Felony Cases Drop But Elder Abuse Raises Alarm in Missoula
Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 13 new felony complaints this week, which is nine fewer than last week and lower than the weekly average. County Attorney Matt Jennings said six of those were out-of-custody cases that they had been working on for a long time.
“We had four violent crimes and four endangerment crimes, which is, in this case, a little bit related to some of the violent crimes,” Jennings said. “We had three property crimes and two administrative crimes, which were fugitives that were caught within our jurisdiction. The violent crimes this week were a little bit odd. We had two stabbings, and we had one other incident that did involve a knife and sort of a threat of stabbing.”
According to Jennings, they’ve been having a lot of knife and stabbing incidents recently but he also wanted to highlight another trend he is noticing, elder abuse.
Negligent Homicide Charge
“We ended up charging a negligent homicide this week that relates to taking care of an elderly person within the home,” Jennings said. “I rarely see these starting as malicious, like somebody meant to hurt somebody. But the burden of caring for older people, the financial issues, and struggling with health conditions like dementia or Alzheimer's can cause a lot of stress.”
Jennings said these manifest in a couple of problematic areas.
“One is financial exploitation,” Jennings said. “One day you're helping buy groceries for your loved one, and then the next thing you know, you've got the checkbook and you're going to the casino and using somebody's money for something you shouldn't. Sadly, we do see those trends pretty regularly. We also see physical injuries or omissions, meaning somebody needs health care or, in this case, gets very badly injured, and there's no medical care sought for that person.”
They Will Prosecute
Jennings said that can be a form of negligence or abuse of an older person.
“If somebody does have their bank accounts wiped out in a malicious manner or is hurt or killed, those are crimes in the state of Montana,” Jennings said. “We will prosecute those because these are some of the most vulnerable people in our community. They cared for us when we were young, and they deserve that respect as they get older.”
Jennings encouraged folks to call Adult Protective Services or Missoula Aging Services if they need help.
READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports
The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back.
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