[Senate Hearing 107-581]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-581
SCHEMER, SCAMMERS, AND SWEETHEART DEALS: FINANCIAL PREDATORS OF THE
ELDERLY
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
WASHINGTON, DC
__________
MAY 20, 2002
__________
Serial No. 107-25
Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
80-873 WASHINGTON : 2002
___________________________________________________________________________
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SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana, Chairman
HARRY REID, Nevada LARRY CRAIG, Idaho, Ranking Member
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania
RON WYDEN, Oregon SUSAN COLLINS, Maine
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas MIKE ENZI, Wyoming
EVAN BAYH, Indiana TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri GORDON SMITH, Oregon
Michelle Easton, Staff Director
Lupe Wissel, Ranking Member Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Opening Statement of Senator John Breaux......................... 1
Prepared statement of Senator Larry E. Craig..................... 4
Panel I
Carl F. Fiosche, Gypsy Victim, Tacoma, WA (live via video
teleconference)................................................ 5
Gertrude Gingerich, Traveler Victim, Hartly, DE.................. 12
William Blevins, on behalf of Vaughan Blevins, Manassas, VA...... 17
Bradley R. Graham, Detective, Tacoma Police Department, on behalf
of Marie Bobo, Tacoma, WA...................................... 24
Justin Ray White, Prisoner, Idaho State Correctional Institute,
Boise, ID...................................................... 30
Cesario ``Chayo'' Reyes, Retired Detective, Los Angeles Police
Department, Elder Person's Estate Unit, and Elder Financial
Protective Services, Cerritos, CA.............................. 36
Jane Brady, Attorney General, State of Delaware, Wilmington, DE.. 42
APPENDIX
Statement from Thomas W. Richardson, Acting Deputy Assistant
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation...................... 55
Letter from Somerset County Department of Social Services........ 59
Information submitted on behalf of the Family Welfare Research
and Training Group, University of Maryland, School of Social
Work, Baltimore, MD............................................ 61
(iii)
SCHEMERS, SCAMMERS, AND SWEETHEART DEALS: FINANCIAL PREDATORS OF THE
ELDERLY
----------
MONDAY, MAY 20, 2002
U.S. Senate,
Special Committee on Aging,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:07 p.m., in
room SD-215, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Breaux
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senator Breaux.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN BREAUX, CHAIRMAN
The Chairman. The committee will please come to order.
I want to thank all of our guests and all of our panel of
witnesses who are with us, as well as our witness who is here
via telecommunications for his testimony. I want to thank also
the ranking member of the committee, Senator Larry Craig, for
his support that he has given us throughout these hearings that
we are undertaking.
Over the years, we in the Congress have focused on
different types of elderly mistreatment, including physical
abuse and sexual abuse, emotional abuse or psychological abuse,
abandonment or neglect, to name merely a few.
This afternoon, we are going to focus on yet another form
of elder abuse: the financial and material exploitation of our
elderly. Elderly abuse in general is difficult to quantify.
There is a large disparity between the number of cases reported
and the number of those cases that are, in fact, unreported.
This disparity is referred to as the ``iceberg theory,'' which
is indicated on a chart that I have prepared.
According to the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, only
16 percent of all elder abuse cases are actually reported. As
you see, a large majority of the cases are not even ever
reported to authorities. The financial and material loss is
obviously devastating, but as my second chart points out, that
is also just the tip of the iceberg. Financial independence is
shattered, and long-term psychological and emotional scars may
never be overcome. There is even data to conclude that a
financially abuse elder has a higher risk of premature death.
Let me take a moment to define the issue of financial and
material exploitation. It is the illegal or improper use of an
elder's funds, their money, their property, their assets. There
have been a few attempts to quantify this crime. Most recently,
the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study mandated by Congress
was completed back in 1998. In this study, it was determined
that 30 percent of all the reported and substantiated elder
abuse cases were financial exploitation while 25 percent were
physical abuse. There also have been studies outside of the
United States, all of which indicate that the predominant type
of reported elder abuse, after neglect, is financial abuse.
Today's hearing this afternoon will focus on those in our
society who exploit our vulnerable elder population, depleting
their lifelong savings and exposing them to financial ruin, to
emotional despair, and even death. The hearing will address
several specific forms of financial exploitation that the
current system has difficulty in defining, let alone
preventing.
It is not uncommon for these actions to evade the criminal
justice system. What our panelists will show is that there are
many psychological pieces to this criminal puzzle, such as
diminished capacity, undue influence, and inability to consent.
Seniors, like anyone, can be psychologically and intentionally
manipulated for the purpose of taking their money. This is a
tarnish on everyone's golden years, the period of our lives
during which we all hope to be able to enjoy the fruits of our
lifelong labors.
This afternoon, we will hear a sampling of these cases
involving family, home repairmen, professional criminal groups
such as Travelers and Rom Gypsies that target the elderly.
On this issue, let me say up front that it is not our
intent to condemn all people who consider themselves Travelers
or Rom Gypsies, but to focus on those within these groups where
illegal activities are the main reason for their existence.
It has been estimated that 70 percent of our Nation's
wealth is held by people 50 years of age or older. Over the
next 10 years, there will be $10 trillion in assets invested by
the elderly, and financial predators, therefore, target the
elderly for the same reason that Jean Lafitte pirated ships and
Jesse James robbed banks and trains. That is where the money
is.
Looking into the future, even more opportunities for fraud
and exploitation await senior citizens in the new millennium. A
recent AARP survey revealed that 85 percent of individuals 60
years and older want to stay in their own homes and live
independently for as long as possible. We all have the right of
self-determination and to live as we choose. But when there are
sharks in the water, someone needs to pull those at risk to
shore.
As more and more of the baby boomers draw closer to senior
citizen status, sons and daughters and grandchildren and our
society must exercise vigilance in protecting those who have
protected us during our vulnerable years.
What we have found is that in most States the protective
system currently in place, although very well intended, is
fragmented at best. Public service professionals across our
country unanimously agree that protection services, law
enforcement, and prosecutors lack the special skills and
training and funding and legislative support to properly
investigate and resolve increasingly complex cases of elder
financial abuse. With the lack of comprehensive, ongoing,
reliable studies regarding the extent and the nature of elder
financial abuse, there is very little information to help us
focus on designing specific services and remedies to these
problems. This hearing this afternoon will help to lift the
veil from elder financial abuse and start us in a direction of
creating a functional elder justice infrastructure.
[The prepared statement of Senator Breaux follows along
with a prepared statement of Senator Craig:]
Prepared Statement of Senator John Breaux
Good morning. I would like to thank all of you, especially
my fellow members, for attending today's investigative hearing.
I would also like to thank the Committee's Ranking Member,
Senator Larry Craig, for his support throughout this
investigation. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to
thank the witnesses for being here today. Your testimony will
assist the Committee greatly in determining how best to address
the vital issues raised today.
Over the years, we in Congress have focused on different
types of elder mistreatment including physical abuse, sexual
abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, abandonment and
neglect to merely name a few. Today we will focus on yet
another form of elder abuse: the financial and material
exploitation of our elderly. Elder abuse in general is
difficult to quantify. There is a large disparity between the
number of cases reported and those that go unreported. This
disparity is referred to as ``The Iceberg Theory'' which is
indicated on a chart I had prepared. According to the National
Elder Abuse Incidence Study, only 16 percent of all elder abuse
cases are actually reported. As you see, a large majority of
these cases are not reported to authorities. The financial and
material loss is obviously devastating, but as my second chart
shows, that is also just the tip of the iceberg. Financial
independence is shattered and long term psychological and
emotional scars may never be overcome. There is even data to
conclude that a financially abused elder has a higher risk of
premature death.
Let me take a moment to define the issue of financial and
material exploitation: it is the illegal or improper use of an
elder's funds, property or assets. There have been a few
attempts to quantify this crime. Most recently the National
Elder Abuse Incidence Study, mandated by Congress, was
completed in 1998. In this study, it was determined that 30
percent of all reported and substantiated elder abuse cases
were financial exploitation while 25 percent were physical
abuse. There have also been studies outside the US, all of
which indicate that the predominant type of reported elder
abuse (after neglect) is financial.
Today's hearing, will focus on those in our society who
exploit our vulnerable elder population--depleting their
lifelong savings and exposing them to financial ruin, emotional
despair and even death. The hearing will address several
specific forms of financial exploitation that the current
system has difficulty defining, let alone preventing. It is not
uncommon for these actions to evade the criminal justice
system. What our panelists will show is that there are many
psychological pieces to this criminal puzzle such as diminished
capacity, undue influence and the ability to consent. Seniors,
like anyone, can be psychologically and intentionally
manipulated for the purpose of taking their money. This is a
tarnish on our Golden Years, the period of our lives during
which we all hope to be able to enjoy the fruits of our
lifelong labors. Today, we will hear a sampling of these cases
involving family, home repairmen, and professional criminal
groups such as Travelers and Rom Gypsies that target the
elderly. On this issue, let me say up front that it is not our
intent to condemn all people who consider themselves Travelers
or Rom Gypsies, but to focus on those within these groups where
illegal activities are the main fuel for their existence.
It has been estimated that 70 percent of our nation's
wealth is held by those 50 years old and above. Over the next
10 years, there will be $10 trillion in assets invested by the
elderly. Financial predators therefore target the elderly for
the same reason that Jean Lafitte pirated ships and Jesse James
robbed banks and trains--it's where the money is. Looking into
the future, even more opportunities for fraud and exploitation
await senior citizens in the new millennium.
A recent AARP survey revealed that 85 percent of
individuals 60 years and older want to stay in their homes and
live independently for as long as possible. We all have the
right of self determination and to live as we choose, but when
there are sharks in the waters, someone needs to pull those at
risk to shore. As more and more of the Baby Boomers draw closer
to senior citizen status, sons, daughters, grandchildren, and
our society must exercise vigilance in protecting those who
have protected us during our vulnerable years.
What we have found is that in most states, the protective
system currently in place, although well intended, is
fragmented at best. Public service professionals across our
country unanimously agree that protection services, law
enforcement and prosecutors lack the special skills, training,
funding and legislative support to properly investigate and
resolve increasingly complex cases of elder financial abuse.
With the lack of comprehensive, ongoing, reliable studies
regarding the extent and nature of elder financial abuse, there
is little information to help us focus on designing specific
services and remedies. This hearing will help to lift the veil
from elder financial abuse and start us in the direction of
creating a functional elder justice infrastructure.
------
Prepared Statement of Senator Larry Craig
Thank you Senator Breaux for holding this hearing on the
financial exploitation of the elderly. As you may recall, I
held a hearing on the topic of Elder Abuse last year. At that
hearing, we heard testimony from JoAnne Hopper, a victim from
Idaho, who was financially exploited by her son. I am pleased
that this committee is continuing to examine various aspects of
elder abuse, including financial crimes perpetrated against our
most vulnerable citizens.
For the elderly, losing the fruits of a lifetime's labor
can be devastating. Financial crimes can strip away a victim's
independence, security, and dignity. These crimes destroy
legacies, and may lead to depression, hopelessness, and
despair. To the Seniors who have lost their life savings,
financial crimes are no less devastating than violent crimes.
To effectively fight these crimes, it is critical that
existing laws be vigorously enforced: Laws like the one that
put Justin Ray White behind bars. Mr. White perpetrated crimes
against seniors in at least five North Western states. In his
long and shameful career, Mr. White robbed seniors of literally
millions of dollars in assets. His financial assaults upon the
elderly came to an abrupt end when he was caught and prosecuted
by law enforcement officials in Clearwater County, Idaho.
Idaho laws also encourage banks to report suspected
instances of elder financial abuse to local authorities. Banks
in Idaho, in cooperation with state agencies, provide training
to their employees on how to identify and prevent financial
crime. Idaho is only 1 of only 5 states to implement such a
program. I intend to have ongoing conversations with the
Department of Justice on several issues.
We will discuss making training and technical assistance
available to state and local law enforcement on the effective
investigation and prosecution of crimes against the elderly .
We will also look at current resources and grant money that
could target financial exploitation and other aspects of Elder
Abuse. And overall, we will explore enhancing the effectiveness
of inter-agency cooperation and multi-disciplinary approaches
in responding to cases of elder abuse at both the state and
Federal level.
These constructive steps will serve to put in place
effective mechanisms for ensuring that our most vulnerable
citizens are protected from financial abuse and other forms of
elder crime.
I want to welcome all of our panel of witnesses. We are
going to take Mr. Carl Fiosche. Mr. Fiosche, can you hear us?
Am I pronouncing your name anywhere close to being to correct?
Mr. Fiosche. That is close enough.
The Chairman. Close enough. Well, thank you very much.
Mr. Fiosche joins us this afternoon from Tacoma, WA, and we
would be very pleased to have you give us your statement if you
would go ahead, Mr. Fiosche.
STATEMENT OF CARL FIOSCHE, GYPSY VICTIM, TACOMA, WA
Mr. Fiosche. My name is Carl Fiosche, and I am 79 years
old. I live in Tacoma, WA. I am a World War II veteran. I
served in the South Pacific in air-sea rescue.
I am the victim of a sweetheart scam by a woman named
Angela, who I later learned is a member of the Romany Gypsy
clan. Angela is probably about 50 years younger than me. In
about 4 months, we now estimate that she took about $70,000
from me. She got my house worth more than $109,000. The damage
would have been worse except that someone called Adult
Protective Services and I got help. As it is, I had to file for
bankruptcy.
Before I met Angela, I lived in my house alone. I have a
few friends and some good neighbors, but I really don't have
any relatives. Since my mother died about 12 years ago, I am by
myself a lot. I have always been a bachelor. I took care of
myself. I drove my car to go out grocery shopping. I had a lot
of medical appointments at the American Lake Veteran
Administration.
I had a sufficient amount of money that I saved over the
years. My only income is Social Security and a small veteran's
pension. I owned my own home free and clear. I had almost no
bills. I paid all my bills every month on time. I had good
credit.
I think it was around the spring or summer of 2001 that I
had just gotten out of the hospital for double pneumonia. That
is when I met Angela at my bank. When I was in the bank, I saw
this guy on a cell phone walking back and forth. I later found
out it was Angela's friend, Nic. Now, Nic spotted me in the
bank and told her when I was coming out. When I went out to my
car, Angela was in the parking lot. She asked if I was Italian.
I had an Italian bumper sticker on my car, and I said yes. She
said she is Italian, too. We started talking and she asked for
my phone number. I gave it to her. That is how we met.
About a week later, she called me and asked me to go out
for lunch. She said she was falling for me right then.
It wasn't long before she said she needed money. She asked
if I could give her $600 for a telephone bill and rent. I said
OK. I started to write a check, but she said she doesn't take
checks, just cash. I gave her $1,000.
Angela got romantic really fast. She would say she is
falling for me. She would kiss me and hug me. Angela said, ``I
will take care of you the rest of your life.'' She said, ``You
don't want to go into a nursing home. I will take care of
you.'' She said she was in love with me. I said I loved her,
too. I would say, ``I love you.'' She would say, ``I love you
more,'' and we would go back and forth like that.
Angela would see me at least a few times a week. She took
me to some doctor's appointments. She drove me to the bank. I
would take money out and give most of it to her right then and
the rest later. I heard her on the phone at my house one day,
and I heard her say, ``He would just go in the bank and come
out with a handful of money.'' I sensed after a while maybe I
was being taken. But I wasn't thinking clearly. I was sick and
she said she would take care of me. I trusted her.
She would ask me for money, but she would never let me
write checks to her. She said never put anything like that in
her name. She had to have cash. So I wrote checks to cash and
gave her the money.
I gave her $27,000 in cash I had in a safety deposit box.
She said she needed $25,000 to start a coffee business. Later
she said she needed $1,000 for coffee. I gave it to her in
cash. One day I asked her what happened to the money. She said
they lost it gambling.
Sometimes Angela brought a young girl who goes to the fifth
or sixth grade. I heard Angela tell the girl, ``This is how you
do it.'' Then Angela came and sat in my lap, and she would be
sweet to me.
I asked Angela about Nic. I don't know if he was her
husband or what. She said he didn't care, as long as she gave
him the money everything will be all right.
On September 12, 2001, the day after 9/11, Angela came
over, and when we were just talking, she asked me about the
house. I told her I was going to make a will and leave it to my
neighbors because they were good friends to me. Now that Angela
was with me, I said I would put her in the will. Angela went
into the kitchen and called someone. She said, ``Let's go for a
ride, pick up Nic.''
They took me to a house. A notary lived there. Nic was
telling the notary person what to write. I sat on the bed. I
didn't say anything. I felt sick--I mean, I was sick--and I
couldn't walk so I just listened. I was awake but couldn't
comprehend. They said they made a deed and they wanted me to
sign it. I said I wanted to talk to my attorney. They said that
Nic knows what he is doing. It will all be done here. I thought
they were going to beat me if I didn't sign. I didn't want to
sign it, but I signed it. The deed put my home in Angela's
name. They never paid me anything for my home.
Back then I couldn't hardly see or read. I felt like I was
in a fog. I was pretty sick then.
Angela did a lot of shopping on my credit cards. She said
she wanted everything. She took me to the mall and put me in a
wheelchair and left me sitting. When she bought things, she
would wheel me over and she told me to sign for them. What
could I do? I signed. I didn't know what I was doing.
She got furniture, dishes, a sleigh bed. I don't know what
all she brought. She got a watch for $2,000. But she took the
watch back and got the money for it. One time she left me
sitting in the car and had the salesman come out to the car.
Angela told me every place you go, you must always apply
for a credit card. But I didn't need any more credit cards.
Later, I found out that about 20 businesses did a credit check
on me during the time I was with Angela.
Angela said she didn't have any transportation. She said if
I gave her $10,000, she would get a pick-up truck from Nic. I
gave her the money. But she never bought the truck.
The way that I got help was that one day I fell down and
had to call for an ambulance. I must have said something about
Angela. Adult Protective Services came to see me, and then a
couple of police.
My lawyer from legal services helped me to file a lawsuit
to sue Angela, but she probably doesn't keep any property or
assets in her name. I got a protection order against Angela and
Nic to keep them away from me. My house will be sold in the
bankruptcy to pay all of my creditors. I don't know what the
police have done. They never talked to me since the first time
they came to see me.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Fiosche follows:]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 80873.001
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 80873.002
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 80873.003
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Fiosche, for
that statement. How are you doing today?
Mr. Fiosche. I am doing better.
The Chairman. Do you know if anyone has ever taken any kind
of enforcement action against Angela and Nic from the police
standpoint? Was she ever arrested or anything, do you know?
Mr. Fiosche. No, she never was arrested. I don't think they
had any investigation or anything on her.
The Chairman. Did you ever go to anyone for any help during
this period when Angela was asking you for money? Was there
anybody that you could go to for advice as to whether this was
the right thing to do or not?
Mr. Fiosche. No, I didn't have anybody to go to.
The Chairman. When the police--how did they get involved in
this case with Angela? Was it the Adult Protective Service that
brought them in to talk to you?
Mr. Fiosche. Yes.
The Chairman. But you don't know if she has ever been
prosecuted or arrested?
Mr. Fiosche. She has never been prosecuted or arrested that
I know of.
The Chairman. Do you have any idea, Mr. Fiosche, how much
money that you ultimately transferred over to Angela,
approximately? A ball-park figure.
Mr. Fiosche. About $70,000.
The Chairman. I understand that you had to put your house--
--
Mr. Fiosche. Plus the house.
The Chairman. Plus your house you had to put up for sale,
as I understand it.
Mr. Fiosche. $109,000.
The Chairman. So around $180,000 she was able to get from
you. Over what period of time? How long was it, about? A year?
Or how long was it?
Mr. Fiosche. About 6 or 7 months.
The Chairman. About 6 or 7 months. I take it you were
living alone when all of this was occurring in your own home?
Mr. Fiosche. Yes, I had just gotten out of the hospital at
the VA, and I was alone, and I met her when I went to the bank.
The Chairman. Well, Mr. Fiosche, we and the Congress want
to say how sorry we are that this happened to you and that we
are back here in Washington, DC., working on legislation which
will hopefully create a system so that people like yourself
will never have to go through this type of experience again. I
just want to say thank you so very much for sharing your story.
It is not easy to tell the story you just told to this
committee, but I think that what you have done is give us an
indication of what happens far too often. Don't feel like you
are the only person that this has happened to. These groups in
many cases are professionals, and a person like you or like any
of us could be subjected to the same type of scam and never
really realize it. So don't feel bad. You are not the only one
that this has happened to. There are literally thousands and
thousands of Americans that have had the same type of scam put
upon them as you have suffered. So we thank you so very much.
You have been very, very helpful.
Mr. Fiosche. Thank you, Senator Breaux, for having this
hearing.
The Chairman. Well, I appreciate it, and we will stay in
touch with you. We wish you the very best in the future.
Mr. Fiosche. Thank you.
The Chairman. OK. Bye-bye.
Mr. Fiosche. Good-bye.
The Chairman. We want to thank Mr. Fiosche for joining with
us. He was not able to travel, but we do have an excellent
panel who is going to share their stories as well.
I would like to welcome as our next witness from Delaware,
from Hartly, DE, Ms. Gertrude Gingerich. Now, Ms. Gingerich,
you and I have already talked, so we are glad that you are
here. We just want to hear your story, and just feel free to
tell us any way you want.
STATEMENT OF GERTRUDE GINGERICH, TRAVELER VICTIM, HARTLY, DE
Ms. Gingerich. My name is Gertie Gingerich.
The Chairman. Mr. Blevins, if you would help her with that
mike and put it right in front of her, there you go. That will
be fine. You probably haven't spoken before too many mikes.
Pretend it is not even there.
Ms. Gingerich. My name is Gertie Gingerich, and I am 72
years old. My husband is 77 and confined to a wheelchair after
his last stroke. We live alone, though some of our children
live close by.
On December 19, 2001, my husband was away at the center. It
was an unusually warm day, and as I was eating my lunch, there
was a knock on the door. As I got up to answer, a young man
walked in and asked if I had any roof leaks. I said I do. He
said he would go get some more materials and be right back. He
wasn't long. He went up on my roof and was spraying some black
tar stuff on the roof. He also had two other men with him: one
older man who claimed to be his father, and another man.
The father came into the house, and he was talking to me,
and he told me how he had high blood pressure, and he talked
about his son, that he had just got married, and that he would
give me a good price on the work that he was doing. Then he
went back outside, and when I looked out the window, I saw them
scrubbing my car. They had gotten tar all over my car. In about
an hour and a half, they were finished and brought me a bill.
It had his name and cell phone number on it and it had a 5-year
warranty. The amount was $4,850. I said, ``My goodness.'' But I
wrote him a check for the amount he wanted. He said he would be
back the next day to put up a gutter for me over the back door.
He did come back the next day with his helper. They put up
approximately a 16-foot piece of gutter and one downspout. He
brought me another bill of $750, which I paid by check. I saw
that he ran the downspout on my deck, and I said I didn't want
it like that. He said if I didn't like it to call him later and
he would fix it like I wanted it.
A few days went by, and my daughter-in-law asked me what
those guys were doing on my roof, and I told her that I got the
roof fixed. She didn't ask what it cost and I didn't tell her.
However, I did tell my sister that I got the roof fixed,
sprayed off, and I told her what it had cost me. She then told
her daughter, my niece, who had a fit. Her husband, who is a
contractor, checked out the work that was done. He said they
had used driveway sealer and that it was not intended for using
on asphalt shingles. He said that I was intentionally misled by
materials they had used. My niece then asked me if I would mind
if she would check into this and see what she could do about
getting my money back. I said, ``No, I don't mind.'' I didn't
tell my husband or the children or anyone else about this
because I felt kind of dumb.
My niece called the Delaware State Troop 3 and spoke to a
trooper who then transferred her to a detective. He didn't seem
at all interested and told her to call back the second week in
January. She then called 911 and they again placed her to Troop
3, and they again told her to--put her through to the
detective's desk. She told her story to the trooper there. He
said she would need to speak to a detective. She told him she
did earlier and he didn't seem interested, that he told her to
call back the second week in January. So he gave her the name
of Lester Johnson and his phone number. Mr. Johnson works for
the Attorney General's office, a unit which specializes in
crimes against the elderly. She then called Lester Johnson and
gave him my story, and he said to call 911 and get an officer
out there to do a report. She did that, and they told her I had
to call myself. When I called, they just gave me a runaround. I
told my niece what they said, so she called Lester Johnson
again. Mr. Johnson seemed irritated with the police and said he
would take care of it himself. I wasn't long in getting a call
from Troop 3. An officer was on his way to take a report.
Mr. Johnson, the trooper, and my niece all wanted to be
there when this guy would come back. I called this guy, and he
said he would come back out once the weather got nicer.
I called him a second time and left a message asking him to
give me a day and time to be there. I told him I needed to know
so I could be there.
I came home almost noon on January 29 when my daughter-in-
law called me and told me I had just missed the man who had
fixed my gutter. I called him on his cell phone right away, and
he said he would be there in about 5 minutes. I then called my
niece and told her, and I called Lester Johnson and left a
message for him. I called the trooper, and they said they would
get someone right out. Mr. Johnson called back and said he was
on his way, try to keep them there, keep them long enough for
everyone to get there. All three of the men were here again. My
son, who lives next door, came over. They fixed the down spout.
Then they pointed out how uneven my basement was. They took me
down to show me what they needed to do to fix it. They wanted
to get to work on the basement right away. Of course, I
wouldn't let them. My niece came over and took pictures of the
truck and wrote the tag down, trying not to be seen. Then the
trooper came, and soon after that Mr. Johnson and his
assistant, who is a senior volunteer, were there. Another
trooper came out also. All three were checked out, and one of
them was arrested. The other two were free to go. The guy who
was arrested pulled out a big roll of cash from his pocket and
gave some to the police officer, who counted it and gave it to
Mr. Johnson, who also counted it, and then passed it on to me
and told me to count it. It was every dollar back that I had
paid to the guy. The guy was handcuffed and placed in the back
seat of the trooper's car.
I want to thank the officers and especially Mr. Johnson for
all their help. If it wasn't for Mr. Johnson, this guy would
still be out there taking advantage of the elderly. Mr. Johnson
is here with me today, right here.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Gingerich follows:]
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The Chairman. Ms. Gingerich, thank you very much. That was
an incredible story, and you told it very clearly, and you did
a terrific job, and we thank you very much for sharing that
experience with this committee and with an awful lot of
Americans.
Next we are going to hear from Mr. Bill Blevins on behalf
of, I understand, your cousin, I think, Vaughan Blevins?
Mr. Blevins. That is correct.
The Chairman. Mr. Blevins, go ahead.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM BLEVINS, ON BEHALF OF VAUGHAN BLEVINS,
MANASSAS, VA
Mr. Blevins. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am
Bill Blevins from Prince William County, VA. I was born and
raised in Fairfax County, VA. I am pleased to represent my
cousin, 72-year-old Vaughan Blevins, of Fairfax County, VA, and
over 200 others who have been exploited financially by a career
con man--Larry C. Henderson. At present I am the legal guardian
and conservator for Vaughan Blevins.
On November 12, 1997, I was notified through the Manassas
Park Police Department that Vaughan had been found lost and
confused adjacent to their headquarters building. He was very
hungry, had only $3 in his wallet, along with instructions to
contact a Mr. Larry Henderson in case of emergency. Larry was
notified and came to pick him up. The officers on duty were
suspicious and contacted Vaughan's insurance agent whose card
fortunately was also in the wallet. This led to me being
called.
When I confronted Larry--that was the next day--about his
financial dealings with Vaughan, he denied everything. When
Larry denied knowing anything about any previous dealings,
Vaughan threw up his arms and charged Larry, not unlike a caged
animal turned loose, and began shouting, ``You know Larry, you
know.'' Vaughan Blevins is a very timid, friendly individual. I
had never seen him in this type of rage in my lifetime. Even
Larry was obviously very surprised.
After that, I took Vaughan to stay with me at my mother's
home in Fairfax County, VA. I also notified Adult Protective
Services of Fairfax County. That was on November 13, 1997.
In the next few days, the following became very evidence:
Vaughan only had $14.21 in the bank, with the account being
emptied out monthly as soon as Vaughan's pension was
automatically deposited; there were numerous outstanding loans
using Vaughan's property as collateral; Vaughan was checked out
medically and found to be severely malnourished, lacked
necessary medical supervision for at least 2 years, suffering
from dementia and mental abuse; Adult Protective Services made
me aware that Larry Henderson was being investigated by Fairfax
County Criminal Investigation Division regarding another victim
and had been taking advantage of another victim for
approximately 3 years who also had dementia, and had a history
of seeking out that type of victim. He had a prior history with
APS, not only in Fairfax County but in other jurisdictions.
I interviewed with Fairfax County CID and was told it would
take about 60 days to formulate a case. I was told Vaughan made
a poor witness because of his dementia. I was reminded that
Larry Henderson had certain rights, including the right to face
his accuser. My response was the Constitution's guarantee of
equal rights and protection for everyone. Let's let a judge and
jury decide. I was reminded more than one that it wasn't a
crime for someone to ``give their money away.'' I found and
still find this comment unsuitable and demeaning to a victim
with diminished capacity.
I asked around and I heard of more past and present victims
of Larry Henderson in Fairfax County and other jurisdictions.
When notified, the Fairfax County Police Department seemed
disinterested.
I was astonished to find that Larry Henderson had a civil
and criminal background unrivaled by few, if any. I contacted
as many victims as possible. All were very helpful. Nearly all
were elderly. They in turn knew of others who had bad
experiences with Larry Henderson. I asked many why they hadn't
gone to the police. Some had, with few results. Some victims
were second generation. Some victims were related. It was
obvious Larry Henderson sought out a certain victim profile:
elderly, preferably a widow or widower; diminished capacity;
rural and/or older communities; they often had a recent
obituary listing; small social group with other elderly
persons; older residences in need of some repair or
maintenance; and some religious interest.
To accommodate these profiles, Larry Henderson would often
portray himself as: a former friend or business associate of a
recently deceased loved one; a preacher or minister; a
contractor down on his luck; and a nice guy, often buying a
round of coffee, while sorting out a potential victim.
Larry began exploiting Vaughan as early as 1991, as well as
each year thereafter, cleaning out nearly his entire bank
account--in fact, his entire bank account for each year
thereafter. Bonds cashed, existing bank accounts empties,
subsequent earnings and money from unknown sources were
laundered through Vaughan's account approaching $600,000. That
is probably a very conservative estimate. I am still finding
money, still finding assets. They come in periodically.
Larry Henderson developed a certain hold over Vaughan.
Vaughan was conditioned to think he had to ask for permission
to eat, to go somewhere, to use the bathroom and perform
simple, everyday tasks. In the 6 weeks it took him to get him
deprogrammed and to get his house habitable again with the
assistance of APS, it was always, ``Do I have to ask Larry?''
``Where's Larry?'' ``What will Larry say?'' et cetera.
During the 6 weeks of deprogramming sessions, Vaughan would
sometimes, especially at night, want to talk. He would want to
confide in me. He would ask, ``Why did Larry do that to me?''
``What's going to happen to me?'' ``Am I going to die?''
Sometimes, as reality would set in, he would cry or sob and
blame himself for allowing things to occur as they did.
Larry Henderson didn't confine himself to the extreme
Northern Virginia area. He has a history in approximately the
upper one-fourth of the State of Virginia, particularly
Fairfax, Prince William, some in Arlington, Fauquier, Loudoun,
Clarke, Frederick, and Warren counties, as well as the
independent cities and towns. He has a history in eastern West
Virginia--he is a serial bankruptcy filer; the three filings
would all bear that out--as well as Maryland, Delaware, New
Jersey, southern New York, and Louisiana. I was told that he
once took approximately eight to ten widows and widowers for
about $100,000 in the Route 28 corridor in western Prince
William and Fauquier County. All those names appeared on prior
bankruptcy filings. Only the amounts were diminished. Two of
those people lost their country store. One lost a farm. All the
names appeared on Larry Henderson's previous bankruptcy
filings, as I just pointed out.
Larry Henderson did a small amount of work for the
homeowners' association president in the affluent Mantua
Subdivision in Fairfax County. He gave her name as a reference
and scammed several other homeowners in the community. She
served as a prop for his many schemes in that community. He had
one reported and he had to refund the money or face a
conviction, and he was convicted in another jurisdiction, as
that was where the money changed hands and technically that is
where the crime occurred. That jurisdiction is the city of
Manassas Park, VA. If not for the effort and diligence of
Investigator Tony DeFelice, Larry Henderson would probably not
be in jail today. Investigator DeFelice is sitting behind me
today. He is very well thought of in the community, I might
add, as a law enforcement officer.
It was Investigator DeFelice who was called in when I
discovered Larry Henderson had a 186-day-old felony warrant in
Fairfax County and he had it served on him. This is the only
conviction in Fairfax County and they had sat on it for over 6
months.
I asked CID, by the way, if they would like a list of the
victims that had occurred in that 6-month-plus period.
Investigator DeFelice was instrumental in getting Prince
William County to prosecute two other cases against Larry
Henderson. Unfortunately, Fairfax County could have added at
least one year to Larry Henderson's present Virginia prison
term. Despite the presence of five representatives from other
jurisdictions, some on their own time, they dropped charges on
a felony. In short, in the overall scheme of things, for
whatever reason, Fairfax County has been very kind to Mr.
Henderson.
I am told Larry Henderson will be out of the Virginia State
Penitentiary next March 2003, having served 3 years of a 6-year
sentence. He will then begin serving an 8-year Federal
sentence.
Looking back, it has been very frustrating getting
assistance and the proper representation for Vaughan Blevins,
who, I might add, is a veteran and a former civil servant
himself, and one of the victims that Mr. Henderson took
advantage of, Dorothy Robertson, is also a former civil servant
for years for Fairfax County. Her husband was a veteran.
I would recommending the following to Congress: Federal
statute or statutes to protect people with diminished capacity;
a national registry for those who victimize people with
diminished capacity; mandatory statutes to make banks and
lending institutions report suspicious activity and/or
suspicious loan applications; and strict guidelines governing
loan applications.
I would like to point out that Mr. Henderson often used the
very weak statutes and guidelines in the State of Virginia
governing contracting fraud. They are among the weakest, if not
the weakest in the country. Despite complaints to State
delegates, the State Attorney General's office, the Crime
Prevention Bureau, the Director and Assistant Director, not one
law in the last five general sessions since 1997 has been
strengthened. If anything, some have been weakened.
I ask what will be the result of today's hearing. Others
and I have been forced to settle with disappointment in the
last 5 years. I often wonder if this will be another
disappointment, and I will anxiously await the results.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Blevins follows:]
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The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Blevins. I
hope, too, that you won't be disappointed, and that is going to
be our real effort here.
Next we will hear----
Mr. Blevins. Could I point out one thing, please? I don't
mean to interrupt.
The Chairman. Sure.
Mr. Blevins. Each day, that is, the end of today, tomorrow,
and each day thereafter, $1 million passes hands in the State
of Virginia--and that is a very conservative number--through
contractor fraud.
The Chairman. Thank you. Strong statistics.
Next we will hear from Detective Brad Graham with the
Tacoma Police Department. Mr. Graham, thank you very much for
being with us.
STATEMENT OF BRADLEY R. GRAHAM, DETECTIVE, TACOMA POLICE
DEPARTMENT, ON BEHALF OF MARIE BOBO, TACOMA, WA
Mr. Graham. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. I am a
detective with the Tacoma, WA, Police Department assigned to
the Special Assaults Unit. In January of this year, I became
involved in the case of State of Washington v. Margaret M.
Bobo, a case of criminal mistreatment.
The victim, 81-year-old Marie Bobo, lived in a single-
family home in Tacoma. She retired from her civil service job
over 20 years ago and lived solely on her retirement check.
There is no record of her ever applying for or receiving any
State public assistance.
On January 14 of this year, the victim's daughter,
Margaret, made a 911 call asking for assistance with her mother
who had fallen in the house. Margaret told the dispatcher she
was unable to pick her mother up. When Fire/Rescue arrived,
they found Marie, naked from the waist down, on the floor
inside the home unable to move. They found her in that first
picture you see, sir.
Fire fighters had to remove the outer door from the hinges
and climb over stacks of garbage and household trash that in
places went from floor to ceiling. They found her literally
stuck to the trash by her own feces. Pieces of her skin were
pulled from her body as they lifted her for transport to a
hospital. The home was filled with feces and rodents.
Police were summoned to the hospital to interview the
victim. The responding officer was required by hospital staff
to don a protective suit because the victim had unidentified
inset life coming out of the wounds on her body. She was
clearly disoriented and unable to give officers a clear picture
of what had happened.
The victim weighed 88 pounds, was malnourished and
dehydrated. She suffered from a condition called contracture of
the legs and hips. This condition results when a limb has not
been moved for a significant period of time. In this case, the
legs and hips were stuck in the fetal position, as you see,
sir. She got this way from having been left, unmoved, for
several months. The skin around her toes was blackened and
dead. Any attempt to manipulate her legs was and still is
painful to her. She had bedsores on her buttocks and elbows.
Her skin was dry and scaly and began to come off as it was
being cleaned for the first time in months.
There is no hope now that her legs will ever function
again. There was concern that she would require some amputation
to prevent infection. Only now, after 5 months of treatment and
evaluation, is she able to be placed into a reclining chair.
The medical plan calls for treatment of the tendons in her legs
to release them to point of getting her into a wheelchair,
hopefully. This will give her something she really has not
experienced in over a year--mobility.
Interviews with the victim were limited due to her mental
state. She was able to recall that her daughter lives with her
but doesn't spend the night. Her daughter visits her daily to
bring her food and water. She was not able to recall where she
slept, when she last used a bathroom, when she was last able to
move her legs, or how much money she got from a retirement
check which she did know she received.
Her daughter was arrested for criminal mistreatment and
criminal abandonment. In a post-arrest interview, the daughter
admitted that she shared a joint bank account with her mother.
A direct deposit of the mother's retirement check of
approximately $910 was made monthly to that account.
Asked to account for the money being withdrawn, the
daughter said she used the money to repay a home loan in her
mother's name, her mother's utility bills, and for food.
Reminded of her mother's malnourished condition, she still
insisted that roughly $200 a month went to feed her mother. She
further indicated that her mother wanted to contribute enough
money to pay for the daughter's rent on an apartment across
town.
The daughter indicated that she visits the home daily, in
the afternoon, to bring her mother a meal consisting generally
of soup, sandwiches, and cookies. Asked what her mother did for
meals when there was no one there to help, she said, ``My
mother just doesn't eat breakfast.'' A check of the home's
utility records showed that the home's power and water usage
were significantly below normal. At times during the past year,
there were months when the home showed no measurable water
usage. The home's gas was shut off some time ago, thereby
cutting off the primary source of heat.
Subpoenas to the victim's bank showed a shared account
between the victim and the daughter. Records show that each
month a retirement check was deposited into that account and on
the exact same date that entire amount was withdrawn in cash.
This left a constant balance of less than $5 in the checking
account.
Financial records show that in early 2000, at the age of
80, the victim was given a loan against her home for household
repairs. The deed shows the loan to be for $20,000 payable over
a 25-year period. Her monthly payments on that loan were $350 a
month.
Proactive intervention in elder abuse by law enforcement
is, at best, difficult. Last year, Tacoma PD responded to
approximately 175,000 calls for service. Nearly 2,000 offenses
were reported to be against victims age 62 and older. When
police have to struggle to keep up with reported crime, any
proactive efforts will suffer. Most crimes-against-persons
cases must be triaged by detectives to determine the level of
solvability before investing time and resources into an
investigation. Sadly, the threshold of what is solvable tends
to be inversely proportionate to the increase in our caseload.
I believe a big part of the solution lies in public
awareness. We need to make people as focused on elder issues as
they are to child abuse issues. We must teach people with
regular elder contact to be more attuned to the signs and
symptoms of this problem. Educating people like letter
carriers, power meter readers, neighborhood shop owners, and
beat cops could go a long way toward early intervention and
prevention.
Financial abuse is a particularly difficult case to work.
The suspects are often relatives, close friends, or caregivers
who have been given access to the funds, such as was in the
Bobo case. Twenty years of retirement payments and the bank
account had a near-zero balance. Of additional concern has to
be the loan and the lack of guidance in her obtaining of it. We
have here in this case an 80-year-old woman who was given a 25-
year home loan with monthly payments in excess of 30 percent of
her monthly income. There has to be some way to exercise some
oversight against predatory lending agencies who see the
elderly as an easy target.
In my 15 years of law enforcement, I have never experienced
the same roller-coaster ride of emotions as I did with this
case. I will never forget the images indelibly printed in my
mind of this poor old woman lying crippled in her own little
chamber of horrors there and my bewilderment as to how this
could have happened right in front of us.
Thank you, sir.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Graham follows:]
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The Chairman. Mr. Graham, that story is almost too
difficult to tell. Just unbelievable.
Mr. Graham. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Thank you very much for telling it because it
is very important.
Next we are going to hear from Mr. Justin Ray White who is
with us from the Idaho State Correctional Institute in Boise,
ID. Mr. White.
STATEMENT OF JUSTIN RAY WHITE, PRISONER, IDAHO STATE
CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE, BOISE, ID
Mr. White. Hello. My name is Justin White.
The Chairman. Mr. White, pull that mike down a bit closer
so we might hear it more clearly.
Mr. White. My name is Justin White, and I am an ex-Traveler
from the Pacific Northwest. I am an inmate at the Idaho State
Correctional Institute, and I am currently serving a 10-year
sentence for grand theft and using a false ID. I was born in
Idaho into the Traveler way of life.
When I was a young boy at the age of 10, I can remember
peddling flowers and candy and cheap leather wallets at bars,
stores, and beauty salons. I would get a percentage of whatever
I sold for the night from my father, who was a Traveler. I was
a poor salesman at the time, but as the years advanced, I got
better at it. When I turned about 13 years old, I started
working on the road with my father, and I can still remember
him telling me if anyone asked where we were from, tell them we
lived at such and such town, lane and address. We always had a
story ready. I remember my dad having me roll down the windows
so I could hear him talk to the elderly people and pick up
pointers on how to hustle them.
When we were looking for a job, I would watch out my side
looking for old people while my father paid attention to his
side of the street and drove. We would pick our houses by the
looks of them: old cars, no toys lying around, yards that are
kept up real nice, single names on the mail boxes. By the time
I was 15 years old, I had heard enough and seen enough to know
this was a great life and an easy life. I didn't need much
schooling or any kind of education as far as that went. All the
Traveler kids hardly ever went to school. We learned what we
had to do from our fathers, and that was to lie and cheat and
scam for the almighty dollar. All I ever wanted was to be like
my dad and my uncles and be like a high roller.
The Traveler's way of life was the only way of life, easy
money all the time. You wore the best of clothes, $500 to
$1,000 western boots, gold rings on all your fingers, gold
watches, bracelets on your wrist, new trucks all the time, all
chromed out, and you had new Lincolns and Cadillacs, Lexuses.
What more would you need to see to know that this was the way
of life that you wanted, all the Travelers telling you camp
fire stories on how much money they had made on some old mark
they had found somewhere out in the country and how easy it was
to take them for their money.
Most Travelers when I was a kid would stay in a town for
about a week or two, then move to another town as soon as they
worked the area or did a real good job where they made a couple
thousand dollars and were scared it might draw a little heat.
So the Travelers' kids never had time for school. They learned
that the only way to make a living was to lie, cheat, and scam.
Most of your Travelers today are all home owners with homes
that range from $70,000 to $500,000. They stay in one place
longer, have their kids in school part of the time, and have
businesses such as car lots, blacktop paving, RV sales, and
septic tank pumping. When things slow down and the money isn't
coming in every day, they will start tripping off, away from
the house to other States and scam for money from the senior
citizens.
You can always spot a Traveler by his outfit, known as his
truck. Most of them like fancy 1-ton's with fancy wheels and
tinted windows, with the front plate off so you can't tell
where he is from. They don't like older vehicles because they
can't depend on them. When it is time to leave town, they want
something dependable that will get them out real fast. Some of
the Travelers like to put magnets on their license plates, so
all they have to do is pull the plate off. When they get a job,
they tell the senior citizens that they just bought the truck
and haven't had time to put plates on it.
Most of the Traveler girls are very beautiful women, and
when it is time for them to marry, the fathers hook them up
with good Travelers or ``hummiechill'' boys who will be good
providers and will take care of her in the way that she is
accustomed.
Traveler girls are also sold to their husbands, and
sometimes that is a very large sum, $20,000 to $30,000 if she
is a good hustler and can make money every day. They do all
kinds of scams but mostly shoplifting or conning old men out of
hundreds of even thousands by playing with their hearts.
The reason the elderly are a good target is because they
are very trustworthy. They are very lonely and want someone to
talk to. They also save their money more than younger people.
The elderly like their house in good shape because of all the
good memories they have with their family there. The main
target of the Travelers is an elderly person who lives alone.
There is no one they can confide to, so they are very easy to
trick.
When a Traveler or myself works for an elderly person, we
try to quickly learn as much as we can about their lives. One
way is by asking about their yard: ``Who does your yard work
for you?'' ``You have a beautiful yard.'' They will tell you
anything and everything about how they have to do it
themselves, how their kids moved away, and how this new
generation doesn't want to work and how lazy the kids are
today. When you ask that one question, they usually tell it
all.
Fake IDs are a must when you do this kind of work because
if you get caught scamming somebody out of their money, you
don't want to bring heat on your real name. Nothing like a good
piece of ID with a different name. Almost all of your Travelers
have good driver's license numbers under a fake name. That is a
very important tool. I myself had as many as 60 aliases, and
once I used an alias just to get out of jail. When I got pulled
over by the police, they would run a check on the alias. It
would come back clean, and they would let me go. The aliases
are very important, and I would use them more than my own name.
The Travelers could make anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000
a year, depending on how good he was. I know of a Traveler that
got $50,000 from one mark in one day and probably about
$250,000 in a year's time off the same mark. The most I ever
made in one day on a job was about $8,400. I remember a lot of
$2,000 days, and there were days I never made a cent. I am not
sure what I made in a year's time, but if I was to guess, I
would say probably $60,000 or $70,000 a year. I was too busy
spending it to keep an account of it.
There are many Traveler scams floating around the country,
and when one gets burnt, they think of new ones to do. My
favorite was getting into attics and spraying for termites. I
would take an old piece of wood with me and put bugs in it. I
would then show it to them and tell them that the wood came
from their attic and that I could fix the problem by spraying
and they could save a lot of money. Over the years, I have been
involved in all kinds of scams: blacktop paving, blacktop seal
coating, roofing, home repair, septic tank pumping, tree
trimming, yard care, and pest control. There are probably a few
more, but these are my favorite and the most common ones that
the Travelers do to the senior citizens.
What I would suggest to all senior citizens is to never
hire anyone to do work for you that shows up on your doorstep.
They are there to steal your money. They don't care about you
at all. All they want is your money. Another thing I would
suggest is to buy a few toys and lay them around in your front
yard so it doesn't look like an old person lives there, like a
tricycle or a swing set, a basketball or Tonka toys. Just a
couple of these is enough to throw a Traveler off.
Never have anything done on the spur of the moment. I
suggest calling up friends, family, police, or your sheriff's
office and ask them what they think. Never let anyone talk you
into anything. If it sounds too good to be true, that is
because it isn't true. Nothing is for free. Travelers don't get
rich doing stuff for free. They get rich by the kindness and by
you trusting them.
[The prepared statement of Mr. White follows:]
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The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. White, for your statement.
Next we are going to hear from a retired detective of the
Los Angeles Police Department and their Elder Person's Estate
Unit, Mr. Cesario ``Chayo'' Reyes.
STATEMENT OF CESARIO ``CHAYO'' REYES, RETIRED DETECTIVE, LOS
ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT, ELDER PERSONS ESTATE UNIT, CURRENTLY
ELDER FINANCIAL PROTECTIVE SERVICES, CERRITOS, CA
Mr. Reyes. Again, thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is
Chayo, and I am a retired detective from the Los Angeles Police
Department, and developed the Department's first Elder Estate
Unit back in 1987. I am also a co-founder of the Los Angeles
County Financial Abuse Specialist Team, and co-authored, along
with Los Angeles attorney Marc Hankin and my former partner
Dave Harned, California Senate Bill 1742, enacted in January
2001, which enables investigators to secure the assets of
vulnerable elder and dependent adults during the course of a
criminal investigation in order to prevent further losses. I
have remained active in this field as a consultant and
instructor, and currently on the Board of Directors for the
National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse here in
Washington, DC.
Ever since vulnerable elders and dependent adults have had
assets, there have been individuals to financially exploit
them. Our elders are the fastest-growing segment of our
society, and they are also the financial backbone of our
country's economy. They are living longer. I should say ``we''
are living longer, and saving more than ever before. But we as
a society do not always recognize this population as being at
risk. There are a number of circumstances that put an elderly
person at risk. There are physical and mental health issues
such as stroke, Alzheimer's, depression, isolationism and other
causes still exist in spite of our best efforts to protect our
seniors.
Throughout my 15 years in working elder abuse cases, there
has been a common theme. The victims generally live alone, may
be in poor health, and in 95 percent of our cases, suffer from
diminished mental capacity. These conditions make them at risk
to exploitation through undue influence or duress. They are
easily swayed and are likely to place their entire estate in
the control of befriending suspects.
It was not until medical experts such as Dr. Margaret
Singer of Berkeley, CA shed light in the phenomenon of undue
influence were we able to begin to understand how this all
happens. Undue influence is when people use their role in power
to exploit the trust, dependency and fears of an individual to
gain control over the decisionmaking of that person. Training
from medical experts in the field of undue influence is
paramount for investigators of elder abuse cases.
The most common suspects I have come across have been
family members, in-home care providers, friends and neighbors,
but anyone in a position of trust who can exert undue influence
over a vulnerable person. It may be a fellow church member,
attorneys, accountants, befriending strangers, ex-con
caretakers and predators who specifically target the elderly.
It is troubling to conclude that if there is an endless list of
silent culprits. There is also an endless list of silent
victims.
The suspects often isolate and/or will relocate the victim
in order to obtain complete control. The suspects then create
what my former partner, Dave Harned, and I refer as a civil
mirage, by coercing the victims into signing powers-of-
attorneys, contracts, quit-claim deeds, wills, living trusts,
and adding their names onto the victims' bank accounts and
obtaining numerous credit cards under the victim's name. In
some cases the suspects marry the vulnerable elder as another
means of obtaining total control of their estate through
community property.
Once in so-called legal control of the estate, the suspects
operate as though they have a license to steal. They withdraw
the victim's life savings, obtain loans on the property, making
it subject to foreclosure, and max out the credit cards. They
may even file bankruptcy to conceal the theft.
Ultimately, the elder becomes a double victim, first, by
not having the benefit of their assets which were depleted by
the suspect, and second, the victim is responsible for any
accumulated debt and tax penalties.
Most people who discover or suspect these matters, and that
includes social workers, law enforcement and prosecutors, often
do not have the training or experience in gathering evidence to
support the allegation. They too often assume that the
documents show the suspect had legal access to the elder's
estate. For these reasons many reporting person are
automatically misinformed by authorities that it is a civil
matter, when in fact they are hidden and silent crimes. It is
imperative that anyone in the position or recognizing elder
abuse or exploitation be given specific training so they can
adequately protect our vulnerable population.
Due to the victim's age and poor health and the suspects'
ability to quickly deplete the estate, timely preliminary
investigations and court proceedings are extremely critical.
Unlike other financial crime victims, these victims are not
able to financially, and many times emotionally, recover. As a
result of being swindled, the victim may go into depression and
ultimately suffer from a condition known as self neglect. They
start out as productive, self-sufficient citizens and
ultimately end up relying on government and/or family aid for
the rest of their lives. Financial abuse is also related to
more elder homicides and suicides.
Our mission at LAPD was to network with multiple government
and private organizations in order to maximize resources and
utilize experts from different fields in an effort to pro-
actively put a halt to the exploitation, while at the same time
address the elders' long-term needs to prevent them from
falling victim again.
From 1987 through 1999, along with members from the Los
Angeles County Area Agency on Aging Financial Abuse Specialist
Team or FAST, our unit prevented the loss of and/or recovered
over $91 million in victims' assets, which includes homes,
vehicles and life savings. This figure only reflects LAPD
cases. It does not include the millions of losses prevented or
recovered while networking with law enforcement agencies across
the country. The LA FAST team was the first in the country,
established in 1993 and is coordinated by WISE Senior Services
in Santa Monica, CA.
With the growing elder/dependent adult population, the
abuse of this vulnerable population will continue to be a
growing problem and major concern for social workers, law
enforcement, prosecutors, financial institutions and health
care providers.
There is a nationwide lack of training, expertise and
resources to properly investigate, prosecute and litigate these
cases. For example, most states lack legislation to address
consent by victims who may be subject to undue influence or
duress.
It is imperative that such matters involving victims
suffering from dementia, subject to undue influence or duress
be handled with the same attention, sensitivity and resources
given to juvenile and domestic violence crime victims.
This hearing, Mr. Chairman, it is a very important step to
protect and serve those who have taken care of us, and I thank
you for having me here today, sir.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Reyes follows:]
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The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Reyes.
We now will conclude and very honored to have the Attorney
General of the State of Delaware with us, whose office did such
good work on behalf of our first witness, Ms. Gingerich, when
she testified, Ms. Jane Brady, Ms. Attorney General.
STATEMENT OF JANE BRADY, ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF DELAWARE,
WILMINGTON, DE
Ms. Brady. Thank you, sir, and thank you for hosting this
event and this hearing and for looking at this issue.
It is a very, very secret and private crime that occurs,
and we are glad to help shed some light on it. I do serve as
the Attorney General of Delaware, and Delaware is one of three
states in the country where the Attorney General is also the
DA, so I actually handle the cases within my office of criminal
acts against the seniors.
This issue is a personal one for me. I moved in to help my
grandmother for a few days when my grandfather died, and ended
up staying 7 years and caring for her until just a few months
before her death, and in that time we were the victims of a
not-leaky-roof fix by some people who were Traveler scam
artists while I was at work one day.
She developed Alzheimer's and I understood what it meant to
lose confidence in your capacity to manage your affairs, and
she lost a son, and I understood what it meant to be isolated
emotionally for her, and to try and help her with those things.
So I think I have an appreciation personally of some of the
issues our seniors face.
Every state has a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that has
responsibility, in addition to any Medicaid fraud, to
investigating patient abuse and neglect, and so we actually
have some resources in the states to look at people who are
residents in facilities receiving Medicare funds, but there
really is no dedicated resource for the investigation,
detection and prosecution of crimes against seniors who live in
the community. One of the first things I did when I became
Attorney General was seek Victim of Crime Act money, VOCA
funds, to help hire Mr. Johnson, about whom you have heard and
two others, into my office to investigate and work as a liaison
with law enforcement for crimes against seniors. I have to say
that I was not involved in Ms Gingerich's case during the time
that it was pending, I was made aware of it after it had been
resolved, but the program worked exactly as I had hoped,
because we had a trained and dedicated law enforcement
professional, and the people I hired into this job were retired
police officers to liaison with the police. Mr. Johnson had
worked at Troop 3, which is why when he made the phone call,
Troop 3 came out to Ms. Gingerich's home.
They liaison with law enforcement. They make sure they know
about the social service agencies that are available and they
coordinate the delivery of services on a very comprehensive
basis to the seniors who are victims of crime in the community.
With regard to financial exploitation, that most often
happens in the community, and some of the stories you have
heard today are unfortunately played out over and over in our
country, day after day. Particularly, you saw the emotion
during the press conference and during some of this testimony.
That is because the people who victimize seniors in financial
exploitation most largely either have a long-term relationship
or have developed a relationship of trust that is breached.
They question their judgment. They worry for fear of reporting
it that they will lose confidence of their other family members
in their ability to manage their affairs. They worry that they
will be taken from their home and placed in a facility if they
report the crime, and there are huge emotional issues tied to
financial exploitation for the victims of those crimes that we
cannot underestimate because it is part of the reason that you
only see 16 percent of them, because people are embarrassed and
they are afraid they will lose their independence if they
report them.
Let me talk about the police officer's response, or law
enforcement responding. One of the problems is--and Chayo
touched on this a little bit--is that in most cases involving
dispute over who owns a piece of property, who had the right to
write a check, who has the right to exercise the power of
attorney and under what circumstances, most of the kinds of
cases involving financial exploitation, whether there is rent
owed, are related to matters that between any two other parties
would be referred to a civil court. So it takes the training
and attention to those specific facts relative to the financial
exploitation of the elderly to take it out of the context out
of if it were anyone else and put it into the context of the
reality, that it is not just anyone else. It is someone with
whom a person had responsibility, who had entrusted
responsibility in care of their resources and assets. So it is
one of the reasons law enforcement I think has been reluctant
historically to become involved.
I appreciate the opportunity also to talk about some of the
things that we either can do or have done in Delaware, and we
have not done everything, believe me, but we have worked really
hard on this issue, because as I said, it is personal to me.
I have brought a number of materials that are outside. Some
of the brochures that we have developed to help with public
education on financial abuse of the elderly, investment scams.
We hold consumer universities and investment education
seminars. We have developed a program for volunteer senior
advocates. I handled a rape case in 1979 involving a 73-year-
old rape victim, who said to me, when I told her I understood
something about her story, said, ``You know, you are a very
nice young lady, but you have no idea what I am going
through.'' I brought senior peer advocates trained--we
specially train them to work with seniors who are victims. They
go out with Mr. Johnson and his peers into the community to the
interviews. They are somebody that provides a little extra
phone contact, sits with and accompanies these victims to court
to make them feel more comfortable, one way to expand our
resources without costing a lot of money.
The other is we have a senior volunteer program. We are
replicating one that Joe Hynes, the DA in Brooklyn has, where
he has retired senior attorneys take the cases at the Grand
Jury level for senior victims of crime, and provide extras
services and a little better understanding for them of what the
process is.
We have put together a Senior Victim Task Force and brought
everything from Meals on Wheels, who are great eyes and ears in
the community on what is happening in the homes of seniors who
are victims of crime, to the government agencies like Adult
Protective Services, Division of Aging, the bank commissioner,
private nonprofits that work for seniors, ER physicians, and
put them all at the same table. We are developing a report. Law
enforcement developed a model policy on how to respond to
crimes involving seniors in their communities.
Delaware has been fortunate. We have actually the
Clearinghouse for the Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly for the
country located at the University of Delaware. Karen Stein runs
that, and it is a resource of information. They responded to
nearly 300 inquiries last year for resources, journals and
documents and things that have been done or relating to
information about the abuse and the neglect of the elderly,
which I think would be a great compliment to what you are doing
with the training information, the training resources you want
to provide.
We also have adopted some good laws that help us, and we
have revamped our home improvement laws and some of our
mortgage laws, and our door-to-door sales laws and our
charitable solicitation laws, to make them better. We have
provided enhanced penalties for crimes when seniors are the
victims of those offenses. We have, I think, one of the few
laws in the country relating to emotional abuse of seniors and
infirm adults, and we have a law that allows a hearsay
exception in proving cases in court for seniors and infirm
adults, also dealing with the mentally disabled. We have
actually had one case where the victim never went to the
courthouse, and we got a conviction.
So those are the kinds of things we are doing. I think that
this is the most secret of crimes, as I said, the kind of
physical violence that occurs in the homes of some of these
seniors is the most secret kind and hidden kind of domestic
violence that there is.
I appreciate the opportunity and the wonderful work that
this committee has undertaken to try and help raise the
national awareness, the professional expertise, and the
integrity with which we look at these cases.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Brady follows:]
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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 80873.019
The Chairman. Well, thank you, Madam Attorney General, and
obviously, Delaware is a real leader in this effort through
your efforts, and we congratulate you for what you have done.
I think that I want to particularly thank every one of the
members of the panel who have been with us all afternoon, and
many have come from long distances to present their stories. I
think that what we have heard today, that a crime can be
committed with a pencil as well as with a gun. It depends on
the type of activity, but it is still a crime, whether it is
with a pencil or a gun or by some other type of scam that is
perpetrated on people who are very vulnerable.
Ms. Gingerich, yours was a roof. How did you figure out
that something was wrong, that these people were not really
honest, what they were doing to you?
Ms. Gingerich. Well, I do not know. I did not really figure
it out. I just--well, it was a lot of money and I just did not
say anything to my kids and my husband. I was talking with my
sister, that is when it all started.
The Chairman. I guess because of the efforts of the
Delaware Attorney General's Office, I forgot--were these people
prosecuted, or they gave you your money back?
Ms. Gingerich. Yes.
The Chairman. Do you know if they were prosecuted, Ms.
Brady, do you know, Attorney General?
Ms. Brady. They paid her back everything including no
compensation for the work they had done, in lieu of prosecution
in this particular case. One of them was, however, arrested and
taken into custody because he was wanted out of the State of
Florida for other crimes.
The Chairman. Were they part of a pattern? This was not
their first effort in this type of endeavor I take it?
Ms. Brady. No. We do see them come through. As I say in
1977, 1978 my grandmother was the victim of the same kind of
thing, a roof, tar on the roof, not driveway sealer that time,
but just goop on the roof.
The Chairman. Well, Ms. Gingerich, we thank you very much.
Do not feel bad about what happened to you. I mean do not blame
yourself, because there are specialists out there that try to
do that to an awful lot of people in your situation, so you
should not feel bad. They were real professionals in what they
were trying to do.
Mr. Blevins, your story, thank goodness you were there for
your 72-year-old cousin. I was really interested. Was there no
other family there; I guess you were sort of it, or was not in
a position to help or did not?
Mr. Blevins. Vaughan's parents died in the late 1980's
about 9 months apart, and we check on Vaughan. You have to
remember he and his family was a very private, reclusive family
and people that lived in a remote area, somewhat remote area of
Fairfax County, a rural area. We checked on him from time to
time, and to be honest, I feel terrible that I did not get an
eye awakener at some point in time earlier.
The Chairman. I think the most astounding thing that I got
from your testimony, that when you first went to, I guess, the
local police I guess in Fairfax County, that someone said to
you, in essence, that it was not a crime for people to give
their money away.
Mr. Blevins. That is exactly what I was told. I just could
not believe what I was hearing, to be honest about it.
The Chairman. You were talking about the information that
we need to get out there, and the training that we need to get
to law enforcement officials. It is not a crime to give your
money away, but if you are scammed out of it, it is a crime,
and it is just like if you had a gun pointed at you, what they
were doing to--Mr. Henderson was doing to your cousin.
Mr. Blevins. We are talking about a person here with
diminished capacity, who cannot reason with that particular
line of thinking anyway. That logic means nothing to him or
her.
I would like to point out that in the past Mr. Henderson
has run his various scams, et cetera. He took advantage of
lawyers in the past. Two sitting judges in Northern Virginia
were duped by Mr. Henderson in the past.
The Chairman. Henderson must have been quite a character.
He was a real pro, was he not, at this?
Mr. Blevins. We are talking, and two members of a local
city council, and I think a vice mayor, and members of a
historical society. So when you look at that, the people, with
elderly and the people with diminished capacity, did they
really stand a chance with Mr. Larry Henderson?
The Chairman. What did he pose as? What was his come-on to
your cousin and others?
Mr. Blevins. He developed a friendship with my cousin in
the local--I have several eyewitness accounts and written
accounts, where he would have these little coffee circles like
at McDonald's or a drugstore, a little dairy bar or something
of that nature, little meeting at hardware stores. There was 5.
He got victims at every one of them.
The Chairman. But he was not trying to sell anything to
them. He was just becoming a friend and then getting money from
them.
Mr. Blevins. Isolating, studying his victim, and then he
would maybe pick a victim out. Maybe he would not even cozy up
to them at that point in time. Then he would find out where
they live or reside or whatever. Then he would often go door-
to-door and solicit his home improvement services. This was his
usually main avenue to these people.
The Chairman. Was that what he did to your cousin? Did he
try to sell him services or what?
Mr. Blevins. He did solicit, I was told one time, at his
residence for home improvement repairs, yes.
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much for telling us his
story.
Mr. Graham, as I said, the work that you did, the
congratulations for performing the services that you did. I
mean the conditions that that 81-year-old women was required to
live in are just almost unbelievable. You think about something
like that happening in America, you cannot imagine it happening
anywhere in the world, but particularly in our country, that
that was something that was so shocking. I mean the daughter,
what was her problem? Was this woman a person who had any sense
of being a human?
Mr. Graham. She did. She said that is the way her mother
wanted to live.
The Chairman. Was she determined to be capable mentally to
stand trial? Did she know what she was doing?
Mr. Graham. She was found competent to stand trial, and a
week ago a jury convicted her of both counts, criminal
mistreatment and abandonment of a dependent adult. She awaits
sentencing at the end of this month.
The Chairman. Just out of curiosity, it sounds like a very
technical thing, statute that she was tried under, criminal
mistreatment of a dependent person and abandonment of a
dependent person. To me it looked like this was a crime as
violent as anything you can imagine. What is the potential
sentencing for this? Is this a felony?
Mr. Graham. It is a felony. It is a low-grade felony.
Sadly, the standard sentencing range for this is 12 to 14
months.
The Chairman. This woman was killing that woman just as if
she had taken a pistol and shot her, but it was probably much
worse because it was gradual.
Mr. Graham. We believe that she was trying to crawl out of
there, and that is when the fall took place. Had that not
happened, she most likely would have died in that residence.
The Chairman. How old was the daughter?
Mr. Graham. 42-years-old, sir.
The Chairman. Did she have a family?
Mr. Graham. She has a daughter and grandchildren of her
own, and there were 3 adult male sons of the victim, who have
moved out of the area. No one else in the family has had
contact with the victim in years.
The Chairman. That is, I mean we have had some tragic
stories, and this is right up there with absolutely the worst
that I have ever heard. It just shows you that this is, as I
think Madam Attorney General mentioned in her statement early
on, a silent crime in many cases.
Mr. Graham. Right under our noses.
The Chairman. How long had this been going on, maybe not to
that extent; how long had this problem been in the condition
that you found it in?
Mr. Graham. In talking to neighbors and canvassing the
neighborhood, nobody around her had seen or heard of her in
years.
The Chairman. Even next-door neighbors?
Mr. Graham. Even the next-door neighbor. A gentleman across
the street had indicated to us that he could not remember ever
seeing a light on in this house.
The Chairman. Well, this is just a horrible, horrible
story, but the committee thanks you very much, Detective, for
coming and sharing it, because it is only by making these type
of silent crimes, if you will, public can we get the Congress
and all of us to be involved in trying to find a solution. One
of the press questions was why has it taken so long? I do not
really have a good answer for that, but perhaps the public has
not understood it. To the extent that we are now understanding
it in the year 2002 and your story, and all of your stories
certainly have contributed to making that case, as to the
necessity of doing something about this. I mean we are very
glad that you all were informed and took action. Two-thousand
offenses you said reported?
Mr. Graham. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Against elderly?
Mr. Graham. Against people aged 63 and older.
The Chairman. That is just in Tacoma?
Mr. Graham. That is just our city.
The Chairman. All right, Mr. White. We are glad to have you
here. What is, if you can tell me, what are the Travelers? You
used the term ``Travelers.'' What does that refer to?
Mr. White. Well, what they are is they are American Gypsy,
a lot of them. You have got some clans that are Scottish, and
then you have got some of your Irish Travelers, and then you
have got your regular American Travelers, and they just live
here in the United States and travel around the United States.
The Chairman. I said in my opening statement that we are
not trying to indict all Travelers or Roamers or whatever term
we use, but is there a large percentage of Travelers, in your
opinion, that are engaged in the type of activities that you
described?
Mr. White. Why sure, there are thousands, I would say
probably around 50,000.
The Chairman. Of the ones that you knew, what percentage of
them were engaged in the type of activities that you talked
about, all of them, half of them?
Mr. White. A good half of them.
The Chairman. This is all you ever learned, was it not?
Mr. White. Yes. Ever since I was a little kid, I have seen
it all. I was brought up into it.
The Chairman. Where did you learn it from?
Mr. White. From my family mostly, my uncles, father, and
cousins.
The Chairman. Are you the first one in your family to be
convicted of this type of activity?
Mr. White. Yes.
The Chairman. Are the rest of the ones that you associated
with still doing their work?
Mr. White. Yes, pretty much so. There are a lot of them,
they got real businesses now that they work at, and then in the
wintertime they take off and go out and do their scamming in
home and repair work.
The Chairman. Is there any type of activity that is done
more than other type of activities? Is it repair work, I mean
is that the basic?
Mr. White. Yes. Repair work is mostly what is done. Usually
the roof, a lot of them, they like to do roof work, driveways.
But the roofing and the driveways is probably the biggest part
of their scams.
The Chairman. Did you all do enough to make it look like it
was a normal job, or you just got the money and took off?
Mr. White. Well, we would do enough on a job, and we kind
of played a role like you were playing in a movie or something.
You know, everybody had their own little part. You had your guy
up on the roof. You had the guy inside the house, talking to
the elderly, finding out what he could in information, and find
out where the family was at, find out about how well they were
financially wise. Then they would go ahead and go in there and
charge a big amount of money, sometimes 4 or $5,000, and if
they had seen that the money was easy to get in these cases
down here, well, then they would go back. Well, that is too
good to pass up. They would go back again and do it again. Then
if it was really good that time, well, then they might start
buddying up and being friendly and taking them out to eat, and
the next thing you know, they are signing over houses and
putting their name on accounts.
The Chairman. You were convicted of what, Mr. White?
Mr. White. I was convicted of grand theft. What my charge
was, I was doing pest control work, and what I was doing is I
was knocking on the doors, getting the elderly to the door and
explaining to them that they had shingles out and they need to
get them put in, and I had shingles that I could put in there
if they would want it done. I would do it for free. I was
around the corner putting on a new roof, and I was just
finishing up, and if they wanted it, well, I would do it for
free.
The Chairman. You never finished high school?
Mr. White. No, sir.
The Chairman. You ever went to grammar school?
Mr. White. No, sir.
The Chairman. In a way you are a victim, are you not?
Mr. White. Well, yeah, you might put it that way.
The Chairman. Well, we appreciate you being here. I mean
obviously you have done a great deal of damage to a large
number of people, but hopefully your story can help enlighten a
lot of people about the problems that are out there and for
that we thank you for being with us.
Mr. Reyes, I was interested in one of your comments about
some of the law enforcement think that this is a civil matter,
and the State's Attorney General also spoke to that same
problem. Like I said it is theft with a pencil, but just as
violent as a theft--I mean theft with a pencil is just as
violent as theft with a gun. But a lot of people think that
well it is just a civil matter because they did not use a
pistol. This is sort of a scam, but it is not a crime, and go
sue them for it. Is that--I guess that in itself is a problem
because a lot of law enforcement people do not want to get
involved.
Mr. Reyes. It is true. Part of the problem is the way we
are all trained because some of the elements of theft is to
permanently deprive. Well, how do you permanently deprive when
you have documents that show the suspect has legal access to
everything, you see? The other part is, then who do we have to
report the crime? Any of us in here, when we are victimized of
a theft, we can report the elements regarding it, but what has
been discussed here is we are talking about vulnerable elders
or dependent adults, where because their own financial
situation, house situation, their living conditions, well, they
become vulnerable, and the suspects take the time to give that
extra attention to them to explore, to find out what that
situation is, the way Mr. White explained here, and use it to
their advantage, and that is when they start finding out the
likes, dislikes and start tapping into their heart, their
feelings. The devastating side effect of this, Senator, Mr.
Chairman, is that it is not only a theft that takes place, but
because of that close relationship that is established in some
of these cases, they feel as if it was their own daughter or
son, someone that close that committed the theft from them.
The Chairman. It is a personal thing as well.
Mr. Reyes. Pardon me, sir?
The Chairman. It is a personal involvement that causes
problems in addition just to the loss of the money.
Mr. Reyes. Right. So along with the pencil part, it is who
has that pencil versus the gun? It is someone that they have
that close relationship with.
We have one suspect who was Hispanic and he was Catholic,
and he got so close to his mark, his victim, that he changed
faiths. He changed his last name, and became Jewish. He would
accompany the victim to the synagogue for services, everything,
and then hit him hard, hit him hard financially, and that was
very devastating for the victim.
The Chairman. You really make the point very well. I kept
saying to Ms. Gingerich, do not feel bad about being a victim
because there are literally thousands of people. I think people
are sort of embarrassed by feeling that someone has scammed
them out of perhaps their life savings, and they hesitate to
report it, and they just say, you know, I should not have been
that dumb, when they really were not, because they were being
taken advantage of by a professional who in many cases, like
this Mr. Henderson, was very good at what he did.
Madam Attorney General, I guess the question for you, we
talked about trying to outline what our legislation, the Elder
Justice Act of 2002 was going to do, was to try to put into the
Health and Human Services Administration and within the
Department of Justice agencies that would be directing their
activities at elder abuse, and one from the standpoint of
defining it and from a health standpoint in the Health
Department and the other from a prosecution standpoint in the
Department of Justice. Do you think there is a legitimate role?
Can you maybe comment on that, for Federal Government to play,
or do we just let the states do it on their own?
Ms. Brady. Well, I have to say that I generally believe
that prosecution of crime belongs with the local jurisdictions,
and firmly committed to that principle.
I do believe that historically and also approximately, the
Federal Government has a role with regard to research and
development, technology support, training support, and in those
roles I see the Federal Government as having a very legitimate
and important role that it could play.
I think that while I was able to get VOCA funds and made
that a priority for me in developing the Elder Abuse and
Exploitation Project within my office, there are many DA's
offices that do not have access to as much of the VOCA money as
I do because I am a statewide jurisdictional office and they
are local county jurisdictional offices. So I think providing
training through, even through the NDAA and the American
Prosecutors Research Institute would be a wonderful way to
assure that they get trained.
I think too that there is a good avenue for training for
law enforcement, and we have talked about that, but I do not
think you can leave the prosecutors out of it. It is important
that they have an understanding of the special emotional needs
of these particular victims. The proof issues with regard to
their ability to recall and relate events. We often, in a case
involving a very elderly individual who is not mentally capable
and may be incompetent to testify as a witness, have to
evaluate the case much like we would a very young child who has
never learned to speak, in terms of what we can prove, whether
we can prove the elements, how we can use creativity to
establish the elements of the crime, and portray a sense of the
loss of the victim without the victim necessarily being a
participant in the case.
The Chairman. Well, that is exactly what we are
envisioning, not to have Federal prosecution, but maybe a
Federal information library and technical resources and
training, so that people out there will know exactly what we
are tackling here and what the challenge is and not to take
over the prosecutions, but in order to better allow information
to flow and funds to flow to the local jurisdictions to take
whatever steps are necessary.
I want to thank each and every one of you individually for
being with us. Each one of you has made a unique and I think a
very, very special contribution to this panel this afternoon. I
want to thank the U.S. Marshals for their cooperation in
providing Mr. White being with us, and for his statement as
well. But each one of you had a very unique perspective on this
and you have really clearly told a story, and that story needs
to be heard by everyone in this country, and certainly everyone
in this Congress in order to do more than just have another
hearing.
I pledge my total support to getting this done and not just
having another hearing for the sake of a hearing, and you all
can know that you all have made a major contribution in helping
us reach that goal.
With that, this committee will stand adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:46 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
Statement of Thomas W. Richardson, Acting Deputy Assistant Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Good Morning Mr. Chairman and Members on the Committee of
Aging. I am pleased to appear today on behalf of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and share with your committee a brief
overview of what are referred to as ``transient'' or
``nomadic'' criminals. The two groups that your committee
especially requested be addressed are the ``Travelers'' and the
``Gypsies.''
First of all, I would be remiss if I did not stress from
the onset that there are no law enforcement agencies alleging
or implying that all or even a majority of either of these
groups are criminals. Historically both groups have endured
centuries of prejudices and persecution. In fact, the Gypsy
race was targeted by Adolph Hitler for genocide. However, there
are criminal enterprises have a preference for certain types of
criminal activities. The criminal elements within the traveler
groups and Gypsy groups participate in a variety of
fraudulent schemes to include ones that target the elderly.
The information I am providing was developed through a
review of FBI investigative efforts, queries of other law
enforcement agencies and from insurance investigators. Most of
the FBI's investigative efforts concerning this crime problem
has relied heavily on assistance from other law enforcement
officials, particularly local and state, who have more
extensive experience in crimes involving members of these
transient criminal enterprises.
The Travelers are an ethnic group whereas the United
Nations recognizes the Gypsies as a race. The Travelers
consists of three subgroups, the English Travelers, the
Scottish Travelers and the Irish Travelers.\1\
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\1\ Source` ``Criminal and Consumer Fraud Activity of Nomadic
Groups,'' South Carolina Department of Public Safety Booklet, April
1995.
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Although, one Chicago tribune article alluded to a fourth
group called Welsh Travelers.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Chicago Tribune Tempo, ``The highway is their home,'' March 17,
2000.
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The majority of the traveler groups migrated to the United
States in the mid to late 19th Century from the British Isles
and are labeled according to ethnic background.
The Gypsies have two subgroups, both of which operate in
the United States. These are the American Gypsies, the majority
of whom immigrated to the United States in the late 18
hundreds, and the European Gypsies, who have been in North
America for 30 years or less. The 1984 changes in the Canadian
Refugee program resulted in an influx of Gypsies through
Canada, particularly from Poland and Yugoslavia. The Anglicized
pronunciations of the more accurate terms for Gypsies are
``Rahm,'' spelled ``R-O-M'' or ``Rahma,'' spelled ``R-O-M-A.''
We were advised by a law enforcement officer, who is a Gypsy,
that the term ``ROM'' is singular (usually for a male) and Roma
is plural.\3\
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\3\ Source: John Nicholas, Jr., Special Deputy U.S. Marshal, Court
Security Officer, U.S. Marshal's Service, Los Angeles, CA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, among the law enforcement community the terms are
becoming interchangeable. Consequently, I will refer to this
group as either Rom or Gypsies.
The Rom are believed to have originated in the Punjab
Region of Northern India and then migrated to Europe beginning
in the 14th Century. It is also thought they migrated through
Egypt and, as a consequence, may have been called Gypsies as a
form of the word ``Egyptian.''
It is unknown how many Travelers and Rom are in the United
States. Estimates for the Travelers range from 7,000 to as high
as 50,000, depending on the source. The estimate for the Rom
living in the Untied States is about 500,000, but there was
also one estimate claiming the number could be as high as
1,000,000. There is no accurate census data available so these
figures are basically educated guesses.
Some anthropologists believe that the English and Scottish
Travelers may have Rom ancestors due to the slightly darker
features of some members. The Rom were known to have traveled
and settled in these regions several centuries ago. In fact,
some the earliest Rom to migrate to America were those deported
in the early 1700s from Scotland to Virginia. The Irish
Travelers, on the other hand, may have predated the celts and
are not believed to have evolved from any Rom migration into
Ireland.
The Travelers and Gypsies have similar cultural practices
for example: both maintain a ``closed society'' wherein the
family and group rules are more important than laws of the
jurisdiction in which they live.
Both have nomadic lifestyles. Most Travelers essentially
are migrant workers who travel throughout the United States
performing tasks such as painting, roofing, pressure-washing
and home repair work. Many traveler groups have permanent
residences, such as Murphy village in North Augusta, SC, but
will spend between 40 and 70 percent of the time on the road.
The traveler groups favor rural America for both legitimate and
illegitimate work. The American Rom tend to live in or near the
big cities. European Rom, many of whom are here illegally, are
usually nomadic, but also favor the larger cities to travel to.
Welfare and relief programs of the 1930s are believed to have
been responsible for the American Rom establishing permanent
residences in metropolitan areas. Additionally, it is easier
for the Rom to blend into larger cities where there is
cultural, ethnic and racial diversity.
Both groups tend to marry within their own culture to
include through arranged marriages. Many of the Rom women get
married between the ages of 12 and 16.
The Travelers and the Rom have a distinct language or
dialect unique to each subgroup. The Gypsy language is often
referred to as ``Romany.'' The Travelers have more Gaelic
oriented dialects with a mixture of English and possibly some
bastardized romany. The Travelers dialects are referred to as
``cant,'' ``gammon'' and ``shelta.''
These transient cultures have patriarchal family structure
with a male serving the head of each family or extended family.
The family livelihood of these groups, to include criminal
activity, is passed down among family members.
The traveler children usually attend school for some of
their early life, but seldom go beyond the high school level.
The Rom, particularly the European Rom, tend to have little
formal education.
Those criminal enterprises within the various traveler and
Gypsy groups participate in similar illegal activities which
fall into, more or less, the categories of insurance fraud,
burglary (and theft), and the one most applicable to the
elderly, consumer fraud. Both groups typically avoid violence
or the threat of violence.
The goal of the insurance frauds and consumer frauds is
usually to ``con'' rather than use a ``strong arm'' tactic.
Both groups are aware that consumer frauds are not often a law
enforcement priority, which reduces their risks of prosecution
unless they aggravate a ``con'' with the use of violence or
threats, or get too greedy. Related illegal activities that
furthers the theft and fraud schemes include:
Tax evasion. Travelers view themselves as U.S. citizens and
many file tax returns, but usually understate their income. As
a rule, the Rom do not consider themselves U.S. citizens and
usually do not file taxes. Many of the Rom do not have
legitimate social security numbers. Both groups prefer cash
payments for their work, which facilitates the tax evasion.
Many of the Rom groups, particularly the European Rom, do not
maintain accurate records of births, marriages and deaths. They
also avoid census efforts. Consequently, the transient nature
and lack of accurate identification makes tracking of the
suspected criminal elements of these groups all the more
difficult.
Both groups make use of fraudulent documents to include
false identifications, Social Security numbers, date of births,
business permits and so forth. The Travelers are known to
practice identity theft to both elude police and effect other
crimes.
The Rom are known to use bribery of law enforcement
officials to assist in getting cases dismissed or in learning
of existing investigations.
Travelers have impersonated government officials, such as
posing as IRS agents to collect ``taxes'' in cash.
Many European Rom as either illegal aliens and/or assist in
smuggling other Rom into the United States, particularly from
Canada.
A known traveler scheme is to sell inferior products, such
as travel trailers, at inflated prices with fraudulent bills of
sale. This was particularly lucrative in the 1980s among the
English and Scottish Travelers and appears now to be making a
comeback.
The Travelers are suspected of various forms of financial
institution frauds to assist in other schemes, such as setting
up accounts with phony names and/or addresses on a short term
basis.
The Rom are particularly adept at working as police
informants in order to eliminate competition. For example, they
may provide information on illegal fortuneteller activities of
persons that have moved into their ``turf.''
The insurance frauds typically are for staged accidents,
false claims for weather damage to vehicles and trailers, and
``slip and fall'' scams.
With respect to crimes involving the elderly. Older
Americans are often targeted because they are vulnerable. The
Travelers and Rom use salesmanship and pressure tactics to take
advantage, particularly if it appears the victims suffer from
any form of diminished capacity due to aging, senility or
related ailments. Often the elderly do not know they have been
swindled or are too embarrassed to report it. The uniform crime
report does not have a vehicle in place to capture victims age
date (except for murders), so it is unknown the percentage of
elderly that comprise that portion of the population who are
the victims of various consumer frauds. The primary crimes
employed by the Travelers and Rom against the elderly include:
Home repair scams wherein the transient criminals will use
a variety of methods to approach the elderly and offer to make
certain repairs or provide certain services. Home repair scams
usually involve, painting, roofing, driveway projects, sealant
type work, pest extermination or tree pruning. The work and/or
materials used are inferior, or the work is not performed at
all. If the victim seems particularly gullible, then the scam
may continue over a period of time with claims of additional
costs, telling the victim they need to collect taxes for the
work, and so forth.
Burglary is a common offense. Often the burglaries occur
during home repair projects or by distracting the homeowner.
The Rom will use Women and Children to gain access to a home
through a ruse. The Women will distract the homeowner while
other women and/or the children steal cash and jewelry. That
is, they steal harder to trace items and usually try to leave
the home undisturbed so that it may take a while for the
victims to know they have been robbed.
Fortuneteller scams (now referred to as ``psychic
readings'') are commonly used against the elderly. The Rom
manipulate clients, often by preying on any superstitions they
may have. The concern over ``evil spirits'' is a prevalent
theme among Gypsy fortunetellers. One scam is for the
fortuneteller to ask for ``clean'' money to burn in a
handkerchief and then through sleight of hand, substitute the
original handkerchief and money for an identical handkerchief
and paper. These are the easiest scams in many respects since
the victim usually seeks out the psychic reader. In other
words, the victim is predisposed to become a victim. There were
reports of losses to single individuals in a Los Angeles case
of nearly $500,000 and in Deland, FL of $350,000.
Sweetheart swindles are a growing Rom favorite wherein
young female Gypsies manipulate elderly men into providing
money, extravagant gifts, access to bank accounts and so forth.
These are difficult crimes to prosecute due to the victim
frequently being ``willing'' participant. Law enforcement often
has to be creative to find a prosecutive strategy.
In respect to FBI cases and initiatives, there is no
specific initiative or agenda targeting the transient criminals
within the FBI. There have been cases opened against group
members and there have been successful prosecutions for a
variety of offenses. A New Orleans case resulted in the
prosecution of two Irish Travelers, a third member is a
fugitive, for the type of home repair fraud against the
elderly. The Columbia, SC, office prosecuted seven members of
the Irish Travelers for various insurance related fraud
schemes. The Oklahoma City office helped in the prosecution of
English Travelers who not only did a home repair scam, but
later posed as IRS agents to obtain an additional $14,000 from
the same elderly victims. The Newark office helped prosecute a
Rom leader for attempting to bribe a police official. The
Detroit FBI prosecuted a police officer and members of a Gypsy
group for corruption and bribery. This particular Detroit case
also helped solve a buffalo, New York, home burglary
investigation with losses in excess of $400,000. The FBI had
had recent cases in Omaha, Pittsburgh, Miami, Oklahoma City and
several other cities. However, usually these types of FBI cases
are in the smaller offices of within smaller resident agencies.
Generally, FBI offices do not have the resources to pursue
these scams and often do not have federal jurisdiction.
The criminal elements of these groups are without a doubt a
type of organized criminal enterprise usually comprised of
family members related by blood and/or marriage. However, they
are not typically targeted as organized crime by federal
authorities. The overall losses to consumers are often very
significant but the individual losses, with some exceptions,
are comparatively small, and usually there is no violence.
Consequently, the resources within the federal law enforcement
community are most often devoted to other criminal enterprises
where there are more significant monetary losses and/or the
criminal enterprises are more prone to using violence.
There are federal tools and statutes that have been and can
be used to pursue the types of offenses peculiar to the
transient criminals. These include: interstate transportation
of stolen property, IRS violations, immigration violations,
fraud by wire, mail fraud, unlawful flight to avoid
prosecution, and fraudulent use of social security numbers. In
particularly egregious circumstances, rico statutes could also
be employed. The unlawful flight to avoid prosecution statutes
could assist local law enforcement agencies pursuing major
burglary cases, theft by deception matters and similar state
law violations. Overall, Since 9-11 the FBI does not have the
resource to pursue these groups as a national FBI initiative. A
viable option however could be assistance to local agencies or
as part of task forces in regions where these crimes are
prevalent. As noted previously, in many of the FBI cases the
matters were and are pursued jointly with other law enforcement
entities.
The FBI is cognizant of all the difficulties facing the
Senate's Special Committee on Aging in protecting the elderly
from persons who prey on them simply because they are
vulnerable. It is hard not to feel personally outraged at
persons who target older Americans in much the same vein as
when persons target children. One recommendation for the
committee would be to consider amending current sentencing
guidelines that would include significant enhancements for
criminal enterprises that target the elderly, or a person with
mental or physical handicaps. California, and a few other
states, have instituted such legislation.
The FBI is committed to protecting all segments of society
to the best of its abilities. However, in light of the many
criminal enterprises, most of whom use violence and
intimidation as part of their criminal activity, it would be
difficult to institute a national initiative to target the
transient criminals without more resources, particularly
personnel, and without the assistance of other law enforcement
agencies, both federal and state.
Thank you.
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