Legal Ethics
Judge to Ex-Lawyer: Snow Job Could Help Repay Clients
A Maine judge has ordered an ex-lawyer to get a job, any job, so he can repay the money he stole from client escrows and his grandfather’s estate.
John Frankenfield of Skowhegan has repaid only $50 of $219,000 in court-ordered restitution, the Sun Journal reports. He was convicted of skimming assets from his grandfather’s estate and pleaded guilty to stealing $55,000 from real estate escrows, the newspaper says.
Judge Thomas Delahanty said he wants Frankenfield to have a job the next time he returns to court. “There are a lot of roofs out there to be shoveled,” he said.
The Portland Press Herald headlined its AP story on the judge’s comments this way: “Got a snowy roof that needs cleaning? Call John Frankenfield.”
