Speech cannot be limited except in very special circumstances[2]. A lawyer objecting to corruption, fraud, legal proceedings commenced and prosecuted without jurisdiction and/or depriving a senior citizen of her liberty, property, civil rights and human rights are not among the categories of speech that the State or the Administration can bar.Wherefore the respondent moves that the Respondent be barred from presenting at any hearing or proceeding any testimony that the respondent (or any other citizen) made any statement as evidence of wrongdoing that is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In particular, the Administrator be barred from presenting as derogatory evidence the following: 1) Respondent was engaged by any other citizen to do any legal act. (Association)2) Respondent communicated in any way with another person or entity (free speech)3) Respondent communicated with any other attorney, judge, guardian, public official. (Right to petition government – free speech)4) Respondent made charges that a government official (including a judicial official) committed some wrongful act or refused to do some act. (right of petition)5) Respondent communicated with other persons that Cynthia Farenga, Adam Stern, Judge Connors, or some other persons did some act (including acts that might be deemed criminal) (free speech and assembly)6) Respondent disseminated words and phrases that placed and caused others to believe that Cynthia Farenga, Adam Stern, Peter Schmiedel, other lawyers, or other persons had been miscreant or otherwise committed acts that were improper.[3] (free speech, assembly and petition to government) 7) Respondent used words and phrases that might tend to cause anxiety or concern in 3rd persons that they might be or might have committed acts that were in derogation or neglect of their professional responsibilities. (free speech) 8) Respondent may have authored, disseminated or otherwise published any other and different statement containing words and phrases which was offensive to Adam Stern, Peter Schmiedel, Lea Black, Cynthia Farenga, one or more Judges, the Administrator and other members of the political elite or judiciary. (free speech and/or right of assembly)9) Respondent may have authored, disseminated or otherwise published words and phrases that were critical of judicial decision, legislation, law enforcement activities, or the policies of the ARDC and/or any other government agency or entity.10) Otherwise affecting Respondent’s right to communicate with regards to any other word, phrase, display, or other form of communication protected by the United States Constitution, Article One of the Illinois Constitution, or law of the United States of America.Respectfully Submitted Kenneth K. Ditkowsky Attorney number 0642754Pro se5940 W. Touhy AveNiles, Illinois 60714847 600 3421
[1] he first amendment to the United States Constitution states, in part, that “Congress shall make no law * * * abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” U.S. Const., amend. I. Although the amendment, by its terms, addresses only the power of Congress, the United States Supreme Court has long held that its provisions are also binding on the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment (U.S. Const., amend. XIV). See, e.g., Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105, 108, 63 S.Ct. 870, 872, 87 L.Ed. 1292, 1295 (1943). Imperial Apparel, Ltd. v. Cosmo's Designer Direct, Inc., 227 Ill. 2d 381, 393, 882 N.E.2d 1011, 1019 (2008) [2] “It is firmly settled that under our Constitution the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers” (Bachellar v. Maryland (1970), 397 U.S. 564, 567, 90 S.Ct. 1312, 1315, 25 L.Ed.2d 570, 574), and it is entirely clear that the wearing of distinctive clothing can be symbolic expression of a thought or philosophy. The symbolic expression of thought falls within the free speech clause of the first amendment (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731), and the plaintiff village has the heavy burden of justifying the imposition of a prior restraint upon defendants' right to freedom of speech (Carroll v. President of Princess Anne County (1968), 393 U.S. 175, 89 S.Ct. 347, 21 L.Ed.2d 325; Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971), 402 U.S. 415, 91 S.Ct. 1575, 29 L.Ed.2d 1).Vill. of Skokie v. Nat'l Socialist Party of Am., 69 Ill. 2d 605, 612, 373 N.E.2d 21, 23 (1978) [3] While objecting to Cynthia Farenga, Adam Stern, et al’s apparent active participation in the alleged deprivation of Mary Sykes’ liberty, property, civil and human rights as revealed in the Gloria Sykes affidavit , Scott Evans affidavit and ADA Federal Court complaint may appear to be unethical conduct on the part of the Respondent, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled: “The plain, if at all times disquieting, truth is that in our pluralistic society, constantly proliferating new and ingenious forms of expression, ‘we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes.’ Rowan v. Post Office Dept., (397 U.S. 728,) 736, 90 S.Ct. 1484, 25 L.Ed.2d 736. Much that we encounter offends our *619 esthetic, if not our political and moral, sensibilities. Nevertheless, the Constitution does not permit government to decide which types of otherwise protected speech are sufficiently offensive to require protection for the unwilling listener or viewer. Rather, absent the narrow circumstances described above (home intrusion or captive audience), the burden normally falls upon the viewer to ‘avoid further bombardment of (his) sensibilities simply by averting (his) eyes.’ Cohen v. California (403 U.S. 15,) 21, 91 S.Ct. 1780, 29 L.Ed.2d 284.” 422 U.S. 205, 210-11, 95 S.Ct. 2268, 2273, 45 L.Ed.2d 125, 131-32. Vill. of Skokie v. Nat'l Socialist Party of Am., 69 Ill. 2d 605, 618-19, 373 N.E.2d 21, 26 (1978)It is respectfully suggested that this panel, the Administrator, and the ARDC are barred from imposing restrictions on the free expression of the Respondent and his clients.
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