Goodwin was also found to have violated three regulations each of both the Portsmouth Police Department Duty Manual and the city’s code of ethics when he helped Webber transfer her estate to him.

In August 2015, a court finally ruled that Goodwin exerted undue influence over Geraldine Webber by “acting upon her fears and hopes.” Like veteran cop John Connors, the courageous whistle-blower who helped bring the story to public light, you can stand up and speak out against elder abuse. Bad actors only get away with wrongdoing for so long—one way or another, they’ll be held accountable.

Accountant Fraud

Hiring a professional to manage the resources of an elder does not always guarantee that assets and lives will be protected. Consider the story, straight from Studio City, of Ross and Eunice Bellah. A happy Hollywood couple, Ross and Eunice had been well known in the movie industry for decades. Ross was an Oscar-nominated art director for several famous films and television productions since the 1950s, while Eunice was a painter. Since 1986, when he had already retired, Ross had retained one Aron Shlain as his tax accountant. By 2003, Ross was 96 and gravely ill. Shlain convinced his ailing client to appoint him as successor trustee in the event of Eunice’s incompetency. A year later Ross died; Shlain bided his time.

In 2008, Eunice fell and broke her arm, and that’s when Shlain pounced. He moved her out of the home Ross had designed and built, a Frank Lloyd Wright–style dwelling complete with a Japanese garden and koi pond, and into a convalescent facility. Shlain managed to get two doctors to declare her incompetent, thus gaining control of the Bellah estate as trustee. He then sold the house and adjoining properties for $900,000, reportedly well below market price. The couple’s dream home was bulldozed, while the widowed Eunice was confined to a room with an incontinent patient suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Neighbor Herb Adelman reported that she “had none of her artwork, no television, no telephone. Nothing.” Another friend even alerted California Adult Protective Services after witnessing the conditions Eunice had to live in, but to no avail.

With Ross’s widow out of the way, in 2010 Shlain transferred $886,000 from the house sale to his sister in Israel. Eunice’s friends went to bat for her in court upon learning about the exploitation perpetrated against her, yet the case dragged on until a Los Angeles County judge finally ruled in 2011 that Shlain had to pay $2.8 million to Eunice’s conservator for clear-cut  elder  financial  abuse. By then, however,  it  was  too late: Shlain had fled the country to Israel, where he continues to live large off of injustice.

Eunice Bellah died at the nursing home in 2012, a victim of cold, heartless greed. Her friends will always remember her, and those who fought against Shlain’s wrongdoing should be commended.

Family Cruelty And Neglect

When a case of elder abuse makes the news headlines, we are shocked at the cruelty inflicted on one of our senior citizens, frequently by members of their own family. Abuse against elders takes many forms, and among them neglect is the most horrific, amounting to the denial of a person’s very existence by treating them as if they were already dead.