About Joanne M Denison

Former Patent and Trademark Attorney practicing in Chicago, Illinois accepting clients nationwide. We also did trademarks, general intellectual property and business litigation. See our website at www.DenisonLaw.com. Now suspended for 3 years by the Illinois Atty Regn and Disciplinary Commission for blogging about corruption and telling truths that the ARDC wants to cover up. And while I am doing that, I will continue on my blogging work. Now I work full time on court corruption and corruption at the ARDC and JIB (Illinois attorney and judge discipline boards)

From Ken Ditkowsky on covering up Illinois corruption in government

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

On 2016-11-19 09:06, ‘kenneth ditkowsky’ via Lawsters wrote:

Yesterday I received an e-mail from my daughter which I forwarded by e-mail to everyone in sight. (Analysis of the election continues, noting that many candidates did well by simply challenging the establishment).

What is so wrong with the establishment?     Why is “establishment” such a dirty word?      The e-mail that I forwarded points out in simple words of one syllable the answer.      Political correctness.     It is now politically correct to abuse, exploit, and dehumanize the elderly and disabled, however, it is not politically correct to talk about it.

When Diane Nash, an icon of the Civil Rights movement sought to obtain the public accommodation of attending one of the kangaroo hearings involving the demonization of Attorney JoAnne Denison, she was barred from the hearing.    How was this act of racial discrimination rationalized?     It was not – the agent of the Supreme Court of Illinois (Jerome Larkin) just ignored the anguished calls!     The Establishment did not call him on it, nor will they.     Larkin knew that there was a vacant seat right next to me – however, he would not even give the usual insincere apology that is so common amongst the political set.    Simply put – it is politically correct to deprive persons of their civil rights as long as you have sufficient clout and your standing in the establishment is intact.

It goes without saying that it is politically correct to take citizen’s FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS away if they do not comply with the current political view.     For instance, JoAnne Denison’s blog MaryGSykes exposes judicial corruption and has called for an HONEST INVESTIGATION of the Mary Sykes, Alice Gore, Carol Wyman ***** cases, and points out that at page 91 of her evidence deposition, the Honorable Maureen Connors admitted to being corrupt, in words and phrases admitting that she was ‘wired’ (‘fixed’) when hearing the Mary Sykes case.      To the politically correct Illinois Supreme Court, Attorney Disciplinary Commission (IARDC) and of course the “administrator of the IARDC, Jerome Larkin, the First Amendment does not apply to citizens who disagree with Establishment’s War on the Elderly and the Disabled.      He wrote to the Supreme Court of Illinois that the exposure (in the blog) of judicial corruption was akin to yelling “fire in a crowded theater!”     To attempt to silence Ms. Denison the Supreme Court of Illinois ordered that he license to practice law be suspended!      Simply put – if a lawyer complains of corruption or the elder cleansing of the elderly and the disabled it is not politically correct and that lawyer’s Civil rights are forfeit.

In the Lanre Amu case the political correctness was taken to a National Socialist extreme.     Amu was suspended from the practice of law because not only did he complain that Judge Egan was hearing a case in which she was a member of the Board of Directors of the defendant (and her brother was an attorney for the defendant) but he had the temerity to have the wrong skin color and worse yet – a prestigious business publication (Crain’s Chicago Business) made the same charge.    Mr. Amu was suspended from the practice of law by the Illinois Supreme Court.    Simply put – if a lawyer complains of corruption and has a dark hue to his skin, such is ipso facto politically incorrect and that lawyer must be suspended from the practice of law for his audacious failure to be politically correct.    The political incorrectness is gross and lacking respect for the Establishment.     Practicing Law while Black is inexcusable in the eyes to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Political correctness is the Law of the Land and it obviates even the State and Federal Constitutions.     Of course, it is not politically correct to point this fact out and therefore the weight of the Establishment must be throw at the offender.   WikiLeaks exposed the e-mails of the Establishment at the Democratic National Committee attempting to quash Bernie Sanders’ revolt against the Establishment.     Probate Sharks, MaryGSykes, NASGA, AAAPG **** and other blogs have attempted to expose the plot of the Establishment to extinguish and cover-up the Establishment’s War against the Elderly and the Disabled.

Political leaders, such as Illinois’ senior senator are successfully leading the Political correctness movement and the War on the Elderly and the Disabled.     I wrote to the senior senator requesting his assistance.   I received his reply – a copy of a stupid speech he gave on “saving Social Security.”    I wrote the junior senator – he was defeated in the last election.    I personally called for an HONEST INVESTIGATION – the Supreme Court of Illinois suspended my law license and forced my retirement.

The battle goes on – the Chicago Tribune Article is worth repeating!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/ct-group-home-investigations-cila-met-20161117-htmlstory.html

From Joanne–Ken is absolutely right. In my ARDC hearing all my witnesses were barred except two (disabled Kathie Bakken and her elderly mother Yolanda), and was told “no discovery.” The ARDC rules do not permit discovery without permission from the Tribunal–and of court they did not feel I needed discovery (this is not to mention that the Chair Sang Yul Lee is business partners with Thomas Matyas and he is the brother in law to Lisa Madigan, and Lisa Madigan is famous (see Blog and Tribune and Craig’s Chicago Business) on that issue.

Craig’s Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune have reported widely on the misdeeds of lawyers, but nothing every comes to their lawyers on staff. But if you are an individual lawyer fighting for the little guy and turning over information to the authorities and the FBI on corruption–they go after you lock, stock and barrel, and that is what they did to myself, Lanre Amu and Kenneth Ditkowsky. None of us were allowed discovery. The ARDC went out of its way to make sure the family complaints did not get into the record.

We still don’t know where the $1 million in missing gold coins are from the Syskes 09 P 4585 case are, nor do we know where approximately $1.5 million in assets from Alice Gore’s estate are–no discovery permitted there either.

What we do have is one Probate Judge–Maureen Connors noting for the record that no matter what happened, even if she had to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, it would simply be refiled and she would come to the same conclusions.

How can that be? She will skip an investigation into how the case came to be running for years without jurisdiction and that no lawyers or GALs involved should ever be punished for that? Lawyers that know there is no jurisdiction or service upon Mary and notice to her elderly sisters should not be disciplined for that. Does this mean she would still quash discovery so no one would know where the $1 million in gold/silver coins and no Trust Accounting would ever be performed and filed with the court, sent to the beneficiaries who are entitled to a Trust Accounting?

Gloria filed numerous objections and motions. Most were just stricken from the record without comment. In cases, where there was comments, they were horrific (when Gloria’s attorney asked for Discovery of Carolyn, the Judge quipped, “why would you want that?”., when it was pointed out to the Judge there was no jurisdiction in the case, the judge parroted the GAL’s who said the matter had been considered numerous times and the motion was denied. When I delivered a stack of all the orders to the judge showing there had been no prior ruling on jurisdiction, and Gloria brought it to the Judge’s attention, nothing ever came of it.

In Robert Grundstein’s new book, “Bad Minds/High Places”, he describes numerous court systems which also refuse to do justice except for the clouted and connected, and he tell the tale of his own mother’s estate where the Trustee (an attorney) stole tens of thousands of dollars. When RG filed a motion for an accounting and distribution of property, as was his right, he was sanctioned. When he filed a motion to reconsider, he was sanctioned again. Then when he appealed, he was sanctioned again. All for asking for an accounting and distribution of property that rightfully belonged to his Mother’s Trust. More than $20k in sanctions were awarded against him merely for asking for an accounting that that Trust proceeds be distributed to the rightful beneficiaries.

You can read his book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Minds-High-Places-Archipelago/dp/1505889146

for $12 it is an eyeopener regarding the nadir to which lack of justice has sunk in various courtroom across the country.

It is time now to demand the Illinois Atty Registration and Disciplinary Commission do their job.

More than 30+ videos of the Chicago Police killing unarmed innocent citizens still have not been produced in numerous courtrooms in Cook County. The City Law Department should be discipline and disbarred for not turning over these crucial videos to bereaved family members.

We have to stand together on doing Justice in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois.

There were many inexperienced upstarts in the last election. Many just complained about how horrible the situation was in US government and did not offer any real solution.

They won nonetheless. People are tired and fed up with all of the lack of transparency and accountability. They made a statement: Time for a change.

From Ken Ditkowsky and the Chicago Trib; the Illinois expansive Cover Up Culture

Posted on November 19, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/ct-group-home-investigations-cila-met-20161117-htmlstory.html

News Watchdog

TRIBUNE WATCHDOG

SUFFERING IN SECRET:

Illinois hides abuse and neglect of adults with disabilities

Barbara Chyette holds up a picture of her late brother, Loren Braun, a group home resident who choked to death during a supervised outing. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

By Michael J. Berens and Patricia Callahan

The house had no address; the dead man had no name.

Illinois officials blacked out those details from their investigative report. Nobody else was supposed to learn the man’s identity or the location of the state-funded facility where his body was found.

The investigation was closed as it began, with no public disclosure, and the report was filed away, one of thousands that portray a hidden world of misery and harm.

No one would know that Thomas Powers died at 3300 Essington Road in unincorporated Joliet, in a group home managed for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Or that his caregivers forced a 50-year-old man with the intellect of a small child to sleep on a soiled mattress on the floor in a room used for storage.

Or that the front door bore a building inspection sticker that warned, “Not approved for occupancy.”

Not even Powers’ grieving family knew the state had looked into his death and found evidence of neglect.

As Illinois steers thousands of low-income adults with disabilities into private group homes, a Tribune investigation found Powers was but one of many casualties in a botched strategy to save money and give some of the state’s poorest and most vulnerable residents a better life.

In the first comprehensive accounting of mistreatment inside Illinois’ taxpayer-funded group homes and their day programs, the Tribune uncovered a system where caregivers often failed to provide basic care while regulators cloaked harm and death with secrecy and silence.

The Tribune identified 1,311 cases of documented harm since July 2011 — hundreds more cases than publicly reported by the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Confronted with those findings, Human Services officials retracted five years of erroneous reports and said the department had launched reforms to ensure accurate reporting.

To circumvent state secrecy, the Tribune filed more than 100 public records requests with government agencies. But state files were so heavily redacted and unreliable that the newspaper had to build its own databases by mining state investigative files, court records, law enforcement cases, industry reports, federal audits, grant awards and Medicaid data.

The Tribune found at least 42 deaths linked to abuse or neglect in group homes or their day programs over the last seven years. Residents fatally choked on improperly prepared food, succumbed to untreated bed sores and languished in pain from undiagnosed ailments.

Other residents suffered forced indignities and loss of freedom, state records show. Some were mocked for their intellectual limitations, barricaded in rooms, abandoned in soiled clothing and deprived of food.

A male group home resident, accused of stealing cookies, was beaten to death by his caregiver. Employees at one home bound a woman’s hands and ankles with duct tape, covered her head with a blanket and left her for several hours on the kitchen floor. For their own amusement, employees at another home repeatedly ridiculed residents to provoke outbursts, a game the caregivers called “breaking them.”

And, all too often, vulnerable residents’ health and safety has been left to unlicensed, scantly trained employees. Front-line caregivers failed to promptly call 911, perform CPR or respond to medical emergencies that resulted in death.

In hundreds of cases, the department allowed employees of group homes to investigate allegations of neglect and mental abuse in their own workplaces, the Tribune discovered. That alliance between group homes and Human Services’ investigative arm, the Office of the Inspector General, is not specifically disclosed in state investigative reports.

Citing patient privacy laws, state officials maintain that the addresses of the more than 3,000 state-licensed group homes are secret. Illinois officials refuse to disclose the enforcement history of any home, even in cases of fatal abuse and neglect.

In contrast, Illinois nursing homes must maintain copies of investigative reports and surveys for public inspection. Additionally, state health officials publish a quarterly report detailing violations accompanied by nursing home names and addresses. There are no similar disclosure requirements for group homes.

In this culture of secrecy, even seemingly benign records get shielded from sight. For example, the Tribune requested a state-funded PowerPoint presentation that included a list of needed improvements to community care programs, including group homes.

The state responded. Except for the word “Recommendations,” the entire slide was blacked out.

Citing the Tribune investigation, Human Services Secretary James Dimas has ordered widespread reforms to improve public accountability and streamline investigations.

“My concern is that too often agencies hide behind their confidentiality statutes, which makes it harder for the public to know what is going on,” said Dimas, who was appointed last year.

Dimas said he will push for legislative changes, if necessary, to allow public disclosure of group home enforcement histories.

The shift in Illinois from large institutional facilities to less costly residential homes reflects the philosophy that these individuals, if supported, will lead fuller lives in the community, and more than 11,400 now live in group homes statewide.

Known as Community Integrated Living Arrangements, or CILAs, these homes accommodate eight or fewer adults in ordinary apartment buildings or houses.

The Arc of Illinois, a statewide advocacy group, reports that hundreds of people with disabilities have successfully transitioned into group homes in recent years. In 2011, a lawsuit brought by individuals who wanted to leave state-funded facilities resulted in a court decree that has forced Illinois to move more people into community settings.

State officials have touted group homes as a preferred option, citing cost savings that can be used to fund more community care. The annual cost of care for an institutionalized resident is about $219,000 compared with $84,000 at a group home, according to state records.

But Illinois has not increased reimbursement rates for group home staff wages in nearly nine years, leading to what industry leaders say are catastrophic conditions in which even the best operators are struggling to provide basic care. Illinois ranks among the five worst states for adequately funding community options, according to federal reports and studies by advocacy groups.

Shirley Perez, who directs a family advocacy program for the Arc of Illinois, said: “Some of the phone calls I get from families are that they are afraid.”

Powers, born with a condition that led to brain damage, spent decades inside state institutions, unable to talk, unpredictable in behavior. When state officials promised him a better life in a real home and told his family he’d gain independence, Powers said yes the only way he knew how. He giggled.

But this was not the life that Powers found. Nor did thousands of other adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, left to the mercy of a system designed to be invisible.

Joe Powers talks about his late son, Thomas, at his daughter Kathy’s home in Aurora. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Failures of care

In one Will County group home, state records show, a caregiver left a frail woman alone in the bathroom after filling the bathtub with water, unaware that it was scalding because a maintenance worker forgot to install a temperature-control valve. The woman tumbled into the tub and was severely burned. The Trinity Services caregiver put the woman to bed, later pulled socks over her peeling, bleeding skin and didn’t seek medical help for more than an hour. The woman died days later.

At a Springfield home owned by Sparc, a caregiver forgot to give a man his anti-seizure medication before sending him to a day program in 2013. Rather than deliver the pills, investigators found, the caregiver told a colleague to throw them into the trash. The man suffered a major seizure, turned blue and was treated at a hospital.

A caregiver at a Macomb group home managed by Mosaic allowed a man to sleep with a stuffed snowman even though he had been diagnosed with pica — a disorder that compels people to eat nonfood items — and had a history of consuming stuffing, according to inspector general records. In 2012 the man tore open the snowman, ate the filling and choked to death.

In case after case, group home businesses have delegated frontline care to inexperienced caregivers with negligible training, a cost-cutting combination that has led to harm, the Tribune investigation found.

Indeed, when the newspaper reviewed more than 200 substantiated cases of abuse and neglect, it found the vast majority of injuries and deaths are linked to inadequate staffing levels and failure to closely monitor fragile residents. Records show caregivers trying to cover up mistakes, failing to understand dangers of missed medications and underestimating the complex nature of disabilities.

Sparc’s chief operating officer, Ryan Dowd, said his company fired the caregiver who directed a colleague to throw out anti-convulsant medicine, added more surveillance cameras in its group homes and switched from paper to electronic medication records so a nurse can better catch mistakes.

Nancy Davis, a Mosaic vice president, said her organization dismissed the caregiver who allowed the man to sleep with a stuffed snowman, hired outside behavioral experts to address the needs of residents with pica and retrained caregivers on how to protect those individuals.

Caring for adults with profound intellectual and developmental disabilities can be challenging. Some have the strength of a weightlifter with the impulsiveness of a child. In the blink of an eye, they can find themselves in crisis.

Yet caregivers in group homes earn an average of $9.35 an hour, according to the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities. That wage is below the federal poverty level for a family of three. Low pay is a contributing factor in high staff turnover — more than 40 percent annually in some homes.

“Staff turnover — it’s like a cancer that affects care,” said UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago CEO John Voit, who has worked in the industry since the 1970s.

Group home executives complain that inadequate state funding has not allowed the industry to increase entry-level pay or raise existing salaries to retain skilled supervisors. They say caregivers can earn more money in many other industries, citing the experienced employees who recently resigned to take higher-paying jobs at Amazon warehouses.

To fill vacancies, business operators said they have turned to workers whose backgrounds would have disqualified them from jobs in the past.

“You’re scraping the barrel,” said Little City Executive Director Shawn Jeffers, whose agency’s services include group homes for adults with disabilities in the Chicago area. “I have some folks who do some really dumb stuff.”

Responding to what group home owners call a staffing crisis, state lawmakers in both houses this summer overwhelmingly approved $330 million in funding to boost pay for caregivers. But Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the measure in August, citing a lack of state funds.

The Tribune also found that the group home industry is exempt from basic staffing standards required elsewhere in the state’s long-term care system.

Nursing homes, state institutions and other extended-care facilities are required by law to employ on-site registered nurses who can detect and react to sudden changes in patient conditions. Even low-level employees must be state-certified aides who update skills through continuing education.

Group homes are not bound by these requirements. Many group home residents are not examined by a licensed nurse for weeks at a time, sometimes for many months, state enforcement records show. Instead, registered nurses often work from remote locations and supervise dozens of residents over the telephone.

Some unlicensed workers also are allowed to pass out prescription medications — a practice prohibited by law at nursing homes and state-owned facilities.

These and many other relaxed policies place group home residents at greater risk of undetected complications.

Few daily activities underscore the dangers of thin staff or the critical role of competent caregivers like the simple act of eating.

In 2014, a UCP Seguin group home resident attending the company’s day program in Cicero choked to death on a marshmallow that a caregiver handed out as a treat. The victim had dysphagia, putting him at high risk of choking, and staff were supposed to give him only pureed or finely chopped foods, the inspector general found. UCP Seguin CEO Voit said his organization, one of the state’s largest group home providers, has retrained staff on choking risks and revised safety protocols.

That same year, a man at a Trinity Services group home in Peoria fatally choked on a cheeseburger, carrots and applesauce when a caregiver stepped away. The victim’s medical files warned he often swallowed food too fast and needed close supervision, but staff members were not properly trained about his special needs, state records show.

In response, Trinity Service officials said, they created a training manual for each group home that details how to monitor residents with diet restrictions and choking risks, including pictures that illustrate how to chop or puree food properly.

For Loren Braun, death came from a McDonald’s hamburger and an inattentive caregiver who had been hired specifically to watch him.

At 61, Braun had no teeth and couldn’t wear dentures. Born with developmental disabilities and diagnosed with schizophrenia, he had lived since 1997 in a North Side group home managed by Anixter Center.

Braun had a history of choking. His food had to be soft and cut into tiny pieces, and someone had to coach him at every meal to eat slowly and drink water between bites.

Braun’s sister, Barbara Chyette, tried to protect her younger brother as best she could.

Loren Braun, who had no teeth and couldn’t wear dentures, choked to death on food during an outing away from his group home. (Family photo)

As a former social worker at an Ohio psychiatric hospital, she saw the advantages of a small group home but feared that staffing levels were often inadequate for high-risk residents.

Tapping a family foundation set up by her late father, a postal worker, she donated money to pay Anixter for an extra caregiver to shadow her brother three days a week. She also donated a van to the home for community outings.

In November 2014, caregivers loaded Braun and four other residents into that van for grocery shopping, haircuts and lunch at a McDonald’s. After returning to the group home, a caregiver discovered Braun unconscious in the back seat.

A Chicago Fire Department paramedic reported that he removed “almost an entire hamburger” from Braun’s mouth and airway but was unable to revive him. He had choked to death.

State investigators cited his personal caregiver for egregious neglect. In a wrongful death suit, Chyette alleges that Anixter failed to address his choking risk, served her brother unsafe food and didn’t protect him from neglect. Anixter executives declined to comment.

“Loren was like a baby,” Chyette said. “Like you would have to be with a 2-year-old or 3-year-old — that’s the kind of supervision that clients like Loren need. And the system does not provide that kind of supervision.”

The attacker next door

Illinois group homes were first licensed in the 1970s as state-funded community options for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the beginning of a civil rights movement to empty large institutions and nursing facilities.

This shift offered freedom and independence to scores of people with disabilities who were inappropriately consigned to institutional care. But as state downsizing continues, group homes are also destinations for individuals with a history of profound problems, often compounded by mental illness, requiring round-the-clock supervision for their safety and the safety of other residents.

A majority of group home businesses report that they cannot afford to provide that level of protection, according to industry trade groups.

Fragile individuals with disabilities sometimes live alongside those who have a history of violence or sexual aggression, a risky mix that has led to injury and death, state records show.

Group home owners are not required to report resident-on-resident assaults to the inspector general’s office unless someone suspects that neglect was a factor, according to state law.

But law enforcement and state investigative reports reveal a troubling pattern of violence at group homes since 2010, including three homicides.

At a Trinity Services group home in Peoria in 2010, John Vogel, 45, was fatally beaten by a resident whose acts of violence had sent two employees and two housemates to the emergency room months earlier, according to inspector general and coroner records.

At a Bolingbrook group home managed by Individual Advocacy Group, Eduardo Formanski, 30, suffocated after another resident, who weighed nearly twice as much as he did, lay on top of him during a fight in 2011, according to police, court and medical examiner records.

That same year, Tramayne Yarbrough, 35, died of head injuries after a housemate pushed him down the stairs of a Palos Park group home operated by St. Coletta’s of Illinois, according to medical examiner and inspector general records. The assailant had a history of physical aggression and had pushed someone else down the stairs about two months earlier, the inspector general’s office found.

Responding to questions about the Vogel homicide, Trinity Service officials said they had provided extensive behavioral therapy to the resident responsible for the attack. Afterward, they said, group home employees received enhanced training to better deal with aggressive residents.

Addressing the death at the Bolingbrook home, an official for Advocacy Group said it was the only fatal incident in the group home’s 17-year history. Attempts to reach St. Coletta’s of Illinois for comment were unsuccessful.

Residents have also been victimized sexually by other residents, records show.

At a West Side day program operated by group home provider Habilitative Systems, a 33-year-old man had a behavior plan that addressed his history of sexually inappropriate behavior, including “engaging in sexual activity without consent.” The staff was supposed to make sure he remained at least 3 feet away from program participants, and his care plan called for employees to accompany him even to the restroom.

But in July 2010, the man wandered away unnoticed and entered an unlocked restroom where he allegedly persuaded a 27-year-old man to perform oral sex, according to a state report that cited a witness account by a third man who entered the restroom and discovered the pair.

An investigator with the inspector general’s office termed the sexual act consensual, even though the younger man had profound disabilities, wasn’t able to speak and “could not provide any information for this investigation.” The office did cite the business for neglect. An official for Habilitative Systems declined to comment about the case.

State law allows group home providers to mix defenseless residents with those who have histories of violence as long as businesses maintain adequate supervision and staffing.

It’s hard to imagine anyone more vulnerable than 36-year-old Aaron Stanley.

Born with cerebral palsy and excess fluid in his brain, Stanley has the cognitive capacity of a 2-year-old, his mother said. Spastic quadriplegia restricts movement of his arms and legs, so he can’t propel his own wheelchair. At a Berwyn group home managed by UCP Seguin, he was fully dependent on the staff.

Colleen Stanley didn’t know that her son’s bedroom was next to that of a man who not only had an intellectual disability but also was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder. A UCP Seguin employee later told police that Stanley’s housemate was prone to episodes of unprovoked explosive violence and had “insurmountable strength.”

In October last year the housemate walked into Stanley’s room during the pre-dawn hours and nearly pummeled him to death while he lay in bed — beating him repeatedly in the head with a fire extinguisher, a television and a picture frame before stabbing his face with glass from the broken frame, police records show. Stanley’s swollen face was so covered with blood that first responders could not see his eyes.

The sole UCP Seguin caregiver on duty that night — a woman alone in the house with seven disabled men — told police she tried to intervene but Stanley’s housemate became more violent, and she was afraid he would attack her.

No charges were filed against Stanley’s housemate, whose psychiatrist told police the man could not comprehend his actions. Instead, Human Services admitted him to a state-run institution for individuals with developmental disabilities, police records show.

Stanley, who had to undergo multiple reconstructive surgeries on his face, no longer lives at the UCP Seguin group home. His family is suing the provider for failing to protect him.

Citing the lawsuit, UCP Seguin’s Voit declined to comment on the specifics of the case. In a written statement he said that, in general, when a person is harmed, his organization figures out the causes, retrains staff, revises safety protocols and disciplines employees to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

“Ultimately, however,” the statement said, “there are some occurrences or encounters that can neither be predicted nor prevented, even with the best of training, protocols and processes.”

In an interview before her death from breast cancer in August, Stanley’s mother said the system has to change.

“You can’t put someone that’s violent in the same house as someone that can’t even get out of his way,” she said.

A suspicious death

Even as a toddler, it was clear Thomas Powers would need a lifetime of care.

He never learned to speak, use a toilet or hold a spoon. He could walk, even run, but he was awkward and crashed into walls and furniture. He couldn’t comprehend simple gestures or words, and at times he had trouble recognizing his own family.

But he loved to have his hand stroked and his back patted. And he seemed most happy when traveling in a vehicle and staring out the window, family members said.

Thomas Powers as a child, front row, second from right, and as an adult with his sister Kathy at her home. (Family photos)

Powers, one of nine children, had a rare inherited disorder – phenylketonuria, which can cause severe intellectual disability and medical problems. The condition is readily detected and treated today, but the test did not exist when he was born in 1960, and his disease went untreated as a child.

His father, Joe Powers, 83, said the family made the agonizing decision to institutionalize Thomas at age 6, when he had become an oblivious danger to himself and others. In one of many frightening incidents, he held an infant sibling above his head and made a throwing motion.

Thomas Powers spent four decades in state institutions, but in 2008 state officials pressured the family to move him because of planned downsizing at his facility, according to one of his sisters, Kathy Powers.

She said they promised he would receive more individualized care. A state contractor then steered them to Trinity Services, the state’s largest operator of group homes for adults with disabilities.

Two years later, however, Trinity Services officials reported that Thomas Powers had become too much to handle. Caregivers complained that he was a whirlwind of motion and mayhem, running from kitchen to bedroom, tossing pans from the stove, breaking lamps, drinking water from the toilet, sometimes stripping naked to express displeasure.

“He was just out of control,” a Trinity Services supervisor later said in a court deposition. “He was like an animal.”

To better control Powers’ behaviors, Trinity Services officials transferred him in May 2010 to another home, a 2,100-square-foot ranch house on Essington Road in unincorporated Joliet. Following the move, most of his daily activities would take place inside.

Thomas Powers, born with a condition that led to brain damage, was found dead in 2010 in a group home in unincorporated Joliet, three days after being transferred from another group home. He was 50. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)

Canceled were Powers’ weekday trips to a community day program where he had participated in arts and crafts projects with dozens of other people with disabilities. There would be no more of his favorite activity, riding in a transport van.

When Powers arrived, three other men were living in the house, state records show. None of them should have been there.

Two months earlier, a Will County building inspector had posted a “not approved for occupancy” sticker on the door after determining that Trinity Services had converted a residential property into a group home without proper permits and safety improvements. County officials charged that Trinity Services ignored that order to vacate the home.

While Powers’ bedroom was being renovated, he slept in a cramped room jammed with boxes of other people’s belongings, according to state records. He should have never been left unsupervised with loose objects, medical records show, because he suffered from pica and indiscriminately stuffed items in his mouth.

On his third day in the home, he was found dead.

His caregiver told state investigators that Powers, wearing pajamas, had rested through the night on a fully assembled bed, according to police and court records.

But sheriff’s deputies found Powers dressed in blue jeans and belt, lying on the floor next to a mattress so stained that it was hauled away as garbage. The room was cluttered with ripped-open storage boxes, and a box spring with built-in bed frame leaned against a wall.

Thomas Powers was living in a group home in unincorporated Joliet in 2010 when he was found dead lying next to a stained mattress in a cluttered room used for storage. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune; Will County sheriff’s office)

The caregiver first told deputies that she found Powers with a plastic bag “laying over his face, covering it.” She later changed her description, saying “it was like a sheet of paper.”

Dr. J. Scott Denton, who conducted the autopsy for the Will County medical examiner’s office, ruled the cause of death undetermined.

But later, in a deposition, Denton testified that “it’s more likely than not that something unnatural happened,” citing Powers’ suspicious bruises and cuts, the plastic bag or sheet, the room in disarray and other unusual circumstances.

Powers’ family, who maintained close contact with group home employees, filed a wrongful death suit and reached a confidential settlement last year.

“We will never know what happened for sure,” said Kathy Powers. “But something wrong happened.”

Trinity Services Executive Director Art Dykstra, a former state director for mental health and disability programs, said Powers thrived for years without incident but experienced sudden and unexplained weight loss and health complications in the months before his death.

Caregivers transferred Powers to the Joliet home because it had fewer residents than the home where he lived and might offer a calmer environment to counter his increasingly disruptive behaviors, he said.

Most of the building code violations in the Joliet home represented renovations that were underway or completed without proper permits, Dykstra said.

“Everyone at Trinity Services feels terrible about this death,” he said. “We’ve tried our hardest to help people with complex needs like Thomas.”

Records show that the Office of the Inspector General took five years to close the case, issuing its report after the Powers family settled its civil suit with Trinity Services.

Investigators cited the business and the caregiver for neglect, noting that residents were placed in a home with code violations and that Powers was forced to sleep on a mattress placed on the floor in a room full of debris. But the state took no further action against Trinity Services.

Under Illinois law, the inspector general’s office is required to send a notification letter to families or guardians if neglect or abuse is found.

But members of Powers’ family said they were unaware of the state’s investigation until contacted by the Tribune. Inspector General Michael McCotter acknowledged that his office had failed to notify them.

Last summer, the Powers family received an apology from McCotter in the mail.

mberens@chicagotribune.com

pcallahan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @mjberens1

Twitter @tribunetrish

Illinois’ transition to group homes

Illinois has been moving toward a group home model for decades. Here are some major factors behind that transition:

Beginning in the 1970s, Illinois downsized state-funded institutions because scores of people were inappropriately confined there.
In the late 1980s, state officials created a special license for group homes that provide care for eight or fewer adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These homes were designated Community Integrated Living Arrangements, or CILAs. There are more than 3,000 such homes today.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that people with disabilities have the right to live in the least restrictive setting possible. Known as the Olmstead decision, the ruling also stated that unnecessary institutionalization violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The decision forced states to fund more community services.
In 2007, Illinois launched the Pathways to Community Living program, a federally funded initiative to transfer thousands of people with disabilities into group homes or other community placements from state institutions or nursing facilities providing long-term care.
In a federal settlement known as the Ligas consent decree, Illinois agreed in 2011 to fund community access for adults with disabilities who lived in private intermediate-care facilities with nine or more beds, and those who lived at home but had sought community services or placement.
Also in 2011, a federal court approved a sweeping agreement — the Colbert consent decree — that required Illinois to fund more community options for Medicaid-eligible nursing home residents with disabilities.
In late 2011, then-Gov. Pat Quinn announced a cost-saving plan to close multiple state institutions and move hundreds of adults with disabilities into group homes. The Jacksonville Developmental Center was closed, but state officials shelved plans to shutter the Murray Developmental Center following a court fight with parents of residents.

READ THE SERIES:

Part One – Illinois hides abuse and neglect of adults with disabilities

tation

Rebecca Halleck

From Ken Ditkowksy

THE TIME IS NOW FOR THAT HONEST INVESTIGATION that Jerome Larkin, the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and the Supreme Court of Illinois are fighting against. The intimidation of lawyers who pursuant to Rule 8.3 report these outrages has to stop. Reporting corruption should not be considered to be akin to ‘yelling fire in a crowded theater’ and blogs such as the MARYGSYKES blog should be protected – as required by the First Amendment.

From Ken Ditkowsky–Medicare Scammers cost the US $60 Billion per Year

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

The effort that has been expended to avoid an HONEST INVESTIGATION of the systematic isolation, abuse and exploitation of the elderly by officials of the justice system using the guardianship ploy is remarketable. Jerome Larkin has spend hundreds of thousands of State of Illinois funds in his efforts to protect the health care frauds committed by corrupt judicial officials and their cohorts, and across the USA the toll adds up.

This afternoon I ran across the following article, to wit:

John Mininno ferrets out shady activity by looking for patterns in vast troves of data.

Medicare Scammers Steal $60 Billion a Year. This Man Is Hunting Them

Medicare Scammers Steal $60 Billion a Year. This Man Is Hunting Them

John Mininno ferrets out shady activity by looking for patterns in vast troves of data.

Maybe we can help! Maybe he can help the FBI in their investigative efforts. Maybe he can shake the trees in key States – Illinois Florida etc and ******

Illinois is on the verge of Bankruptcy — I wonder why the Illinois Department of Revenue is not at Mr. Larkin’s door. As a co-conspirator with each of the miscreant applications that he has helped cover up he must owe billions for his share of the Income taxes, interest, and penalties.

Ken Ditkowsky

www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

From FB and Youtube: Foster Kids at risk: Drugged in Foster Care and Drugs approved by court room actors who do nothing to protect these kids.

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

These kids report massive does of Seroquel, Halodol, Risperdol, plus the typical Ritalin and Concerta. The kids report they feel like bricks are on their heads, that they are a zombie.

Watch the entire series and see how the courts look the other way when anyone complains about how FDA black box warnings on the drugs says they are not to be used for those under 20 and over 60 or those that have heart disease, dementia or cancer or internal organ damage.

We need to educate and force the court to stop drugging our foster kids and elders for profit.

Keep Youtube.com going and watch the entire series and see how kids are abused further in foster case with psychotropic drugs.

From Teresa Lyles–NEW BOOK–horror stories of guardianship order from Lulu.com

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

65 Minutes

By Teresa Lyles

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Paperback, 182 Pages

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This is a true story of the horrors in Guardianship Court where Teresa Lyles, PhD lost her mother to an abusive system and several abusive “guardians” who allowed her precious Cuban mother to be drugged, isolated, tortured, forced to live in a locked down facility, where she eventually died, after being forced into a guardianship she did not want and did not authorize. She wanted to live in her own home or with her Protective Daughter, Teresa. Ms. Lyles discusses her early family life, how much she was loved, and how much she wanted to love her mother and care for her in her own home. But that was not to be, for her mother was put through the horrors of an abusive Guardian and Guardianship court and a maze of uncaring Judges and Lawyers who simply were in it for the money billing at hundreds of dollars per hour. The Guardians also just wanted the money and all complaints of abuse, chemical restraints, and where Mother wanted to live, were always ignored.

You can Order from this Link: Teresa Lyles Book

Teresa has a Ph.D. and did an excellent job on the book. Please read the book and give her a great review on Lulu.com, bn.com and amazon.com (soon to be released on BN.com and Amazon)

And, please get me YOUR STORY of abuse in guardianship. We need more books and blogs, not less. We need to make it impossible for miscreants like Jeorme Larkin, James Grogin, Sharon Opryszek and Melissa Smart to go after attorneys that represent these people and complain about corruption in the courts and severe abuse of elders (Mary G. Sykes, Alice Gore, Alan Frake, Dorothy Baker, etc..) to claim that the stories are false and clouted attorneys and judges should be immune from prosecution.

You can write me for a book contract at: joanne@justice4every1.com.

Jerome Larkin, Melissa Smart and Sharon Opryszek have made it impossible for me to help others seek justice in the courts. But they have not and cannot take away my First Amendment right to blog about guardianship abuse and how we need all volunteer Elder Assistants NOW in the courtrooms to protect the elderly and disabled.

They have given me a full time job blogging, filing complaints with the authorities and writing books.

Thanks for reading and ordering this book.

And I still have plenty of John Wyman’s books on “Against her Will”–also a harrowing tale of abuse, neglect and attempted murder in Guardianship in Rockford Illinois.

You can also order these books by texting me a check for $15 to 773-255-7608, or emailing me a check, or sending $15 via paypal (email for an invoice) or FB me the funds.

Thanks so much to all of you for making this possible.

Joanne

GREAT NEWS! Doug Franks says Ernestine, his mom, is finally free!

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

After years of going to the blogs, media and social media, I just heard from Candice Schwager that Earnestine is finally free to go home and live where she wants!

I am so happy for them both.

I am hoping to get a full report from Doug Franks, but for all of you praying for her release from forced placement in a nursing home, and restrictions on visitation by Doug, your and our prayers have been answered.

The following video was taken at a dog park where Ernestine is obviously enjoying a freedom she did not have for the prior years under guardianship in a nursing home.

Here is the full story on mega media–Just in!

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/2-investigates/who-makes-the-decisions-for-your-elderly-loved-ones/467511974

from the story:

ATLANTA – Many aging loved ones have plans for when they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves, but are those plans legally binding??

Advance directives — legal documents like living wills and power of attorney — tell your family, doctors and the court your plans for end of life care.

But Channel 2’s Dave Huddleston spoke with families who said they lost custody of their loved ones because those advanced directives weren’t honored in probate court.

“My mother made it clear who she wanted to take care of her and where she was going to live for the rest of her life,” Doug Franks told Huddleston.

In his mother’s advanced directives, 94-year-old Ernestine Franks said she wanted to stay in her Pensacola, Florida, home, and have her son, Doug, be her guardian when she could no longer make decisions for herself.

Doug Franks, who lives in Austell, already had power of attorney.

But after Ernestine Franks was confronted by a scammer while home alone, older brother, Charles Franks, wanted mom to move near his home in New Orleans. He said he contacted his mother’s trust who suggested a private guardianship company step in.

“He stated this was the biggest mistake he’s made in his life,” Doug Franks said.

Charles Franks also spoke to Channel 2 and explained his regret about the decision.

The brothers’ dispute landed in court.

In August 2012, a Florida probate judge said Doug Franks was unsuitable and unfit to act as guardian because of the dispute.

“We got in trouble because we wanted the best and we had different opinions what was the best for our mom,” Doug Franks said.

Ernestine Franks’ advanced directives, which included declaring Doug Franks durable power of attorney, designated healthcare surrogate and future guardian, were voided.

A private guardianship company, Gulf Coast Caring Solutions, took control of Ernestine Franks’ well-being, and Synovus Bank controlled millions of dollars in her trust.

“It was sad,” Doug Franks said. “The entire way, I drove back thinking I let my mother down, and she’s never let me down.”

According to court records, the sons’ visits with their mother were limited, and mostly supervised.

Gulf Coast Solutions asked the Franks brothers to not contact their mother three weeks after the guardianship was finalized so Ernestine Franks could establish a routine and bond with her caregivers.

Gulf Coast Solutions and Synovus gave up their rights to the Franks’ estate and Ernestine Franks in November 2014, citing a challenging relationship with the Franks brothers.

A Florida Judge appointed CPA J. Alan Kohr as her guardian and conservator. According to court transcripts, Kohr had been court appointed to serve as guardian or trustee in Escambia County, Florida, 46 previous times.

Doug Franks said guardians spent thousands from Ernestine Franks’ trust on food, personal care and fighting the brothers in court.

“It’s a dark cloud that’s over us all the time,” Doug Franks told Huddleston.

According to Escambia County Court system, guardianship cases are not handled solely at the discretion of the judges.

“Like all other cases in the judicial system, there are statutes, rules and other legal authority that apply and judges use their discretion and judgment within the parameters of the legal authority,” Susan A. Woolf, general counsel for Escambia Courts, told Channel 2 by email.

“Yes, they can override the advance directives,” elder attorney Danielle Humphrey said.

Humphrey said Georgia probate judges rarely void advance directives, and private guardianship is nonexistent in Georgia, but can effect Georgians with loved ones in other states.

In places with a high retirement population — like Florida — adult guardianship is big business.

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law and unfortunately, once they become under guardianship, they’re like your child,” Humphrey said.

When a loved one lives out of state, it puts them at risk.

She said private guardianship companies, and individuals, can take advantage of an isolated elder.

“They’re in it for the money. It’s a business, so they’re going to treat your mother, or your father, like a business,” Humphrey said.

Humphrey, and other experts, said living far from an aging loved one puts them at great risk. They also said an interfamily dispute often leaves probate judges at a loss as to how to deal with the aging relative.

According to the National Guardianship Association, nearly 3,000 jurisdictions regulate guardianship nationwide and everyone is different.

While they stressed there is a great need for guardians and many do a great service, but not a lot of information on guardians nationwide aren’t tracked, so abusive practices, even the number of guardians, is unknown.

Channel 2 spoke to other families who say their loved ones’ advanced directives were voided by probate judges, but most guardianship records are closed so it is hard to know why a judge thought a company would be a better guardian than the family member named in the advance directive.

After a four-year fight, the Franks brothers said the guardianship company gave up, because the cash dried up. It was nearly $2 million.

The case went to mediation and the brothers were given guardianship of Ernestine Franks.

They consider it a blessing to have their mother back.

“I was lucky, I was lucky as hell,” Doug Franks said. “We’re going to get her back. The key is to help other people, too, so this doesn’t happen to them.”

Doug Franks has been working with legislators in Florida and families across the county to strengthen guardianship and probate legislation.

He told Huddleston he is now in the process of moving to Pensacola to be closer to Ernestine Franks.

From Kathlee Arthur–Is “right to lie” the law for DCFS?

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

I’m sorry I don’t have youtube or vimeo URL yet for this video, but Ms. Kathlee Arthur is appalled by the fact that the court has ignored the fact that once again (as many of you are familiar), a client has a recording of DCFS filing one thing, and then saying another in police reports or to the court.

As far as I have heard, state agencies (other than the police, which is also bogus) has NOT been granted a right to lie. However, I have multiple reports from the public, they do it all the time in court.

Any complaints fall on deaf ears. I hope Ms. Arthur will provide more details such as state, case details, etc. I’m going to research this a bit further.

Joanne

Links to briefs of litigants

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwbzZKbEFkQ2Z5NEE

and

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwTV9taGRlaWx0ak0

link to case information

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/calendar/view.php?caseno=13-56454

Here’s Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, it explains how a jury found the State actors lied, causing Mother to wrongfully lose her children:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwNGtkVnJXNHJRUHM

From Ken Ditkowsky–Jerome Larkin must either fish or cut bait!

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Subject: Time for Jerome Larkin to either fish or cut bait

Date: Nov 14, 2016 3:19 PM

During the last Presidential campaign the two candidates for President concentrated on demonizing their opponents. Each portrayed their opponent in the most derogatory manner possible. Some of the comments were fair, others were unfair, and still others were downright improper. Unfortunately, this Presidential campaign was and is not the only forum in which such obscenity occurs.

Just so that we cannot be properly accused of similar conduct, I think we ought to offer Jerome Larkin a public opportunity to explain the Lanre Amu case wherein we have accused him of gross racial discrimination and in particular obtaining the suspension of Amu for practicing law while black. At the very same time, we would like an explanation as to how it happened that Diane Nash was barred from the JoAnne Denison hearing. (There was a vacant seat right next to me!) NB. Crains Chicago Business made the same complaint as Mr. Amu concerning the activities of certain judges, and Larkin did not go after a single one of their lawyers).

In addition, it seems very appropriate that we give Mr. Jerome Larkin the opportunity to explain just how the blog MARYGSYKES is not protected by either statute of the First Amendment, and finally just how a statement appearing in the Probate Sharks blog asking for an HONEST INVESTIGATION is unethical and not protected by the First Amendment.

The hypocrisy being exhibited by the Political Establishment and the media is today monumental. The People of the United States of America have made a statement and it is time for lawyers to make a statement. Put up or shut up is not elegant or even polite – but it states exactly what the public wants today!

So: Mr. Larkin, if I can arrange for you to communicate on MaryGSykes, Probate Sharks blog, and/or on Bev Cooper’s “Coopers Corner” are you willing to make an HONEST STATEMENT?

Ken Ditkowsky

www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

From Paul Simmerly–The US Supreme Court and “bribes” for cases in front of them

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Reposted with permission of the author:

PAYMENTS AND GIFTS TO JUSTICES OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

BY PEOPLE WITH CASES BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT

Query: Is it legal malpractice for an attorney to fail to advise his/her client to offer payment or gifts to the Justices hearing their case?

On February 13, 2016, United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died at a remote, ultra-excl us ive, luxury West Texas hunting lodge, while staying there for free. The hunting lodge was owned by a busines s man whose company had recently had a matter before the Supreme Court. The businessman’s company prevailed in the matter. See the New York Times article written by Eric Lipton which was reprinted by the Seattle Times: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/scalia-took-the-most-expense-paid-trips-on-the-court/

According to the article: “Among the court’s members, (Scalia) was the most frequent traveler, to spots around the globe, on trips paid for by private sponsors…Though that trip has brought new attention to the justice’s penchant for travel, it was in addition to the 258 subsidized trip s that he took from 2004 to 2014. Scalia went on at least 23 privately funded trips in 2014 alone to such places as Hawaii, Ireland and Switzerland, giving speeches, participating in moot-court events or teaching classes. A few weeks before his death, he was in Singapore and Hong Kong.”

There is no evidence that Justice Scalia was partcipating in any moot-court events or teaching any classes while staying at the resort.

Many experts in legal ethics, who teach legal ethics in law school to future lawyers, find nothing wrong with this practice.

Organizations opposed to these practices include the Center for Responsive Politics, Fix the Court and Common Cause.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) re-introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Reform Bill in April, 2015 to force the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices. The same bill was originally introduced in 2013. As Congresswoman Slaughter states on her website:

“ The questionable activities of some of our Supreme Court justices have been well documented – participating in political functions, failing to report family income from political groups, and attending fundraisers. It doesn’t make sense that members of the highest court in the land are the only federal judges exempt from the code of conduct. Our bill, the Supreme Court Ethics Act would, for the first time, make sure the justices adhere to the federal code of conduct and are accountable for these types of ethically dubious activities. Perhaps more importantly, the bill would help repair the public’s trust in the Court, the final arbiter of justice in America.”

“ I n 2012, 212 legal scholars jointly urged the Supreme Court to adopt the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges. To date (April, 2015) , more than 130,000 Americans have signed a petition to Chief Justice John Roberts asking him to adopt a code of ethics for the court.”

There were 127 co-sponsors of the Supreme Court Ethics Reform Bill – all Democrats.

To date, no legislation has been passed and no code of conduct has been adopted.

Since Congress, many legal ethics professors and the Supreme Court itself say that gift giving and payments to Justices are acceptable, and since it is obviously very common practice, is it fair to say that gifts and payments are encouraged? Is this the standard of care in legal practice? Therefore, should attorneys and their clients with cases before the Court be encouraged to offer gifts and payments to Supreme Court Justices? Stated another way, is it legal malpractice for an attorney to fail to advise his/her client to offer such gifts or payments?

__________________________________________________________________________________

About the Author: Paul E. Simmerly is a freelance journalist and blogger writing about legal, judicial political, governmental, corporate and pharmaceutical industry corruption and misconduct.

From Time–Supreme Court Justices earn free Trips and More–is this a conflict? It is legal and ethical–Heck NO!

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Center for Public Integrity/Rachel Baye, Reity O’Brien

July 2, 2015

Six of the court’s nine members received paid trips to Europe in 2014

Before inspiring celebration, debate and dictionary searches last week, the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court managed to squeeze in some globetrotting—on someone else’s dime.

Six of the court’s nine members received paid trips to Europe in 2014, including to Berlin, London and Zurich, as reported on the justices’ annual financial disclosure reports released Thursday. The excursions are just some of the many perks that come with having the final word on the nation’s laws.

The reports—which detail the stock holdings, travel, spousal income, gifts and debts of the nine Supreme Court justices—show the many ways that the judges can pad their finances beyond their judicial salary. Associate Supreme Court justices earn a salary of $244,400, while the chief justice earns $255,500, according to the Federal Judicial Center. The judges hold significant investments that have helped turn most of them into millionaires.

The justices do not have to disclose the costs of their reimbursed travels, which included a three-week multi-stop trip that Justice Anthony Kennedy took to Salzburg, Austria, San Francisco and Aspen, Colo., last July, paid for by the Aspen Institute and the University of the Pacific. New York University also paid for Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to travel to Florence, Italy. Chief Justice John Roberts taught a class on the history of the Supreme Court to students of the New England School of Law in London.

All of the justices received at least some free travel, even if not international.

Teaching and giving one-off lectures was a common side venture for the justices, seven of whom reported income from universities. Kennedy was an adjunct professor at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law, Justice Samuel Alito taught at Duke University Law School and Justice Elena Kagan was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer both reported income from book royalties, though Scalia’s books seem to be selling far better, earning more than $33,000 in 2014, compared with the $7,000 Breyer reported. However, Scalia’s books did not sell as well as they did the year before, when he reported nearly $77,000 in royalties.

Besides their side gigs as teachers and book authors, six of the nine justices were also landlords. For example, Scalia’s property in Charlottesville, Va., netted him at least $5,000 a year in rent, while Breyer’s property on the island of Nevis in the West Indies earned less than $1,000 a year in rent. Justice Clarence Thomas reported owning one third of a rental property in Georgia but said he received no rent in 2014.

The reports reveal that the majority of the justices do not own individual stocks, reducing the likelihood that a conflict of interest would require a justice to remove him or herself from ruling on a case.

Only Alito, Roberts and Breyer own individual stocks, and all three have recused themselves from cases involving companies in which they were invested. Roberts stepped aside in at least two cases involving Time Warner Inc., in which he owned at least $350,000 worth of stock. Breyer sat out of a patent case because of at least $50,000 in Cisco Systems Inc. stock.

Alito sold his Coca-Cola Co. stock on April 16, 2014, just before the court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit against Coca-Cola on April 21, allowing him to rejoin the rest of the court for the case after recusing himself from the initial proceedings.

The disclosures were released Thursday, the day before the Fourth of July holiday and after delivery of the final opinions of the term. Typically the court has made them available in mid-June. The disclosures appear to have been delayed by Alito’s filing, which was amended on June 30, a month and a half after the May 15 filing deadline.

Though Roberts has hailed “modern technology” for making the financial interests of public officials more transparent, the federal judiciary remains old-school in its disclosure system. To check out the financial interests of the more than 3,200 federal judges, members of the public must request the documents by snail mail from court administrators in Washington, D.C., pay for reproduction costs, then either pick them up in person or have them shipped. By comparison, Congress makes its members’ reports available in a searchable database.

Click here to view the Supreme Court justices’ complete disclosures.

From Denise Rothmeier on FB: Crime Victim’s Fund

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

For sure the ARDC doesn’t pay out on crime victims. They deny the lawyers did anything wrong when in fact they clearly did, or they make up excuses why they don’t have to pay (thanks Jerome Larkin, we know what side you are on after the Seth Gillman prosecution that only happened after he turned state’s evidence).

http://www.ag.state.il.us/victims/cvc.html

Thank you Denise Rothmeier and FB for reminding us of this fund.

Let me know if anyone has any problems with their applications:

Today I am send two applications for crime victim compensation to the Attorney General’s Office. When these two families approached me with their situation as crime victims neither of them had been informed of victim compensation. Even though both had reported the offense to law enforcement. If you know of anyone who is a victim of crime, please inform them of crime victim compensation or refer them to me and I will help them with their application. We cannot let these funds expire and go unspent! To date, $11.2 million expired and went unspent. Crime victims are not being informed of this compensation which provides for reimbursement of therapy, medical costs, funeral expenses, loss wages or support, emergency housing, etc. Each crime victim can receive up to $27,000 for expenses related to the criminal offense. Please share and make sure everyone you know is aware of the Crime Victim Compensation fund, do not assume that crime victims are being informed of this vital resource which is intended to help survivors recover and rebuild their lives. Thank you, Denise Rotheimer 847-406-8566 or denise@momsv.org Jasmine Jimenez Denise Rotheimer

Keep up the good work, Denise

JoAnne

From Ken Ditkowsky–the need for an Honest Investigation of Elder Cleansing Continues

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

From: kenneth ditkowsky <kenditkowsky@yahoo.com>

To: Chicago FBI <chicago@ic.fbi.gov>, Probate Sharks <verenusl@gmail.com>, “JoAnne M. Denison” <joanne@justice4every1.com>, Bev Cooper <bev.cooperscorner@yahoo.com>, Andy Ostrowski <ajo@bsolaw.com>, “J. Ditkowsky” <jdit@aol.com>, Janet Phelan <janet_c_phelan@yahoo.com>

Subject: How to steal a billion dollars

Date: Nov 10, 2016 4:12 PM

Many years ago I ran across a Charity scam. It was a full proof money laundering scheme that was full proof and very simple. The scammer would make a charitable contribution and recover the contribution by a series of mesne transactions that benefited the donor. Let me simplify the transaction. I give ten dollars to a charity. The charity then buys an twenty cent apple from me for ten dollars and ten cents. It is my recent understanding that the nursing home cabal has a wrinkle on this scam – i.e. a kickback of x % in cash for every dollar contributed. This allows the charity to operate and also creates some tax free money for the donor. It also is a method of providing untraceable bribes to public officials. The payments by charities for services rendered etc are rarely questioned. For instance, if an attorney charge were to made for consultations or additional counsel in a lawsuit who is going to question it.

When I was questioned as to what advice I would give to Philip Esformes in light to the trouble he was in, I said candidly – he should go to the FBI and answer every one of their questions honestly accurately and without hesitation. I figures that the United States of America would be grateful to him for being honest and providing information that would allow them to finish their investigation in a successful manner more quickly and more successfully. I reasoned that he had a wealth of information.

Today I learned how to steal a billion dollars and why my advice was naive – but still good advice.

It has been previously alleged that the cabal had been preying on the elderly here in Chicago and their bodies were a treasure trove for a raid on the Medicare and Medicaid funds. I was indeed accurate, but again naive. The Florida scenario that resulted in the indictment was pure and simple human trafficking.

My understanding was that homeless people were targeted. They were picked up by agents of the miscreants who offered them money to engage in some benign medical testing. So that the criteria for the testing could be met, drugs were used to adjust the victim to that criteria. The net was that as every reaction has an equal reaction the victim was rendered helpless and in need of medical assistance. Victims were picked who were medicare or medicaid eligible and the sudden change was always Medicare eligible. Maximum remunerations were always obtained.

The breakdown apparently came when Esformes and his associates who were indicted used the same victims more than once and under multiple names. Government computers picked up information that was collated and caused investigators to become suspicious. Not only were the beds in nursing homes kept full, but, very profitable. As many of the victims were in relatively good health they could be victimized multiple times with little investment by the cabal. In areas such as Florida, California et al the supply of homeless people is always abundant.

I blinded copied Jerome Larkin as to this message as it is my understanding that his role in these schemes is being ferreted out and I expect that the next time that I talk to my contact he will have more detail. I have been making inquiry as to why Larkin was so opposed to an HONEST INVESTIGATION. The net is tightening. Mr. Larkin should adopt my advice – it is only a matter of time before this entire scenario is public knowledge.

The Nazi holocaust disclosed man’s inhumanity to man in its most vile form. No one of good will would have ever believed that such misconduct would ever occur again. No one would ever expect that such human trafficking could occur in the USA. However, when it was disclosed that the miscreants had pulled 29 teeth out of Alice Gore head to salvage the gold in her teeth, I realized that no inhumanity was too obscene for these people and the details of the Philip Esformes medicare fraud are suggesting that the Nazis were amateurs and there are no limits on depravity.

We need an HONEST INVESTIGATION now. We need to protect our homeless and our elderly from these predators – and also we need to prosecute the public officials (including judicial officials) who are ‘covering up’ for these horrible people! At the very least we should charge them Federal Income taxes – plus interest (jointly and severally) on the booty that they obtain (or obtained).

Ken Ditkowsky

www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

From Joanne:

Alice Gore had an estate of $1.5 million. She had all her teeth and loved to eat. Her beloved daughter, Bev Cooper wanted to take her home and care for her there (and save the Estate some $10k+ per month). The crazy judge Kowamoto said no. The crazy GAL Miriam Solotevitch said no. So poor Alice Gore had to stay in a nursing home for the rest of her life where she was starved, isolated and neglected.

Neither the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board nor the Illinois Atty. Regn & Disc. Committee ever investigated the Alice Gore case. Alice Gore, her estate drained from the nursing home and all the missing monies (which were never investigated by the court or the GAL, btw), was then narcotized to death when the money ran out. That has never been investigated either.

When people on Go Fund Me give $100,000 to give an 18 year old dog or cat a heart transplant, yet no one cares about kicking grandma or grandpa down the stairs at age 95.

This is indeed a sad world we live in.

From Ken Ditkowsky–Enforce the Rule of Law in Guardianship Court Now!

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

No more exploited and terrorized seniors and their families, no more problems with abusing families too. We must stop this practice and it begins with the State Legislature dismantling the Office of Public Guardian and putting into place a team of Elder Assistants.

No more thousands of dollars from Estates for ghetto like nursing homes when no one wants to go there. As long as a relative has a clean home, or the senior has a clean home, they can go home.

And lawyers have to stand behind such a system, even if it means no more bilking estates for chunks of cash (they should put a limit on that one too–5% per year and you can’t extend an estate more than 2 years except with permission of a citizen’s committee).

From Ken this morning;

From: kenneth ditkowsky <kenditkowsky@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: To the people of Los Angeles – YJ Draiman

Date: Nov 10, 2016 10:43 AM

I got the e-mail from a communication that I received and have decided to copy Trump.

Honesty and integrity have never been the strong point of any of our current political figures. As I dealt with the Trump organization I had an opportunity to develop my own brand of dislike for him. I also have friends who have had to dealt with the Trump organization in Chicago and one who actually dealt with him directly. I also was introduced to an attorney who represented Trump.

I have a fetish. I want to be able to be vulnerable without being prey. I watch here in Cook County the cabal of nursing home operators literally purchase the democratic party’s loyalty. In the Brewer case I noted that my friend Bernie Sanders – the Alderman of the 50th ward – was able to garner over 2000 votes from the nursing home residents – many of which in ‘real life’ hated Bernie. I noted how a US Representative got down on her knees for the cabal so that she could garner their votes – she changed her position to reflect what they wanted and bingo.

In real life I noted that my call for an HONEST INVESTIGATION caused a hail storm! I objected to the fact that several elderly people had been literally hauled into guardianships even though they were as competent as you and me. The railroad job was predetermined and their estates ravaged. One Carol Wyman had a problem with her husband – she would not consent to leaving the marriage devoid of the marital estate. Using the guise of guardianship he went to the democratic organization, they furnished an attorney and bingo she was declared incompetent, forced to live in a locked down nursing home where she was beaten and drugged and he became her guardian aka courtesy of Winnebago County OPG . The saga came to a hault when she escaped by her own means and ingenuity, and then her son literally kidnapped her and removed her from her home state to Colorado. She then lived out her life in a Western State AND the son was a fugitive from Justice being sought out for the contempt of court associated with removing his mother from the wrongful guardianship. You know about Mary Sykes. Do you know about Alice Gore. She had her mouth ravaged so that the miscreants could gain access to the gold in her teeth!

No one cares. Indeed, the call of an HONEST INVESTIGATION resulted in not only my suspension from the practice of law, but that of JoAnne Denison. In Florida similar events have occurred and occur on a regular basis. The GOA reports indicate that thousands of these cases are going uninvestigated and without remedy across the US. The money raised by these criminals is beyond conception. Philip Esformes stole a billion ($1,000,000,000) from medicare. How much he stole from the insurance industry and the victims has not been disclosed. Seth Gillman was accused of a billion dollar theft for hospice. – he was charged with only a few million dollars. The cabal owns in Illinois, Florida, California, New York, Arizona et al hundreds of nursing homes that are allegedly stealing billions of dollars and providing resident votes for the dominant political party – AND IT IS ALL A BIG SECRET.

If Trump really wants to make America Great he has on his plate one really easy task – with no political downside – All he has to do is enforce the RULE OF LAW. Enforcement of ADA is a simple example. Under ADA kidnapping an elderly person, isolating him/her from his family, and systematically looting his/her estate is illegal. (It is also illegal under other laws, but, any law enforcement agency that you call upon will find that someone else has jurisdiction and therefore they cannot help you. However, ADA has one enforcement agency – the Department of Justice –)

The current (Obama) administration has no interest in the elderly or the disabled. I wrote our Illinois Senator (Durbin) about the problem – he send a copy of some stupid speech that he made on social security. I wrote the Committee of Congress on the elderly – Elizabeth Warren felt that there was not enough information. Four GAO reports and about a hundred plus affidavits was not enough!

(from Joanne–I sent about 50 faxes to Senator Kirk’s offices and finally he called and said he would help but did not know where to reach me! I then asked about getting a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Aging and the House Subcommittee on the Judiciary and after repeated attempts, heard absolutely nothing more from his offices–go figure. Murdered seniors mean nothing. Elsewhere, Roseanne Miller has been told by Bellfontaine Police they do not investigate “drugging deaths” of seniors because extra medicine is needed for their comfort! Are they kidding???? The money runs out and then extra drugs and no food and water are condoned by police? See police report elsewhere on this blog. These are real people, not a cat or dog to be put down.)

It was usual for political figures to kiss babies and help grandma across the street. Today, the policy is scream about abortion and kick grandma down the stairs. I started out with copying all the political characters and got nothing. So far I’ve had one success in the copying of political people — Senator Kirk forwarded my suggestion that the people who participate and the people who cover-up elder cleansing are all liable for the Income taxes, interest and penalties on the booty.

The dollars from the nursing home miscreants have much more sway that plight to the vulnerable elderly. Health care has a 700% fraud surcharge. Obamacare could have worked if Obama had just enforced the law and reduced the fraud surcharge to the usually government program fraud of 25%. The Philip Esformes case demonstrates just how much fraud exists and how it is adding to the costs of health care. The five billion was generated from just 30 nursing homes. The cabal has control of more than 300 across the US. With it NY, Pa, Calif groups it might be as high as 3000.

If you really want to have a bad day – we could talk about the Defense Industry etc. We could take a look at the money wasted by the campaigns for the election of x, y, and z.

Trump may be the biggest pompous ass ever elected to any public office, but, he is not allied (as far as we know) with the miscreants who are carrying on a War against the Elderly and the Disabled.

The real world is not the world portrayed by CBS, Fox News, etc. Our real world is not dominated by anything other than the sun rose in the east and will set in the west, until, we become vulnerable and the core values of America are challenged. For more than 1/2 a Century I cross swords with all sorts of miscreant political figures and avoid their net by NEVER asking for a favor or special treatment. I would freely give – but never ask. And then I ran into the Nursing home cabal. With my friend Harry Heckert I caused to be disclosed some of their deepest secrets. I found in an examination of the books of a large nursing home that Administrative fees were illegally paid to the cabal. I found out through the representation of Mr. Draiman that the industry used Enron type of corporations to hide income and limit liability. The Burt Morgan case revealed the inter-workings of the satellite corporations etc. The tax dodges were shared with HH and he communicated them to the Fed.

When an attorney who was employed by the cabal was sued for disloyalty to the cabal and the cabal filed IARDC complaints against him (complaints against his license) I represented him and won. He then provided HH with additional information which was duly communicated to the IRS.

Indeed, all Trump has to do is be enforce the RULE OF LAW and a large cancer that is destroying America will be eliminated. His election obviates the establishment veto on EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAW and profiteering on the Elderly and Disabled. It was quite clear that Establishment had no interest in EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAW and still has no interest. They should! Everyone gets old. There is no reason why an elderly person ought to become “prey” Yes – a strong family protects its own – but, with corrupt courts and the misuse of guardianships the miscreants have been able to turn right into wrong, left into right, up into down and worse yet make it stick.

This is getting a little long, but let me show you just how insidious this ‘elder cleansing’ is

An elder person has some problems with comprehension. She is stubborn, independent, and secretive. It also appears that she does need a bit of help. The family is torn – they do not wish her 1.5 million dollar estate to disappear and leave her insolvent on the street and they cannot afford to support her. Their lawyers suggests that they ask the court for a guardianship. The eldest daughter is to be appointed grandma’s guardian.

All the proper steps are taken. The eldest daughter becomes the guardian and is solicitous of her mother to an obscene degree. The guardian ad litem learns of the excesses that guardian has given mother and files a complaint before the Judge pointing out that money of the ward is being expended carelessly and capriciously. These expenditures are without order of Court.

The Judge is outraged and immediately orders and accounting and surcharges the daughter for her excesses toward mother. ultimately the daughter is removed as guardian ad litem and a new guardian is appointed. This guardian is part of the cabal. The bond of the daughter is attached to repay the estate and mother is now placed in ‘sheltered care.’ The facility might be a residence owned by one of the nursing home cabal members. The family is barred from visiting as they create **** in the victim and the pious judge enters a supervised visitation order to protect grandmother from her family. Systematically the 1.5 million dollars disappears and grandma’s condition worsens every day. Ultimately she is placed in a nursing home and when the last dollar is extracted – bingo – Grandma dies!

No, this is not a fantasy – check out the Alice Gore case out of Cook County, Illinois. The miscreants even ravaged her mouth removing 29 teeth so as to recover the few grains of gold that they possessed. see: Probate Sharks, NASGA, AAAPG, MaryGSykes blog. (This scenario has been carried out time and time again and the Establishment is uninterested – maybe Donald Trump = who is 70 = might at least order an HONEST INVESTIGATION)

In summary –

Ken Ditkowsky

www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

From Joanne;

And just so everyone remembers, Ken and I are still suspended and every day I get calls from the public crying that valid complaints to the ARDC are still being dismissed, Jerome Larkin is refusing to see them or deal with their complaints, and he continues his vendetta against myself, Ken and other attorneys who speak out against corruption.

Of course, supression of 1st Amendment rights is a felon, but Mr. Larkin cares not.

Numerous court cases and Law Review Articles make it clear lawyers such as myself and Ken have the right (and we believe the duty), to speak out against corruption.

But what do we find from the ARDC? A complete lack of Due Process–no discovery, no expert witnesses–many crucial pleadings stricken from the record, etc. and then I FIND OUT I AM CHARGED $8,000 FOR AN UNLICENSED COURT REPORTER to convict me during this illegal proceeding which ends in the suspension of my law license.

And for doing what? Speaking out against the systematic fleecing of seniors and disableds in Guardianship cases.

It’s an appalling situation for a State Agency to be in .

They thought they could shut up a popular blog, but they can’t.

They thought they could cover up the evil, manipulations and ledgerdermain of clouted attorneys, but they can’t.

They thought this would all go away and Ken and I would run away scared, but we didn’t.

Whatever they thought they could do, they were wrong.

This blog is more popular than ever. Teresa’s book is coming out soon and so is my book.

The stupid elections are over, and the jig is up. This blog continues and it stands for the little person who does not need or desire to be fleeced by the court system, told by attorneys to shut up in court and just take it, and by judges that just don’t care.

I care, and so does Ken and so does Candice Schwager and Nejla Lane.

We want a cleaned up ARDC and Illinois Supreme Court. We want these groups to understand the First Amendment has not gone away, no one should be taking bribes or favors so the elderly can suffer in abusive guardianships and in nursing homes they don’t want to be in, and for sure they don’t want to pay for (up to $15k per month in guardianship court–and just who is getting kickbacks. Try serving THAT discovery on your clouted attorneys and courtroom vendor rats).

But I hear from the word on the street the FBI is involved and very interessted in this system, and they ARE putting together indictments.

JoAnne

From Huffington Post: Is Guardianship nothing but Human Trafficking?

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

The ARDC doesn’t think so, and if you protest that it is, the Illinois Supreme Court Backs up Jerome Larkin and the ARDC by saying it’s legal to own the elderly, force them into nursing homes against their will and fleece their estates with outrageous nursing home fees and legal fees. And I’m sure at one time, many Illinois Lawyers and Judges stood behind state’s rights to enslave Africans and keep women from taking the bar exam or even being licensed as attorneys. The past is not always right.

Let’s see what the Huffington Post has to say on the issue:

Is Elder Guardianship A New Form Of Human Trafficking?

09/13/2016 01:25 pm ET

Dr. Terri Kennedy President, Power Living Enterprises, Inc.

As the 71st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations begins this week to discuss international issues that affect the lives of millions throughout the world, the United States needs to step up its commitment to safeguard human rights and promote the rule of law in its own backyard — specifically, escalating abuse in the U.S. Elder Guardianship system.

It’s legal, but is it right?

Imagine you’ve worked hard all of your life and suddenly you are deemed incapacitated and are stripped of your dignity and basic individual rights. You have been abducted from your home, isolated from your family, and “placed” somewhere to be medicated while your assets are being pillaged. The authorities that should be protecting you are the ones committing these heinous acts. It sounds like Nazi Germany, but this is happening in the United States today.

The victims are seniors. The partners in crime are financial predators and agents of the Elder Guardianship system — attorneys, professional guardians, medical experts, and others who are paid out of the senior’s assets. There are some good judges but many are overworked and some are actively aiding the exploitation. Anyone can file to deem you incapacitated. The entire process from filing an incapacity petition to plenary guardianship where all rights are removed can happen within days. Yet, once you’re caught in the web, it’s almost impossible to break free… AND you are forced to pay your abusers in the process.

A 2013 AARP report gave a “best guess” estimate of the number of adults under guardianship nationally at 1.5 million. Idaho and Minnesota are the only states that track the amount of money being controlled by guardians or conservators; the combined total for just two states is over $1 billion. Guardianship is supposed to protect older citizens. However, what happens when the system is broken? A 2010 federal study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified hundreds of allegations of physical abuse, neglect and financial exploitation by guardians in 45 states and the District of Columbia between 1990 and 2010. In 20 cases, the GAO found that guardians stole or improperly obtained $5.4 million in assets from 158 incapacitated victims.

The Abduction of Lillie

Tuesday, September 6, 2016 was Lillie’s 88th birthday and her family didn’t know where she was. A week earlier, on August 30, the court-appointed Emergency Temporary Guardian abducted her from a doctor’s office while her niece was in the other room filling out papers. Although Lillie was happy and safe in her Palm Coast home of twenty years, the guardian “placed” her into assisted living and refused to tell her family the location. Lillie was not in danger and there was no emergency situation or other credible justification of such extreme and deceptive action. Video of Lillie from July 30, 2016 — just a month before — shows a vibrant African-American woman enjoying her home and family, and vocal about her financial affairs and this case. In fact, she does not seem incapacitated at all.

Since the case started in 2012, three good doctor’s reports that could have given Lillie her rights back went stale through a legal shell game of loopholes, frivolous objections and unethical behavior. Now, while she is sequestered and possibly sedated, they are pushing hard for plenary guardianship, which would take away her last two remaining rights: the right to vote (she is a registered Democrat excited about voting for Hillary Clinton) and the right to choose with whom she socializes. Over a dozen attorneys and others have been invoicing against Lillie’s assets, while the temporary guardian has not paid Lillie’s basic bills or given her a penny of her own money for food or personal living expenses. The temporary guardian has been neglecting her fiduciary responsibilities and violating standards of practice, but Lillie’s sister and over 50 nieces and nephews are the ones being shut out.

The sudden manner by which Lillie was involuntarily placed in an anonymous location and isolated from her family and support system was likely traumatizing to her particularly given her past victimization. The initial evaluation for incapacity happened in 2012 when she was held captive for eight months at the home of a family friend. She eventually called 911 and escaped. Now, after five years of systemic abuse, Lillie is being violated again — this time by the temporary guardian who is supposed to be her advocate. Getting old is not a crime, yet Lillie is being treated like a criminal. Tonight, she is somewhere alone in assisted living probably wondering why her family has abandoned her.

Captors use social isolation to torture prisoners of war. Social isolation of otherwise healthy, well-functioning individuals eventually results in psychological and physical disintegration, and even death. Nevertheless, the Emergency Motions filed in court to get Lillie returned to her home and family have been ignored.

Florida’s “Liquidate, Isolate, Medicate”

In Florida, there are 5 million people age 60 and older and that demographic is expected to account for most of the state’s population growth in the next 15 years. Yet, seniors who have come to this retirement haven are actively being deprived of life, liberty and property without due process of law. The guardianship system oversteps constitutional rights and goes against the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment that forbids states from discriminating invidiously against some of their citizens.

Professional guardianship is considered a “growth business,” with the number increasing from 12 registered professional guardians in 2003 to 456 in 2015, according to the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. The abuse is so rampant that the process itself has been called “Liquidate, Isolate, Medicate.” With 40 hours of training and a modest background check, a professional guardian can start earning $85 an hour and have control over a ward’s property, finances, medical decisions, housing and social relationships. In other words, the guardian has the ability to: liquidate your assets by selling your home, car, etc.; isolate you from your family as guardian of “your person;” and put you in a nursing home to medicate you until you die. All of this is supposed to be in your “best interest.” An ABC13 Investigates report dubbed it “The Grey Prison.”

For example, 89-year-old Marie, featured in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune‘s Elder guardianship: A well-oiled machine, had her rights removed at the request of her stepson-in law. The court ordered a trust company to pay out some $635,000 to attorneys, guardians and other involved in her case. She survived wartime Poland and said even Hitler’s Germany failed to prepare her for this travesty. Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives Larry Ahern said, “In extreme cases, the wards are sometimes prevented from regaining their competency and remain, in effect, prisoners of guardians.” How many seniors, like Lillie and Marie, are being exploited in this cruel and systemic manner?

Due to a string of horror stories and rising complaints, on March 10, 2016 Governor Rick Scott signed into law Senate Bill 232 creating the Office of Public & Professional Guardians to replace the Statewide Public Guardianship Office within the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. In April, they initiated rule making procedures to address the regulation of professional guardians, including standards of practice and disciplinary guidelines. These are expected to be in place October 2016. While these necessary changes are underway, what happens to seniors, like Lillie and Marie, who are being victimized this moment in Florida? Will they get a pardon and be set free?

A New Form of Human Trafficking?

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

Trafficking involves psychological coercion to render someone a slave. To do this, perpetrators employ “tactics that can lead to the psychological consequence of learned helplessness for the victims, where they sense that they no longer have any autonomy or control over their lives. Traffickers may hold their victims captive, expose them to large amounts of alcohol or use drugs, keep them in isolation, or withhold food or sleep. During this time the victim often begins to feel the onset of depression, guilt and self-blame, anger and rage, and sleep disturbances, PTSD, numbing, and extreme stress. Under these pressures, the victim can fall into the hopeless mental state of learned helplessness.”

An argument can be made that the “Liquidate, Isolate, Medicate” Elder Guardianship process in Florida at its worse is a form of human trafficking. On the basis of the definition, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements: a) The Act (What is done) — In this case, the transfer and harbouring of a person, b) The Means (How it is done) — Abduction, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, and c) The Purpose (Why it is done) – In the case of guardianships, the purpose is financial exploitation — a form of servitude. Seniors are sedated in locked assisted living facilities while their assets are spent down.

The Right to be Protected & Respected

Probably the most famous case of financial elder abuse is that of one-time New York socialite Brooke Astor when she was more than 100 years old. Her grandson Philip C. Marshall testified against his father and helped put him in jail. In his 2015 testimony to the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, Mr. Marshall said, “To be complacent about elder justice is to be complicit in elder abuse.”

Given demographic trends, elder financial abuse is expected to grow dramatically unless we do something. The baby boom generation is reaching retirement age at a rate of 10,000 people per day. Those 65+ will make up 20% of the population by 2050. The 2015 White House Conference on Aging has made “elder justice” one of its four tracks. There is now a federal home for Adult Protective Services and a new Elder Justice website called a “one-stop shopping site for victims, families, prosecutors, researchers and practitioners.” President Barack Obama declared June 15, 2016 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

Awareness is good, but immediate action is needed. If states are not doing their jobs, the federal government needs to step in. It’s time to reform the Elder Guardianship system in the U.S., prosecute predators and hold legal agents — judges, attorneys, evaluators, professional guardians, etc. — to a higher standard. As Vice President Hubert Humphrey said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life — the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Just as we continue to make strides with human rights issues around the world, we need to shine a brighter light on elder abuse on our soil — particularly this type of vicious and systemic financial exploitation. To be an elder is a privilege, not a condition causing you to be tossed aside and abused. Our elders need to be protected and respected. If we’re lucky, we will all get old. Let’s create a society where we can age with grace and dignity.

Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy is a Harvard Business School-trained strategist and President of Power Living Enterprises, Inc. Her mission is to raise the consciousness of the planet and create a more sustainable world by releasing the potential in individuals. A seasoned life coach/speaker and founder of the first yoga studio in Harlem, she has been featured on the cover of Yoga Journal, in Oprah’s book, Live Your Best Life!, and was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. An early Internet pioneer and TV executive, she has advised billion-dollar companies on their multi-platform engagement strategies. Her latest award-winning book — co-authored with her mother Columbia University-trained journalist Janie Sykes-Kennedy — is Dancing Light: The Spiritual Side of Being Through the Eyes of a Modern Yoga

Joseph Dubow has passed over yesterday and we will miss him very much

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

It is with a very heavy heart I must announce the passing over of Joseph C. Dubow, CPA, the other man in my office whom I have a great fondness for. I talked to him last Thursday or Friday of last week and he seemed well and in good spirits, as usual.

He was 85 and will be missed very much by those of you who met him.

He was always very kind and generous, sympathetic and understanding.

He will be missed by many.

The funeral is supposed to be for Friday, tomorrow, Dec. 10, 2016 and I will make an announcement on my blog soon as I know the details.

He was a great friend to Ken Ditkowsky, who rented him an office for years, and likely decades.

I know I will miss him greatly, but I know he is in a wonderful place–CPA heaven, with all the great accountants that have passed into glory.

Please pray for him and those that loved him.

JoAnne

From a Blog Fan–CA Jury Awards $3.1 Million in Damages to Mother Whose Baby Was Seized Without a Warrant, Accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

I know that many of you have complained your children have been stripped from you wrongfully, without due process and then the DCFS files and police files go missing or are unavailable and you have recorded what happened and what you record and what they say to your face is completely different that what goes on in court.

My prayers are with you all. Read on for encouragement.

by Monica Mears
Health Impact News

After a six-year court battle, a mother in Los Angeles who lost custody of her 15-month-old baby through false abuse charges won a major battle for parental rights last week.

When Rafaelina Duval’s son Ryan was seized by L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in 2010, she was falsely accused of intentionally starving him. He had been diagnosed by a pediatrician with “failure to thrive,” but the doctor at the time also noted that the child was in no immediate danger, according to Duval’s attorney, Shawn McMillan.

Not only did DCFS seize her baby, but they ordered no reunification because they claimed Duval would starve her baby to get attention due to Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) a rare, widely discredited mental disorder often used (and misused) against mothers by social workers across the country. The basis for DCFS’ claim – that Duval’s baby was underweight and she was taking him to doctors to find out what was wrong with him – sounds more like what any concerned, responsible mother would do, not some twisted form of child abuse.

See:

World Renowned Medical Anthropologist Compares Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Labeling to Witch Hunts

In a stunning blow to Los Angeles County, the jury found that its DCFS social workers “intentionally and willfully” seized her child without a warrant, and did so “with malice.” Additionally, the jury found that the county DCFS had “an official custom and/or practice of seizing children from their parents without a warrant” and failed “to enact an official policy or procedure when it should have done so.”

See:

Mom stripped of son wins $3M from social workers

“The law is very clear, and they (social workers) get special training on this. You cannot seize a child from its parents unless there’s an emergency,” stated McMillan in an interview with FOX 11, a local TV station.

The jury awarded Duval $2.94 million in compensatory damages, plus $165,000 after finding in a separate verdict that she was the victim of discrimination, since she suffers from a lifelong tremor disorder, which social workers wrongfully claimed interfered with her ability to feed and care for her child. The money awarded for punitive damages will come directly from the social workers.

“Money is not everything. And no money can satisfy how I feel,” Duval told FOX 11’s reporter as she choked back tears. The win is bittersweet, since she is still pursuing custody of her son. (Source.)

Suing a county’s child protective services agency is extremely rare, notes Duval’s attorney, Shawn McMillan, who specializes in civil rights cases against child protection agencies. He has been awarded the “Street Fighter of the Year” award for defending family rights and taking on the abuses of social service agencies in California.

“You have to have a fire in your belly,” to fight CPS, he said in an interview with Medical Kidnap. “It’s not considered ‘sexy’ or high profile.”

McMillan was a highly successful lawyer prior to taking on CPS cases. “I was like a mercenary. I was good at it – very good.”

But when he took Deanna Fogerty’s case in 2007, his eyes were opened. Deanna had her daughters taken from her wrongfully for six years, and sued Orange County. McMillan fought her case all the way up to the Supreme Court, where Fogerty finally won.

Now, he says:

“I don’t trust these guys (CPS) farther than I can throw them.”

“No one does this,” McMillan pointed out, noting the lack of lawsuits against CPS agencies nationwide, despite the widespread abuses of power.

“I hope other parents, other attorneys will take up the fight with these guys,” he said. “Taking kids is a one billion dollar industry – do you really think they’ll just stop? These cases will hopefully show others that the government does bleed.”

McMillan acknowledges that Duval’s case has a fairly narrow Constitutional application: specifically defining parents’ 4^th amendment (freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures) and 14^th amendment rights (due process).

“This case demonstrated that our community still places a high value on the Constitution. They cannot seize a child from a mother without a warrant.”

Duval’s successful case may positively affect several other cases McMillan is pursuing, including class action lawsuits against Orange County and Riverside County in California, both of which are also accused of kidnapping thousands of children without a warrant.

See:

California Orange County CPS Sued for Kidnapping More than 5,000 Children

“Street Fighter” Attorney Takes On Riverside California CPS with Class Action Lawsuit

“Nobody, especially the government, is above the law,” McMillan said in a recent local news interview. “You don’t seize a child from a mother until there is a life-threatening emergency.”

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From the BGA–BGA sues for CPD to turn over video footage

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

http://www.bettergov.org/news/bga-sues-cpd-for-failing-to-turn-over-video-footage

Chicago Police Department stonewalls Better Government Association request for video of all fatal shootings by cops over past five years, so BGA takes agency to court.

Matt Topic (773) 368-8812
Robert Herguth (312) 821-9030

March 22, 2016

CHICAGO—Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said he supports a new policy requiring that videos of fatal shootings by Chicago police be publicly released relatively soon after the incidents.

But the Emanuel administration is stonewalling a Better Government Association request for footage from the past five years, so the BGA is suing the Chicago Police Department – again.

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act – the state law known as FOIA that guarantees public access to public records within no more than 10 business days – the BGA asked the police department for copies of records and videos of officer-involved fatal shootings since 2011.

But the police department “violated FOIA by failing to produce videos and records . . . on the basis that there is insufficient public interest to require CPD to undertake the work involved to respond, even with a 60-day extension,” according to the BGA’s lawsuit, filed March 18 in Cook County Circuit Court.

The suit says “CPD’s FOIA practices with regard to shooting videos have not materially changed following the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video,” which showed Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke shooting and killing McDonald although it appeared he posed no imminent threat.

“CPD’s failure to provide the requested videos and reports at issue here is part of an ongoing pattern of delay in the release of police shooting videos,” according to the suit.

It’s unclear how many videos – often from squad-car dashboard cameras – there are of shootings by Chicago police. But Chicago cops shot and killed 70 people between 2011 and 2015.

BGA President and CEO Andy Shaw said, “One of the best ways for the city and police department to rebuild trust and confidence is to get important information out in the open expeditiously.”

“The public has a right to see video evidence of officer-involved shootings, especially when so many questions have been raised about how the city and police have handled these investigations,” Shaw said.

This marks the fourth lawsuit the BGA has filed since 2014 against the police department, which is overseen by the mayor and well known for violating FOIA by ignoring, delaying or wrongly denying records requests. The BGA made multiple attempts to work with CPD to resolve the most-recent dispute before resorting to litigation.

Here’s a link to all of the BGA’s legal actions.

The Better Government Association is a Chicago-based nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group that works for integrity, transparency and accountability in government by exposing corruption and inefficiency; identifying and advocating effective public policy; and engaging and mobilizing the public to achieve authentic and responsible reform.

From FB: Family sues over horrific abuse to grandma in nursing home

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

From Channel 4, New York Exclusive story:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/Nursing-Home-Aide-Abuse-Shortage-New-York-Investigation-399497661.html?cid=sm_fb&_osource=nbcnews_fb

I-Team: Photos Show Nursing Home Patient Left Sitting in Human Waste

By Chris Glorioso

Family of an elderly Alzheimer’s patient say photos taken inside Woodcrest Health Center in New Milford, New Jersey, show their mother was left to sit in her own feces with excrement smeared across her face.

The disturbing allegations of neglect are part of a lawsuit against Woodcrest and its parent company, Care One, a New Jersey nursing home operator with dozens of facilities across the Garden State.

“Facilities like this should not be allowed to take care of people,” said Susan Baines, the nursing home patient’s daughter.

“Every time we went there it was another issue,” said the patient’s son, Steven Paganessi. “She wasn’t being fed. She had fallen. She was covered head to toe in feces.”

a spokesman for Care One, declined to address specific accusations in the lawsuit, but sent the I-Team a statement insisting Woodcrest is a highly rated nursing home and the legal claims would be fiercely contested in court.

“Woodcrest has served more than 2,000 residents over the last 5 years, and [the] Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Nursing Home Compare [rating] reflects that Woodcrest currently has 4 stars out of 5 in Quality Measures,” Hodges said. “CMS’s rating reflects the true quality of the care Woodcrest provides, as opposed to this sensational and improperly filed lawsuit.”

“She wasn’t being fed, she fell, she had bruises, she was seen sitting in her own waste.”

The excrement was everywhere, around her mouth in her bed, on her tray of food, everywhere.

The nursing home says the lawsuit was filed for improper services.

She fell and fractured her hip. Every staff member always said they were understaffed.

No min. staffing requirements. The governor will not sign the bill to set standards.

The atty representing the family says its hard to sue without standards. NJ has no standards.

Care One provided is one of NJ’s largest nursing home businesses. The owner is extremely wealthy.

It is also said the nursing home also mishandled this elderly woman’s personal funds and that’s another issue for nursing homes. Should they be allowed to handle patient’s funds?

Joanne

From Ken Ditkowsky – Universal Health Care in the US threatened by Universal Fraud in Health Care

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

It is now getting to be very clear that America has more to fear from those in power than it has to fear even our enemies. Our enemies are honest – they hate us and want us dead; however, the current gang of 18 USCA 371 co-conspirators not only have no respect for us (the functional equivalent of hating us) but want to destroy all that we as a Nation held dear before they destroy us (the functional equivalent of killing us).

There is nothing from our politicians in Illinois that we can necessarily believe. Everything is calculated to deceive. The health care fiasco is no exception. WHY HAS OBAMA CARE HAD PROBLEMS WITH EXPENSIVE POLICIES? It really never had a chance as there were privileged people out there in the health care industry such as Seth Gillman, Philip Esformes, ***** who were stealing billions from Medicare ******. Omnicare, another venture in which Esformes (Morris) was involved got caught stealing over 150 million dollars. The booty of stolen health care funds is in the billions.

In addition, Insurance carriers had to absorb similar thefts. With Obama care the predators were able to seize more illegal gains as sicker Americans were drawn into the loop and there were more victims to exploit. Primary amongst the victims were the elderly and the disabled. Under normal circumstances these victims were easy prey; however, with Court appointed guardianships designed to abuse, exploit, isolate and steal the assets of the victims designated for elder cleansing the funds available for theft went on steroids! Note that many elders and disableds are or were at risk of expensive institution placement against their will. In the Sykes Estate several million dollars in Mary’s funds disappeared into the pockets of the elder cleansers. In the Gore Estate 1.5 million dollars and the gold from Alice’s teeth disappeared into the elder cleansers pockets.

******

Has any candidate for public office zeroed in on this National disgrace? Indeed – NO! It is a hot potato and the 2nd tier political elite have staked the territory for their own profit and gain. Just look at the Esformes theft of a billion dollars! Philip Esformes is small potatoes! The gang in New York, Chicago, ***** are doing exactly the same thing – however, they are being provided extreme protection. Maybe it is because they can deliver almost 100% of the residents in their nursing homes as voters for the dominant political party!!! Maybe it is because they have learned to share! Maybe it is because *****!

The bottom line is that forcing the ‘health care’ providers to charge for services actually delivered, charge a fair price for pharmaceuticals, skilled care, etc and OBAMA CARE premiums go down, not up! (The problems still exist, however, the net cost is down about 600%) Why is the mafia related thug who is in the nursing home business in Chicago who is reported to have lied to the FBI not being prosecuted? Why is this individual allowed to open new facilities ******?

Attorneys in Illinois are being silenced. Ms. Denison and I called for an HONEST INVESTIGATION and one of dishonest Guardians appointed by a judge who admitted on page 91 of her deposition to being fixed complained about seeing the said call on the blog PROBATE SHARKS! What happened? The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and the Supreme Court of Illinois acted to suspend our law licenses. The Court case (In re: Mary Sykes 09 P 4585) at the heart of the scandal that we were reporting was not allowed into evidence even though Jerome Larkin (the administrator of the IARDC) made untrue perjured statements concerning it – the case file would have proven Larkin nefariousness and 18 USCA 371 violation).

Drawing on the article that is cited supra – we know why Larkin ‘covered up’ the criminal thefts in the Sykes case. Rest assured – Larkin, like Deputy Commissioner McCabe was well compensated! Rest assured both Larkin and McCabe will not face criminal prosecution or have to pay taxes on the extra-ordinary remuneration–until the IRS and IDR forces the issue upon them.

*********

Ken Ditkowsky

www.ditkowskylawoffice.com

Bribes in the Prosecutor’s offices–How do they do it? From JD and Ken Ditkowsky

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

I am not going to take sides on this blog on the stories of DT or HC, but they will be used as examples. Vote as you wish, and in Chicago, vote early and often and do not let death discourage you from the polls

From the DT camp, we have DT making campaign donations to make things go away,

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/03/trump_university_scandal_beginning_to_look_more_like_corruption_trump_made_political_donations_to_attorneys_general_who_quietly_dropped_investigations/

from Ken Ditkowsky:

And from the HC camp we have a campaign contribution to the wife of the Deputy Director of the FBI of some $675,000.00 opened the door to disclosing to all of us in vivid detail just how simple it is for any corruption political figure to subvert the Justice System and how easy the cover-up has become.

For instance, not one Chicago Newspaper or television station was interested in the ‘story of the century’ to wit: under the guise of a guardianship a corrupt judge, in concert with a corrupt guardian ad lite, aided by a cast of corrupt lawyers and judges not only robbed an elderly widow of 1.5 million dollars, but ravaged her by pulling 29 teeth to gather the few grains of gold that they could savage. Indeed, no one grain was inventoried and after Alice Gore’s body could yield no more value she was abandoned to die alone. The perpetrators then went on to ravage another elderly widow!

In the Sykes case, a valuable cache of coins disappeared and a $1.2 million plus home was sold without an accounting. The tax stamps could be added up to determine that discount, but why bother, Gloria and Mary Sykes were owed a Trust accounting they never received. And what was worse, when Judge Stuart admonished that Estate funds or income could not be used to pay for Trust Property (the house), otherwise the Trust had to be brought into the estate beause the funds were being commingled, that phrase and word fell off the transcript.

How did the desecration of America’s core values occur right in the Circuit Court of Cook County? How is it that no one in authority raised a finger in protest? How come the family was harassed and intimidated? Why is the media silent?

Alice Gore’s fate and gulag is not a rare occurrence – it is common-place and any Ilinois attorney who calls for an HONEST INVESTIGATION can expect to have the Jerome Larkin Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission come down on him/her. In Florida it is the Florida Bar that does the dirty work. In Indiana it is ******. The result is the same. The criminals in black robes and their 18 USCA 371 co-conspirators get their riches, power, and fame while the great unwashed are ravaged flotsam.

The ‘elite’ have propaganda machines in place to protect them and their associates in crime. Thanks to this Presidential campaign and the over-reach by both Presidential Candidates the mechanisms are being laid bare. The machinery of corruption is ingrained and protected however, it does not have to be. America has to cut the head of the corruption off, and its core perpetrators! We have to make it unsafe for criminals to perpetrate our political system by co-ordinated resistance at every level. The Deputy Director McCabe and the Administrator Jerome Larkin have to be brought before the bar of Justice. McCabe claimed that he distanced himself from his wife’s campaign and the Obama Administration accepted this! Distinction without a difference may fool the co-conspirators, but not you and me (the great unwashed) – or does it!

from Joanne:

Another article on this blog announced that a study was done on prosecutor’s offices across the nation and it was revealed this happens all the time.

No one is surprised, but it is like a petri dish for corruption to grow and flourish.

The State of Illinois Legislature had told all state agencies they must Ethics Report and identify all sources of income. The ARDC, Jerome Larking and James Grogin, in house counsel do not do that. Many judges and ARDC personnel have very suspicious property records. Many people allege that one person is taking out loans and others (the mob) are paying them off, keeping judges in their pocket.

How else do you explain the fact that Alan Frake is still being drugged with psychotropic drugs and is being abused? What about his son Gary who has not seen him for a year? Ted Rhodes, Cary Peck and Tom Kleinhenz (probate counsel, attorneys and home health care) do not respond and make no attempts to hide the fact that Gary must not visit.

So many cases are uninvestigated in Illinois.

In Florida, we have Karen Fegherighti, who is obviously very intelligent, well reasoned, but her evil sister wants to grab an inheritance, so she had Karen declared incompetent. Now Karen has no rights and she is being abused without adequate food and her own money to buy what she wants when she wants.

All the vultures in Florida are waiting for the disbursement from Probate to attack that motherloade of cash and devour it like a two day old carcass and a pack of hyenas.

All of this has to end. We must treat the elderly and disabled with all due respect.

Karen has been complaining up a storm with dozens of videos on Facebook (go ahead and friend her), and other sources showing she is sane, highly competent and well reasoned. Worst of all, she is only 57! If this can happen to an R.N. who held 2 jobs and was attending CE classes, it could happen to any of us.

She has been to the FBI and no one cared. The states attorneys and OIG and no one cared.

She is holed up in a hotel room with a stalker from the court that follows her everywhere. She is not safe. They could put her in a locked facility at any time and give her enough drugs for a small horse, and no one would care or notice, and then when the money was gone, 2 or 3 days to narcotize her to death–just as happened to Mary Sykes, Lydia Tyler, Dorothy Baker, Rose Drabik and on and on and on.

When will this end? Let’s make it to day and free Karen Fegerighti and Alan Frake.

JoAnne

From Facebook–Vimeo Film explains how the disabled are forced into institutions were they are often abused, locked up and never see the light of day

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Disableds exploited in facilities

tells the story of one brain injury person showing how he was locked up, could not leave and was abused and the care facility was in the biz doing this to many others A must see.

This is where for profit and institutions filing guardianships lead to, people without rights, without hope and it’s all assisted by the court system and their crony lawyers and GALs.

And another recent article tells of 200 nursing home residents forming a protest and making their stories of abuse and exploitation public:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/10/protest_for_the_disabled_200_people_roll_through_the_streets

There is almost no oversight to the GALs, crony guardianship lawyers, professional guardians and guardianship judges who blindly place these people in abusive, expensive situations

This has to end.

Joanne

From Facebook–Chicago Board of Ethics met with lackluster enthusiasm by Chicago aldermen.

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

And in an article which is of absolutely no surprise to any Chicagoan:

http://www.chicagonow.com/city-limits/2016/10/40-chicago-aldermen-blow-off-annual-ethics-board-hearing/

The city of Chicago has a well-documented, longstanding, widespreadproblem with public corruption. The latest example can be found in the 20^thWard, where Alderman Willie Cochran is under federal investigation for his use of campaign funds.

For reform-minded aldermen, annual budget hearings are an opportune time to address this problem. But at the Chicago Board of Ethics budget hearing Oct. 21, a mere 10 of 50 city aldermen bothered to show up.

During the budgeting process, politicians have the opportunity to publicly question city officials charged with keeping corruption in check as those officials justify their budgets. But at the Board of Ethics hearing, aldermen did not ask a single question.

Instead, Alderman Anthony Beale, 9^th Ward, played “Go Cubs, Go” from his cellphone in reference to the board’s recent ruling that aldermen cannot accept a face-value ticket offer from the Chicago Cubs organization unless they perform a ceremonial duty at the game.

The hearing was over in less than five minutes.

“It had to be a record,” wrote Daily Line reporter Claudia Morell.

The Board of Ethics has four main responsibilities: to advise city government personnel on issues related to Chicago’s ethics ordinance, to educate city personnel on the contents of the ethics ordinance, to enforce that ordinance, and to regulate lobbyists and others through a mandatory disclosure process.

The board received more than $850,000 in 2016 from taxpayers. But there is little evidence to suggest it’s doing a good job at transforming the city’s culture of corruption.

A July report from government watchdog group ProjectSix revealed 37 of 50 Chicago aldermen took campaign contributions that violated the city’s ethics rules. This flies in the face of at least three – if not all – of the board’s foundational responsibilities.

The Board of Ethics has not taken any public action in the wake of this research. Aldermen should have asked why. Instead, they asked nothing.

Members of the Board of Ethics are appointed by the mayor and approved by City Council. In the first 25 years since its founding in 1987, the board did not find a single alderman guilty of wrongdoing, despite the fact that more than 20 Chicago aldermen were convicted of felonies over that time, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Board of Ethics should make major efforts to improve the process by which city employees and aldermen are educated about the city ethics code. It should also be transformed into an independent body in the vein of the Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s office. While the board is beholden to aldermen to approve its funding each year, Ferguson’s office enjoys a funding guarantee. He need not beg City Council for money while his office may be investigating its members.

“This isn’t the first year that the budget hearing has been so short with so few in attendance. It’s been a love fest,” said former Chicago Legislative Inspector General and ProjectSix CEO Faisal Khan. “There have been too many times where the Board of Ethics has protected the interests of aldermen instead of protecting taxpayers. That needs to change.”

Chicago is the nation’s corruption capital. And 33 of some 200 aldermen since 1970 have gone to prison.

One would think that a board tasked with enforcing transparency in city government would be transparent itself. But that’s not the case. Even though City Code mandates the board release reports summarizing its activities “at least semiannually,” it has not posted an annual report on its website since 2009.

Why? Perhaps aldermen should have asked.

When it comes to corruption, the Board of Ethics should be among the first lines of protection and an agent of cultural change. Instead, it often serves as a lapdog giving only the appearance of oversight.

City Council and Mayor Rahm Emanuel should be held responsible for this state of affairs. Clearly, they have no interest in changing it.

Aldermen in attendance at the board’s budget hearing Oct. 21 included: Michelle Harris (8^th Ward), Anthony Beale (9th Ward), Raymond Lopez (15^th Ward), Matt O’Shea (19^th Ward), Michael Zalewski (23^rd Ward), Jason Ervin (28^th Ward), Chris Taliaferro (29^th Ward), Anthony Napolitano (41^stWard), Tom Tunney (44^th Ward) and James Cappleman (46^th Ward).

Why is health care so outrageously overpriced?

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

I know that many of you are hurting financially today as the US moves into a mode where 20% of American citizens live at or below the poverty level, 25% of our children now grow up in poverty, and 50% of America lives near the poverty line or below.

Our health care expenditures are skyrocketing all the same. Obama care is very, very expensive for everyone from the poor to the middle class, it is gobbling up a huge chunk of our income.

Still, the US now has 90%+ of its citizens covered by health insurance and for certain that’s a good thing.

This blog talks about how seniors and disableds are forced into institutions by the court system, and then charged outrageous fees to fleece them of any assets they might have, and then medicare and medicaid is also fleeced and chunks of state funds dedicated to the needy. Elders and disableds are tortured with illegal narcotics and psychotropic drugs which leave them in a stupor, unable to fight their way out.

Go take a survey at a nursing home, any nursing home and ask all the residents if they want to go home and then ask the administrators why the patients can’t go home if they want to.

so take a look at this outrageous chart.

Outrageous salaries of Health Care Providers 2012 to 2013

Somehow, it’s just very hard to justify $30 million per year when CMS Admin (whatever that is) has a CEO making $170k.

They don’t have these issues in Europe and I don’t think anyone would tolerate this nonsense there.

I guess the money is just too good to put quality and patient care first.

JoAnne

NOW Pre Order Galley Copies of Theresa Tozzo Lyle’s Book 65 Minutes, a tale of Murder and Torture in Guardianship

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Pre sales Galley copies are $25 each and you can text a check to 773-255-7608, or fax a check to 312-553-1300 or email one to joanne@justice4every1.com or use Facebook debit card transfer to my Facebook Account.

All books signed by one of the authors and inscribed with a blessing.

Teresa’s story is about how she tried to lovingly care for her mother while the probate vultures churned the bills and drained her mother’s estate. Her mother wanted to live at home with Teresa in her final years, but the guardianship court in Florida prohibited it, and nasty, evil Guardians took over her life and her mother’s life.

The book contains pictures of her mother bruised and tortured until the end.

If you have relatives that don’t believe you when they say the guardianship court is just in it for the money and professional guardians are nothing but evil, this is the book for you.

The book will soon be out on Lulu, Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but let me order an advance, numbered copy signed by the author for you now.

We need more of these books and not less. Contact me if you would like to have me help you write a book on your corrupt case and let’s get the word out about guardianship and other corrupt areas of the court system which should be open, transparent and democratic.

JoAnne

From Facebook – FBI resecures 168 children and arrests 300 pimps for human trafficking in Missouri

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

FBI operation rescues 168 children from sex trafficking, puts nearly 300 pimps behind bars

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A crackdown on child sex trafficking hits close to home. The FBI in Kansas City revealed the results of an investigation Monday, noting that nationwide 50 percent more kids were rescued this year than last.

But authorities say the work to end trafficking is far from over. Often times people think of sex trafficking as a foreign issue, but those in the know say it happens in your own backyard more than you think.

One of the girls picked up in this sweep was picked up right here in Kansas City. Nationally, hundreds of law enforcement agencies participated, resulting in 168 children being recovered and nearly 300 pimps getting arrested.

Another victim was also picked up in Wichita and seven pimps from the region were arrested. The Justice Project assisted with the operation and received the rescued girls.

“We’ve got folks here that have been where you have been. We know what it’s like to suffer from all of these things,” said Justice Project executive director Kris Wade.

“A lot of these children come from areas where they’re just not secure about their surroundings. They feel like they’re not belonging to something,” said FBI special agent in charge Michael Kaste.

Authorities don’t know how many more kids could be in peril. That’s why the community is asked to be vigilant. To know what to look out for, click on these links:

FBI on human trafficking

Hiding in Plain Sight

The Justice Project KC

From Joanne:

We know there are building in Chicago that house human trafficked women and the city does nothing about it. Lawyers do nothing about it. The authorities do nothing about it.

These women are not criminals, but they are victims of human trafficking.

If you know of a place in Chicago where this is happening, let me know and I will report it, again and again and again.

Lawyers know of it, but the ARDC does nothing.

This is a terrible human tragedy that must be reported and stopped.

JoAnne

From Karen Federighi–Day 265 in Guardianship, but more competent than those in the courtroom

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Karen Federighi is a 57 year old woman, she is not incapacitated but was forced into an abusive and fraudulent guardianship by her miscreant sisters. She wants her freedom back that was taken away. Her unscrupulous guardian is in control of Karen’s money and life. Her guardian is also a felon! How can a felon control someone’s life when they couldn’t even control their own life.

here is the facebook link to her recent video showing that she is competent:

Day 275: The magistrate, every judge, the lawyers, and my formerly incarcerated guardian here in Collier County, FL simply ignores the law, the US Constitution, and Bill of Rights. No fact checking whatsoever. Decisions based on heresay alone. For 275 days, I have been illegally stripped of all of my civil rights in a 100% illegal, fraudulent, abusive, neglectful, and exploitative probate guardianship. Praying for pmy total freedom and all of my civil rights to be restored. But how? How am I to get free when everyone I have dealt in the court system has no morals, ethics, or conscience?

A new update:

Day 276: Wards of all ages in abusive probate guardianships are denied a healthy diet and often suffer from malnutrition and significant weight loss. From 01/22/16-03/23/16, I had to pawn my possessions for food. From 03/23/16-present, 2 of every 3 of my meals consist of the hotel’s free breakfast, which is great if one is on a vacation and has no dietary restrictions. So, I treat myself to one healthy meal per day. Today, I made pineapple and sweet potato latkes with avocado for dinner. Today, my abusive guardian refused to give me my own money to buy more food. Have to stretch the $7 I have left. Thankful I get to eat this meal while watching the World Series. Go Cubs!

From Joanne;

The video clearly shows that Karen is the victim of a false and abusive guardianship. The guardian in the photo does not care. She is clearly subject to 18 USC sec 4 for failure to report a felony to the authorities.

Karen will have to keep on contacting the FBI and all state authorities. She has been advised to call each day, every day until these false, fraudulent and abusive guardianships end.

And it’s not like we don’t have those problems in Illinois. Jerome Larkin, Administrator and head of the ARDC in Illinois ignores all complaints about attorneys that abuse and fleece the elderly on a daily basis: 99 year old Alice Gore, 29 gold teeth pulled, $1.5 million missing from her estate and the ARDC dismissed all valid complaints and then she was narcotized to death; Mary G Sykes, 94 years old, $1 million in gold coins missing from the estate, no accounting on the trust or sale of the home, court held proceedings for 5 years without jurisdiction, complaints filed with the ARDC against attorney and all ignored, EXCEPT the ARDC went after honest attorneys that complained–myself and Ken Then Mary Sykes was narcotized to death. No investigation despite demands and clear knowledge of the facts. All discovery of these corrupt, clouted cases quashed. Ditkowsky and we both received lengthy suspensions for reporting felonies of 3 and 4 years, Alan Frake, drugged with psychotropic drugs and placed in a nursing home against his will, he is in grave danger and all ARDC complaints dismissed.

Illinois is said to be no. 1 in corruption, and with the 20+ videos of innocent unarmed black gunned down in cold blood for no reason at all on the South Side and these videos suppressed for months by the Mayor and the City Attorneys, you can see where the public stands in Illinois. The JIB or Judicial Inquiry Board dismisses valid complaints. The ARDC/Jermone Larkin dismisses valid complaints and does not care. Where are the investigations? The Discovery? The depositions of the miscreants? No where to be found in Illinois. Support cleaning up this mess. Demand Accountability. Get rid of the psychopaths they have placed at the heads of these agencies.

Do you see anything of accountability on the ARDC website or the JIB website?

The ARDC does not file its mandatory Ethics Reports. Many have questionable property records where one person takes out a loan and the other pays it off. Judges, lawyers and other politicians all have this problem. We must have outrage and make demands on our public officials, starting with the JIB and ARDC who license and fester crooked, corrupt lawyers and judges. Time to end all of that. Time to take action.

JoAnne

From the ACLU–Protesters take note of limitations

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Today floating around in the chat groups online seems to be some suggestions we should protest in front of the judge’s homes.

Personally, I think if you want to protest against judges you think are crooked or make the wrong decisions contrary to law, the best place is right outside the courthouse or online under the judge’s names and tag their posts with your specific complaints.

But just so everyone knows, apparently Illinois has decided it’s necessary to tailor and regulate the First Amendment right to protest.

From the ACLU:

http://www.aclu-il.org/aclu-report-when-else-can-government-regulate-the-time-place-and-manner-of-protest/

III. C. Targeted sidewalk protests

Protesters often seek to demonstrate on sidewalks abutting a building that contains an audience that would prefer not to hear the protesters’ message. For example, a labor union might picket a worksite that uses allegedly unfair labor practices, or a citizen group might distribute leaflets critical of an elected official in front of that official’s office. Courts have held that the First Amendment protects sidewalk protests targeted at courts, health care facilities, schools, and churches. While a Chicago ordinance prohibits certain protests targeted at churches, the City in 2011 announced it would not be enforcing the policy.

The First Amendment has been interpreted to not protect sidewalk protests targeted at particular homes. An Illinois statute prohibits such targeted residential picketing. However, the First Amendment does protect marches through residential areas that don’t target a particular home.

Further, an Illinois statute prohibits fighting words within 300 feet and 30 minutes of a funeral. Police have enforced this statute against the inflammatory signs of the Westboro Baptist Church (displaying messages such as “thank God for IEDs”) on sidewalks across the street from military funerals. This is not a proper application of the fighting words doctrine, given the unlikelihood of fisticuffs between people across the street from each other. Police probably would not enforce this statute against less inflammatory funeral protests.

Within 50 feet of the entry of a health care facility, a Chicago ordinance bars protesters from approaching within eight feet of another person for the purpose of passing a leaflet, displaying a sign, or engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling. This ordinance is modeled on a Colorado statute that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. These laws typically are enacted in response to anti-abortion protesters, but they limit all manner of messages and messengers near health care facilities. These laws make it difficult to distribute leaflets, and are unnecessary in light of other laws that prohibit blockades, harassment, and the like. These laws do not impact the many forms of protest that do not involve approaching other persons, such as signs, speeches, and press conferences.

I’m not sure an outside the home protest would work. Most people care more about their email friends from 3,000 miles around the globe than their next door neighbors and those on facebook than anything else nowadays, but you never know what people are thinking.

Joanne

Jill Jones Soderman makes a statement about a con artist who engages in blackmail, a warning about Christine Sirgent

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

Posted on October 24, 2016

Okay, we all know that they are out there, you know the type, the claimed “victim” that comes to you begging for help but is nothing but trouble themselves.

This blog gets rid of trouble makers by requiring they upload numerous pleadings and we confirm our sources. However, that was not the case for one activist Jill Jones Soderman and a crazed couple that visited her office looking for help.

First the defamatory post:

https://starzz1990.wordpress.com/

Now Ms. Soderman’s response

Christine Sirgent contacted staff of the FCVFC after a brief discussion with me resulted in a denial of engagement of the FCVFC with her BF. The contact took place in April, 2014.

Christine Sirgent’s BF seemed to have been engaged in a long standing, high conflict divorce. I declined taking on the case after a brief phone consultation with him.

Christine Sirgent and her BF called my office, engaged sympathetic staff who persuaded me to provide them with a consultation for the BF. (April, 2014)

I received a carton of court documents related to the divorce of the BF of Christine Sirgent with a check for $1,500. I agreed to review documents, provide a consultation. I did not agree to any further involvement with them beyond that commitment.

I received a fee of $1,500. to provide a consultation based on the papers and one phone consultation with the BF. I agreed to speak with the client individually and jointly by phone to discuss the case status on one occasion. The period of time for phone contact is limited to 1 ½ hours on one occasion.

The office of the FCVFC is in Manhattan at 275 Madison Ave., New York, New York 10016.

The New Jersey Office for the FCVFC is the Child Forensic Safety Center, a private Safe House used for the protection of children and adult victims of Violence. (see attached incorporation documents). The clients dropped off a carton of papers for review at the New Jersey office where they were seen for a few minutes as I opened the box to briefly review the papers.

Services provided by the FCVFC are noted in papers and description attached.

The FCVFC NEVER provides legal representation for clients in high conflict custody cases. Ms. Sirgent was never introduced to an attorney as part of my consultation with her BF.

All of the rambling commentary described by Ms. Sirgent in her web site is thoroughly and completely incomprehensible

No letter was ever prepared or sent to a judge on behalf of for Ms. Sirgent’s BF.

I am aware of a letter having been sent to a judge dealing with Ms. Sirgent’s BF because the judge’s clerk called me to ask if the BF was a client of the FCVFC as she thought he was using the name of the FCVFC falsely and she intended to put him in jail. I dissuaded the court clerk from seeking jail time for the BF.

After the call from the Judge, I contacted Ms. Sirgent and told her that I was terminating all contact with her and her BF and would never agree to any further contact / work with them via the FCVFC.
I kept the BF from being jailed because of false representation of engagement with the FCVFC and intended to have no further dealings with either of them.

Following that interaction I continued to receive an incessant barrage of threatening letters and e mails from Ms. Sirgent and her BF. The e mails were referred to junk mail. Phone calls were never accepted.

I became aware of Ms. Sirgent through her web site when it appeared on Google defaming me.

I sought consultation with numerous attorney and was constantly told that there was nothing that I could with regard to having Ms. Sirgent take down her web site.
As far as I knew, the BF was homeless, had absolutely no funds.

Ms. Sirgent was unemployed, but I had no address for her and she was not the intended client.

I have ignored Ms. Sirgent and her BF, responding to their defamatory, libelous, false communications by publishing about them in the USWhistleblower – the on line press for the

Jill Jones Soderman makes a statement about a con artist who engages in blackmail, a warning about Christine Sirgent

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Joanne M Denison

MaryGSykes.com

Okay, we all know that they are out there, you know the type, the claimed “victim” that comes to you begging for help but is nothing but trouble themselves.

First the defamatory post:

https://starzz1990.wordpress.com/

Now Ms. Soderman’s response

Christine Sirgent contacted staff of the FCVFC after a brief discussion with me resulted in a denial of engagement of the FCVFC with her BF. The contact took place in April, 2014.

Christine Sirgent’s BF seemed to have been engaged in a long standing, high conflict divorce. I declined taking on the case after a brief phone consultation with him.

Christine Sirgent and her BF called my office, engaged sympathetic staff…

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