Vet, 82, Battles Attorney Over Stolen Inheritance

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Grover Gordon is a survivor. He bears the scars of war. But these days, this 82-year-old Korean War veteran is fighting another battle, a battle over a stolen inheritance.

"She had me completely buffaloed," said Gordon. "And since you don't know nothing, you can't say anything."

Vet, 82, Battles Attorney Over Stolen Inheritance

NBC 7's Consumer Bob speaks with Korean War veteran Grover Gordon, 82, a recent victim of theft. An attorney that Gordon trusted recently pleaded guilty to stealing a thousands of dollars out of an inheritance left to Gordon by a friend. (Published Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013)

Gordon is talking about Sydney Kirkland, an Escondido, Calif. attorney hired to take care of Gordon's finances. But she did more than that.

Gordon received more than $280,000 from a trust that was left to him after the death of his good friend, Bobbi Letman.

Kirkland was Letman's attorney, so when the money changed hands, Kirkland added her own name as a co-trustee and beneficiary of the trust.

"He didn't have a family, he needed someone to trust," said Escondido police detective Tom Phelps. "And this person totally took advantage of him."

Within weeks of adding her name to the trust, Sydney Kirkland started taking money out of the inheritance. After just a few months, the $285,729 was down to $10,096. She had taken more than $275,000 without Gordon's knowledge.

"He didn't understand how trusts work," said Detective Phelps. "He feels totally betrayed."

But Grover Gordon noticed something was wrong.

He got a property bill that he thought was paid for by his attorney. That prompted him to hire a second attorney to investigate, and that's when the deception started to unravel.

"I'm telling you, boy, it's a shock, a terrible shock," said Gordon.

The Missouri native quickly found out that his money was gone. Investigators were called in, and eventually Kirkland admitted what she had done.

Det. Phelps said Kirkland had started living the high life, paying off debts, donating to charity and flying to Europe with her antique Packard to drive around France.

She even posted photos of the trip on her Facebook page.

"I did something horrible, I can't imagine how this could have happened," Kirkland told Vista Superior Court Judge Aaron Katz on Monday.

She pleaded guilty to three felony charges including grand theft, embezzlement and financial abuse of an elder and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Kirkland has also been ordered to pay back the money to Gordon that she stole from him.

Published at 5:26 PM PDT on Sep 17, 2013

Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Stealing-from-Seniors-Grover-Gordon-Sydney-Kirkland-224149901.html#ixzz40QqtaptK
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Disbarred NC lawyer indicted on embezzlement charges

Editor's note: With all the fraud being perpetrated by the Probate Court of Cook County, this Shark would believe thousands of lawyers would be disbarred and charged with embezzlement. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

 

Disbarred NC lawyer indicted on embezzlement charges

Published  9:34 AM EST Nov 11, 2015

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LINCOLNTON, N.C. —A disbarred Lincoln County lawyer has been indicted on 11 counts of embezzlement.

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Local media report a grand jury indicted Peter Capece on Monday. Authorities say he is accused of taking $800,000 from a late client's estate.
Chris Cardwell of the State Bureau of Investigation's financial crimes unit says the case involves funds from the estate of Fritz Detmers of Denver, North Carolina. Detmer died at age 78 in 2009.
The client's widow, 39-year-old Charlinette Detmers, also faces charges. Cardwell says she was indicted on one count of obtaining property by false pretense.
Sheriff's spokesman Larry Seagle says Capece turned himself in and was released on bail.
Capece said he could not talk about the charges. His attorney, Eben Rawls III, could not be reached by the newspaper for comment.

Tags embezzlement disbarred lawyer attorney estate elderly SBI false pretense theft client

Petoskey lawyer took trips, fixed his cottage with pilfered funds

Editor's note: This Shark observed Alice R. Gore's GAL feathering his Malibu beach house with Alice's estate. No cottages for Cook County probate lawyers.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

 

Petoskey lawyer took trips, fixed his cottage with pilfered funds

John Hogan, WZZM 12:54 p.m. EDT October 9, 2015

Ex-Petoskey lawyer faces new charges for bilking client(Photo: State of Michigan)

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) -- A disbarred attorney from Petoskey accused of financing lavish vacations and home repairs with an elderly client's money is facing new charges of mail fraud and tax evasion.
Michael Aho Kennedy, 67, was indicted Thursday on federal charges linked to the disappearance of an estimated $1.2 million from a long-time family friend and client, who died in August from Alzheimer's disease.
Kennedy used the money to buy a horse, fix his cottage, pay college tuition bills and to finance family vacations to Madrid, Turkey and Tahiti, the federal indictment alleges. He's also accused of using the woman's money to pay his taxes.
Kennedy already faces up to 20 years in prison on state charges of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult. He was arraigned in a Petoskey courtroom on Monday.
The federal indictment sheds more light on the scope of the alleged financial crimes against Virginia R. Weber, a longtime friend of the Kennedy family who appointed him trustee of her trust account in July, 2006.
At the time, Weber's savings and investments had a value of nearly $1 million, federal court records show.
Kennedy regularly withdrew money from the widowed woman's bank accounts and paid her monthly bills, but also channeled money to a separate business account for his law practice, the government says.
Kennedy mailed Weber five account statements between Nov. 2010 and March, 2012 showing a trust balance that averaged slightly more than $1 million, even though Bank of Northern Michigan statements showed the account was empty, federal documents show.
In addition to mail fraud, Kennedy is charged with understating his adjusted gross income by an average of $292,600 over a three-year period, court records show.
His made an average of about $47,600 over the three-year period, but the undeclared balance "was actually money that he embezzled from the trust,'' the indictment alleges.
The government has launched forfeiture proceedings against Kennedy's home on Hill Crest Drive in Petoskey and is seeking $1.2 million, less whatever proceeds it gets for the house.
The Internal Revenue Service contacted the woman's family in 2012 regarding investments Kennedy had selected for her living trust. Investigators believe the embezzlement dated to 2006 but state charges were limited by the statute of limitations.
Kennedy was disbarred last March. He was arraigned Monday in Emmet County District Court on charges including one count of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of over $100,000 and one count of embezzlement by a trustee of over $100,000, both 20-year felonies. Kennedy's bond was set at $100,000 cash.

Authorities: Woman kept disabled sister in closet for years

Aug 14, 7:02 PM EDT Authorities: Woman kept disabled sister in closet for years

AP Photo Buy AP Photo Reprints CORUNNA, Mich. (AP) -- A Michigan woman kept her disabled adult sister locked in a closet for six or seven years with little food, water or clothing and only a bucket for urination, authorities said Friday. Candy Lawson, 44, of Corunna, is charged with unlawful imprisonment, vulnerable adult abuse and embezzlement from a vulnerable adult, Shiawassee County's chief assistant prosecutor Daniel Nees told The Associated Press. Court records said she posted bond after an initial hearing Thursday. A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf. The District Court in Corunna, 65 miles northwest of Detroit, said Friday that Lawson didn't yet have a lawyer on record. Police visited Lawson's home July 9 for a welfare check following an anonymous tip and found the 42-year-old sister, who has "cognitive and physical impairments," locked in a closet suffering from malnourishment and dehydration, Nees said. Police said she was hospitalized for about a week before being placed in protective custody. "When I saw the victim ... I've been in police for 35 years and never seen an adult abuse case of that type," Corunna police Chief Nick Chiros told The Argus-Press of Owosso. Chiros said a handyman reported finding the woman locked up. Police determined that she lived in confinement for about a month in Corunna, and before that in the Shiawassee County community of Laingsburg as well as Kentucky, the newspaper reported. Lawson's adult daughter and her boyfriend, along with their two children, also lived at the Corunna home, Chiros said. Child Protective Services was investigating whether to remove the children, but police and prosecutors said no one else was expected to face charges. A court conference is scheduled for Aug. 26, the court said, and a hearing to determine if the case goes to trial has been set for Sept. 1, but that could be delayed. The unlawful imprisonment and vulnerable adult abuse charges both are punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The embezzlement from a vulnerable adult charge, which Nees said stems from public benefits that should have gone to the 42-year-old sister, could lead to a five-year sentence.

UPDATE: Ex-Probate clerk Kim Birge to plead guilty in theft case on Friday

Posted: July 28, 2015 - 10:22am  |  Updated: July 29, 2015 - 6:58am

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Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News - Kim Birge, indicted former probate court clerk/administrator.

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By Jan Skutch

Former longtime Chatham County Probate Court Chief Clerk Kim Birge is scheduled to plead guilty Friday to charges of stealing or embezzling more than $700,000 from the court over a three-year period.
According to court documents, Birge has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and will change her not guilty plea to some or all of the five-count indictment during a session before U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr.
The government’s notice of a plea agreement, which was entered on Monday, simply states “that a plea agreement has been reached by the parties which would dispose of the charges pending in the … case against the defendant.”
A copy of that agreement has been provided to Moore for his consideration, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scarlett Nokes said in the filing.
Typically a defense attorney, in Birge’s case attorney Tom Withers, will negotiate a deal where the defendant will plead guilty to some of the charges, with the government dismissing others in return for a plea agreement.
Final determinations on sentencing are the judge’s alone. Details of Birge’s accord will not be made public until the actual court hearing.
Birge, 61, remains free on a $40,000 unsecured bond pending disposition of the case.
Birge was named May 18 in a five-count indictment that included four counts of mail fraud by using the mail to defraud Chatham County out of $700,000 between January 2011 and November 2014 and then using the cash for her own benefit.
A fifth count charged federal program fraud. It alleged she stole about $767,218 between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014, from Chatham County, money that involved a federal grant.
The count included the same funds and time frame as the mail fraud counts.
Included in the indictment is a forfeiture allegation in which the government says, if she’s convicted, it will try to recover “any property, real or personal” derived from the offense.
The indictment charged that Birge in her capacity as chief clerk of Probate Court was authorized to conduct transactions in at least two court bank accounts but “was not authorized to conduct transactions in the Probate Court bank accounts for the benefit of herself or her family.”
It charges she would sign court orders to direct insurance companies, private businesses, public employers, banks and other entities to send funds to the court “for the benefit of minors and other individuals who had conservatorships” established in Chatham County.
A conservatorship establishes someone to watch out for money or property for minors or incompetents in the court.
Birge would then deposit fees paid to the court into one of two bank accounts maintained by the court and make representations that the money would be used for court matters, the indictment charged.
She would then forge the signatures of conservators and/or their attorneys to create false documents to disburse the money, would use the cash from negotiated checks for her personal use and would fail to disclose her activities to others in the court, the indictment charged.
Probate Judge Harris Lewis fired Birge on Dec. 2 in what was described as “in the best interests” of the court.
He had placed Birge on investigative suspension without pay Nov. 20 during a probe of “discrepancies with the services that you are responsible for handling,” Lewis said in a Nov. 20 letter.
As part of Lewis’ initial action, Birge has been barred from entering the Montgomery Street courthouse or discussing any matters related to the investigation “with anyone other than investigatory staff, unless otherwise directed to do so.”
The action came in wake of a reported federal/Savannah-Chatham police probe of undisclosed activity.