Letters to Editor (Help) in Maine

I (and my two sisters) am going through a very similar situation to what was described by Maureen McCormick on the Dr. Phil show. My brother-in-law (who has a criminal history) and sister have isolated my mother and have brain washed her into believing that we are all terrible people. We started seeing signs of this problem as far back as 2003 just after my father died, but didn't understand how insidious it had become until late 2005. My mother now has a protective order against all 3 of us even though no one has ever done anything other than to offer her support (shit hit the fan when we offered to stay with her in the house to help take care of her).

My sisters and I have been trying every possible avenue to correct the situation. We contacted elder abuse in 2003 and they investigated but stopped because they said our mother was "competent". In 2005 we got them to investigate again, this time it was referred to the AG's office. The detective that investigated again said she was "competent", but acknowledged that she was what they classified as a "willing victim". I have white papers written by DHS in the state of Maine that specifically states that part of the pathology of the victim is to protect the abuser - especially if it is a family member. If they know this, then why can't they make laws to deal with it?

In total frustration we planted an eavesdropping device in her home, and again offered to stay with her to take care of her. As soon as we left the house my brother-in-law and sister came to do damage control. What we heard on this illegal recording was nothing less than horrific. We know for fact that she is being coerced and manipulated with threats of withdrawal of support - we heard our brother-in-law spin wild stories about things we never did to her. Etc. etc. None of this is admissible in court.

In desperation we turned to civil court to try and expose the truth to the authorities. Our attorney said that if we got good evidence from the interrogatories, testimony, and depositions we might be able to share the information with the AG's office. That turned out to be a lot more difficult than we expected. We spent more than 20,000 dollars trying to go this route and when we couldn't continue to afford the bill, our attorney bailed leaving us to settle the civil case with no representation. I have a box of paper that contains complete evidence of at least one actionable swindle that the AG's office could use but they are afraid of violating my mother's civil liberties.

My last hope was to get the Governor of the state of Maine involved by having them assess the materials and determine if an exception can be made to hand it to the AG's office. The governor does not want to be involved, and referred it back to DHS who told me again that they could do nothing.

My fight isn't over. I plan to make this story *very* public, but obviously have to protect myself from being sued. I've purchased 3 domain names for a web site of my own. "TheElderAbuseState" (.org .com and .net). It is my intension to bring notoriety to the state of Maine by redefining it from "The Pine Tree State". The web content would be largely satirical, and be an advertisement to come to Maine where elder abuse is practically legal! Complete with instructions on how to take advantage of the elderly. My hope is to embarrass the politicians as much as possible - it is their shame that they know this problem exists and don't give a crap because, as every one knows, this problem has very little visibility, So why should they care? It's not a political liablility for them - yet. I will cross link to your site (if you wish) when this is up and running - hope you will do the same for me.

It would be very helpful to me if you could share any resources at your disposal that could be useful in making this problem more visible. No one is going to care if I camp on the governors door step myself, but if someone with celebrity joined the fight the press would take notice. If you have any contact info for Maureen McCormick, I would very much appreciate it if you could pass it along. I promise not bug her, and will not pass her info to anyone else. I do know her pain is a real as mine, and that if more people came forward to address this growing problem we could get our legislators to do something about it.

My contact info is: (Held confidential)

Thank you for any help you able to provide.

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"come to Maine where elder abuse is practically legal! Complete with instructions on how to take advantage of the elderly"

Dear Joe: thanks for writing E.A. From the pace of the letters coming in I think that elder abuse is legal in all 50 states with few exceptions! Our ranks are swelling at a pace that is hard for me to keep up with our subscription rate, and return an individualized letter to every plea for help. every letter like yours , and no I don't have McCormick's contact information , the only question I have, is How many deaths will it take?

There is a transfer of wealth going on, but I like many others are questioning the methodology under which it is taking place! See.-

Elders Financial Abuse - Largest Transfer of Nation's Wealth -