Failure To Report Employee's Crimes Draws Disbarment

The Georgia Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney who was convicted of misprison of felony.

The Birmingham News reported that the criminal charges involved the failure to report thefts by an employee:

Hutto, 61, had been appointed in September 2007 by Tuscaloosa County Probate Court as temporary guardian to a 79-year-old woman who suffered dementia, delusion disorder, and paranoia and required nursing home care, according to Hutto's plea agreement. Between Sept. 28, 2007 and April 18, 2008, a male employee in her office, whose work included clerical duties, used the elderly woman's debit card and a department store card to make purchases totaling $19,358.

Purchases included paying for two plane tickets and a trip to a resort in Mexico, and a Coach designer purse that the employee gave to Hutto as a Christmas present in 2007.
 
Once Hutto found out in April 2008 about the use of the credit cards, she and her law partner fired the employee. But Hutto re-hired the former employee a short time later after she parted ways with her law partner and created her own firm, according to the plea agreement.

Hutto never reported the crimes, according to the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorneys Office in Birmingham.

The blog Estate of Denial (Shining LIght on the Dark Side of Estate Management) had this report on the underlying issues.

The attorney defaulted on the Georgia bar charges. (Mike Frisch)