The Cover Up Continues : Melodie Scott

by Janet Phelan as published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on Oct 09,2009
under the Title Conservator Scott to Seek Licensing October 20

Another public hearing for conservator/fiduciary Melodie Scott is planned for October 20 in Oakland Administrative Court. Deputy state attorney general Jonathan Cooper is representing the State of California in the action against Scott.

Scott became the focus of state attention in the aftermath of press accounts pertaining to conservatorships and the potential abuse of power inherent in them. Simultaneously, several grassroots national groups have formed to address the issue of alleged civil rights and financial abuse by conservators.

Melodie Scott made headlines in the Los Angeles Timesback in November of 2005 in the much-touted series, “Guardians for Profit—When a Family Matter becomes a Business.” As a result of the public outcry engendered by the series, the California State Legislature passed the Omnibus Conservatorship Reform Act of 2006. Among the bill’s stipulations was the creation of the Professional Fiduciary Bureau in the Department of Consumer Affairs, charged with the task of licensing the previously unregulated conservators and fiduciaries. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger line item vetoed the funds for the reforms two years running. Subsequently, with the freeing up of funding, the Professional Fiduciary Bureau began reviewing applications for licensure in 2008.

Previously, Cooper indicated testimony of those impacted by Scott’s actions as a conservator for the elderly and disabled could be used at Scott’s hearing. He has now tempered that approach and is preparing to offer brief, non-specific statements encapsulating his synopsis of reports that have been provided to him by these putative witnesses to be be signed and “possibly” offered into evidence.

A conservator is defined by Black’s law dictionary as a protector or guardian. Conservatorships are generally initiated through court proceedings when there are allegations that an individual may not be competent to handle his or her own affairs. Aconservatorship of person allows the conservator to make personal decisions for the alleged incapacitated person, including whether or not the conservatee will be allowed to marry, where he or she will reside or whether the conservatee will even be permitted to see family members and friends. At the initiations of a conservatorship of estate, all assets are transferred into the control of the conservator, including bank accounts and property.

Scott’s application for a license was denied by the Professional Fiduciary Bureau in August of 2008 on the grounds that she had made false statements on her application. The specific issue pertained to a question as to whether she had ever settled or resigned from a case in which she was a fiduciary and a complaint had been filed against her with the court. She answered that she had not. The board is maintaining that this is untrue and thus denied her license.

When she appealed the decision of the Professiona Fiduciary Board, two subsequent counts were added: 1) that she had continued to work as a conservator/fiduciary following the denial of her license in at least twenty-three cases and 2) that she had received a drunk driving citation.
At least four individuals who feel they have been impacted negatively by Scott have contacted Cooper, seeking to testify as to their experience. When it was discovered that Cooper was planning on allowing the testimony of favorable character witnesses and not those with opposing
testimony, it provoked expressions of frustration by individuals who had hoped to testify at these hearings.

The Sentinel contacted Cooper with regard to these developments. On October 5, Cooper tersely responded, stating, “I will not discuss the bureau’s litigation strategy with you.“
According to sources close to Melodie Scott, the favourable character witnesses include attorney Sherri Kastilahn and conservator Christina Erickson-Taube.

Kastilahn, the former President of the High Desert Bar Association, regularly represents conservator Larry Dean, who up until last year worked as a conservator out of Melodie Scott’s office. Both Dean and Scott were under a grand jury investigation this year. Kastilahn received some scrutiny in an article published in The American’s Bulletin in 2008 concerning her actions in a particular case, the conservatorship of William Burke. The issue involved Kastilahn removing about thirty thousand dollars from Burke’s bank account following his passing in 2003 and placing the money in her attorney-client trust account. The Sentinel could find no record that the money was ever returned to the beneficiary of the Burke estate or accounted for in terms of expenditures on file with the court.

Christina Erickson-Taube was, until recently, a conservator working out of Scott’s office.
Gina Rilke, whose husband Scott Vericola was under a conservatorship with Scott, has written
Cooper, stating: “I was not aware that ‘character’ witnesses were going to be allowed at Ms. Scott’s hearing. If this is true, then it certainly seems fair that others who have been victimized by her actions be allowed to testify, as well. Please keep in mind that both Sherry Kastilahn and Christina Erickson-Taube have incurred financial gain as a result of their association with Ms. Scott, to say nothing of personal bonds that may exist. Their testimony would be biased and in their best interest….Ms. Scott has been able to get away with all she’s done for nearly 30 years. This does not happen without many, many people on her ‘team.’ Lawyers, doctors, judges, and a host of others have enabled her to plunder people’s assets and send them to early graves as the result of untreated pneumonia and other health issues. Again, it seems only fair that the
facts alone should be able to speak in Ms. Scott’s hearing.”

Steve Price, of Yucaipa, has stated that Cooper had told him that his testimony would not “add anything” to the hearings. Price’s son, Stevie, died in 2004 after a series of medical decisions by Scott, who was the young Price’s conservator. Price reports being “shocked” to learn at the time of the final accounting that the entire $5 million trust had been gutted by Scott.

A local man who had come into contact with Scott through business dealings and who declined to be identified, had also contacted Cooper with information about the extent of Scott’s alcohol consumption and concerns about the nature of her financial decisions in terms of several conservatorships. He stated that “Cooper couldn’t be less interested in what I had to say.”
In late August, deputy attorney general Cooper denied that a settlement offer was in the works for Scott. He went so far as to suggest that Scott was “lying” when he was confronted with the details of a text message, wherein Scott announced she would be granted her license. He later reversed himself and admitted that a settlement offer was made on August 13, the last day of hearings in Oakland.

While the details of the proposed settlement offer were not released, sources close to Scott hinted that the settlement involved her achieving full licensure in return for paying attorney’s fees and court costs. When this information was made public, several individuals contacted Cooper to lodge their protests and the settlement offer was pulled off the table.
Neither Cooper nor Scott returned calls to their offices seeking comment.
-------------------------------------------
Journalist Janet Phelan asked us to re-post the article in its entirety, because of the scope of the problem and the degree of protection that operators in this business enjoy, we appreciate the scope of the revelations in these series of articles and the determination of the San Bernardino Sentinel to live up to it's obligation in informing it's citizens of the decorum or lack there of regarding public officials.

Alabama's Attorney General Troy King Takes Bold Steps to Protect Elders and Preserve Public Trust

Former Alabama probate judge headed for jail

http://www.wtvynews4.com/news/headlines/63890777.html

(MONTGOMERY)—Attorney General Troy King announced that the Alabama Supreme Court today denied certiorari review in the case of former Covington County Probate Judge Sherrie Phillips.

In declining to hear the case, the Court issued a Certificate of Judgment of Phillips’s conviction for felony theft and ethics violations prosecuted by the Attorney General last October.

Phillips’s appellate bond now requires her to surrender to the county sheriff within 15 days. Phillips faces two concurrent sentences of 10 years, which were split for her to serve three years incarceration followed by three years of supervised probation.

Attorney General King said, “It is appropriate that Sherrie Phillips begin to serve her prison sentence.

We are sending a strong message that no one is above the law.

This verdict proves that even judges who break the laws they apply are accountable for their actions.

My commitment to the people of Covington County and to citizens throughout Alabama is that, as their Attorney General, I will prosecute those who break the law and betray the public trust, and that I will take action to preserve the integrity of our government.

Today, we make good on that pledge”

Phillips was found guilty by a jury in Covington County Circuit Court on October 29, 2008.

The Court of Criminal Appeals denied her appeal of that conviction.

The Attorney General’s Office presented evidence that Phillips took a $1.8 million check from the estate of Cary Douglas Piper and put the funds into a personal account for herself, listing her own address and social security number on the account.

Phillips subsequently withdrew $516,917. 50, which was used by herself and family members.

Although $516,000 was returned at a later date, the money was not repaid until the morning after Attorney General’s investigators came to the probate office with a subpoena seeking the file and records of the Piper estate.

Between January 22, 2008, and April 5, 2008, Phillips wrote 10 checks from the account, including checks to pay off loans, a $25,000 check to her husband, a $100,000 check to her brother, a $100,000 check to herself after she had bought a Cadillac for more than $60,000, and a $23,000 check to a Ford dealer for her husband’s truck.

On April 30, 2008, agents of Attorney General King’s office served a subpoena upon the Covington County Probate Office for the file on the Piper estate.

At that time, the file did not record what became of the $1.8 million.

Phillips was at the financial institution the next morning when it opened, and immediately took the following actions: she transferred the money from the personal account into a public funds account; deposited a check from a brother for $449,000, a check from another brother for $25,000, a check from her husband for $12,000, and a check from herself for $32,000 into that account.

Attorney General King’s office presented evidence to a Covington County grand jury on June 10, resulting in a Phillips’s indictment for first-degree theft and felony ethics violation by intentionally misusing her public office for unlawful personal gain.

Attorney General King commended Assistant Attorney General Andy Poole for his handling of this appeal.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Bill Lisenby, chief of his Public Corruption and White Collar Crime Division, Assistant Attorney General Ben Baxley, and investigated by the Attorney General’s Investigations Division.

Thanks for the heads up EstateOfDenial.Com

Dr. Andrew Moulden (Interview): What You Were Never Told About Vaccines

(10/08/09 — VACTRUTH Editor’s Note: LINK TO PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE!!!!!)

*English Version*
07/21/09

1.) Dr. Moulden, can you tell us a bit about your background?

My area of expertise is in neurobehavioral assessment of brain and behavioral disorders – www.BrainGuardMD.com

Read Interview with Dr. Andrew Moulden here=>>

Related: Avoid Flu Shots take Vitamin D Instead

S.C. Supreme Court Orders Creation of Elder Task Force

Staff Report
Published Oct. 9, 2009

The S.C. Supreme Court has issued an order mandating the creation of a task force to study elder issues in the state’s courts.

The task force will examine issues related to elder abuse, adult guardianships and conservatorship. It will then make recommendations to the Supreme Court to aid in its responses.

The task force is charged with the following:

• Collecting data to aid in determining needs, promoting beneficial outcomes and fostering overall system accountability.
• Fostering training and education for judges, court personnel, attorneys, court-appointed guardians, guardians ad litem, conservators, mediators, law enforcement and others on matters affecting the elderly, such as dementia, financial exploitation, physical abuse and neglect.
• Recommending changes in court structure, laws, regulations or rules in order to protect the legal rights of the elderly, promote process fairness and facilitate the economic use of available resources.
• Reporting the status of its work to the Supreme Court and other interested parties by July 1.

S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal will appoint the task force’s leader. Members will be appointed as follows:

• Judiciary: One probate court judge, current or retired; one family court judge, current or retired; and the state court administrator.
• Lawyers: Two practicing lawyers experienced in litigation or transactional issues affecting the elderly, at least one of whom is experienced in working with the indigent elderly.
• Public officials: Two officials from an agency charged with the protection of the elderly.
• Geriatric care: One health care professional or master’s level social worker with expertise in geriatric care.
• Law enforcement: One law enforcement professional with expertise in crimes against the elderly.
• Consumer: One citizen volunteer.
• Legislature: One legislator designated by the chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Aging.
• Other members: The task force leader may establish interdisciplinary committees to research and gather information, develop or review proposals, monitor implementation of initiatives and otherwise aid in execution of the goals of the task force

------------------------------------

Is this political posturing with some window dressing or could this be the start of something more meaningful ? We don't know yet but intend to keep up the pressure until other states take the lead and concrete steps are taken to protect us in our older years, but which in some cases are starting to look more like a Orwellian nightmare.

Michigan Mother Breaks Law : Watches Neighboor's Kids

(AP) Each day before the school bus comes to pick up the neighborhood's children, Lisa Snyder did a favor for three of her fellow moms, welcoming their children into her home for about an hour before they left for school.

Regulators who oversee child care, however, don't see it as charity. Days after the start of the new school year, Snyder received a letter from the Michigan Department of Human Services warning her that if she continued, she'd be violating a law aimed at the operators of unlicensed day care centers.

"I was freaked out. I was blown away," she said. "I got on the phone immediately, called my husband, then I called all the girls" - that is, the mothers whose kids she watches - "every one of them."

Snyder's predicament has led to a debate in Michigan about whether a law that says no one may care for unrelated children in their home for more than four weeks each calendar year unless they are licensed day-care providers needs to be changed. It also has irked parents who say they depend on such friendly offers to help them balance work and family.

Source=>>here

Related: Criminalizing Everyone

US Prison Population Largest on Earth

UK Nanny State Gets Nasty

US Nanny State Knows Best

The U.K. Nanny State Gets Nasty

In Britain, parents face prosecution for looking after their friends’ children without government approval.

If you’re a parent who has to leave your child with someone while you go to work, you’d probably think that a friend with a child of the same age would be an ideal choice — and if that friend happened to be a police officer, it would certainly be no bad thing. More generally, you might take the view that you’re better qualified than government officials to take decisions about how to best raise your children. However, if you hold such views in Gordon Brown’s Britain, you’re likely to find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

Fellow police detectives and close friends Leanne Shepherd and Lucy Jarrett thought they had a pretty handy arrangement. For two-and-a-half years, they took it in turns to look after each other’s children whenever one of them was on duty. Now education watchdogs have ordered the pair to end the arrangement — and threatened them with prosecution — because neither is registered with the government as a qualified childminder. They’ve even been warned that their homes will be placed under surveillance to make sure that no illicit caring goes on.

It’s the literal embodiment of the nanny state — the government interjecting itself into private childcare arrangements between friends. And this is not an isolated case of some bureaucrat being a little overzealous in applying the rules; it’s par for the course under Labour’s coercive and inquisitorial regime, whose officials feel compelled to interfere in and regulate every aspect of citizens’ private lives.

The clampdown on Shepherd and Jarrett comes just a couple of weeks after the government announced that parents who ferry children to sporting activities and other after-school events must submit to official vetting, on pain of an $8,000 fine and a criminal record. The scheme will eventually cover more than 11 million people and will create the largest database of its kind in the world — which, given the government’s appalling record of losing and misusing the mass of personal information it collects, is in itself cause for concern.

Although inspired primarily by crude authoritarianism, such initiatives are also the products of Britain’s increasingly risk-averse culture. Officials prefer to pass draconian legislation in an attempt to remove even the slightest possibility that someone might come to harm or commit an offense, rather than dealing with problems as and when they occur or catching and prosecuting offenders. (There are, for example, proposals to curb drunken violence by raising the price of alcohol and closing pubs — thus punishing the innocent along with the guilty — rather than by arresting the culprits and imposing sentences on them).

The government has been assisted in its endeavors by a media which knows that lurid stories of kidnaps, murders, and children in danger sell newspapers and boost viewing figures. Together they’ve created an increasingly paranoid society, in which parents and children are encouraged to believe that danger lurks around every corner and that every adult is a would-be abuser just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Paralyzed with indecision and fear, parents turn to unqualified officials and unaccountable, state-appointed “experts” to tell them what to do.

Continued on Pajama Media=>>Nanny State Gets Nasty

Governments War on the Elderly Shows No Reprieve

After agents spent half a day ransacking Mrs Norris' longtime home in Spring,Texas, emptying file cabinets,pulling books off shelves,rifling through drawers and throwing the contents on the floor.

Kathy Norris, a 60-year old grandmother of eight demanded to know why? "You don't need to know.You can't know." she was told by officials as heavily armed federal agents subjected her home to a furious search..

Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids.

By March 2004, federal prosecutors were well on their way to turning 66-year-old retiree George Norris into an inmate in a federal penitentiary - based on his home-based business of cultivating, importing and selling orchids.

Mr. Norris ended up spending almost two years in prison because he didn't have the proper paperwork for some of the many orchids he imported. The orchids were all legal - but Mr. Norris and the overseas shippers who had packaged the flowers had failed to properly navigate the many, often irrational, paperwork requirements the U.S. imposed when it implemented an arcane international treaty's new restrictions on trade in flowers and other flora.

Mr. Norris who is elderly,diabetic with coronorary complications,arthritis and Parkinson's disease served time in a federal penitentiary.

The Norrises' nightmare began with the search in October 2003. It didn't end until Mr. Norris was released from federal supervision in December 2008. His wife testified, however, that even after he came home, the man she had married was still gone. He was by then 71 years old. Unsurprisingly, serving two years as a federal convict - in addition to the years it took to defend unsuccessfully against the charges - had taken a severe toll on him mentally, emotionally and physically.

Story collaborated by the Washington Times.Com

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/05/criminalizing-everyone/

U.S. Prison Population is the Largest on Earth

Currently in the United States, 1 in every 31 adult persons is either in jail or prison or on parole or probation. That amounts to 7.3 million Americans and a cost that exceeds $68 billion annually. This figure does not include juveniles accountable to the U.S. correction system. According to Susan Urahn of the Pew Foundation, who commissioned the report, juveniles are a very small percentage of the overall correction system population, at less than 5 percent. The total number of U.S. citizens accountable to the American correction system is the highest in the world. It even exceeds the combined Soviet Union and China prison population during the height of their dominate Communist Regime

USA Nanny State Knows Best

By know most of us realize that Government agencies think that the job of rearing children and older folks be best left to government. When parents get old government agencies know best how to spend their money, the know where they should be locked down at , what kinds of drugs they should take and whom they should see, if anyone at all.

When it comes to children we have heard of *government intervention because of overweight children , or more recently because parents took pictures of their children while bathing. A.J. and Lisa Demaree, of Peoria, Arizona, took photos of their three daughters, all under the age of five, naked in the bathtub. When they went to Walmart to have the photos developed the clerk called the cops who in turn called "child protective services." The Demarees had their children seized and placed in foster care for a month. The parents' names were placed on the state's sex offender registry. Lisa was suspended from her school job for a year. They spent $75,000 in attorney's fees to get their children back.

A.J. Demaree said, "Ninety-nine percent of the families in America have these exact same photos." Should 95% of families have their children removed? Don't ask them that! You might not like the answer.

Lisa Demaree said, "As crazy as it may seem, what you may think are the most beautiful innocent pictures of your children may be seen as something completely different and completely perverted." You are right Lisa, the government is the only thing that's pure, it collective sacrifice for the good of the society as a whole, this has it roots in socialism where the individual sacrifices his rights for the collective good, some of us who have lived through this before and are familiar with this new current craze that is sweeping the United States.

Source=>>CPS Seizes Couples' Kids, Puts Them in Foster Care over Toddler Bathtub Photos

*References:

Murtagh, Lindsey, Judicial Interventions for Morbidly Obese Children, 35 Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 497 (Fall 2007)

Patel, D., Supersized Kids: Using the Law to Combat Morbid Obesity in Children, Family Ct. Rev. 43 (2005)

S. Arani, Case Comment, State Intervention in Cases of Obesity Related Medical Neglect, 82 Boston Univ. L. Rev. 875 (2002)

------------------------------
In all societies you are going to have overweight children, often this is a medical condition that can't be helped. Just as A.J. Demaree found out the hard way , when the government takes the high moral road in deciding who gets to keep their children based on whose criteria the Health Czar? How many pounds is too many? What if the child is over by 2 ounces? Can you picture the disbelieving parents crying as their children are removed? Sorry Mr. Smith your child is 1.7 ounces overweight, he must be removed! I am just following the rules!

Stop The Torture of Elders NOW!

People that steal,bamboozle,abuse elders more often than not get off with a slap on the wrist!With judicial immunity for elder and elder financial abuse for family members,judges and attorneys who get state sanctioned protection for elder abuse.

There has been an explosion of women being held in prison and according to the Women's Prison Association 75% percent of all jailed women are mothers,most with two or more children.

Before incarceration, these women were far more likely than men to have been their children's primary caregiver. Today, or any day, hundreds of thousands of U.S. kids have mothers in prison. "The majority of women are imprisoned for non-violent, drug-related offenses-not crimes against their children," says Denise Johnston of the Center for Children of the Incarcerated in California.

We are filling our prisons to busting with mothers! Yet elder abusers walk! We torture our elders! Elders are being killed wholesale! Hardly a day goes by where stories of elder torture, murder,fleecing makes the rounds! Stories like these..

BELTON -Texas Oct 6 ,2009 A 38-year-old Temple woman accused of denying her 74-year-old mother medical treatment and starving her to death avoided a trial when she pleaded guilty to murder and received a 23-year sentence.

The plea agreement for Katrina Michelle Hoelscher was consummated Friday when prosecutor Nelson Barnes and defense attorney Michael White met in advance of Monday's trial date.

Barnes said both sides agreed that the details of the case were "horrific."

The case began in late January as a call about an elderly person dying at home. Four months later, after an investigation by the Temple Police Department that included an autopsy, it turned into a murder indictment.

The autopsy on Nell Lorine Hoelscher supported suspicions police had when responding to the call, Assistant District Attorney Paul McWilliams said in May. It indicated she died of malnourishment and medical neglect.

The two-paragraph indictment accused the younger Hoelscher of neglecting the needs of her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years and had moved in with her daughter after her condition worsened, Ms. Hockensmith said in May.

Source=>>here

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We demand to grow old with dignity, we demand respect, we are tired of a culture of throw away elders,politicians who don't care and we are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore!

What Will it Take to Get An Impartial Hearing?

Janet Phelan
258 A Street 1-15
Ashland, OR 97520

October 1, 2009

Re: RIP 080974

To the Presiding Judge of Riverside County:

I previously wrote you concerning judicial misconduct by Commissioner John Michael McCoy. Following my letters of August 7, 2009 and August 9, 2009, Commissioner McCoy was removed from my case, effective August 10th.

I am now writing you with similar concerns about Judge GaryTranbarger, Dept. 7, to whom my case has been assigned. You may recall that one of my complaints concerning McCoy was that he violated his duty to act and ordered into the file my Request for Continuance. A judge has a duty to act.

Judge Tranbarger is now also failing to act on this Request. The continuance is vital for my case, seeing that—ludicrously—the Motion to Compel Discovery is to be heard at the same time as the primary suit (bad scheduling on your part!). The fact that Judge Tranbarger is also ignoring this Request, which I refiled on September 21, 2009, is not only alarming but illegal.

I also have grave concerns about why Tranbarger has scheduled my primary suit, The Petition for Surcharge and Tort against Melodie Z. Scott and J: David Horspool, at both 8:30 a.m. and at 1: 30 p.m. on October 8th; 2009. As the Motion to Compel Discovery is also calendared for 8:30 a.m. on October 8th, it appears that Tranbarger is planning on denying the Motion to Compel and moving ahead with the primary suit after lunch. The implications of a judge so prejudiced as to pre-plan his decisions in advance of hearing arguments is unspeakably heinous and is grounds for removal from the bench.

You might recall that I voiced concerns about possible money-laundering activity by McCoy, given the prodigious numbers of reconveyances on his property. Parenthetically, I did note that the case was originally reassigned to Judge Sharon Waters. Upon my contacting the Riverside District Attorney concerning Waters’ reconveyances, I noted that she was then also removed from the case and that Tranbarger was then assigned. While Judge Tranbarger’s reconveyances would not arouse alarm or suspicion, the court needs to know that I am fully aware that there are other ways that Riverside County judges appear to be receiving illegal pay-offs and I am researching Tranbarger’s involvement in these.

If you have a judge who is assigned to Riverside Superior Court who does not violate the law in his behaviour on the bench, I would ask most sincerely that you assign him or her to my case. I have endured grievous and repetitive harm at the hands of your court and the time for justice is long overdue.

I am taking the liberty of sending this correspondence to the Assembly Judiciary Committee and elsewhere. Please get back to me at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Janet C. Phelan

Cc: Assemblyman Dave Jones
Janice Rocco, Assemblyman Jones office
Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
Mark Gutglueck, San Bernardino County Sentinel
Philip Carrizosa, Judicial Council
Ray Fernandez
Lou Ann Anderson

Bcc:

Fellow Bloggers Make Themselves Heard in D.C.

The assault on our inheritance, probate and other property rights is the focus of this site, but frighteningly, many other aspects of American life are also being threatened..

The event, scheduled Oct. 2 and 3 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA, will feature a wide array of speakers including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and national radio host Laura Ingraham. The 1,000+ attendees will also participate in Summit co-sponsor Americans for Prosperity’s “Hands Off My Health Care” Town Hall meeting scheduled at 2 p.m. Friday in the Senate Upper Park.

Event organizers say the Town Hall meeting on the steps of the U.S. Capitol will provide thousands of taxpayers an opportunity to tell Congress exactly what they think about the spendulus plan, cap-and-tax, the government takeover of our healthcare system and more.

"AFP’s goal is to make sure that right now -- as Pelosi, Obama, Reid and Company are moving forward with their health care takeover -- they have committed grassroots activists from across the nation at the Capitol showing their opposition," Tim Phillips, AFP Foundation President said.

Summit updates will be available at the Voice of the Taxpayer blog, at the AFP Twitter feed , and on the AFP/Texas Facebook page. Summit talk is available by following the Twitter Stream on http://defendingthedream.org . Additional commentary will be available through EstateofDenial.com, the EoD Twitter feed and EoD Facebook page.

Florida OK's Felons to Work With Elderly

Should people with criminal histories be allowed to work with the most vulnerable in our society? Due to an exemption system created by the 1985 Florida legislature, felons in that state can be hired to work with the elderly, the infirmed and children. Texas is the #2 U.S. retirement destination behind Florida and with being so, will soon face increasing challenges in accommodating our own aging population. People like to think we are protective of the most vulnerable in our society, but after studying probate/estate corruption and the companion issue of elder abuse, it quickly becomes evident that we are not. As Texas prepares for our own wave of an aged population, a recent story by the South Florida Sun Sentinel details a controversial course of action. Judge for yourself.

In an article entitled Second-chance system turns criminals into caregivers, reporters Peter Franceschina, Sally Kestin and John Maines introduced this exemption system as follows:

More than 8,700 people initially barred from being caregivers due to criminal records have been granted special permission by the state to work with children, the elderly and the infirm, a Sun Sentinel investigation found.

About 1,800 — or one in five — were arrested again, some within days of the determination that they were of “good moral character” and could be trusted to care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Felons have been allowed to work in day care centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes through an exemption system created by Florida legislators in 1985.

The system was meant to give people with a long-ago minor offense a second chance, but convicts with multiple prison stints and career criminals with records spanning decades sail through with little resistance — 82 percent get an exemption.

In Broward County, the exemption approval rate is even higher for felons who want day care jobs — 98 percent.

It would appear overzealous, indiscriminate government bureaucrats have turned a program designed to provide gainful employment for select non-violent, if-it-weren’t-for-that-one-mistake-that-I-so-truly-regret offenders into a jobs program for career criminals. The Sun Sentinel says this review, the first statewide analysis since the program’s 1985 inception, finds the program “repeatedly fails to detect people who are likely to commit more crimes and overwhelmingly allows felons to work in positions of trust instead of assessing the threat they may pose on the job.”

Caregiver exemptions are based upon applicants showing they are rehabilitated “by expressing remorse, promising to be good and providing reference letters.” The article claims independent background investigations are sparse and applicants’ records reflecting serious crimes are often missed.

To add more cause for concern:

The public has no way of knowing which caregivers have received exemptions, and the agencies do not track them to ensure they stay out of trouble.

The Sun Sentinel found that 21 percent ended up in jail again after getting an exemption, many for felony offenses including murder, sexual assault and child cruelty.

One St. Petersburg man is serving a life sentence for molesting children after receiving an exemption to counsel adolescents and adults.

Broward officials gave a Miami woman with a record of marijuana possession an exemption in 2006 after she promised she had “been clean” for six years. Two days later, she was arrested for trying to buy cocaine.

And then there’s this woman:

One Central Florida woman won an exemption to work in a nursing home, and then stole from dozens of patients.

Lucia Rivera, then 44, pleaded guilty in 1999 to aggravated assault and other charges for beating the girlfriend of her estranged husband and encouraging an accomplice to slice the woman’s face with a knife, records show. In 2005, she applied for an exemption from the Agency for Health Care Administration.

“No reason to believe she would be unsuitable for the environment of a nursing home,” one AHCA reviewer wrote.

Last year, while working as the business manager at Avante in St. Cloud, Rivera was charged with stealing more than $36,000 from dozens of patient accounts.

“Most of those people were bedridden, comatose,” said Kathy Foust, a guardian for several victims. “When you’re in your 40s and you have a felony, you don’t need to be working around these people. They’re so vulnerable.”

AHCA officials said they were unaware of Rivera’s new arrest. Rivera was fired and is serving five years’ probation.

“Maybe the data that we’re gathering is not adequate to make predictions about the future behavior of some of these individuals,” admitted AHCA secretary Holly Benson.

Aggravated assault? Sorry, but why take such a chance? Unless you needed someone to organize cage fighting at the nursing home, this hardly seems a suitable placement.

It then gets worse. Florida felons have more difficulty tending bar than working in a nursing home or day care center. That’s right, the Sun Sentinel reports that felons have to wait 15 years to get a liquor license and bartenders must wait five years after their crime before being allowed to serve drinks yet an exemption to work with the old, young, incapacitated or disabled can be attained after only three years.

Here are more of the Sun Sentinel’s findings:

People with the most serious kinds of offenses on their records have been given exemptions, including 45 murderers, 54 people who committed manslaughter and 12 registered sex offenders, the Sun Sentinel found. Two hundred more committed child abuse, child neglect or contributed to the delinquency of a minor.

Felons must show “sufficient evidence of rehabilitation.” Reviewers are supposed to consider how long ago the crime occurred, whether any victims were harmed and the applicant’s history.

In a review of dozens of state and local exemption files, the Sun Sentinel found many contained nothing more than a criminal history and a few character references. Some were missing past or pending charges and other relevant information readily available on the Internet.

Several people who got exemptions were arrested again — and then granted exemptions a second time. A dozen were turned down by one state agency but approved by another.

While the AHCA is the administration arm granting exemptions for Florida health and elder care facilities, a similar function is performed by the state Department of Children & Families with regard to exemptions for workers in child care, drug or alcohol treatment and mental health counseling. The Sun Sentinel says the AHCA has approved 86 percent of requests and that the DCF has approved 80 percent of requests received since 1985.

After concerns arose in past years that DCF requests were being approved too swiftly, agency representatives claim to now be more more strict in granting exemptions so as “to try to get it right.”

Exemptions being granted despite incomplete information certainly put the unsuspecting public at risk as illustrated with the case of Richard R. Day:

Palm Beach DCF administrators gave an exemption last year to a sex offender, clearing him to work as a substance abuse counselor.

Richard R. Day, a Georgia psychologist, was seeing a patient in 1994 when he unbuttoned her blouse and put his mouth on her breast, according to court records. She went to the police. During her next visit, Day removed his pants and underwear, and police arrested him.

Day pleaded guilty to sexual assault and public indecency and was put on four years of probation. As a result, Georgia officials placed restrictions on Day’s psychology license, but he violated them and lost his license in 1997 for “devious, deceitful acts.” He was also convicted that year of stalking his ex-wife.

After moving to Florida, Day received a mental health counselor’s license from the state Department of Health, saying in his application that he had never been convicted of a crime or had a professional license revoked.

At his DCF exemption hearing in July 2008, Day gave his version of events.

“Mr. Day claims the incident was consensual and the victim acted inappropriately during her visit,” one DCF official wrote. “Mr. Day explained in detail his side of the story and admitted he was very vulnerable during that time and shared the situation got out of hand.”

The Sun Sentinel obtained police and court records from Georgia that portray a strikingly different scenario.

“I was scared and nervous, upset,” the woman told police. “I thought he was going to rape me, I mean, really.”

The detective who arrested Day, Donnie Canada, said in an interview he wouldn’t trust Day to counsel women.

“I wouldn’t want him anywhere around not just my daughter or relatives, but any female in a professional capacity,” he said. “To me it’s appalling they would not follow up and call the [prosecutor] or the investigator to find out what happened. That’s a failure of the system.”

Perry Borman, a DCF administrator, approved Day’s exemption last September. It took more than eight months because of delays and Day’s efforts to obtain records.

Borman admitted it was a “sloppy” and “subpar” review because DCF didn’t follow internal procedures, missed Day’s aggravated stalking case and didn’t have police reports in the sexual assault case.

“I think part of this was we felt bad that this was taking so long for Mr. Day that we may have overlooked things that we shouldn’t have,” he said.

DCF notified Day earlier this month that he would have to re-apply for an exemption based on the information uncovered by the Sun Sentinel. He was working as a counselor in a West Palm Beach psychiatrist’s office.

Calls for reform are now being heard. Congratulations to the South Florida Sun Sentinel for helping expose these threats.

Texas currently regulates the hiring of felons both as health care workers and child care providers. This information, however, does not appear to be easily accessible. Phone calls to government agencies and care provider companies revealed a lack of concise knowledge regarding employment requirements or an information source for either category of worker. This doesn’t bode well for compliance, but that’s the reality of today’s world. Numerous internet searches finally yielded what appear to be Texas’ regulations regarding criminal convictions for health care workers and another for child care providers.

The Texas Health and Safety Code provides a list of convictions barring employment (Sec. 250.006) from “certain facilities serving the elderly or persons with disabilities.” Under the Texas Administrative Code section on Department of Family and Protective Services Licensing rules, Rule §745.651 lists criminal convictions that “preclude a person from being present in an operation.”

The screening out of known criminals is problematic on numerous fronts with vague knowledge of the laws only exacerbating that status. Texas is at least attempting to not unleash potential criminal predators on the most vulnerable in our society. Yet any real success will also require companies to take responsibility in putting safety over expediency and the “bottom line.”

Meanwhile, this is an issue that people need to watch. Thankfully we’re not Florida, but the upcoming years will cause an increase in social and fiscal pressures as accommodating our aging population becomes more challenging.

Lou Ann Anderson is an advocate working to create awareness regarding the Texas probate system and its surrounding culture. She is the Online Producer at www.EstateofDenial.com and a Policy Advisor with Americans for Prosperity – Texas. Lou Ann may be contacted at info@EstateofDenial.com.