Disbarred Lawyer Gets 30 Days for Theft of Blind Client’s $400k Inheritance
A California lawyer charged with stealing $400,000 from a client —and later suing his client after she complained to state bar authorities — has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading no contest to two felony theft charges, reports The Contra Costa Times.
“On Oct. 27, 2008, Janet Stites’ mother died and left her an inheritance of more than $400,000,” according to the report. “Stites, who is blind, hired an attorney, but on the advice of her friend Richard Stickney, she fired that attorney and hired 56-year-old Concord lawyer Timothy Darden to set up two trusts for her. Within a year, Darden had allegedly swindled $438,000 from Stites and $33,500 from Stickney, and days after they complained to the State Bar of California, he turned around and sued them for fraud.”
