Lawyer booked on charges he stole from guardianship clients
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A Columbus attorney charged with stealing from two people he was supposed to be caring for turned himself in to authorities this morning and was booked into the Franklin County Jail.
Paul S. Kormanik surrendered at 10:22 this morning and was later released on $100,000 bond. He was ordered to surrender his passport.
He was ordered to have no contact with family members or friends of the two wards from whom he is accused of stealing about $41,000 in 2012 and earlier this year.
Kormanik was appointed by the Franklin County Probate Court to be their guardian.
Kormanik has not returned calls or emails seeking comment. His attorney, Richard Cline, said state law does not allow him to make any comments about the case, though he did not cite the law that outlines such a gag order. Still he said that Kormanik "has faith in the legal system he served for three decades."
Kormanik is expected to appear in court in the next several weeks to enter his plea on third- and fourth-degree felony theft charges before a trial date can be set.
He faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison if convicted.
In 2012, after Robert Hart died, Kormanik made withdrawals from Hart’s bank account totaling about $34,000, according to the grand jury indictment.
Kormanik deposited the money into his personal checking account and used the funds “to benefit himself,” according to the indictment.
In another case, the indictment accuses Kormanik of transferring the remaining $7,200 that Edith Linnabary had left from a pension into his personal account two years after she died.
Kormanik is then accused of giving $7,000 of that money to his wife.
Paul S. Kormanik surrendered at 10:22 this morning and was later released on $100,000 bond. He was ordered to surrender his passport.
He was ordered to have no contact with family members or friends of the two wards from whom he is accused of stealing about $41,000 in 2012 and earlier this year.
Kormanik was appointed by the Franklin County Probate Court to be their guardian.
Kormanik has not returned calls or emails seeking comment. His attorney, Richard Cline, said state law does not allow him to make any comments about the case, though he did not cite the law that outlines such a gag order. Still he said that Kormanik "has faith in the legal system he served for three decades."
Kormanik is expected to appear in court in the next several weeks to enter his plea on third- and fourth-degree felony theft charges before a trial date can be set.
He faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison if convicted.
In 2012, after Robert Hart died, Kormanik made withdrawals from Hart’s bank account totaling about $34,000, according to the grand jury indictment.
Kormanik deposited the money into his personal checking account and used the funds “to benefit himself,” according to the indictment.
In another case, the indictment accuses Kormanik of transferring the remaining $7,200 that Edith Linnabary had left from a pension into his personal account two years after she died.
Kormanik is then accused of giving $7,000 of that money to his wife.
