Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Deputies target abuse of the elderly

The Sheriff's Office is asking the public to report abuses, and for family and friends to keep an eye on potential victims.

By MOISES MENDOZA
Published June 28, 2006

In the wake of a disturbing case of elder abuse, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office says it plans to crack down on those who victimize the helpless.

And they are asking for the public's help to do it.

Deputies discussed plans to get tough on elder abuse during a meeting Tuesday, mainly in response to the case of 93-year-old Lillian Willich.

Carolyn Smith, 63, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday after she admitted stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Willich between 2000 and 2003.

Willich eventually died from bedsores that investigators say Smith allowed to fester.

Police records show that often Smith wrote checks to herself and sometimes family members. On the checks' memo lines she sometimes wrote "Lillie's Mad Money."

Similar cases have rocketed upward in recent years as the county's population has aged, Detective David Fields said Tuesday.

Fields said that until the late 1990s, officials hardly ever received reports of elder exploitation - defined as deceiving or intimidating a senior to illegally obtain his or her property or money.

But now, Fields said, there are five to 10 legitimate cases in the county a year.

Although most don't involve the physical abuse that Willich's did, con-artists may be bilking the county's elderly out of thousands of dollars each year.

They often do it by gaining a senior's trust and persuading them to grant power of attorney, as Smith did. Although such power is supposed to be used only to an elder's benefit, con-artists can use it to sign checks over to themselves.

It doesn't help that some older people don't have local family members who can help care for them or be their advocate. In Willich's case, much of her family was in Germany. Smith had helped to clean her house and somehow befriended her, police say.

Investigations of elder exploitation often take years to complete because of all the complex bank, health and other records investigators must sift through. They're complicated by the fact that elder exploitation isn't always obvious. It often takes place behind closed doors and in bank accounts.

"The question is what can you do proactively," Fields said. "You can't put extra deputies out there. You don't know when it's going to hit, how it's going to hit or what."

But once con-artists are prosecuted, the punishment is stiff. Exploitation of an elderly person is a felony, and when more than $100,000 is involved, conviction can result in imprisonment for well over 20 years.

The Sheriff's Office is calling on the public to help protect Citrus County's aging population by telling police when they think something is wrong.

And it's asking friends and family of elderly citizens to keep an eye on their finances and the people they've befriended.

Smith almost got away with her crime, officials said, and if an alert nurse hadn't noticed the bedsores - or if Willich had been physically cared for - Smith would still be swimming in money.

"I think there's people getting away with this right now, people that we don't even know about yet, people we never know about," Detective Gary Atchison said.

Moises Mendoza can be reached at mmendoza@sptimes.com or 860-7337.

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 07:58:29]