Need URGENT advice from any Florida Law Enforcement Professionals!!

Hi all,

This is a long rant so please read it all for the full picture of my plight.

I come to ATS today asking for any advice if there are any police officers or law enforcement affiliated persons on here who could please help me. I am a dual U.S./U.K. citizen and I have decided to move back to the U.S.A. to help my dad take care of his house. He is in his 70's and he is a terrible hoarder, his house was covered in dog mess and stacked with all kinds of junk much like you see on T.V.

For years now my dad has had a neighbor and her kids calling him up asking him for checks for bills, to buy cars and other requests. He installed them a pool at over $35,000, and pays ALL THEIR BILLS.

The scam started in 03 when the lady in question called him offering him sex and tried to get them to marry even though my parents were still married, well my mom found out and they divorced in 06. He caused me to have to move back to the U.K. because I had nowhere to live. I have been coming back every chance I can afford in order to clean his house and make sure he is ok. I found that he had taken all our family pictures and replaced it with her 2 children. Then after he didn't want sex, she got the kids to call him "dad" and ask him to pay $22,000 a year to private school.

In the meantime on one of my visits I found bank statements showing he was transferring all his money into trust for her and her kids. The phone rang every day two or three times where she got her kids to call asking for checks for all kinds of stuff.

Think that's bad? Here's the kicker.....

I am in Florida at the minute as I now have a fiance and kids and we all want to be here now I can afford to come back and my obligations in the U.K. have ended. The second the woman in question hears that we want to move back, she decides that the kids should no longer call my father "dad" , they should call him grandpa to compete with my children, his real grandchildren. Not only that but she has the kids call his Catholic Church (he is devout), and arrange a special ceremony to make them his official grandchildren in the eyes of the church!!!!

My dad is not in the right mind, he thinks her children are the sweetest things on earth and every time I talk to him about it and tell him he is being ripped off, he snaps on me and threatens to punch me in the jaw!

Today was the last straw. My dad went to the bank to try and withdraw $10,000 to help her dog with his anxiety attacks!

Ok, so this is the story in a nutshell...I spoke to the police one before and they said "sorry nothing we can do" but surely this can't be allowed to happen? I am worried that when he runs out of money he will not be able to look after himself and I cannot afford to help him....

We are in Apopka, Florida and I am here now until the end of July I just need advice on what I can do to stop this woman and her kids scamming him...I can to ATS because I know the community always has someone willing to help

Thankyou very much,

Darkjedig

you need to speak to a lawyer asap, obviously something is wrong and you need to have the law on your side.

Have u contacted a lawyer??

Does your dad have Alzheimer's or dimentia? You say he isn't in the right state of mind which is why I ask.
I'd contact a lawyer and see what your options are.

I live not far from there and know a few Orlando lawyers I could talk to and give them ur story and see if they can help or advise you.

What this woman is doing is WRONG!

My mom dealt with something like this with my step grandfather after my Nana passed away. His own kids scammed him to remarry his first wife for his pension! He did it and he has Alzheimer's and dimensia! It was a different state so it was hard to prove. My grandfather has no idea and his kids never visit him. They put him in a home it's sad they just wanted his money which I'm sure he would have given them anyway. I do not like people who take advantage of others ESP kids and the elderly.


Good luck and I'll u2u tomorrow if they give me any advice for you.

this is #ing sick, but i dont have any idea on what you could do bro gl though

Attorney General?

Check their backgrounds out, maybe there are other cases.

reply to post by DARKJEDIG


People like that in this world make me sick.
I am so very sorry your dad has been sucked into helping such leeches.
This may be hard, but, you pretty much only have two choices;

1) Disown your father and let him know exactly why he is ruining his life. If he was truly helping those people then they would be returning the favor in some sort of way and furthering themselves. DO NOT let them ruin him and have your fathers bad decisions come back onto you where you have to support him AND quite possibly the neighbors (at his request because he will drag them onto you after they talk him into it).

2) Scare the family away by any means you can. Horse heads in beds are acceptable at this point in time.


Those are the two main choices you have. Though, i just thought of a third one.
3) Come up with some way to divert his money towards you by means of dire situations and save it up so when he is broke you can trickle the money back towards him so you can make sure it will help him and none will be left over to help those abysmal things he calls neighbors.

Get the paper trail for everything, record video audio as much as you can, get your pops to a doctor and get him diagnosed so you can get power of attorney.

Build your case before "she" finds out.... I'm not a professional, but i thought I'd throw my suggestions out.
Sorry to hear all that, that sucks.

Best of luck to you, hopefully someone with some law, etc experience can get you the help you need.

I want to thank everyone for your quick and helpful responses. This is what I love about ATS and I really am grateful...It truly is a sad and depressing situation for me and my family. I think I will indeed have to contact an attorney I just hope I can afford it.

Another thing is my mother is here too who has divorced him but she came to help him clean the house and also to help us look for houses because we will be moving back permanently once my fiance's visa comes through. He actually left me and my mom in the house cleaning his dog # and scrubbing the place down while he took this family out to eat. He left us in the house with no way to get any food. It is disgusting.

The thing is, he can appear completely normal to most people, its when you really know him you can tell their is something not right. He talks about these kids like they are the best thing since sliced bread. I am collecting whatever I can get my hands on, and I took before and after pics of his house when we cleaned it. There is also a large framed picture of the church grandfather ceremony I mentioned so I took pics of that. It is framed in his bedroom.

Yesterday was bad.....This lady sent her kids over in their new electric buggy to show off to me and my kids what "THEIR GRANDPA" had bought them. I nearly lost it with them I could have snapped.

I wanted to wait till november when my Fiance's visa comes through before I did anything because we are just here for the summer vacation to look at property while our house in the U.K. sells. Maybe I could get something started while im here? I don't know

Thanks again everybody.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
Have u contacted a lawyer??

Does your dad have Alzheimer's or dimentia? You say he isn't in the right state of mind which is why I ask.
I'd contact a lawyer and see what your options are.

I live not far from there and know a few Orlando lawyers I could talk to and give them ur story and see if they can help or advise you.

Good luck and I'll u2u tomorrow if they give me any advice for you.

This is something that I should do...any info would be great and If I could get a good consultation perhaps it would set my mind at ease...Thanks again.

reply to post by DARKJEDIG


no problem

I have a few customers who are lawyers in Orlando and they have always been helpful when I ask their advice.

Call the Florida Department of Children and Families at:
1-800-962-2873
Press 2 to report suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation of the elderly or a vulnerable adult

Good Luck!

You want to go to court and file for an injunction so that she can't get any more money. In addition, you apply for temporary guardianship over your father's affairs. You can do this by going to the circuit court in your town.
To get guardianship of an adult, you will need to fill out several forms to file at court:

Petition for Appointment of Guardian for Disabled Person and Probate Cover Sheet: On the Petition you will have to give an estimate of the respondent's personal assets (bank accounts, cars, etc.), real property owned (real estate), total yearly income that may include: pensions, social security, disability, wages.

Exhibit A - Petition for Appointment of Guardian for Disabled Person: Exhibit A lists the closest living adult relatives of the disabled person. Everyone listed in Exhibit A must get a Notice of Motion.

Oath and Bond of Representative: The Oath and Bond of Representative certifies that the guardian will handle all duties as the disabled person's representative.

Summons for the Appointment of Guardian for Disabled Person with Notice of Rights of Respondent: The Summons and Notice will be served on the respondent by the Sheriff. This tells the respondent that someone is seeking Guardianship of him or her, and notifies the respondent of the time, date and place of the guardianship hearing.

Notice of Motion to the Respondent's Relatives: This form tells the respondent's relatives that a Petition of Guardianship has been filed and gives the time, date and place of the hearing. A Notice of Motion along with a copy of the Petition must be sent to the respondent's spouse, parents, adult children, any brothers or sisters of the respondent (everyone who is listed on Exhibit A). If none are alive, or you do not know where they are, then any next of kin must be notified.

Doctor's Report: To get guardianship of a disabled adult, that adult must be examined by a Florida doctor no longer than 90 days from the date the petition is filed. The doctor must complete the Doctor's Report.

There are 3 different kinds of Orders. Use the one that is right for your case:

Order Appointing Guardian Ad Litem of Disabled Person: A Guardian Ad Litem investigates whether guardianship is in the best interest of the disabled person. If the judge decides to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem, he or she will sign the order.
Order Appointing Plenary Guardian of Disabled Person: A plenary guardianship allows the guardian to make nearly all decisions for the individual (it combines Guardianship of Person and Guardianship of Estate). If the judge decides to appoint you as plenary guardian he or she will sign the order.
Order Appointing Limited Guardian of Disabled Person: A limited guardian can only make decisions for the respondent that the court allows. If the judge decides to appoint you as limited guardian of the respondent, he or she will sign the order.

You can get all of these forms with instructions at the court house. If you are confused go to your county's free legal services organization. Not sure what county you are in. They will instruct you what to do. You may be able to get a temporary restraining order against the woman until your case is heard. The court will point you in the right direction.
Florida Legal Help

Ill be driving through apopka this weekend on my way back to ohio,give me an address ill stop in and scare the crap out of them for you.not a problem.And yes im serious.

This is the same thing that happened to my uncle in oregon. You may want to check and see if florida has " elder abuse" laws in place, that is what the lady in oregon that was doing this to my uncle was charged with.

Originally posted by stormofnight
Ill be driving through apopka this weekend on my way back to ohio,give me an address ill stop in and scare the crap out of them for you.not a problem.And yes im serious.

This sounds great right about now lol. I would go sort this woman out myself though I fear it would jeopardize any legal action I would take. If there is nothing I can do by the law then me and you are in business lol. Thanks for the offer though nice to see there are a lot of helpful people out there.

Originally posted by lostviking
You want to go to court and file for an injunction so that she can't get any more money. In addition, you apply for temporary guardianship over your father's affairs. You can do this by going to the circuit court in your town.
To get guardianship of an adult, you will need to fill out several forms to file at court:

This is fantastic advice. I want to thank you for taking the time to write all this up. I think this is exactly what I need to do. Like I said, I've had enough of this and I do want to get something started while I'm here but we have to go back to the U.K. at the end of the month to complete the sale of our house and to wait for my fiance's visa (there's a 5 month backlog). What I don't want to do is start this off and then have to remain here while the process is complete and then I am away from my kids. Its a complicated situation.