Seniors beset by monetary mistreatment

YAKIMA, WASH. -- Linda Kraft knew something was amiss.

It wasn't like her Uncle Henry to ask for extra money or conceal the identity of a frequent visitor to his apartment at an assisted-living center in Yakima.

"I'd call to say I was coming over right away and he'd say, 'Now's not a good time,'" Kraft recalls. "It just wasn't like him."

Kraft manages her bachelor uncle's financial affairs. He doesn't have a lot of money left at the end of the month, so the sudden surge in spending was worrisome. She asked that his last name not be used in this story to protect his identity.

One day not too long after she took note of his behavior, Kraft got a call from the assisted-living center, which reported that a woman was frequently coming to see Henry, who is in his late 80s.

Kraft wanted to respect her uncle's privacy -- he is fully functioning and not senile -- but she grew increasingly concerned that he was at risk for theft, or worse.

She didn't know it at the time, but the same woman was suspected of victimizing another elderly man across town. Kraft's uncle even drove the woman to the other man's house, thinking he was doing her a favor but unwittingly participating in the scheme, she said.

Henry also didn't know the other man, Don Weaver, suffered from Alzheimer's.

Roberta Vasquez, who also went by Roberta Dave, 54, was eventually caught. A Yakima District Court jury convicted Vasquez last fall of violating a "vulnerable adult protection order" that Weaver's sister had obtained. Judge Ralph Thompson sentenced her to a year in jail, and she was released this month.

Therese Murphy, deputy prosecuting attorney in charge of elder fraud cases, knows crimes against the elderly are all too common and often underreported because of the shame the victim may feel. They can be tough to prove. If the victim has dementia, he or she can't readily testify to the thefts.

"Sweetheart" scammers have a familiar method. "They make themselves as legitimate as they can and then they look for an interaction with the victim," said Murphy. "Becoming their friend, developing their affection, is all part of the plan."

During Vasquez's trial, prosecutors alleged that on 19 separate occasions, she talked Weaver into withdrawing cash from his checking account in $300 installments, a total of $5,700.

Such elder financial abuse is rampant in the United States, according to recent federal research, costing older Americans more than $2.6 billion a year.

Indeed, statewide financial abuse cases led all other categories of elder abuse in 2007, according to the latest figures available from Adult Protective Services, part of the Department of Social and Health Services.

In Yakima County that year, there were 166 reports of financial abuse. Nineteen were substantiated.

"Elder financial abuse has been called the crime of the 21st century," said Sandra Timmerman, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute, which authored a recent report on the trend called "Broken Trust: Elders, Family and Finances."

"With the present state of the economy, older Americans are at a greater risk than ever of having their financial security threatened," Timmerman said.

Often, but not always, family members and caregivers are the perpetrators.

Elders may be "looking for their new best friend," Timmerman said. "Family members may come and go but here's someone who has befriended them."

Henry told his niece that the relationship started after he inadvertently bumped Vasquez with his car in a parking lot. She was on foot and asked him to take her to the doctor. Their "friendship" began. She would call him at all hours asking him to take her on "errands," Kraft said.

It was one of those errands that eventually led to Vasquez's arrest.

One day, an alert neighbor of Don Weaver's took down the license plate number of an unfamiliar car that was ferrying Vasquez to his home. The neighbor knew Weaver had Alzheimer's and worried about him. Police ran the plate and found the car belonged to Henry.

Murphy had already helped Weaver's sister obtain the "vulnerable adult protection order" to keep Vasquez away from Weaver. The remedy was created by the 2007 Legislature and can be sought by anyone who suspects a vulnerable adult is at risk.

Murphy contacted Kraft through Henry's assisted-living center. They staged an "intervention" to explain to Henry what had been going on.

"He was so ashamed. He said he was just trying to help Roberta, that he felt sorry for her. To this day he has a certain amount of guilt for her going to jail," Kraft said.

The lesson, Kraft said, is that the elderly are especially vulnerable because they may be lonely and they have soft hearts and want to help people.

"The people who prey on them know that," she said.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

Elder abuse prevention conference is next week

The second Greater Yakima Elder Abuse Prevention Conference will focus on consumer issues, including financial fraud.

"We want to arm our community with as much information as we can," said regional long-term care ombudsman Stacy Kellogg, who works for the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic in Yakima.

"If we can get to people earlier, that's obviously the best case scenario," she said.

Speakers include Liz Taylor, a Seattle-area aging activist who will talk about how aging "deliberately" can protect elders.

Other speakers will address adult protective services and residential care, caregivers, legal issues surrounding aging and abuse, and Alzheimer's education.

If you suspect elder abuse: 1-866-ENDHARM

(Today's printed edition of the  Yakima Herald-Republic contained the wrong number to report abuse)

If you go

WHAT: Elder Abuse Conference.

WHEN: 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. May 27.

WHERE: St. Timothy's Episopal Church, 4105 Richey Road, Yakima.

COST: $10 preregistration; $20 day of conference. To register, call 509-453-0480 and press 1.

ON THE WEB: www.yakimaseniorrights.com.

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