Elder-Abuse Case Brought To Trial

POSTED: 10:33 am EST March 8, 2007 AP

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- New Hampshire's new elder-abuse unit has brought its first case to trial...

Assistant Attorney General Tracy Culberson of the Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Unit is prosecuting the case in Manchester District Court. The elder-abuse unit was established last year as part of an ongoing effort to protect vulnerable seniors.

Culberson, a former police officer and Hillsboro County prosecutor, won the unit's first conviction in December when a Goffstown woman pleaded guilty to keeping her 91-year-old mother from receiving medical care that might have saved her life.

The woman, Danna Folden, was the first person convicted under a 2002 statute that makes it a felony to abuse, neglect or exploit an incapacitated adult.

"The more you do these cases, the more people speak up," he said, adding that just one in 14 instances of elder abuse are reported.

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