Cobb County Police Discuss Elder Abuse

From the Cobb County Police Department

Our public safety topic for the month of July deals with Elder Abuse. In the PENS Community Meeting on June 30, Mr. Joe O’Connor was kind enough to discuss the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force with those in attendance. The task force is chaired by Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds and Mr. O’Connor is one of the many volunteers helping to bring elder abuse to the public eye. According to the NYS Elder Abuse Prevalence Study, for every one case of elder abuse that comes to the attention of a responsible entity, another twenty three cases never come to light. Beginning in 2012, Baby Boomers began turning age 65 at a rate of one every ten seconds (10,000/day). Georgia has the 11th fastest growing population of people age 60+. By 2030, one in five will be over the age of 60.
Elder abuse is any knowing, intentional or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult. Elder abuse may take place in many forms, or a combination of those listed below:

• Physical Abuse/Domestic Violence – the non-accidental use of force that results in bodily injury, pain or impairment, including but not limited to, being slapped, burned, cut, bruised or improperly physically restrained.

• Deprivation of Essential Services – the wilful deprivation of social, medical, psychiatric, or legal services, such as the provision of medical or psychiatric care, assistance in personal hygiene, deprivation of food, clothing, or adequately heated and ventilated shelter, or protections from health and safety hazards in general.

• Sexual Abuse – non-consensual sexual contact of any kind, including but not limited to, forcing sexual contact or forcing sex with a third party.

• Emotional Abuse – willful infliction of mental or emotional anguish by threat, humiliation, intimidation or other abusive conduct, including but not limited to, frightening or isolating an adult.

• Financial Exploitation – illegal or improper use of an adult’s funds, property or resources by another individual, including but not limited to, fraud, false pretenses, embezzlement, conspiracy, forgery, falsifying records, coerced property transfers or denial of access to assets.

• Neglect – Per Georgia state law (O.C.G.A. 16-5-101), neglect is the willful deprivation of health care, shelter or necessary sustenance to the extent that an older person’s health or well-being is jeopardized.

It is also a crime to threaten, intimidate, or attempt to intimidate any person cooperating with an elder abuse investigation, including the potential victim.

Elder abuse generally involves an ongoing relationship with an expectation of trust. Power and control dynamics are often present. There are several indicators to look for if you suspect elder abuse may be present:

Victim Indicators

Shows unexplained or sudden changes in behavior
Is afraid to speak in the presence of the offender
Is isolated
Signs of being restrained
Infections, pain, or bleeding in genital areas
Under or overmedicated
Leaving an older adult in feces and/or urine
Important possessions, documents, or credit cards are missing

Suspect Indicators

Provides conflicting explanations about the older adult’s injuries
Isolates older adult
Controls and dominates the older adult
Portrays self as victim or the only caring person in older adult’s life
May be charming and helpful toward professionals

Environmental Indicators

Strong odors of urine and/or feces
Lack of food
Locks on outside of doors (to lock older individual in a room)
Damage to home caused by abusive behavior

Two common forms of elder abuse are neglect and financial exploitation. Neglect is the failure to provide adequate or necessary care to a dependant person by a caregiver. Neglect may be the result of inaction or poor caregiving by caregivers who do not have the necessary resources, skills or support. The criminal violation of neglect applies to a guardian or other person supervising the welfare of or having immediate charge, control, or custody of a disabled adult, elder person, or resident (as in a senior care facility).

Financial exploitation is the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property or assets. Assets include cash, gold and other jewelry, antiques and their home. According to state law, 16-5-102, the term “exploit” means illegally or improperly using a disabled adult or elder person’s resources through undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, deception, false representation, false pretense, or other similar means for one’s own or another person’s profit or advantage. Financial exploitation is most often perpetrated by a trusted individual or family member. One manner in which this may occur is through a power of attorney or a guardianship. The power of attorney is an instrument which delegates to another person authority to make health care and/or financial decisions for the disabled or elder adult. The guardianship is a court order granting certain powers to a family member, other individual, governmental agency, or institution to control the affairs of another person. Neither the power of attorney, nor the guardianship, gives the appointed party unlimited access to the account(s) of the named subject. The funds must be used to benefit the subject.

A large financial exploitation case was adjudicated in March of this year involving an elderly east Cobb widow. She was befriended by Jeffrey Carr, who won over her trust. He and his father, Joseph Carr eventually deceived her out of several million dollars. Ultimately, the investigation recovered $8 million, but the total loss was still $3 million. Both Jeffrey and Joseph are currently serving prison terms for their actions.

There are numerous resources available to assist or report suspected abuse of a disabled or elder adult:

• Adult Protective Services - (404) 657-5250 or toll free at 1-866-55-AGING, option 3
http://aging.dhs.georgia.gov/adult-protective-services
• YWCA of Northwest Georgia - 24-hours crisis line – (770) 427-3390
• Statewide Domestic Violence Hotline - 1-800-33-HAVEN, with a Spanish language option
• Center for Pan-Asian Community Services - (770) 936-0969
• Raksha (serves south Asian community) - (404) 842-0725, or toll free 1-866-725-7423
• Caminar Latino – (404) 413-6348
• Cobb DA’s Office Victim/Witness Unit – (770) 528-3047
• Ahimsa House (for assistance with pets) – (404) 452-6248
• United 4 Safety (for LGBTQI survivors) – (404) 688-2524, ext. 112
• Cobb Senior Services – (770) 528-5364

Please also refer to the below FBI website for a list of common fraud schemes perpetrated against senior citizens:
https://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/seniors