When Kathryn Salensky, a former Bronx district attorney, stumbled upon a $9,000 bill for farming equipment her octogenarian father did not order, she began to suspect a nearby married couple that frequently paid visits were taking advantage.

“These neighbors came into his life shortly after my Dad hired a local attorney to create a will, power of attorney and financial statement,” Salensky told Financial Advisor. “They groomed him and established trust for five years before starting to steal and forge loan documents.”

According to his daughter, George Salensky was robbed of two cars, a wheelbarrow, a coin collection, tools, cash money and a truck trailer while residing in Columbia County in upstate New York.

“I discovered the perpetrator couple had stolen from other elderly people in town,” said Salensky. “They were illegally living off of workman’s compensation and asking if Dad had any painkillers they could take.”

After George Salensky passed away at 90 years old in 2016, his daughter launched George’s Justice, an elder abuse watchdog group that services Hudson Valley.

“The state elder agencies here don’t always come through so I offer pro-bono legal services to help them in honor of my father who was a World War 2 veteran,” Salensky said.

Advocates at JASA’s 13th Annual Elder Abuse conference in Manhattan last week said cases of elder abuse are on the rise.

“Somehow people think it’s OK to exploit someone just because they are old,” said Art Mason, founder of Stop Elder Abuse and Mistreatment (S.E.A.M.), which offers an alternative to incarceration for caregivers of elders who are also perpetrators. “They think the older person doesn’t need the money or they think they are entitled to the elderly person’s money. We're seeing that attitude a lot more from younger people and boomers.”

The National Institute of Justice estimates that half of elder abusers have a criminal history, 20 percent have a prior police record for drugs or alcohol and 14 percent have a prior legal record for a nondomestic incident.

“Impairment makes it difficult for seniors to seek help,” said Mason at a JASA lecture called Innovative Solutions to Working with Perpetrators of Elder Abuse – Psychological Factors of Predator and Prey. “They also fear they will lose their caregiver.”

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