Now a Tree-Trimmer, Ex-Attorney Pleads in Client Theft Case
A lawyer for a former Illinois attorney now working as a tree-trimmer in South Carolina started seeking mercy for Stephen Ford when he pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing a six-figure sum from his clients.
Ford’s gambling addiction drove the former McHenry County attorney to do what he did, said Ford’s lawyer, Mark Gummerson, after Ford pleaded guilty to two felony theft charges in exchange for having three similar charges dropped, reports the Northwest Herald. Ford, 55, is being required to repay five clients a total of $135,000, the newspaper says, but no specific sentence has been agreed to. He voluntarily gave up his law license in 2005.
A maximum of seven years in prison is possible for Ford on the most serious charge. However, the prosecution is recommending no more than four years and Gummerson told Judge Joseph Condon he intends to argue for probation at an upcoming sentencing hearing.
Ford, who told a newspaper reporter after the hearing that he’s very sorry for what he did, shouldn’t be harshly punished just because he was a lawyer, Gummerson said. “We all make mistakes.”
