Guest column: Looking out for the grandparents needs to be a priority in Florida
The 88-year-old grandmother wasn’t about to give up on her two grandsons, even if they were drug addicts, even if they were stealing from her. She was more concerned with saving them than with the missing money or her own well-being — which made her the perfect victim.
The perpetrators of financial exploitation are frequently traced to family members who will not demand accountability.
“It could be a friend, neighbor, or caregiver — but most likely it is a family member,” said Robert Anderson, former president of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA). “It is understandable for a grandmother or mother not to report their sons or grandsons to the authorities. But sadly, this situation hardly ends well. The exploitation continues and the exploited family member needs to make the hard but needed decision to report the abuse.”
The grandsons hocked their grandmother’s television and lawn mower. They raided her purse and took her cash. They ran up her credit cards and debit cards and made cash advances at ATM machines.
They utilized available technology like “mobile banking” to enhance their criminal activities. A cell-phone camera and blank checks taken from the grandmother’s checkbook were all that was needed to drain her account. No reason to chance being seen at the bank.
A total of 18 checks with the grandmother’s forged signature were mobile-deposited in a bank account opened in the name of one of the grandson’s girlfriends. The fraudulent activity was particularly egregious since the grandmother was too sick at the time of most of the transactions to be checking her balance.
The United States Postal Service’s “Informed Delivery” enabled the perpetrators to get advance notice on when a new bank card was arriving at the grandmother’s house. They easily circumvented safeguards for the USPS service that allows a person to preview mail via digital images through email notifications, an online dashboard or a mobile app.
Over a period of years, the grandsons made promises and broke promises. They were on drugs and off drugs, in and out of jail for various legal issues, and in and out of rehabs. The grandmother was seemingly always driving one or the other grandson to a substance-abuse clinic appointment or court appearance.
The grandmother was mentally sharp, but too forgiving, too nice, too hopeful that one day there would be a turnabout in the grandchildren’s bad behaviors. But one day, finally — at the urging of another family member — she provided a formal statement to the local police, indicating she had not signed off on any of the fraudulent checks and that she wanted a full investigation.
According to NAPSA, only one in 44 cases of financial exploitation is reported.
Most local police agencies have limited training in this specialized area of law enforcement. The detective assigned to the grandmother’s case meant well, but he lacked experience and could not devote as much time as he wanted to the investigation due to having additional patrol duties.
Unfortunately, the grandmother died before any formal charges could be considered or filed by the District Attorney’s Office.
In the end, in the big picture, more attention was paid to assuring the perpetrators’ placement in court-ordered rehabilitation programs than to helping the victim.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida has the highest percentage of senior citizens in the nation.
Looking out for the grandmothers needs to be more of a priority issue.
Mark Ryan is a registered nurse in Tallahassee who worked for six years as an RN consultant in the Florida DCF-Adult Protective Services Program. His mother is the woman described in this column.
This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Guest column: Looking out for grandparents needs to be a priority
