Basin elderly not immune from financial exploitation

Oct. 14—Heartbreaking and fulfilling. Those are two of the words Crystal Sarellano uses to describe her job as a caseworker for the Adult Protective Services division of the Texas Department of Family and Protective services.

For the last four years Sarellano has been investigating instances in which there is a reason to believe a senior citizen or disabled adult has been abused, neglected and financially exploited by family members, caregivers or others who have an ongoing relationship with them.

October is Elderly Financial Exploitation Awareness Month and last year APS investigated 391 exploitation cases in the Permian Basin. Statewide, the agency investigated more than 13,500 such cases.

"I have seen cases where an elderly (person) has to be put in the nursing home because the daughter financially exploited her and she could no longer pay for her home," Sarellano said. "She couldn't afford to live in her own home and she couldn't pay for groceries so she had to be placed in a nursing home. She was exploited to a point where she could not come back from the debt that she was in."

In another instance, an elderly person who also had intellectual disabilities was exploited by her court-appointed guardian, Sarellano, who is based in Midland, said.

"This person could not have a medical procedure done because her guardian had exploited her and took all her money," Sarellano said. "They did cash out transactions, they bought a brand new swimming pool and rented apartments and cars and exploited her, they exploited her through the money that was in her trust fund."

Family members and caregivers often are responsible for victimizing the elderly, but not always, said Marci Leffler, an APS community engagement specialist.

Sometimes, people with "ongoing relationships" commit the crime as well.

"What is an ongoing relationship? Somebody who the person has frequent and regular interaction with a reasonable assumption that that interaction will continue," Leffler said. "It's not just a one-time person. There's some sort of establishment of trust between them, so it could be a family member, it could be a neighbor, it can be a friend or someone they go to church with."

When APS receives a call about a possible financial exploitation case, Sarellano sets about gathering as much information as she can from the person who has made the allegation, the alleged victim, the banks and the alleged perpetrator.

For example, if a bank teller reports a regular customer starts making unusual withdrawals in the company of someone they've never seen before, APS will try to ID the person.

"Once we're able to determine who this individual is, we investigate. 'OK, why did you go with her to the bank? Why did you make her pull out this amount of money? What was it spent on?' Just as an example, if you take $5,000 and you just tell me, 'I paid my yard guy.' Well, where's the rest of the money because we know it doesn't cost $5,000 to cut or lay grass," Sarellano said. "If we have enough evidence to determine that this client is being financially exploited, we send the evidence that we have to law enforcement and law enforcement will then submit it to the District Attorney if there's enough evidence to proceed with legal action."

Investigators try to work quickly and when possible, they can asks the banks to place a hold on transactions for 10 business days, Sarellano said.

Motives

The motives of those who choose to exploit their victims can be difficult to identify, she said.

What is clear, however, is they have been given easy access to their victim's finances, Sarellano said.

"I can't say that they're evil or they feel entitled. What I can say is that, by the time APS goes in to investigate exploitation, it's been occurring. It didn't just start and it's usually because the victim trusted them," she said. "A lot of our elderly who do become victimized, they're either socially isolated or you know, they live in urban areas. They really don't have, I would say, like a good support system. Or even if they do have a good support system, they don't come around often so it gives the perpetrator easier access to them."

Perpetrators not only take advantage of seniors' loneliness, but they also benefit from the fact their victims come from a generation that generally place their trust in people more easily, Sarellano said. In fact, when confronted with the evidence they sometimes don't want to believe it to be true, she said.

There are also times when victims suffering from cognitive issues, due to age or dementia, are also victimized, Sarellano said.

"It is very common because older people can become more easily confused as to what is being talked about, especially when we talk about how technology works and how that works with our finances," Leffler said. "I think there's just a lack of understanding of the way technology works in our world, especially when it comes to our finances."

It's much easier nowadays to cash and deposit checks without the account owner's permission or withdraw funds using an ATM, she said.

People can now just take a picture of a check and make deposits, Leffler said.

Leffler believes some perpetrators specifically target people and others may not realize they're taking advantage, although they should.

"We say consent is not informed consent when it's induced by deception or coercion, or given by someone with a diminished mental capacity and the alleged perpetrator knows or should have known the victim lacks decision-making abilities," Leffler said.

Toll

Sarellano said she has a passion for helping vulnerable people who have been exploited, but cases don't always have a satisfying ending.

"It's not always, 'OK. We put another alleged perpetrator away' or 'We stopped another alleged perpetrator' because sometimes, it's their friend, it's a family member, it's a caretaker and they don't want to pursue a case," Sarellano said. "It's heartbreaking as a worker who's passionate about getting someone help, but I can say that I've had more successes than I've had heartbreaks."

It took awhile to learn to separate her feelings from her job, she said.

"It was very hard for me at the beginning because I didn't have an understanding as to why alleged perpetrators would do this to our elderly. Why they would take money that didn't belong to them or spend money that they may need later on in life for nursing home assisted living or caregivers," Sarellano said. "I could not wrap my mind around why alleged perpetrators would do this to our elderly and then I also couldn't wrap my mind around why, when the elderly found out, they would not do anything. That was very heartbreaking for me."

She remembers one case in which an in-home health care worker was able to finagle $20,000 out of their client within a matter of a few months. When she alerted the victim to what was going on, the victim chose to ignore the crime, Sarellano said.

"They said it was OK, that it was fine. They'd say, 'I allowed it, I allowed it,' but when I would ask why, they'd say they didn't have anyone to care for them. So they allowed themselves to be victimized in exchange for their care and to remain in their home."

Her job involves much more than just investigating, Sarellano said.

She provides referrals to counseling services and money management classes and she often keeps in touch after a case has been resolved.

"I tend to follow up with them monthly through a phone call or I stop by nursing homes and visit with them just to let them know that they're not alone, there's people out there that you can still trust and have good intentions," she said.

APS wants their elderly clients to be able to stay home as long as possible, Sarellano said.

"So when a client is financially exploited and they cannot pay their bills, or they can't buy food, our agency is able to go in and help them remain in their home by buying them groceries, helping them with their utilities so we can help them get back on their feet after being exploited," she said.

Warning signs

If you suspect a senior citizen or disabled adult is being exploited financially, call the Texas Department of Family and Protective services at 1-800-252-5400.

Among the signs to watch for:

— Cashing checks without permission.

— Sudden changes in bank accounts or banking practices.

— A person with the account owner makes withdrawals of a lot of money.

— Adding extra names on a bank signature card.

— Unapproved ATM card withdrawals.

— Sudden changes in a will or other financial documents.

— Unexplained missing funds or valuables.

— Providing substandard care.

— Unpaid bills despite having enough money.

— Forged signature for financial transactions or for the titles of property.

— Relatives suddenly claiming rights to a person's affairs and property.

— Unexplained transfer of assets.