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Elder Justice Initiative

Combatting elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation is a key priority of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.  Elder abuse is an intentional or negligent act by any person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to an older adult.  It is a term used to describe five subtypes of elder abuse:  physical abuse, financial fraud, scams and exploitation, caregiver neglect and abandonment, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse.

 

As part of this initiative, the office is actively engaged in efforts to:

  • Pursue skilled nursing facilities that provide grossly substandard care to seniors
  • Investigate and prosecute financial scams targeting or disproportionately impacting. seniors, such as romance fraud scams, gift card scams, government imposter scams, telephone and internet scams, as well as other types of scams.
  • Coordinating a task force of federal, state, local and community partners to address problem facilities and financial crime targeting older adults.
  • Provide training and resources to law enforcement and first responders to identify and respond to elder abuse.
  • Provide information and outreach to the community at large, particularly communities of older citizens.
    • Examples of outreach include:
      • Presenting to the community on how to avoid gift card scams.
         
      • Distributing educational materials to seniors via Meals on Wheels;
      • Joining with Maryland AARP for tele-town hall events focusing on fake COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, government imposter scams, and robocalls;
      • Presentations to seniors and over 55 communities;
         

If you believe you or a loved one may be a victim of elder abuse, contact the National Elder Fraud Hotline by calling 833-FRAUD-11/ 833-372-8311 or click here.

To contact the Elder Justice Coordinator at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, call 410-209-4800.

To see press releases from representative cases, please go to the News tab, and then filter by subtopic “Elder Justice”.

For more information about the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative, please visit elderjustice.gov for Outreach Resources or to Find Help or Report Abuse

 

Other Resources:

Protect Week - Protecting older Americans from financial exploitation at https://www.cccsmd.org/about-protect-week/#

Updated July 26, 2023