As many faithful readers know I stepped away from my long-running syndicated crime and justice column last year to write a book about abuses within state-run guardianship and conservatorship courts. It is a topic that I’ve investigated since 2015, and in addition to devoting several columns to the issue over the years, I have also…

I’ve been thinking a lot about the phrase “media circus” lately. I’ve heard it applied to all sorts of crime related stories I’ve covered during my decades as a reporter. Lately, the expression cropped up during the near wall-to-wall coverage of the Gabby Petito missing persons/homicide case. I also heard it applied recently to the…

Given that this is a crime and justice column it is pretty safe to say this will likely be the only time I do a movie review. But given the subject matter of the new movie, “I Care A Lot” this film is right up my alley. As long-time readers may remember I have frequently…

The marvelous Betty Winstanley died recently, just shy of her 98th birthday in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She died in the captivity of a court sanctioned guardianship that haunted her final years. Her life never should have ended this way. Mrs. Winstanley was an elegant, eloquent, remarkable woman. In an era when women were undereducated Betty…

Finally, Washington is taking steps to protect older Americans who have fallen into an exploitation trap set for them by state courts. Federal officials will soon be empowered to go into states to investigate – and prosecute – unscrupulous court-appointed guardians and conservators who prey on their elderly wards. This is a really big deal…

An indictment indicates she laughed all the way to the bank… In my continuing effort to inform readers about what can happen when a family asks a judge to decide a dispute over what to do with their aging parent – may I call your attention, please, to the state of Nevada? The Sagebrush State…

Note: This is the last of three columns on this topic… Would you hire someone to manage your personal affairs and finances who charged $50,599.18 in just three months? What if they charged $1560.00 to make two phone calls to your son to discuss, “Dates for (a) Christmas” visit with you. Or if you got…

I had no idea the enormity of the nation’s elder guardianship problem…This is the second of three columns on this topic. I recently wrote about the plight of 94-year-old Betty Winstanley, who resides at the Masonic Village retirement home in Elizabethtown, PA. She doesn’t want to live there anymore. Now that her husband of 72…

Note: This is the first of three columns on this topic which were originally published in Feb-April  2016 She is a well-spoken, elegant and wealthy 94-year-old widow. And as Betty Winstanley told me from her room at the Masonic Village Retirement facility in Elizabethtown, PA, “I feel like I am in prison. My life is a…