Center for Law and Justice helps elderly couple scammed out of thousands
PART 1
Posted March 31, 2025 via Spectrum News 1, by Mark Groshgarian
Betty Runkle, 80, and her husband Phil live in a one-story home after they could no longer manage the stairs in their old one.
"We're getting up in years and our children had left the nest," said Runkle.
Prior to moving, Runkle approached a man, Jeffrey Wackwitz, painting a porch on her street and hired him to help them move, as well as make modifications to their new home.
Improvements included a larger kitchen with new cabinets, a solid wall where glass sliders once stood, a new bathroom and a new front door, relocated closer to the driveway.
"Excited, but it didn't last very long," said Runkle.
That's because Wackwitz didn't do any of the work, as the couple grew frustrated waiting for him to start.
"He was a bonafide liar," she said. "We would give him money for stuff and he would buy it he said and put it in storage."
Instead, Runkle says he kept the money for himself and made excuses as to why he couldn't get materials out of storage.
The couple found themselves in severe debt, their home in foreclosure, their vehicle repossessed and their house stripped for parts.
"Very frustrating," she said. "My husband was having a nervous breakdown, literally. And eventually, he had a stroke."
Runkle then called the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office, after which a number of agencies got involved, including Adult Protective Services and the Center for Elder Law and Justice.
"I thought I needed to do something because I was tired of being taken advantage of. And I like to stand up for my rights," said Runkle.
"It is fairly common to see financial exploitation amongst older adults," said Mike Lee, a social worker with the Center for Elder Law and Justice.
Lee is part of the enhanced multidisciplinary team that reviews cases like the Runkle's.
"It's always incredibly frustrating," said Lee. "It takes a lot to unpack the cases where it is that trusted individual in somebody's life."
Lee says scams like this happen all the time to older adults, yet many don't come forward.
"And it's not something you need to be ashamed of or embarrassed about that it happened," he said. "That's not an action that you chose to take, somebody else chose to take your trust and take advantage of that. You didn't do anything wrong by trusting somebody in a reasonable manner."
Runkle is grateful for the support.
"I don't know what we would have done without them. We would have been totally lost," said Runkle.
In part two of this series, a look at what the Center for Elder Law and Justice does for its clients. There will also be an update on what happened to the contractor who failed to do the work he was hired to do.
View original story here: Help is available for older adults as scams are on the rise
PART 2
Posted April 1, 2025 via Spectrum News 1, by Mark Groshgarian
Mike Lee is a social worker with the Center for Elder Law and Justice, who, together with an enhanced multidisciplinary team, helps older adults who fall victim to scams.
"It can really be incredibly devastating to find out that you have been exploited by somebody that you depend on or even by a stranger," said Lee. Betty and Phil Runkle have been working with the center after the contractor they hired, Jeffrey Wackwitz, to work on their new home didn't do any of it, but kept taking money for materials and pocketing the cash.
The couple found themselves in severe debt, their home in foreclosure, their vehicle repossessed and their house stripped for parts.
"We bought this house with the idea that it was going to comfortable and nothing was getting done. I did go through a very big stage of depression watching the house sit here unfinished, feeling like we were never going to get anywhere," said Betty.
The center not only reviews each case, but offers free legal and counseling services, helping older adults regain control of their lives.
"It takes a lot of courage to reach out," said Lee. "We can only help if we know. We'll help manage the expectations of that client throughout the entire process."
The Runkles pursued a civil case against Wackwitz, but then filed criminal charges.
"I want to protect other people from him," said Betty.
Wackwitz was arrested and originally charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and fraud, reached a guilty plea on the endangerment charge, sentenced up to three years in state prison, ordered to pay $60,000 to the Runkles and slapped with an eight-year stay away order of protection.
He did repay $8,000 before reporting to Collins Correctional facility this past January.
"It feels good, because I feel I'm going to help other people not be scammed by this man," said Betty.
"You see a lot of pain. You see a lot of exploitation, so when you get to work on cases where you get to see a positive outcome, because all of the members of the team come together, it's incredibly satisfying," said Lee.
The Runkles are equally satisfied they eventually found a contractor and are doing better financially and emotionally.
"We were ignorant and naive," said Betty. "We got the man off the street. I recommend people do their homework first. We never checked any of his credentials. We took his word for it. And that was a big mistake."
View original story here: How the Center for Elder Law and Justice helps older adults
