My scholarly interests center on elder financial exploitation, offender decision making, and the intersection of financial crime and investigative practice.
My interest in elder financial exploitation grows from my work as an investigator and my concern for older adults who are targeted, sometimes repeatedly, by those seeking to take advantage of them. Behind each investigation is a person who may have lost a lifetime of savings and is trying to make sense of what happened.
Investigating these offenses requires knowledge, patience, and careful attention to evidence. It also requires an officer who understands the importance of listening and treating people with dignity. The way we communicate with someone facing a devastating loss matters, both to the investigation and to the person seeking our help.
These experiences inform my doctoral research into offender decision making during the initial stages of elder financial exploitation. By examining how professionals interpret those decisions, I hope to contribute to a better understanding of how exploitation begins and how that knowledge can inform investigative practice. My goal is to connect scholarship with the needs of practitioners while keeping the people affected by these crimes at the center of the work.
PhD in Criminal Justice · Walden University
My dissertation examines how professionals understand offender rationalization and decision making during the initial stages of elder financial exploitation. The work brings an investigative perspective to questions about how offenders assess opportunity and respond to early interactions.
Rational Choice Theory provides the framework for examining perceived opportunities, risks, and rewards in offender decision making. The study uses a qualitative phenomenological approach.