a If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. () ., 0 'I.I 011 FRAUD AGAINST THE ELDERLY: NEW YORK a \\ Q HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON . RETIRE~lENT INOO~ o AND EMPLOYMENT . , O:B~ THE ,SELECT COMMITTEE 'ON AGING' \\, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-SIX'FH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ". ~\ , '0 OCTOBER 23,1980, NEW YORK, N.Y. ,~ , ... Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Aging r) () o . , :,) I Comm. Pub. No. 96-254 ~ ,~., . 'il, ? .' ,. , " " .0 ~ a / 01 ,. " ,- " , . , Ii ,/ 0 c: II U.S. GOVERNMENT PRI]S'TING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1981 '9 ."' ,". " . , t- . t ......1) "~,,",,''-'''\.-'~ "C"'~"""'''~~''·-'''· , ( I I o'? ,--= i i : SELECT COMMITl'EE ON AGING o I I CLAUDE PEPPER, Florida, Chairman CONTENTS EDWARD R. ROYBAL, Californi/t. CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa, .' (\ MARIO BlAGGI, New,,¥ork Ranking Minority Member mE F. ANDREWS, North Carolina WILLIAM C. AMPLER, Virginia I oW MEMBERS OPENING STATEMENTS .' G JOHN L. BURTON, California JOHN' PAUL HAMMERSCHMIDT, Afkansas 1 DON BONKER, Washington . I JAMES ABDNOR, South Dakota Page THOMAS J. DOWNEY, New York MATTHEW J. RINALDO,'I New Jersey i'l JAMES J. FWRIO, New Jersey Chairwoman Geraldine A. Ferraro.... :: ..................... ~ ............................ :.................... 1 i MARC L. MARKS, Pennsylvania Chairman Johu L. Burton ............ :."' .... "" .................... i~ 3 ~LDE ..FORD, Tennessee I .........:. ......................................... RALPH S. REGULA, Ohiu . B' " ..,.....·"'Wli.LIAM J. HUGHES, New Jersey M arlO IaggI ................................. ).; •., ........................... j.................................................. 3 ROBERT K. DORNAN, California S. William Green ........................... : .............................. \.................................................. 5 MARILYN LWYD BOUQUARD, Tennessee HAROLD C. HOLLENBECK, New Jersey D JIM SANTINI, Nevada n S. WILLIAM GREEN, New York I., ROBERT F. DRINAN, Massachusetts CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES 0,, ROBERT (BOB) WHITTAKER, Kansas Cl DAYID W. EVANS, Indiana NORMAN D. SHUMWAY, California Kenneth H. Fl~tcher, Chief Postal Inspecto;r, U.S. Postal Servi?e, accOI~pa­ i :MARTY RUSSO, illinois LARRY J. HOPKINS, Kentucky STANLEY N. LUNDINE, New York nied by Wayne1Kidd, Manager, Fraud SectlOn, U.S. Postal ServIce Washmg- i OLYMPIA. J. SNOWE, Maine 1 ton, D.C ..............................................................................................................: ... : ....... 6 MARY ROSE OAKAR, Ohio DANIEL E. LUNGREN, Califili-nia c j ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN, New York Ceasar Roy, Regional Director, New Yor~ Offic7, Foo~ and Drug AdmmlStra­ --r! JIM LLOYD, California . l tion, accompanied by Dianna W. McNaIr, A:c~mg C.hIef Consumer and Regu- '0' () THOMAS A LUKEN, Ohio. latory Affairs Branch, Food and Drug AdmmlSt;rB;t~on ................... : ................... 13 WES WATKINS, Oklahoma Thomas J. Loughran, Director, Enforcement DIVlSI?n, CommodIty Futures LAMAR GUDGER, North Carolina Trading Commission, Washington, D.C., accompanIed by ~nthony C?s~an­ . ij.' GERALDINE A. FERRARO, New York tino, Counsfi!r EaEtern Region, Commodi~y Futures Tradmg CommisslOn, BEVERLY B. BYRON, Maryland New York N,·Y ................................................ ;................................................ ;.......... 22 , Robert Kelly, Police officer,'Senior Citizens Robbery Unit, Queens County, . \J WlLLJAl\II R. RATCHFORD, Connecticut DAN MICA, Florida 'New York City Police Department ......................................................................... .. 30 " ;"11 Robert Perry, Queens, N.Y ............................................................................................ 32 g EDWARD J. STACK, Florida / HENRY A. WAXMAN, California Dorothy Rudnick, Queens, N.y ................................................................................... .. 33 40 MIKE SYNAR, Oklahoma "'I EUGENE V. ATKINSON, Pennsylvania ~~rhe~op~~~~~:··sp~~i~··h·~~t~t··t~···th~···p~~~id~~t··f~;:·C~~~~;:;~···Aff~i~~; prepared statement ..................................................................................................... 49 CHARLES H. EDWARDS m, Chief of Staff YOSEF J. RIEMER, Deputy Chief of Staff (III) ~ VAL J. HALAMANDARIS, Special Counsel JAMES A. B~NNAN, Assistant to the Chairman ,.;t: ~ ~r WALTER A. GUNTHARP, Ph. D., Minority Staff Director Il. o SUBCOMMIT'iEE ON RETIREMENT INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT JOHN L. BURTON, California, Chairman THOMAS J. DOWNEY, New York WILLIAM C. WAMPLER, Virginia, D MARY ROSE OAKAR, Ohio Ranking Minority Member LAMAR GUDGER, North Carolina ROBERT K. DORNAN, California U.S. Department of Justice ROBERT F. DRINAN, Massachusetts S. WILLIAM GREEN, New York Nationallnstitut.e of Justice DAVID W. EVANS, Indiana LARRY J. HOPKINS, Kentucky \ This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the GERALDINE A. FERRARO, New York -";V ' ......1 ..... HENRY A. WAXMAN, California pers?n or organization originating it. Points of view or opinions stated i .... - .• ,~ MIKE SYNAR, Oklahoma In thiS documen~ ~re th~~e of the authors and do not necessarily repr~sent the offiCial posillon or policies of the National Institute of MERRILL S. RANDOL, Majority Staff Director and Counsel Jusllce. NANCY E. HOBBS, Minority Staff Director rCJRS Permission to reproduce this oepl"i9Rt'ilil material has been (n) granted by . Public Domain/US Government I) C, ~NI&1981 to the National Criminal Justice R('1ference Service (NCJRS). '. I /' rU1SITIONS ~urther reprodUction outside of the NCJRS system req~ires permis­ ! Sion of the AAp';'5i9~ owner. i " o , 'I " '", () , 0 o , o ,II D ~' 1\1 " o ' () o n .' o cr·, o il o T!lURSI1~:Y;()CTOBElf23;:1980 ' r Ii ,'Q ',0 '\" ~'" C U.S. HOUSE'O,F'REPRESEN'rATIVES, ' , SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGING, o j\ SUBcoMMrrTEE,oN RETIREMENTINCOMEANP EMPLOYMENT, (} , ' New York; N. Y. ',The subcommittee met, pursuant toonotic~, at 9:0.3 a.m.,in'room 30.5, 26 Fed~t~l.PI!lza, :N'ew York City, N.y." Hon. 9:~raldine" A. Ferraro (actmg chaIrwoman of the subcommIttee), presldlfig. , 0 Members present: RepresentativesFerraroofNew York, Biaggi l'. ,', of New York, and Green of New York. " Staff pres~nt: Val J. Halamandaris, special counsel, and David L. Holton, chiefinve&@ator:,-.ofth~,; Select, Committee:on Aging;, Nancy E., Hobbs; minority staff dir~!?tor of th~ SubcoPlniittee' on Retirement Income, and Employment; ,Timothy'Flaherty,executive o assistant, and Deborah Sacks, legislative~ director, of Ms. Ferraro's , staff. ' " c OPE~ING STAT~MENT O;F /~lltIRWOMAN~ER1\.LPINEAf 'b ,. o , "~ , ,:F~:RR~,RO 0 " (, " '0 Ms. FERRAR& Good Il1Drning., '", ',-',' <;) , (I I) I am delightedoto· see so many of our seniors from the Forest Park .SeniorCitizens Center. We Vlielc0ineyou 'to the;pearing th~~ mormng. , , ' ~ - " " ~) I( )! o Thi!3 is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Retirement Income and "'- ' Einployment of the "House Select Coinniittee on Agingr , ",",' o . (~ " -, Today's 'hearing will "focus on income confidenc~fgameE3 and () frauds which cause the elderly of this' Gity, and many:~~~hers:-across the Nation, 'to lose their life's savings.~Oul' ~witnesses today wiUbe­ able tobtoaden the committee's knowledge of this: subject by p!e.i senting to us the ,issues Jrom several points of view. '. ' " ," ',() 0, 0' '/:-" We have with us this morning 'Officials from Government depart" ~ v" ,~: o -<"I; , (/ ments and agencies with jurisdictibri: 'over a:ntifraud.statutes, 'a: repr~sentative of the N~W' York City, .Police 'Department, two senior' citizeli1:3who have been victimized by con games,< and a man who is' o currently serving a .pdson term for conningosi:mioi 'citizens. ' ' The House ',Select Committ~e ,on Aging ,arid its subcommittees ;1 often conduct hearings in the field, as we are· ,doing today. These hearings allow us to, receive testimony' from p{;')ople. who may other­ wise be unable to come to Washington" and 'testify before a congres-: sional committee. I would hope that this:hearing will serve. anotli'er purpose.,.... 'fo inform people and provide a foru,ID. for disseminating information to the' many 'senior citizens of New" York' andttie surrounding,area' who may sbJpe day find themselves the" potential victims of a con game. o. '(h ' , • o (1)' , o o o , , o /1 o " 2 3 Con games are hardly recent occurrences. As an assist:=tnt ~i~trict [The prepared statement of Chairman John L. Bur-ton follows:] o attorney in Queens, I han~led many cases where senIor cItIzens lost everything to fast-talking con men. and WDmen. I ree.all that " PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHN L. BU~TON th .ctims were among the most tragIc ones that.. came mto our As Chairman of the Retirement Income and Employment Subcommittee of the offi~:. vAll were humiliated by the fact that they had beeI1:J taken in House Select Committee on" Aging, it is a privilege to work with my colleague in this fashion. Many were afraId to, CDm.e fDrward fDr ~ear of Geraldine Ferr~ro, on this most sedous topic of fra~d against the elderly.. I know that re risals from the criminals; others were concerned that no. other Committee Member is as well-qualified as Congresswoman Ferraro to chair th~~r fa~­ thIS Sl1bcom~ittee ~ea!hlg. She has both the determination and expariencfi! to lead ili~s would interpret the fact tha~ they had been cDnned as eVI­ the fight agamst crImmals who exploit the trust· and vulnerability of seniors for dence of senility, and all had lost sIZable sums Df mDney. financial gain. .. As we will soon learn, the amount Df mDney yve a~e. talking