On Aug. 5, members of the College’s Elder Financial Exploitation Research Team met with the St. Joe Company, a Florida-based real estate developer and manager, to share their findings and make recommendations for a new retirement community currently being developed by St. Joe.

At the meeting, which took place at the company’s WaterSound, Fla. headquarters, Principle Investigator Thomas Blomberg and Researchers Julie Mestre Brancale and George Pesta gave company representatives an overview of the College’s yearlong study on elder financial exploitation in The Villages, one of the largest retirement communities in the nation.

In addition to sharing findings of the study, the team also gave recommendations to the company to consider as they further develop their own retirement community. The research team anticipates the recommendations, if applied and fostered, will reduce the prevalence of financial fraud in the new St. Joe development.

“The St. Joe presentation is an example of the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice’s ongoing mission of bringing research to life,” said Dr. Blomberg.

The team’s final report, Elder Financial Exploitation in a Large Retirement Community, is expected to be released within the month.