Love or crime? Elder abuse on the rise

A JURY will decide whether love or crime was behind the motives of the Bellevue woman who whisked an elderly man suffering from dementia from his nursing home, married him and then is accused of trying to empty his bank account.

The 56-year-old woman is charged with three felony counts. She gained access to the 78-year-old man by telling nursing-home employees she was his masseuse. But she is not a state-licensed massage therapist. Credit for her arrest goes to quick-witted bank tellers, who called the police when the woman tried to close the man's bank accounts and withdraw the remaining $23,000.

When police interviewed him, the man said he didn't know the woman and didn't remember marrying her.

This case is a reminder of the vulnerability of elderly citizens or those made vulnerable because of diminished physical or mental capabilities. In 2002, there were 2,637 reports of adult abuse in King County, a number that increased 6 percent since 2001 and exceeds the reports of any other Washington county.

No need to force public-policy solutions; a better response is support for King County's Elder Abuse Project. The program, set within the office of King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, knits a collaborative effort by police, social-service agencies and medical practitioners to spur referral, investigation and prosecution of elder-abuse and -neglect cases.

A key component of the program is training people who work with the elderly to recognize signs of abuse. Physical abuse and neglect stand out to the average eye but abuse of an elderly person's finances is becoming common — signatures forged, bank accounts looted and property stolen.

King County is poised to handle the challenge. It ought to be, since nearly a third of Washington's 85-and-over population resides here. It is a community whose numbers are expected to increase 53 percent by the year 2025. They deserve protection.