Crimes Against The Elderly!

September 19, 2019

The following is a true accounting of a current problem in America.
It so happened that today as I picked up where I had left off relating this problem, I received a call from another woman who asked that we locate her dear friend who was in one of the hundreds of nursing homes in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area.

Severe threat to the elderly!

Over the past four or five years, I have had several callers reach out to us regarding a loved one or a friend being robbed of their home, valuables and bank accounts.

How it is perpetrated:

In most instances, the scam would take a few months to accomplish. However, the thief must move quickly, as the elderly and sickly could drop dead at any given moment and the thief would have to find a new VIC (victim).

One clever thief posted a simple 3 x 5 card with the tear-away phone numbers offering a Handy man, lawn service, at the local grocery store where he had researched and found a slew of elderly women residing in the area that this grocery store catered to the ideal VIC! I imagined that he would turn down jobs that did not fit his needs (homeowner, where the husband had passed away and the home was either paid off or had nearly no mortgage. a VIC that had little to no remaining family and if there was family, at least none in the immediate area. The ideal VIC would be receptive to his advances).

Eventually, they were in a romantic tryst. From there he would propose and if that didn’t work, he would continue to pursue her. The goal being him convincing her to allow him to be her protector and a power of attorney would be drawn up, the right attorney, typically a close friend of his would play the part. Unbeknownst to the VIC, this attorney would eventually get a cut of the proceeds of the sale of the house and any valuables after the victim was carted off to a nursing home.
The nursing home, a place to hide the ashes of a wonderful and life filled with love and caring. The perp would have strict instructions that the new patient would not be allowed to have any visitors. In most cases, we never did locate the individual that was wronged!

FURTHER:
There is a part of me that is leary to have this story told. Giving that the bad guys may stumble upon another idea. There really should be some new laws written to protect the elderly.

John B. Lopes
Chief Investigator