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I am the accountant of an 88-year old widow who is a victim of elder abuse. She has Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Macular Degeneration, Osteoporosis and heart problems. Her name is Dorothy Husing and she lives in Durham, California, just south of Chico. She has two children, Pamela Bergen, who lives in Colorado, and Tom Husing, who lives next door to her. My brother, Richard Matson, is her lawyer, and we both live in Chico. She has "caregivers" who are supposed to be taking care of her. The head caregiver is Dorothy Showmaker.
My brother only takes clients with lots of money, and being Mrs. Husing's CPA, I know how much money she has. I convinced her to change lawyers and become my brother's client. We then had her change her will and sign papers giving me and my brother complete and absolute control over her person and property. And since all the papers Mrs. Husing signed were signed AFTER she had been diagnosed with Dementia, she didn't understand what she was signing. Yet it is all perfectly legal because my brother will get up in court and swear that Mrs. Husing knew what she was doing, and since my brother and I are well known in the Butte County court system, they will accept his word. A search of the Butte County courthouse database shows my brother and me working together on other elders.
There are no standards for hiring private caregivers. California state law does not care who is hired or takes care of people if it is done privately. I hired people that are my friends and who are not family members to "baby-sit" Mrs. Husing. None of the caregivers has had medical training, worked in a doctor's office, a hospital, or has a current CPR certificate. The last time I looked in on Mrs. Husing I found her dull and listless with bruises on her arms and legs and she smelled like she hadn't been cleaned for days. Dorothy Showmaker, who was on duty that day, was playing a video game on the TV. Inquiries by state and county agencies responsible for elder abuse are sent to my brother's office, where he tells those agencies that Mrs. Husing is being well taken care of. Due to state budget cuts, those agencies accept his excuses and do not investigate. We also make sure that no one takes Mrs. Husing out anywhere. We want to keep her isolated from other people.
We do not want Pam around her mother, especially alone. We are afraid that she will find out how much we are abusing her mother. So we are doing everything in our power to keep Pam from seeing her mother, including calling the police and threatening to have her arrested after she once showed up and wouldn't leave. My brother even sent Pam a letter telling her she is NOT to visit her mother. I also told the caregivers not to talk to Pam. I know that Pam is trying to find out what is going on, but so far we have been successful in keeping information from her.
We are not worried about Tom, since he is stupid and can be easily manipulated.
My brother and I are also using the law to get away with financial abuse. We are taking Mrs. Husing's money, legally, for our own purposes. I say "legally" because we can "bill" Mrs. Husing for any and all things we want to, without justification to anyone. We are also paid "retainers" as well as charging extra high hourly rates. And since I write the checks to my brother and me, there is NO oversight. And, of course, it can be "buried" so that it appears legitimate.
And, NOTHING WE DO IS WRITTEN DOWN!!! That way we can always deny any of this!
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