Suspect Held in $167,000 Retiree Swindle : Crime: It’s the most ever taken in an elder-abuse case in the county, officials say, and is the second such arrest in a week.

Alone, blind and in a wheelchair, John Sunderman decided he desperately needed some housekeeping help. So the 80-year-old retired Yorba Linda lawyer placed an ad in a local newspaper, hiring Max Madayag, 45, from among the dozens of applicants.

But what Sunderman thought was the solution to his problems instead turned into a nightmare that made them far worse.

Madayag is suspected of stealing $167,000 from Sunderman’s investment accounts over the course of three months--the largest amount ever swindled from an elderly person in Orange County, district attorney’s officials said.

The case against Madayag, along with the arrest this week of a Lake Forest woman suspected of swindling an octogenarian blind woman, is part of a stepped-up effort by county law enforcement officials to tackle a troubling problem: con artists preying on the frail and defenseless elderly.

Madayag has pleaded not guilty and is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear next week for a pretrial hearing in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Authorities say Madayag, who is also known as Gerardo Gonzales Sabala, stole the money from the retired lawyer’s investment accounts from July to September, 1991.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosanne Froeberg, who prosecutes elder-abuse cases, said Madayag fled the state in a new van bought with money stolen from Sunderman. Madayag was arrested in New Jersey and extradited to Orange County two weeks ago, Froeberg said.

The charge against him is similar to two others filed recently by the district attorney’s office:

* Earlier this week, Lanna Reynosa, 47, of Lake Forest, a housekeeper for 20 senior citizens in the Leisure World area of Laguna Hills, was charged with stealing $118,000 from Mildred Cobbledick, 86, a blind Palm Terrace resident suffering from cancer and heart ailments.

On Friday, Reynosa’s arraignment hearing in South County Municipal Court was postponed to Feb. 11 to give the defendant more time to hire an attorney. Her bail was fixed at $250,000.

* On Jan. 16, Leonard Dale Keeney, 54, of San Clemente was sentenced to two years in state prison for stealing $14,000 from a Leisure World woman while he worked for her as a driver and caretaker. Keeney met the victim, Sue Chase, 86, in September, 1991, through his girlfriend, also a care-giver in Leisure World. During a period when Chase temporarily lost her eyesight, Keeney obtained the elderly woman’s code number for her bank ATM card. He later stole her card and used it to withdraw money 48 times from Nov. 1, 1991, to Jan. 6, 1992.

Officials in the district attorney’s office say it may not be a coincidence that the three alleged victims are blind.

“The victimizing of the legally blind seems to be recurring in our caseload,” Froeberg said. “Because they can’t see, especially to sign checks and read documents, they are very easy to mislead.”

Advocates for the elderly said Friday that the recent crackdown is only the tip of the iceberg. They say there are dozens of con artists and swindlers who make a living by targeting residents of Leisure World and other retirement communities, walking away with millions of dollars every year.

But the advocates are nonetheless encouraged by the law enforcement agencies’ actions.

“Prosecuting these criminals is a great deterrent to anyone who is thinking of following suit,” said Margaret Beck, senior program manager for the county’s Adult Services Division. “We want to think that we are making some great strides, especially by making the public more aware of the abuse.”

Beck said the arrests are evidence that people are becoming more aware of the crime. She said publicity and increased public awareness are probably the reasons why reports are increasing of financial abuse of the elderly.

Of the 1,780 reports of elder abuse received by the division last year, 428 involved fiduciary abuse. In 1990, when the division handled 1,783 reports, 301 involved bilking the elderly.

Beck said a multidisciplinary team involving sheriff’s investigators, district attorney officials and social workers meet once a month to discuss elder abuse cases and possible prosecutions.

Others suggested steps that can be taken by retirees to avoid being victimized. Gemma Heffernan, manager of social services at Leisure World, said retirees can avoid being swindled by seeking out qualified care-givers.

Retirees seeking care-givers are increasingly turning to classified ads and “neighbors who recommend people who work under the going rate,” she said. “Without supervision, the vulnerable, frail individual becomes a victim of these unscrupulous operators.”

Leisure World offers a free referral service to residents seeking help. The community’s social workers maintain a list of “reputable agencies that thoroughly screen and bond their employees,” Heffernan said.

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this story.