PORT ST. LUCIE \u2013 A 60-year-old woman was arrested on Sept. 17 by Port St. Lucie Police on alleged fraud, exploitation and neglect of an elderly victim from a case which began last March, police said in a Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
An 84-year-old man was found injured on March 18 on the floor of his Port St. Lucie home by his caregiver, Barbara Ann Baumgarten, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
The man initially told police that four men came into his house and assaulted him, but detectives did not find anyone entering or leaving the house or the property on surveillance video, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
There were no signs of forced entry or theft, and the victim provided inconsistent accounts of what occurred, investigators said.<\/p>\n
The initial allegations were ultimately unfounded, and detectives determined the victim was experiencing significant cognitive issues, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
Detectives, however, continued to monitor the victim\u2019s overall well-being and circumstances and found that he became increasingly dependent on Baumgarten, who assumed significant control over the victim\u2019s finances and legal affairs, by becoming his power of attorney and health-care surrogate, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
The investigation then shifted toward concerns of elder exploitation and neglect and grew into an extensive, months-long investigation documented in a 45-page investigative report, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
Detectives also found evidence that the victim was isolated from family and friends and that changes had been made to his estate documents to benefit Baumgarten, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
From March 2023 to April of this year, the victim\u2019s financial assets went from $105,971 to about $4,897.<\/p>\n
Investigators also uncovered a $616,550 mortgage on Baumgarten\u2019s home in which the victim was listed as a co-borrower, despite the property was only in Baumgarten\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
The victim claimed he was unaware that his signature appeared on the mortgage, according to the Facebook posting.<\/p>\n
Detectives worked with healthcare providers, caregivers, family members, financial institutions, and other agencies to establish the full extent of the circumstances surrounding the victim\u2019s care and finances.<\/p>\n
The Florida Department of Children and Families ultimately substantiated allegations of exploitation and determined that the victim lacked the capacity to independently make his own decisions.<\/p>\n
As a result, the victim was removed from Baumgarten\u2019s care, placed under a temporary guardianship, and reunited with his family.<\/p>\n
Port St. Lucie Police, with assistance from the Marshals Task Force, arrested Baumgarten on charges of grand theft from a person 65 or older; exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult; and neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult.<\/p>\n
Baumgarten is currently being held in St. Lucie County Jail on a $310,000 bond, as of Sept. 18, according to the jail web site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2013 A 60-year-old woman was arrested on Sept. 17 by Port St. Lucie Police on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-404749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}