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Lawyer charged with theft, fraud in conservatorship cases
John Clemmons, rear, turned himself in at Metro Booking in Nashville on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, on charges that he stole thousands from wards he had been assigned to protect. / John Partipilo / The Tennessean
A longtime Nashville attorney has been jailed on charges of aggravated perjury, theft and TennCare fraud stemming from his care of three people, two of them elderly and one severely disabled, that the state said couldn’t care for themselves.
John E. Clemmons, 66, turned himself in on the charges Friday. Bail was set at $500,000, and a hearing on the charges, along with an anticipated plea deal, is expected as early as next week.
Using a cane and accompanied by one of his attorneys, Clemmons, who had been entrusted by the courts to manage the three conservatorships, walked slowly through the metal detector in the night court building a little after 1 p.m.and was taken into custody.
According to court filings Clemmons was charged with three counts theft of more than $60,000, one count of aggravated perjury and Tenncare fraud.
Court records and interviews show that more than $1 million in assets from the three wards is unaccounted for and much of it has been tracked back to Clemmons himself. In one case, a civil suit already has been filed seeking restitution of $450,000.
In that case, records show, Clemmons submitted periodic reports to the court on the handling of the ward’s estate that contradicted the actual bank and checking account records. Checks he reported making out to health care workers and other service providers, for example, ended up in his own bank account.
Clemmons’ attorneys, Paul Housch and Bob Lynch, did not respond Friday to multiple requests for comment. Susan Niland, spokeswoman for District Attorney General Torry Johnson, confirmed the charges but said the terms of any plea deal would remain confidential until the case is brought before a judge.
Clemmons legal problems come on the heels of increased scrutiny of conservatorships in Tennessee following a series of stories in the Tennessean. After those reports the Tennessee Bar Association held public hearings across the state and subsequently recommended major changes in state law.
Those changes were adopted by the General Assembly earlier this year and went into effect July 1.
Clemmons, whose law license was suspended last Spring, already has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $60,000 from a retired teacher he was charged with protecting in Rutherford County. He is scheduled for sentencing in that case on Nov. 18. In suspending his license, the state Supreme Court concluded that allowing Clemmons to continue practicing law “poses a threat of substantial harm to the public.”
Clemmons, who conducted his law practice for years from a Gay Street office, has served as both an attorney and conservator in dozens of cases. Most of those were heard in Davidson Probate Court, the jurisdiction charged with determining when people are no longer able to handle their own affairs and how their assets will be managed.
After his law license was suspended, Judge David “Randy” Kennedy removed Clemmons from three pending cases and reassigned them to attorney Paul Gontarek, who has been compiling the records that show Clemmons misappropriated over $1 million from those clients alone.
In one case, the conservatorship of the late Nannie P. Malone, the total hit $370,000, Gontarek reported in a 26-page summary of his findings filed with the court in July.
Malone’s family attorney, Michael Hoskins, has filed a civil suit against Clemmons and the insurance company that issued a bond for the attorney. That suit, which charges Clemmons with misappropriating $450,000, has been put on temporary hold pending the criminal investigation.
Gontarek said in an interview this week that he planned to file detailed reports on two other Clemmons cases later this month.
It was Gontarek who forwarded the results of his review of the Malone case to District Attorney General Johnson and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation with the recommendation that they open a criminal investigation.
John E. Clemmons, 66, turned himself in on the charges Friday. Bail was set at $500,000, and a hearing on the charges, along with an anticipated plea deal, is expected as early as next week.
Using a cane and accompanied by one of his attorneys, Clemmons, who had been entrusted by the courts to manage the three conservatorships, walked slowly through the metal detector in the night court building a little after 1 p.m.and was taken into custody.
According to court filings Clemmons was charged with three counts theft of more than $60,000, one count of aggravated perjury and Tenncare fraud.
Court records and interviews show that more than $1 million in assets from the three wards is unaccounted for and much of it has been tracked back to Clemmons himself. In one case, a civil suit already has been filed seeking restitution of $450,000.
In that case, records show, Clemmons submitted periodic reports to the court on the handling of the ward’s estate that contradicted the actual bank and checking account records. Checks he reported making out to health care workers and other service providers, for example, ended up in his own bank account.
Clemmons’ attorneys, Paul Housch and Bob Lynch, did not respond Friday to multiple requests for comment. Susan Niland, spokeswoman for District Attorney General Torry Johnson, confirmed the charges but said the terms of any plea deal would remain confidential until the case is brought before a judge.
Clemmons legal problems come on the heels of increased scrutiny of conservatorships in Tennessee following a series of stories in the Tennessean. After those reports the Tennessee Bar Association held public hearings across the state and subsequently recommended major changes in state law.
Those changes were adopted by the General Assembly earlier this year and went into effect July 1.
Clemmons, whose law license was suspended last Spring, already has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $60,000 from a retired teacher he was charged with protecting in Rutherford County. He is scheduled for sentencing in that case on Nov. 18. In suspending his license, the state Supreme Court concluded that allowing Clemmons to continue practicing law “poses a threat of substantial harm to the public.”
Clemmons, who conducted his law practice for years from a Gay Street office, has served as both an attorney and conservator in dozens of cases. Most of those were heard in Davidson Probate Court, the jurisdiction charged with determining when people are no longer able to handle their own affairs and how their assets will be managed.
After his law license was suspended, Judge David “Randy” Kennedy removed Clemmons from three pending cases and reassigned them to attorney Paul Gontarek, who has been compiling the records that show Clemmons misappropriated over $1 million from those clients alone.
In one case, the conservatorship of the late Nannie P. Malone, the total hit $370,000, Gontarek reported in a 26-page summary of his findings filed with the court in July.
Malone’s family attorney, Michael Hoskins, has filed a civil suit against Clemmons and the insurance company that issued a bond for the attorney. That suit, which charges Clemmons with misappropriating $450,000, has been put on temporary hold pending the criminal investigation.
Gontarek said in an interview this week that he planned to file detailed reports on two other Clemmons cases later this month.
It was Gontarek who forwarded the results of his review of the Malone case to District Attorney General Johnson and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation with the recommendation that they open a criminal investigation.
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