DA CREATES UNIT TO FIGHT CON ARTISTS : EFFORT AIMED AT PROTECTING SENIORS.

Byline: Christopher Noxon Daily News Staff Writer

At first Esther Payne couldn't believe it. Then she didn't want anyone else to believe it.

Over two years, the 82-year-old retired special education teacher from Santa Ana was swindled of almost $250,000 by a kindly man who called himself Jim. He told her he was investing her money in annuities.

Prosecutors reviewing his accounts, however, say James Michael Cleary spent the money on personal luxuries like a flashy red Corvette and a deluxe home in Simi Valley, according to court documents.

When police discovered the scam earlier this year, the woman was reluctant to cooperate with authorities, said Dave Saunders, an investigator for the Ventura County's District Attorney's Office.

``She kept saying over and over again how nice he was,'' Saunders said. ``She was really embarrassed and didn't want everyone to know what had happened.''

Investigators soon discovered five other women with similar stories. Cleary was arrested in May and charged with grand theft and residential burglary. His trial is set for Dec. 3.

The case is typical of a class of crime that authorities call one of the most difficult to catch and to prosecute. Financial crimes against the elderly are perpetrated by both professional scam artists and loved ones whose relationships with their victims are much more complicated than that of a masked burglar or anonymous thief.

More often than not, victims are too afraid or ashamed to press charges or even report a crime.

But police and prosecutors in Ventura County say they are making a serious effort to crack down on schemes targeted at the elderly. At the fifth annual Inter Agency Elder Abuse Council conference last week, District Attorney Michael D. Bradbury announced that he recently formed a Family Protection Unit headed by a prosecutor specially trained to handle the cases.

Despite the problems in prosecuting the cases, authorities must do more to help senior citizens who have fallen prey to all sorts of financial crimes, Bradbury said.

``Every day it takes place hundreds of times in our county,'' he said. ``Be it a fraudulent investment scheme or telephone sale of an unneeded product at a grossly inflated price, removing money from a savings account to help a phony bank examiner catch a thief or to pay as good faith money to share in a larger sum.''

While some professional scam artists steal money over a period of months, others disappear as quickly as they appeared. In one case, an elderly couple from Fillmore was approached on their goat ranch by a man who identified himself as Dr. Alfonso Wushner de Bohemia. The man convinced them to give him $8,000 for a book he was publishing on a cure for cancer. Authorities intervened and forced him to return the check, but the man escaped prosecution.

Professional scam artists are not the only perpetrators of financial crimes. More cases that go unreported involve caretakers or family members who convince seniors to sign over Social Security checks, house deeds or bank account information, said Barbara Harris, chairwoman of the Ventura County Elder Abuse Council.

Police or social workers will sometimes find out about suspected abuse from friends, relatives or doctors, she said. But convincing victims to come forward is often impossible, she said.

``There's a real fear that if they turn this person in they will lose their care-giver or end up in a nursing home,'' Harris said. ``We're up against the fact that most of the time the perpetrator has already convinced the victim not to trust us. By the time we arrive, the victim is already convinced that we're the ones trying to take advantage of him.''

Saunders said other victims simply don't want to deal with the lengthy process of criminal justice.

``Just like anyone else, they don't exactly get excited at the prospect of a long, drawn-out court case,'' he said. ``Why should they want other people to know they've been taken?''

Convincing the victims that prosecution can stop an abuser or scam artist from hurting someone else can be enough, Saunders said. Payne, the 82-year-old victim of Cleary, eventually decided to help.

``At first she was really reluctant and scared and concerned about the criminal justice system,'' he said. ``But she was a really sweet lady and really wanted to do the right thing. She saw that by cooperating with us, she could prevent other people from being victimized in the future.''