Woman, 93, Robbed of $250,000, Kidnapped to Poland

Oct. 12, 2007 — -- A 93-year-old Florida woman was rescued last week from a Polish nursing home where, police allege, she had been dumped by a pair of kidnappers who stole $250,000 from her bank account.

The accused kidnappers, Aron Bell, 80, and his wife Henryka Bell, 59, are being held without bail in Palm Beach, Fla., and are charged with kidnapping, elderly exploitation, grand theft from a person older than 65 years of age and fraud.

Federal authorities operating out of the U.S. Embassy in Poland were led to Janina Zaniewska, 93, at a nursing home outside Warsaw four months after she was last seen at her condo complex, the Palm Beach Towers.

The Bells, Zaniewska said, told her they were taking her on a vacation to Poland, according to a Palm Beach Police Department report.

"Thank God you found me," she told Florida detectives who first reached her by phone.

The police accuse the Bells of befriending Zaniewska and stealing her life savings, spending all but $1,000 of $250,000 they took from her bank account to pay for their mortgage and other personal expenses.

The authorities were tipped off by Pamela Leikala, a bank manger who alerted police after she became suspicious of the Bells' involvement with Zaniewska's finances.

"This is a bad story with a great ending," Leikala told ABCNEWS.com, but would not further comment "because of the bank's privacy rules."

Leikala asked the Bells for a number in Poland at which she could call Zaniewska. When a Polish speaking friend called that number and reached a Polish air force base, Leikala contacted the police.

Through a local Polish-American society, investigators found Joseph Sadej, a Polish native living in Florida whom they asked to work on their behalf, making phones call to Poland.

"I made one call and a man picked up the phone but said he didn't know [Zaniewska]. He gave me another number and I spoke to a woman who gave me another number," Sadej told ABCNEWS.com. "I called that guy and he told me the whole story. That's how the detectives finally got her."

Little is known about Zaniewska's early life, other than she was born in Poland, emigrated to the United States as a girl and lived most of her life in Palm Beach, according to reports in the Palm Beach Post.

However, Aron Bell, also born in Poland, comes from a famous family. Though he changed his name after emigrating to the United States in 1952, Bell was the youngest of three brothers who survived the Holocaust and led a partisan army that saved the lives of more than 1,000 Polish Jews.

A book and History Channel documentary have been made about the brothers and a feature film, reportedly starring actor Daniel Craig, is in production.

The Bells' lawyer, Michael Wrubel, told the Palm Beach Post that Zaniewska displayed symptoms of dementia and the couple was only trying to help.

"She came to them and asked them for assistance with finances," Wrubel told the Post. "They're crushed and they're hurt. No good deed goes unpunished."

Wrubel told the Post that the Bells obtained power of attorney and distributed her savings across several accounts to increase their returns.

Since being returned to the United States, Zaniewska has been staying at a Florida nursing home.

Elder Fraud

The case, senior-rights activists said, sheds light on instances of "elder fraud" in which senior citizens are deceived and robbed.

The alleged kidnapping adds a rare twist on a common crime in which friends, family members or caregivers defraud older people.

"In general, this is a huge problem in markets like south Florida," said Ellen Morris, an elder law attorney in Palm Beach County.

"Oftentimes, seniors are robbed through fraud or duress," she said. "They can sue offending parties for undue influence ... exerting influence on someone in an incapacitated state to take advantage of them."

"Tracking elder fraud is difficult," said Sharon Merriman-Nai, project director of the National Center on Elder Abuse, a program run by the Department of Health and Human Services, "because every state has its own way of defining abuse and reporting numbers."

In 2004, there were 88,455 substantiated cases reported to adult protective services departments about abuse in domestic environments in 24 states. Approximately 15 percent of those cases related to financial exploitation of people over 65 years of age, Merriman-Nai said.

She said that for every one case that is substantiated, however, there are approximately five more that go unreported.

"Certainly, this is a very real problem; members of that generation are particularly susceptible because they have more assets. They tend to be more trusting, opening them to undue influence and a greater chance of being exploited," she said.

"Education is the greatest tool. The more people know to report their problems, the more likely we are to help."