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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKEPORT – Following a five-week trial a local woman has been convicted of felony financial elder abuse and neglect.
On Wednesday, a jury convicted Glenhaven resident Shauna Michelle Brewster, 53, of one count of felony financial elder abuse and one felony count of elder abuse/neglect, according to Senior District Attorney Rachel Abelson, who prosecuted the case and is assigned to all elder abuse cases in the Lake County District Attorney's Office.
Brewster, who was defended by attorney Don Anderson, faces five years in prison, Abelson said.
The crimes allegedly were committed over a year-and-a-half-long period against 75-year-old Glenhaven resident Lawrence Russell, for whom Brewster became private conservator in early 2003, said Abelson.
Russell had been previously conserved by a jury and found to be “unable to provide for his needs for physical health, food, clothing, shelter” and that he was “substantially unable to manage his financial resources or to resist fraud or undue influence.” The public guardian served as his conservator for a brief period of time before Brewster agreed to be his conservator, Abelson said.
She said the theft was most egregious during Russell’s stay at Meadowood Skilled Nursing Facility in Clearlake.
The financial abuse came to light when Russell's medical bills, mortgage and other bills went unpaid, said Abelson. Russell's home had gone into foreclosure after payments were not made for seven months, and almost no money was left in Russell's checking account.
Brewster, as Russell's conservator, had the authority and responsibility to control his finances for his benefit, said Abelson.
Thanks to the attention and care of Meadowood Skilled Nursing Facility Staff and other individuals involved with the conservatorship proceedings, the Lake County District Attorney’s office got involved in the investigation of abuse and filed charges, Abelson reported.
Abelson said the elder abuse/neglect charge resulted from a series of events in which Russell was placed in situations that left his health endangered, including a situation where he sustained second- to third-degree burns on portions of his upper body.
The burns were not treated properly and became infected, said Abelson. Thanks to the quick intervention of Lake County Adult Protective Services and other concerned neighbors he was hospitalized to treat these injuries.
Russell's last hospitalization on Jan. 17, 2007, resulted in a diagnosis of neglect by the treating doctors and ultimately led to his placement at the skilled nursing facility, where he remained until his death in May of 2007, Abelson said.
Brewster's jury trial commenced in front of Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann on Oct. 28. Abelson said the lengthy trial spanned approximately five weeks with periodic breaks.
During the trial it was revealed that Brewster was passing checks to her boyfriends, manicurist or at a local grocery store for cash back, according to Abelson.
During the approximate three months Russell was at Meadowood Skilled Nursing Facility there was approximately $4,000 in cash back she received, Abelson said. There was little evidence that the $4,000 in cash was used for Russell's benefit.
The prosecution’s case included more than a dozen witnesses and thousands of pages of evidence. Abelson said Lake County District Attorney Elder Abuse Investigator Martina Santor investigated the case.
Brewster, whose booking sheet lists her profession as mediator, also has used the last names of Armstrong, Fullmer and Barnes, and has warrants out of Sacramento County for violation of the felony probation cases she has there, said Abelson. Brewster remains in the Lake County Jail without bail due to those outside agency warrants.
Sentencing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2009, Abelson said.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The VA clinic slated to open locally is one of 31 to be opened in 16 states. All but two of the clinics are slated to open in 2010.
Frank Parker, president of Lake County United Veterans Council, said he thinks the decision to locate a clinic here will have a profound – and positive – impact on local vets.
“It's going to make life a lot easier on the veterans in this county,” he said.
Dean Gotham, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 951, agreed with Parker's assessment about the clinic, which he said is needed.
In announcing the new clinics, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake said the new facilities will bring VA care closer to the veterans who have earned it.
The two states with the most planned new clinics are Michigan and California. Besides Lake County, California is expected to get new clinics in Oakhurst, Susanville and Yuba County, all of them having the 2010 opening date.
The new clinics will be part of the the largest integrated health care system in the country, run by the VA, which has 153 hospitals and about 745 community-based clinics. The VA’s medical care budget of more than $41 billion this year will provide health care to about 5.8 million people during nearly 600,000 hospitalizations and more than 62 million outpatient visits.
The community-based outpatient clinics, or CBOCs, will become operational by late 2010, with some opening in 2009. Local VA officials will keep communities and their veterans informed of milestones in the creation of the new CBOCs.
This new expansion in the health care system comes on the heels of Congress' recent passage of the largest veterans health care funding increase in the VA's 77-year history, according to Congressman Mike Thompson's office. Since January 2007, funding for veterans has been increased by more than $16 billion.
The increased funding means 15,000 new VA health care workers – among them 1,705 new doctors and 6,468 new nurses – as well as more medical services, better care and shorter waiting times for doctors' appointments for the 5.8 million veterans who rely on the system, according to Thompson's office.
The funding also will add more than 5,200 new case workers to reduce the six-month delay for the nearly 400,000 veterans backlogged in the system waiting to receive their earned benefits.
County Veterans Service Officer Jim Brown said Tuesday that the announcement means that the county's large veteran population – spanning the time from World War II to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – won't have to travel to clinics in Ukiah and Santa Rosa.
That will be especially important for older veterans, said Brown. “Care closer to home is far more important, especially when you've got some chronic illnesses.”
He said having a clinic closer also will be important for preventive care, such as routine checkups, which he said has been missing for local veterans.
Lake County is home to about 8,000 veterans; Brown estimated between 2,500 and 4,500 use the VA health care system. That high per capital population helped land the clinic.
Brown said a local clinic has been on the drawing board for a long time, and he's worked with Thompson's office since about 2000 to get a clinic here.
“The need has always been here, it's just been getting the VA's funding,” he said.
In a Tuesday statement, Thompson – himself a Vietnam veteran – lauded the VA for the clinic decision.
“We always have to remember that the services and benefits we have in place for veterans are not what veterans deserve to get, it’s what they have earned,” Thompson said. “That’s why we’ve been working in Congress to make sure that vets are treated with respect and have access to the care and services they have earned for their service. This new center will mean a huge improvement in the quality of care for Lake County’s 8,000 veterans.”
In 2006, Lake County was supposed to be on the list of new clinic locations but for some reason wasn't included, said Brown. Because of that, he's still a little cautious about the clinic actually becoming a reality, although he concedes, “It finally looks like it is going to get here.”
Brown said that he expects the clinic will be located in the south county – either in Clearlake or Lower Lake – because the area is home to the largest number of veterans in the county.
Normally, the VA rents space for their clinics, often near a hospital since the clinics usually don't have x-rays or labs, Brown said.
Just when the clinic will open isn't clear. “Nobody has given us a firm date yet,” he said. “My hope would be that if they could get that done sooner it would happen.”
More complicated health care procedures will still require that veterans travel to Fort Miley in San Francisco, said Brown. Five days a week, a van provided by the Disabled American Veterans and driven by volunteers leaves at 6 a.m. from Clearlake for the daylong trip to take veterans to health appointments at the VA facility.
Both Gotham and Parker say they drive to Ukiah or Santa Rose to be treated in the VA system.
“They do a good job over there,” Gotham said of the Ukiah clinic.
He added that the issue is not quality but, rather, the drive time for local vets to get back and forth to medical appointments.
A lot of veterans, particularly those who served during the Vietnam War, have post traumatic stress disorder, he said. “And they're making us drive all over the state.”
Not having to spend hours traveling to doctors will be a big boon to local veterans, who have wanted the clinic, said Parker. “It's going to take a big load off of them financially, mentally.”
Gotham announced the new clinic to the Vietnam Veterans of America meeting Tuesday night, said Parker – news which received a round of applause.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 30, of Lakeport is facing a murder charge for the November 20, 2007, death of 67-year-old Michael Dodele, who lived in the Western Hills Mobile Home Park in the unincorporated portion of Lakeport.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said Oliver's preliminary hearing is scheduled to start at 8:15 a.m. in Judge Arthur Mann's Department 3 courtroom.
Besides the murder charge, Oliver is facing a charge of having a weapon in jail. Less than a month after his arrest for Dodele's murder, a jail correctional officer found him with a shank he had made from a plastic toothbrush.
Hinchcliff, who is prosecuting the case, said Oliver is alleged to have killed Dodele because he believed he was a child molester.
Following the murder last year, the murder drew national attention because Oliver had reportedly found Dodele on the Megan's Law Web site, which tracks those convicted of crimes of a sexual nature.
The unclear language of Dodele's list of charges is alleged to have led Oliver to his incorrect conclusion that Dodele had perpetrated a crime against a child.
However, Dodele – who had moved to Lakeport a few weeks before the murder – had actually been convicted of raping a woman in Sonoma County and sent to prison in early 1988. He had only been released from prison a short time before his death, as Lake County News has reported.
Oliver was scheduled for a preliminary hearing last June, but a number of delays pushed the hearing out farther.
One of the factors in delaying his local court appearances was his prosecution in San Diego County, along with his half-brother, on illegal dumping charges.
Oliver was indicted last December for conspiracy and aiding and abetting in dumping hazardous materials in a creek in San Diego County.
Assistant US Attorney Melanie K. Pierson of the US Attorney's Office's Southern District said that Oliver was convicted of the charges.
“In the sentencing in the federal criminal case he was sentenced to 15 months in custody for violating the federal hazards waste law,” said Pierson.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported arresting Matthew S. Bell, 25, in Montgomery County on Dec. 8.
Also arrested was Alexander K. Lojek, 28, of San Francisco.
The agency said in a written statement that a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer stopped a vehicle traveling along Interstate 70 driven by Lojek.
After Lojek and Bell allegedly gave the officer conflicting information, the officer began searching the vehicle with a K-9.
According to the report, the vehicle search revealed 9 pounds of marijuana, 102 pills of Hydrocodine, 174 pills of Valium and 86 pills of Oxycodine.
The contraband was located in packages wrapped as Christmas presents, the agency reported.
Lojek and Bell were arrested and charged with four counts of felony possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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