Judge Hands Down Sentence in Elder Abuse Case (USA)
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Judge Hands Down Sentence in Elder Abuse Case (USA)
Judge hands down sentence in elder abuse case
By DAN KEGLEY/Staff
An incapacitated victim of elder abuse testified in court from a gurney last week at the sentencing hearing for the woman who had been her caretaker. Mabel Seabolt, 84, of Mitchell Valley, told the court she loved Stella Farmer “and could not understand what Farmer would be punished for,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Roy Evans’ office in a release late last week.
Farmer, 45, of Atkins, entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charge of abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in serious injury, and was convicted on Sept. 17, the release said. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jill Kinser Lawson prosecuted Farmer, who was defended by Michael Bishop of Abingdon.
The prosecutor said Farmer was caregiver for Seabolt “off and on for approximately one year and continuously for four to six weeks prior to Seabolt’s November 2008 admission to Smyth County Community Hospital.”
The commonwealth’s evidence, presented at the conviction and sentencing hearings, included “extensive medical and photographic evidence of” Seabolt’s injuries. “Upon admission, Seabolt was in sepsis and renal failure and was severely dehydrated and malnourished,” the release said. “She had numerous bed sores, ranging from stage one to stage four, the most serious. She weighed only 76 pounds.”
Seabolt “had been restrained for so long and in such a way that she lost the use of her feet and legs. According to one of her current nurses, Seabolt’s sores had completely healed after six months of treatment but she will never regain the use of her feet or legs,” the release said.
According to Virginia Department of Social Services statistics, 14,314 cases of elder and vulnerable adult abuse were reported in fiscal year 2008. Of these, social workers investigated 12,150 reports and substantiated 7,482.
Abridged
SOURCE: SWVA TODAY
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Mother and Daughter Found Guilty of Elder Abuse (CA. USA)
BY KIMBER SOLANA
NOVEMBER 25, 2009
A Carmel mother and daughter were found guilty Wednesday of elder abuse by Monterey County Superior Court Judge Terrance R. Duncan.
Lisa MacAdams, 53, and Christi Schoenbachler, 30, will be sentenced Jan. 15 and face a maximum penalty of four years and eight months in prison, officials said.
The victim is MacAdams’ mother – and Schoenbachler’s grandmother – and was abandoned at the Monterey Care Center after the pair took over all her finances, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said.
In 2002, when the victim was 72, she moved with her daughter to Monterey County, officials said. She had money from the sale of her mobile home, about $90,000, along with furniture, artwork and jewelry valued up to $200,000.
By July 2004, the victim’s bank account had been drained, officials said. Her annuity had been cashed out and all her personal possessions had been sold off.
Schoenbachler and MacAdams were charged with felony violations of grand theft and financial elder abuse by a caretaker. They were also charged with two misdemeanor counts of inflicting unjustifiable mental suffering on an elder for twice abandoning the victim in a residential facility
SOURCE: The Californian.Com
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Alleged Elder Abuser Scheduled For A Plea Hearing (MN. USA)
Larson Hearing Is Slated For December
Albert Lea Tribune
November 23, 2009
Nineteen-year-old Ashton Larson, one of the two young women charged with alleged elder abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea, is scheduled for a plea hearing Dec. 17 in Freeborn County District Court.
At this hearing, Larson will enter a plea for her charges, which include two counts of fifth-degree assault, five counts of criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of disorderly conduct of a vulnerable adult and one count of mandatory failure to report.
The hearing will come a month after Freeborn County District Court Judge Steve Schwab issued a written order denying the motion made by Larson’s lawyer to dismiss the criminal complaint against his client for lack of probable cause.
In the order, he stated the case should be scheduled for trial by jury as early as possible.
Charges in the case came in December 2008 after an investigation into the allegations of abuse by local and Minnesota Department of Health officials; however, details of the allegations surfaced August 2008 after the release of the Department of Health’s report.
The report concluded four teenagers were involved in verbal, sexual and emotional abuse of 15 residents at the nursing home in Albert Lea from January through May 2008. The residents suffered from mental degradation conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Co-defendant Brianna Broitzman pleaded not guilty to similar charges in August. Her jury trial has been scheduled for April 2010.
Larson’s hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 17.
The case once garnered national attention from media outlets such as NBC’s “Today,” The Associated Press and “Paul Harvey News and Comment.” The spotlight on the case likely will return at trial.
Abridged
SOURCE: Albert Lea Tribune, MN. USA
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Agency Starts Campaign Against Abuse of Elders (INDIA)
By Surekha S / DNA
December 1, 2009
Mumbai
“Elders are neglected and ill-treated in almost all houses today,” said Vitthal Dalvi, a 73-year-old resident of BDD Chawl, Parel. “For elders who do not have a pension and are completely dependent on their children, the difficulties are even more.”
According to Alpa Desai, coordinator, the Family Welfare Agency, an NGO, almost 40% of senior citizens are abused in some way or the other — financial, emotional or physical — but only one in six cases comes to light. Hence the need was felt to launch a campaign against elder abuse.
Abridged
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