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Janina Zaniewska Is The 93 Year-Old
PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Palm Beach couple befriended their 93-year-old
neighbor, then kidnapped her to a nursing home in Poland while they spent
her life savings.
Police arrested Aron Bell (nee Aron Bielski), 80, and Henryka Bell, 59,
and charged them with kidnapping, elderly exploitation, grand theft from a
person older than 65 years of age and organized scheme to defraud.
According to a police report, the Bells befriended 93-year-old Janina
Zaniewska and "systematically took over every aspect of her life,"
including redirecting phone calls and mail meant for her to themselves.
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Beliski Flew The 93 Year-Old To Poland
According to the report, the Bells took Zaniewska to Poland on May
17 and returned without the 93-year-old on June 2.
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The Pair Dumped The Old Lady In A Slum
Police said that, with the help of the Polish-American Society Club
in Lake Worth, officials located Zaniewska at a nursing home in a
remote town in Poland. According to police, a detective called the
nursing home and talked to Zaniewska, who told the officer, "Thank
God, you found me."
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Police Were Stunned
Police said Zaniewska told the investigator that she had been
tricked by the Bells and was placed in an "old lady home" against her
will. Zaniewska told police that she believed the Bells were stealing
her money and that she had thought that she was going on vacation to
Poland and did not know she was going to be placed in a nursing home,
Captain Elmer Gudger with the Palm Beach Police said.
"In the phone call that we made to her, when she realized it was
the police department, she thanked us very much for finding her and
made a comment that she thought she was going to die over there in the
nursing home," Gudger told WPBF.
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Beilski Took The Grandmother's Money
Gudger said that the Bells had withdrawn about $250,000 out of
Zaniewska's bank accounts and were using the money to pay their own
bills.
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Beilski's Says At Age 11 He Hid From The Nazis In
The Forrest
Aron Bell grew up in Poland during World War II and
survived the Holocaust by living in the woods after his parents were
taken by the Nazis at the age of 11.
The story of how Bell and his brothers helped save
thousands of fellow Jews is the subject of the 1994 book, "Defiance:
The Bielski Partisans," by Nechama Tec. A movie based on the book is
currently in production, slated to star current James Bond actor
Daniel Craig, WPBF reported.
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Recent Stories Say The Bielskis Were Just Bandits
The government report suggests that Bielski and his followers may
have participated in a massacre of civilians in the eastern Polish
town of Naliboki.
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