PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Robert Gouge, Special Investigator
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
Phone: (302) 739-4211, Ext. 260
Date: August 16, 2004

ROXANA REST CARE HOME OPERATORS CHARGED WITH FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF RESIDENT

(Georgetown, DE): Attorney General Jane Brady announced that Angelia (note spelling) Gordon and her husband Douglas Gordon, owner/operators of the Roxana Rest Care Home were charged Friday with Financial Exploitation of an Infirm Adult and related charges involving an elderly resident of the rest care home. The victim is one of three elderly women living at the facility, which was operated out of the defendants’ home in Roxana. The defendants held a power of attorney to handle the victim’s financial affairs. The other two women’s financial assets were not available to the defendants.

Attorney General Brady said, “There is no justification for taking advantage of someone who, because of age, needs assistance managing their financial affairs. We have, and will continue to, vigorously prosecute these most serious cases.”

The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Services - Division of Long Term Care Residents Protection investigated the alleged financial exploitation of the victim. The investigation revealed that the victim’s funds had been used by the defendants for gambling, to purchase a boat and a truck, to help build an addition to the defendants’ house and to pay off the defendants’ significant debts. The defendants’ license to operate a rest and care facility has been revoked. The victim has been moved to another facility and DHSS is working with the remaining residents and their families to plan other placements. 

This charge of Financial Exploitation of an Infirm Adult is a felony because the value of the property which was stolen exceeds $100,000. If convicted on all counts, each defendant faces 16 years incarceration. 

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