Florida - Monday April 17, 2023: The Florida Senate passed SB 232, Exploitation of Vulnerable Persons, by Senator Ileana Garcia (R-Miami), Chair of the Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs.
The legislation creates specific penalties for exploiting a person 65 years of age or older by obtaining or using, through deception or intimidation, the property of a person 65 years of age or older with the intent to deprive that person of the use, benefit, or possession of the property. This includes obtaining the property of a person 65 years of age or older through fraudulent creation of a plan of a will, trust, or other testamentary. Additionally, the bill creates specific penalties for depriving, with the intent to defraud and by means of bribery or kickbacks, a person 65 years of age or older of his or her intangible right to honest services provided by an individual who has a legal or fiduciary relationship with such person.
If the funds, assets, or property involved in the exploitation are valued at: $50,000 or more, the offender commits a level 7 first degree felony; $10,000 or more, but less than $50,000, the offender commits a level 6 second degree felony; or, less than $10,000, the offender commits a level 4 third degree felony. It does not constitute a defense to a prosecution for any violation of this section that the accused did not know the age of the victim.
“Our seniors are our trophies. They have made up the fabric of my district and so many other communities across our state," said Senator Garcia. "They are the reason I made sure that here in the Florida Senate, I don’t just represent them, I protect them."
The National Council on Aging estimates that 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 60 have experienced elder abuse, which can include financial exploitation. According to the most recent report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2021, over 92,000 victims over the age of 60 reported losses of $1.7 billion to the. This represents a 74 percent increase in losses over losses reported in 2020.