By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights City Council on July 9 approved a drafted letter written in response to a Sacramento Grand Jury Report issued last month alleging law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County are not adequately addressing elder financial abuse cases.
The Sacramento County Grand Jury report, titled “No Equal Justice for Victims of Elder Financial Abuse,” found that over 97 percent of elder financial abuse cases confirmed by Adult Protective Services since 2019 “have fallen through the cracks,” and requested responses from multiple cities within Sacramento County, including Citrus Heights.
Read the Grand Jury report: Click here
In its findings, the report said law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County are not placing as much priority on elder financial abuse as other types of elder abuse, allowing abusers to “avoid consequences,” and is recommending law enforcement agencies hire a dedicated detective to handle elder financial abuse cases.
According to the report, from 2019 through 2024, Sacramento County Adult Protective Services (APS) confirmed almost 4,000 cases of elder financial abuse and referred 1,678 of those cases to law enforcement. According to data from the DA’s office, only 123 cases were referred to the District Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution, and the office only filed charges on 99 of the 123 cases.
Data was requested from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Sacramento Police Department, and Citrus Heights Police Department regarding the number of elder financial abuse cases investigated, and only Citrus Heights Police responded to the inquiry from the grand jury.
Data was not requested from the Elk Grove Police Department, Folsom Police Department, West Sacramento Police Department, or Galt’s police department, according to the report. The Rancho Cordova Police Department is comprised of personnel contracted from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Citrus Heights Police reported that over the five-year period referenced, 251 cases of financial elder abuse were received from APS, and the department also investigated a total of 288 incidents of fraud and scams of victims over 65 along with 86 elder abuse financial crime cases. Of the crimes investigated, the Police Department forwarded 68 cases to the DA’s office.
In its letter responding to the findings, the city of Citrus Heights said, “Due to finite resources, the Citrus Heights Police Department has prioritized elder violent crimes over the investigation of elder financial abuse cases. While a higher priority is placed on crimes of violence, our detectives investigate any elder abuse case with significant solvability factors.”
The city cited data from the police department, saying, in 2024, the Citrus Heights Police Department investigated 73 financial elder abuse cases, including 11 cross reports from APS. A total of 17 of those cases were referred to the District Attorney for prosecution.
In response to the Grand Jury’s finding that some local law enforcement agencies do not consistently collect data to track elder financial abuse cases received from APS, the city said its police department maintains “comprehensive” report and case management systems to track all submitted reports and the status of cases referred for investigation, and added that that system was used to gather data requested by the grand jury.
In response to the Grand Jury’s finding that community outreach on elder financial abuse is insufficient county-wide, the city wrote that members of the Police Department’s Command staff attend monthly neighborhood area meetings and provide “crime prevention updates” and that elder financial abuse is a regular topic provided to the elderly community.
Prior to approval of the letter, Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa added Wednesday night that the city has partnered with regional and state leaders in the past and has conducted and implemented community outreach meetings regarding elder financial abuse. Karpinski-Costa said the last community meeting was attended by hundreds of people. Karpinski-Costa’s comments were added to the letter before it was signed.
To the recommendation that the city’s Police Department should hire a dedicated detective with specialized training in order to investigate elder financial abuse crimes, the city said dedicating a detective to only one crime category would not be an “efficient use of a full-time position.”
“We utilize a general detective model where our detectives are able to handle a myriad of investigations. They do receive specialized training on a variety of topics, including elder financial abuse… As a medium-size agency, our personnel must be agile and respond to priority investigations across all disciplines,” the city wrote, adding that the Police Department prioritizes violent crimes, including murder and sexual assault.
While the city did not agree to hire a dedicated elder financial abuse crimes detective by Dec. 31, as the Grand Jury recommended, the city did agree to document specific elder financial abuse training undertaken by its officers before the end of the year.
Do you live in Citrus Heights and have been a victim of elder financial abuse? Let us know.
