ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis County lawyer who went missing for more than four months amid mounting legal troubles is accused of stealing his mother's identity by enlisting a client to impersonate the woman.
Jeffrey M. Witt, 39, was arrested last week in New York after stepping off a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul. He hasn't yet been returned to St. Louis to answer felony charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (bit.ly/Na6hGJ ) reported Thursday that Witt relied on a client pretending to be his mother to take out a $100,000 loan using the deed on her Des Peres home as credit. Prosecutors say the client then endorsed a $60,000 check that Witt deposited into his office account but used for personal expenses.
Shortly before Witt went missing, Missouri's chief disciplinary counsel filed a 10-count complaint him that alleges that as far back as 2009, Witt had lied to clients and the court, missed deadlines and court hearings, mishandled money, failed to file necessary documents or improperly filed them and didn't tell clients that an employee was a disbarred former lawyer who was also a convicted felon.
Clayton police arrested Witt on Oct. 15, 2013, after he struck a vehicle while parking. He refused a blood test and was ticketed for driving under the influence. A week later, a St. Louis County judge entered an almost $1 million malpractice judgment against Witt and his practice. His law license has been suspended by the Missouri Supreme Court.
The newspaper said Witt has repeatedly declined its interview requests.
Witt had previously helped solve a 2008 Clayton bombing that nearly killed another attorney.
In that case, he told federal investigators that he believed his client, Milton "Skip" Ohlsen III, had planted a bomb intended to kill a lawyer representing Olsen's ex-wife. Instead, the bomb nearly killed a different lawyer. Ohlsen was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to explosives-related charges.
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