Have you ever invited a criminal into your home and then paid them to steal from you?  As foolish as this might seem, the reality is that many senior citizens are doing just this very thing.

During my work with the Milwaukee Police Department’s Senior Citizen Assault Prevention Unit, I noticed a disturbing increase in the number of thefts and scams involving home health aides.  These aides, who were hired by the seniors, or their families, to assist with various in-home tasks, were helping themselves to hefty pay raises in the form of money, jewelry, or whatever else they could steal from the very persons they were hired to serve.

Dedicated Professionals Suffer

It is unfortunate that many dedicated professionals involved in this much needed service have to suffer because of the criminal element within their ranks.  Since I do not want to add to their problems, I feel obligated to advise readers that this article is not intended to serve as a negative generalization of the entire home health case industry.  If anything, this article provides a much needed examination of the problems that the criminal element within this profession have inflicted upon older the adults of our society.

Choice That Can Make a Difference

The basic duties of home health care aide include such services as general housekeeping, shopping, meal preparation, and assistance with personal hygiene.  These, and other duties are all intended to help older adults remain in their homes when they cannot handle such tasks on their own.  The services of an aide can be obtained through a licensed agency, or through advertisements in the local newspapers, usually under the ‘services offered’ section. Although both of these choices appear equal, they are not.

The main difference between these two options is accountability.  In most states, all health care provider agencies must be licensed and insured, whereas persons offering private services are not.  A licensed agency must adhere to strict guidelines set by the State Bureau of Quality Compliance, or other similar regulatory body.  Apart from a requirement that all aides receive adequate training, such employees are closely monitored and held accountable for the services rendered.  If any agency is found to be in violation of set guidelines, a fine can be assessed or their license can be revoked. 

Private service providers are under no such controls, and in many instances, they do not possess any specialized training whatsoever.  Although these services are less expensive than those offered by a licensed agency, the seniors who hire such people are often left without any means to verify the potential employees identity or criminal history records.  What’s more, there exists a good chance that a known criminal will be invited into the home and given unlimited access to steal whatever they so choose.  Although there is no guarantee that licensed agencies conduct adequate employee background checks, or are without problems, some protection is better than none.  As such, hiring complete strangers does not exist as a viable choice.

A Cop's Perspective

From a law enforcement perspective, investigating those involved in suspected in-home service thefts or cons can be a daunting task.  Here’s why.  For one, many of the victims are not aware that they are being scammed.  In other instances, they might suspect something is amiss but they just do not care. 

A victim of this type once came to my attention when a concerned bank teller contacted my office and noted some peculiar activity involving the accounts of a wealthy widow.  A subsequent investigation disclosed that the home health care aide had forged numerous checks and conducted other transactions that eventually wiped out the woman’s wealth.  When I approached the victim with this information, she refused to believe that the nice woman who had become her best friend would do such a thing.  Despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise, I was asked to leave and never return.  The con artist, having taken all she could, eventually left the woman to live out her remaining years in poverty.

Another problem involved with most health care frauds and thefts, is proving that a theft or scam actually took place.  Once a suspect gains their intended victim’s trust, they can easily be led to believe almost anything.  If money or valuable property is discovered missing, the thief is quick to cast blame the victim’s family members or attribute it to the victim’s forgetfulness.  Then, too, by the time most victims realize what has taken place, the suspect has already changed their name and moved to another city.

Catching such thieves takes what most law enforcement agencies lack ---- time, training and ample resources.  Having run sting operations, I can assure you they are time-consuming and often unproductive.  Gaining access to the victims without the suspect’s knowledge is the first problem that must be overcome.  If this occurs, then it is possible to install surveillance devices with the complainant’s permission. 

Absent unfettered access to such victims often results in a direct confrontation with the accused suspect; most of whom are practiced liars who have taken great pains to cover their criminal activities.  In other words, confessions are rare.  Under such circumstances, about the best that can occur exists in the form of the suspect leaving the victim’s home, thereby ending the ongoing thefts.  Of course, this simple allows the suspect to continue his or her criminal activities elsewhere. 

Addressing The Problem

So what, you ask, can be done to guard against such crimes?  For starters, we need to acknowledge that such offenses are taking place.  Not occasionally, or most of the time, but every day.  Family members, friends, and neighbors of seniors who receive such services need to become more involved and report any suspicious activities by such workers to the police or local community service agencies.  Once reported the police and other investigative agencies need to do a better job at investigating these questionable activities.  This, of course, requires that each department have officers available who are specially trained in investigating such offenses.  If the officers do not know exactly how these thefts and assorted frauds occur, then there is little chance they will bring such investigations to a successful close.

State law makers should consider penalty enhancements for all crimes committed against senior citizens.  Such laws were enacted in Wisconsin and elsewhere and have served to warn potential thieves of the price they will have to pay for their decision to victimize the elderly.

Even under the best of circumstances, many case investigations will not end with an arrest.  However, this fact should not be allowed to serve as an excuse to ignore a problem that promises to become much worse.  Thanks to aging baby-boomer generation, the list of available victims is about to increase.  Therefore, although we might never be able to completely solve the problem, we should at least be dedicated to an attempt.