Horry County police see spike in elder abuse cases

A spike in elder abuse cases prompted Horry County police to allocate more resources to those crimes, including appointing a special investigator.

Police Chief Saundra Rhodes said her office began tracking elder abuse cases in the fall of 2014 and last year fielded 81 reports.

These cases, she said, are often difficult to investigate because of the physical state of the victim, the need for search warrants for medical and bank records, and instances where a victim suffers from Alzheimer’s.

“Elder abuses cases take about twice the amount of time to work than most other cases,” she said. “They’re difficult.”

Recently, county police investigated a case where a bedridden man and his wife were victims of their own sons and daughters, who used the man’s military retirement and disability checks for themselves and sold his war medals (the medals were later replaced).

The case led to five arrests.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Horry County police see spike in elder abuse cases."