Deadly Leaches
They are in their twilight years, as it is so fancifully put. They require special care in many instances, their health failing, not only physical but psychological as well. Some of them want to continue to be independent. Others agree to enable their families to place them in 'retirement' homes. Some of these institutions are government-approved and inspected and others simply are not, because they are private enterprises, after all.
There are certain standards to be met, but in some of these places it is up to friends and family to be alert on behalf of those being cared for. People suddenly disappear, and other people wonder where they may have gone to. Sometimes missing persons' reports are filed with the authorities and sometimes they are not. Occasionally the fact that people are simply not where they are supposed to be goes unnoticed until a significant amount of time has passed.
When authorities are alerted after a lengthy passage of time between when they are informed and when the people in question have last been seen, clues and potential evidence may not be available. But sometimes there are connections to vanishings, and sometimes those connections are very revelatory.
One thing is notable; when a retirement home places "Christian" into their title, they immediately become reliable, trustworthy.
Words are weighted with meaning. How could anyone operating a retirement home with the word Christian incorporated into the name of the place ever be suspect of ill deeds? There were two retirement homes operating in the Huntsville, Ontario area. The Fernglen Manor and Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home, owned by the same family.
As people age and become frail, their health requiring more attention than relatives can spare, the presence of such guilt-alleviating, care-giving places becomes tempting. When three men who had been admitted to the Fernglen Manor and Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home disappeared, no one noticed.
Additionally, the owners, named Laan, had a habit of taking in elders from Toronto-area shelters.
The disappearances of three men were not reported to police. And when authorities did become aware of the residents' absence, they thought their investigation would be related to homicides. They searched for remains, but found nothing relating to a violent crime. But they did discover something amiss with the Old Age Security and Pension Plan benefits accruing to the now-absent seniors.
Whose total value came to $120,000; and which were being drawn from the bank accounts of three missing seniors along with those of three deceased seniors who had lived in the retirement homes operated by the Laan family. Walter, Paul and Catherine Laan were eventually convicted of unlawfully taking possession of the seniors' government-issued cheques.
One of the brothers had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for several home invasions; during one of which he robbed a 90-year-old woman. The Laan family's retirement homes were shut down. They were unscrupulous predators who had discovered a certain source of income through the operation of retirement homes for seniors, along with a formula to assure relatives that all was well.
And when greed got the better of them they simply went too far in attempting to secure for themselves government funding meant for individual seniors, under clearly criminal conditions. None of them have been accused yet of murder, although there remains the mystery of what might have occurred to the missing men.
There are certain standards to be met, but in some of these places it is up to friends and family to be alert on behalf of those being cared for. People suddenly disappear, and other people wonder where they may have gone to. Sometimes missing persons' reports are filed with the authorities and sometimes they are not. Occasionally the fact that people are simply not where they are supposed to be goes unnoticed until a significant amount of time has passed.
When authorities are alerted after a lengthy passage of time between when they are informed and when the people in question have last been seen, clues and potential evidence may not be available. But sometimes there are connections to vanishings, and sometimes those connections are very revelatory.
One thing is notable; when a retirement home places "Christian" into their title, they immediately become reliable, trustworthy.
Words are weighted with meaning. How could anyone operating a retirement home with the word Christian incorporated into the name of the place ever be suspect of ill deeds? There were two retirement homes operating in the Huntsville, Ontario area. The Fernglen Manor and Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home, owned by the same family.
As people age and become frail, their health requiring more attention than relatives can spare, the presence of such guilt-alleviating, care-giving places becomes tempting. When three men who had been admitted to the Fernglen Manor and Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home disappeared, no one noticed.
Additionally, the owners, named Laan, had a habit of taking in elders from Toronto-area shelters.
The disappearances of three men were not reported to police. And when authorities did become aware of the residents' absence, they thought their investigation would be related to homicides. They searched for remains, but found nothing relating to a violent crime. But they did discover something amiss with the Old Age Security and Pension Plan benefits accruing to the now-absent seniors.
Whose total value came to $120,000; and which were being drawn from the bank accounts of three missing seniors along with those of three deceased seniors who had lived in the retirement homes operated by the Laan family. Walter, Paul and Catherine Laan were eventually convicted of unlawfully taking possession of the seniors' government-issued cheques.
One of the brothers had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for several home invasions; during one of which he robbed a 90-year-old woman. The Laan family's retirement homes were shut down. They were unscrupulous predators who had discovered a certain source of income through the operation of retirement homes for seniors, along with a formula to assure relatives that all was well.
And when greed got the better of them they simply went too far in attempting to secure for themselves government funding meant for individual seniors, under clearly criminal conditions. None of them have been accused yet of murder, although there remains the mystery of what might have occurred to the missing men.
Labels: Human Relations, Ontario, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ 6:24 PM
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