Sunday, January 03, 2016

Pennsylvania Supremes Pull Attorney's Bar Ticket For Ripping Off $36K+ From His Dead Uncle; Estranged Wife Blows The Whistle On Sticky-Fingered Hubby After He Paid Their Daughter's $18K College Tuition Tab w/ Loot Siphoned From Estate's Bank Account

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Times Leader reports:
  • A Bucks County attorney has been disbarred from practicing law in the Commonwealth after he misappropriated more than $36,000 from the estate of a deceased Hanover Township man, according to a ruling [last week] by the state Supreme Court.

    A report by the court’s disciplinary board said attorney William J. Kerins “misappropriated, converted or misapplied” a minimum of $36,626 from the estate of William J. Helfrich Jr., Kerins’ uncle.

    Helfrich, of the township’s Newtown section, died on April 8, 2010, according to the Times Leader archives.

    According to the report, Kerins, 62, made multiple withdrawals from the estate account between 2010 and 2011 while acting as both attorney and the estate’s executor.

    Kerins’ estranged wife notified the estate’s heirs after learning Kerins had paid their daughter’s $18,000 tuition at the University of Pittsburgh shortly after withdrawing a combined $18,873 in cash from the estate’s bank account.