A California elder law attorney whose website says that for more than two decades he has been “championing the elderly and ensuring they are not taken advantage of” has been charged with financial elder abuse, grand theft and securities fraud for allegedly advising a 90-year-old client to liquidate all his investments and persuading the man’s 66-year-old daughter to invest in the attorney’s cat litter box invention.
Sacramento attorney Delbert Joe Modlin, 63, was arrested on August 26 (2014) and initially held on $500,000 bail, which was reduced to $100,000 in return for his agreement to stop practicing law and seeing clients until the conclusion of criminal proceedings.
According to court papers, Modlin advised the elderly man to liquidate all his investments and persuaded the man’s daughter to invest $120,000 in a new cat litter box Modlin allegedly had invented.
However, the state charges that Modlin failed to disclose information that a “reasonable prudent investor would consider significant” -- that he was already awaiting trial on felony charges in the handling of an elderly couple's property, that he had a "severe gambling problem," and that he had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 and 2012.
Modlin is also accused of obscuring negative Internet information about himself by hiring a company to “manipulate search engines,” which included the creation of new websites that lauded his expertise and compassion in handling the affairs of elders. One website states that “(Modlin) has found a passion in elder law that few other attorneys can match.”
Modlin’s attorney, Michael Farley, characterized the matter as “complicated,” but noted that even conscientious attorneys can find themselves unfairly accused of abuse.
For coverage of the case in the Sacramento Bee, click here.
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