State’s Democrats seek protection for seniors

By BARRETT NEWKIRK

THE ENQUIRER

JUNE 30, 2009

Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives are pushing a plan to strengthen the state’s elder abuse laws.

The package of bills, dubbed the Elder Abuse Protection Plan, would increase penalties for people convicted of cheating senior citizens and increase consumer protections. Rep. Kate Segal, D-Battle Creek, is sponsoring one of the plan’s bills.

The legislation comes after some high-profile abuse cases made headlines around the state, including two Flint brothers charged with abuse this month after allegedly selling their grandfather’s prescription painkillers. Reports of elder abuse in Michigan have increased 40 percent since 1998, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services.

“What is happening in this state, it is unthinkable and unspeakable,” Segal said during a press conference Monday.

Segal’s bill would require legal guardians to report the cash and cash-convertible assets of an incapacitated person to the court.

Other bills in the plan would require employees of nursing homes and financial institutions to report suspected cases of elder abuse, make it a felony to obtain a signature through fraud or deceit, and prohibit someone charged with felony abuse to win an inheritance from the victim’s estate.

July 7, 2009

According to the Elder Financial Protection Network (www.bewiseonline.org), elder financial abuse may be the “crime of the 21st century” as a quickly growing elder population becomes an attractive target for exploiters and abusers. Here are some ways that older adults can protect themselves from financial fraud:

• Plan ahead and protect your assets. Talk to someone at your financial institution, an attorney, or a financial advisor; don’t wait for a telephone or door-to-door solicitor to contact you.

Prosecutor: Elderly Sonoma man killed for the inheritance

By LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

July 8, 2009

A 20-year-old man killed his grandfather with a shotgun blast to the back of the head in Sonoma last year because he wanted his inheritance early, Sonoma County prosecutors said Wednesday in opening statements of the man’s murder trial.