DETROIT – A private message on Facebook alerted Faith Abdullah and her brother, Christopher Hood, that something just wasn't right with their cousin Edward.
The 91-year-old retired engineer had been living on his own until he became sick. When Abdullah and her brother got to the house, it was clear Edward wasn't well.
"That was probably the most heartbreaking thing I witnessed, him being in the middle of that living room in a bed and not getting the proper therapy," Hood said.
Hood and Abdullah called police and got Edward out of there and to the hospital. He has bed sores and other health issues, including the start of dementia.
The cousins then found out neighbors had been getting $2,800 per month from his savings account to be his so-called caregivers. Then they discovered serious irregularities with his finances. A worker at his credit union was controlling his accounts and spending her off-hours with him. Hood said the discrepancies in his accounts are in the tens of thousands of dollars.
"His accounts were shut down," Abdullah said. "There was money taken out and no receipts."
The Michigan Department of Heath and Human Services confirms it is conducting an elder abuse investigation into what happened. Hood said the FBI and Detroit police are also involved in investigating the financial irregularities.
The credit union is conducting an internal investigation, and when Hood called to speak to the worker in question, he was told she no longer works there.