Former Administrator Stole from 18 Nursing Home Patients, Faces Charges of Financial Elder Abuse
A former administrator for a nursing home in Illinois was arrested in early July, and will face a jury on July 30th for financial elder abuse.
Reportedly, Pamela S. Britt, who worked for Heartland Healthcare Center, stole $100,000 from 18 residents of the HCR Manorcare branch over five years.
The 55-year-old former administrator was arrested in her home after a search warrant was issued by a judge on June 12th. She has been charged with 12 felony counts of financial elder abuse, including financial exploitation of an elderly person, theft, theft by deception, and forgery. The warrant alleged that Britt stole money from the nursing home’s residents between January 2007 and May 2011, when she quit working for Heartland.
The financial elder abuse was reportedly discovered when Heartland decided to conduct an internal audit. Britt left her job there when the nursing home announced that they would conduct the financial audit.
The audit discovered Britt’s financial elder abuse after she left, according to Champaign, Illinois police detective Pat Kelly, who aided Heartland with their audit. According to Kelly, each patient’s money is kept in one pool, regardless of whether or not the patient pays with personal funds, through insurance, or through Medicare.
“She was the authorized signer on the account and in some cases she was forging the signatures of other employees who were authorized signers,” he said. She reportedly made false entries into the ledgers, and wrote checks to herself.
Kelly said that the audit estimated that Britt had stolen $100,000 over 5 years, but he could not say how she spent the money.
A spokesman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan declined to give any details of what Britt alleged financial elder abuse, other than to say the case was investigated by the Medicaid Fraud Bureau of the Illinois State Police.
Britt is currently in jail on a $75,000 bond. If she is convicted of the financial elder abuse charges, she faces up to 15 years in prison.
Financial Elder Abuse in South Carolina
In addition to neglect and abuse, South Carolina’s Office of Aging recognizes a third risk that aging adults are exposed to: exploitation. The two most prevalent forms of elderly exploitation is financial elder abuse, and medical fraud.
In financial elder abuse, aging adults are taken advantage of by caregivers (related or unrelated). This can occur by home health care workers or at nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Financial Exploitation includes:
- theft and credit card fraud,
- stealing identity,
- using real estate for personal means, and
- conning nursing home residents into purchasing a fraudulent service or product.
Financial exploitation might not endanger an older person’s health or safety, but it results in the loss of the person’s estate and self-esteem.
The Strom Law Firm Prosecutes Perpetrators of Financial Elder Abuse
If you or a loved one has been the victim of financial elder abuse by your nursing home or patient care facility, you do not have to worry about how you can continue to financially care for your loved one. Come in for a free consultation with one of our nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers to discuss your situation and hear how we can help.
