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Date: 05-02-2023

Case Style:

United States of America v. Mark Alan Thomas

Case Number: 2:21-cr-00175

Judge:

Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Franklin County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Columbus

Defendant's Attorney:




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Description: Columbus, Ohio criminal Defense lawyer represented Defendant charged mail fraud.

From 2012 through August 2019, Mark Alan Thomas, 63, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, defrauded a client and took $882,000 of the elderly demented victim’s money without her knowledge or permission to use it for his own benefit.

“Thomas’s grave abuse of power over this vulnerable victim demands today’s serious punishment,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker said. “The victim in this case was 86 years old, exhibiting symptoms of dementia, and living in a senior-care facility. She trusted Thomas, and Thomas abused that trust to steal her money for more than seven years. His actions to take advantage of her were utterly shameful.”

According to court documents, Thomas improperly used the victim’s Power of Attorney and his status as a lawyer – even after his law license was revoked in 2015 – to convince various entities, including banks and life insurance companies, to transfer the victim’s money for his use.

In May 2012, a family member of the victim obtained a separate Power of Attorney for the victim, and Thomas drafted a revocation of the family member’s Power of Attorney for the victim to sign. Thomas acted as the notary to verify the victim’s signature on the revocation.

Furthermore, Thomas falsely told a banker he needed $200,000 from the victim’s investment account to set up an educational fund that the victim wanted to establish. Once he received the money from the bank, Thomas transferred the money to himself instead.

In January 2014, Thomas cashed more than $290,000 of the victim’s U.S. Treasury Bonds, then subsequently transferred $200,000 into his law firm’s bank account, and eventually into his own personal bank account.

According to court documents, in 2016, Thomas wrote letters to three life insurance companies purporting to be the victim asking to cash out the victim’s policies and direct all correspondence to Thomas.

Thomas was indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2021 and pleaded guilty in August 2022.

Kenneth L. Parker, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Ohio; J. William Rivers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced the sentence imposed today by Chief U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley. The Ohio Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Unit and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorneys David J. Twombly and S. Courter Shimeall are representing the United States in this case.

Outcome: Defendant sentenced to sixty (60) months of incarceration on Count 1 of the Indictment; defendant sentenced to three (3) years of supervised release on Count 1 of the Indictment; forfeiture ordered as outlined in the Forfeiture Allegation of the Indictment; restitution ordered in the amount of $882,502; fine of $20,000 imposed; special assessment of $100 is applied.

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