Garden State Times

The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced legislation, S-1887, introduced by Senator Carmen Amato, which would create a new theft offense referred to as “financial exploitation of the elderly.” Assemblyman Brian Rumpf and Assemblyman Gregory Myhre have introduced A-4593, the Assembly companion legislation.

The 9th District Delegation issued the following statement following the advance of their legislative initiative to protect the elderly:

“Elder fraud continues to be a serious criminal concern in the state and, as a large segment of our constituents are senior citizens, we want to enhance protections under the law to combat this reprehensible crime committed against vulnerable persons.

“The provisions of our legislation would apply to circumstances when a person in a position of trust compels or induces an ‘elderly person’ to deliver property to the person in a position of trust or to a third person by means of fraud, false promise, extortion or intimidation. Persons in a position of trust would include, but not be limited to, a person who has a fiduciary obligation to an elderly person or who receives monetary or other valuable consideration for providing care for the elderly person.

“Elderly persons who would be specifically protected under our legislation include any person who is 60 years of age or older and is suffering from either a disease or infirmity associated with advanced age, or a mental disease.

“State law should absolutely be strengthened to crack down on criminals who deliberately prey on seniors to scam them out of their money or possessions.”

Under the delegation’s legislation, the theft offense of financial exploitation of an elderly person would be graded as a crime of the fourth degree, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both if the amount involved is less than $200. When the amount involved is at least $200 but does not exceed $75,000, it would be graded as a crime of the third degree, which is punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both. A theft involving an amount over $75,000 would continue to be graded as a crime of the second degree and is punishable by a fine of up to $150,000, a term of imprisonment from five to 10 years, or both.