In-Home Care Worker Arrested for Elder Abuse and Fraud
A report from Visalia Time-Delta in Visalia, CA states that a woman was arrested on Friday for suspicion of financial elder abuse, felony neglect of an elderly or dependent adult and in-home supportive services fraud. There is no information on the incident or incidents that prompted police to arrest Marlene Brant. Brant’s bail is set at $110,000 according to the report.
The report states that the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office in-home supportive services division will be investigating the charges and determine the incident that sparked them.
Without knowing any of the initial details of the incident, any comments on this story would be purely speculation. There is no way of knowing what the incident was that sparked the arrest and charges made against the woman named in this report. It’s difficult to say whether the charges are warranted or not. Defrauding an elderly person and committing elder financial abuse in general has become a tremendous problem that many people including the U.S. Government are trying to fight against. Unfortunately, statistics show elderly people sometimes lose their entire life savings because they entrust people they think are looking out for them and in reality those people rob them of all their money.
Unfortunately these types of occurrences are becoming all-too-familiar. Elder abuse, both financial and physical, is a topic given little attention in the media. As more baby boomers enter retirement I believe there will be much more focus on elder abuse which will in turn lead to measures of prevention. Lets hope people take notice sooner rather than later.