GBI hosts training on adult financial abuse

FORSYTH, Ga. - It is a crime that continues to grow across the country--the financial abuse of at-risk adults.

To combat the problem, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation hosted a training session Monday for law enforcement officers, prosecutors and social services employees from all over the state.

"The more training we do in the areas of crimes against the elderly and disabled persons, the more cases that are exposed," explained GBI Director Vernon Keenan.

The training featured a 2016 FOX 5 I-Team investigation into an unlicensed personal care home in Cobb County.  In that case, three disabled men were living in deplorable conditions without heat or air conditioning in the basement of the house.  Officials successfully prosecuted two women they said were responsible for the substandard care.

"What we're seeing in the state of Georgia is that elderly persons and persons who have disabilities have certain benefits--social benefits [...] and persons will go to them and steal all their benefits," explained Keenan.  "Not only does that make them--can make them destitute, but oftentimes they're warehoused and they're kept in unsafe conditions so that their benefits can be stolen and when that occurs, then you've got not only financial exploitation, you've got abuse and neglect."

Kasey Libby of The Libby Law Firm specializes in "elder issues" and said that he has noticed an uptick in cases in the last few years.

"I'm now getting phone calls and seeing these cases happening on a weekly basis," Libby explained.

He said the circumstances range from strangers moving in on an elderly person's money to children taking advantage of their own parents. 

Libby said it is important for families to sit down with their loved ones and plan out how their finances will be handled while they are still making sound decisions. 

"It's just a fact of life," said Libby.  "It's not a conversation families should be afraid to have. It should be a conversation they want to have, because it allows for the continuation of someone to enter into their older years with dignity and protection."