Former attorney charged with stealing nearly $68,000 in client funds

By Scott Powell, WTNH Assignment Editor Published: June 5, 2015, 8:53 pm

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NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) — A former attorney who practiced law in New Britain and Cheshire was arrested today and charged with stealing nearly $68,000 from a man whose affairs he managed as a conservator.
Andrew F. Bonito Jr. of Cheshire was arrested by Inspectors from the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney on a warrant charging him with one count of Larceny in the First Degree, a felony carrying a maximum term of twenty years in prison.
The arrest of the 56-year-old is the result of an investigation conducted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney following a complaint by the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel in the Judicial Branch, which regulates attorney conduct in Connecticut.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Bonito, an attorney who practiced law in New Britain and later from his home in Cheshire, was appointed conservator for an elderly man by the Berlin District Probate Court on Jan. 6, 2006.
The warrant alleges that between June 1, 2010, and Sept. 18, 2013, Bonito misappropriated $67,789 from the man, who has since died.
Bonito was arraigned today in New Britain Superior Court where he was released on a written promise to appear July 9, 2015.
The case is being prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau.