Vulnerable, elderly adult protection

House approval was given to a bill that would help some vulnerable adults.

Sponsored by Rep. Debra Hilstrom (DFL-Brooklyn Center) and Sen. Mee Moua (DFL-St. Paul), HF818*/SF758 would make various statutory changes relating to investigations and crimes for maltreatment or financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. Hilstrom said a working group of 52 agencies, entities and organizations were involved in the bill’s creation.

The bill was approved 131-0 by the House May 6 and sent to the Senate.

The legislation intends to help people like a 92-year-old St. Paul man whose case was referenced during the committee process. A neighbor befriended him when he became frail and bilked him out of almost $200,000. The woman put his home on the market without his knowledge, put an ad in the newspaper for a rummage sale of his belongings and left him to sit in a chair all day.

She was ultimately sentenced to probation and repayment of funds.

“The Vulnerable Adults Act has shown us that victims can be of any age,” Hilstrom said. “According to a recent Met Life mature market study, it estimates that older Americans lose about $2.6 billion a year. Now that our economy is in a downturn, we anticipate that vulnerable adults will be more at risk.”

The bill makes it easier to investigate and prosecute unscrupulous individuals by clearing up definitions of financial exploitation; extending the statute of limitations for criminal financial exploitation from three to five years because no problem may be realized until bills are not getting paid; and any business or financial institution that acts on good faith in telling authorities about suspected maltreatment or financial exploitation would be granted immunity from legal liability.

It also creates a 20-year felony for conviction of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult when the stolen amount exceeds $35,000 and removes the consent defense, where the victim lacks the capacity to consent.

“We want to make it certain that we are able to prosecute those that prey upon our vulnerable adults and to make certain we take care of them in their time of need,” Hilstrom said.