Jim Granan, manager of South County’s branch of Seniors vs Crime located in Sun City Center, shows off a thank-you from State Attorney General Pam Bondi to two of his volunteers, Gail Gause and Larry Sullivan.
Penny Fletcher photo
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi recently sent her thanks to the Sun City Center branch of Seniors vs. Crime. The statewide organization was 25 years old in March, having been started by a partnership between former Attorney General Vern Thornton and the AARP.
The program was initiated to help those older than age 55 who have been — or who think they may become — victims of consumer fraud. The Attorney General’s Office, however, has recently told its volunteers they may help anyone of any age who asks for assistance, said Jim Granan, manager of South County’s Seniors vs. Crime office located in Sun City Center.
“We opened our office in February of 2008,” said volunteer Gail Gause.
“Norman Meyers, who used to teach at Stetson [University], was drafted to manage the office and help structure it,” said Granan, referring to an attorney who has since practiced locally.
All who work with the organization are volunteers, said Larry Sullivan.
“We have three ways to help. Some people come in with a problem, and we help them with that particular problem. But we also participate in trade shows and give talks to local organizations to inform them about our services. The third way we can help is to take on cases sent to us by the Attorney General’s staff by computer.”
Once a scam is reported to the office, the volunteers assign someone to follow it up.
Granan, Gause and Sullivan said that a lot of work is done during the winter season by Brian Stevenson, who was not present for the interview because he spends half the year up North.
“We work closely with our local Community Resource Deputy Jason Castillo,” said Granan.
“We keep a list and a file cabinet and make a file of every individual who comes in with a complaint,” Granan said. “This is the way we know that sometimes there are many complaining parties with the same problem.”
In 2013, the Sun City Center volunteers worked on 62 cases and did 69 assists, which are separate from complaints. The “assists” are when someone calls in and is referred elsewhere, such as the Sheriff’s Office or to an agency, Granan explained.
“We also had four criminal referrals and 12 complaints we worked on and turned over to other agencies,” he added.
For the year, the value of items recovered was $9,525.73. Clients received $20,520 back in monetary value.
Gause explained that sometimes a service person, such as a plumber or roofer, might start a job and not finish it, or take money in advance and not do the job. Other times, service people can get shorted if they contract to do a job for a certain amount and then find much more damage than was expected and are held to the original amount in a contract.
“It can work both ways,” Granan said. “Let’s say there was plumbing damage, and the plumber came in and, while fixing that, the carpet was ruined. Fault must be investigated to be certain the right parties are reimbursed or paid.”
Pat Hanna is regional director of Seniors vs. Crime, Granan said. “He came personally to our district, which consists of Hillsborough, Polk and Pinellas counties, and thanked us [for our help]. He reports to Don Ravenna, who is in charge of all the Florida sites.”
Still, the group remains a special project of the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
The examples of what the group can do are varied.
“Fred and Bryan are neighbors in Kings Point,” Granan said. “They were part of a group of five neighbors who complained about a driveway resurfacing problem. Because we had several complaints about the same thing, we went after the person who had performed inferior work, and he promised he would make it good.”
He did, and so five homeowners were helped even though their efforts only reflected in one “case.”
A recurring problem is yard work.
“People often pay in advance for yard work, maybe by the month, and then they pay ahead and the work is never done,” Granan said.
Another current scam concerns people who want to sell their time shares, said Gause. The con artist sends out free lunch invitations to people they know are desperate to sell, and then collects money up front and disappears, she explained.
Never pay upfront in such a case, she said. Charges that are recurring are often made inadvertently online as well, she said.
Anyone who thinks they have been scammed, or who wants to check something out before entering into an agreement, may call 800-203-3099 or visit www.seniorsvs.crime.com.
In South County, they may visit the local office at 137 S. Pebble Beach Blvd., (on the second floor) Suite 204, or call 813-634-8666. The email there is seniorsvscrimescc@verizon.net.
This program is open to anyone who thinks they may be involved in a scam or have been defrauded.