Attorney indicted for allegedly stealing settlement money from client

An attorney was arrested Wednesday morning by Kentucky State Police and the FBI on an indictment that alleges he stole more than $200,000 from an area client following a civil settlement.

Danny Perkins Butler, 70, who lives in Campbellsville, was indicted on two Class C felony counts and faces up to 10 years in prison, on each count, if found guilty, according to the News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown.

According to a direct indictment released Wednesday, Butler is alleged to have taken $207,000 — his bond in this case — from an area woman between June 19, 2012, and June 25, 2012. Commonwealth’s Attorney Shane Young said the woman was from either LaRue or Hardin County.

The civil suit was filed in Hardin County.

Butler is charged with theft by unlawful taking of more than $10,000 and less than $1 million and theft by failure to make required disposition of property of more than $10,000.

According to his indictment, he took proceeds from a settlement “with intent to deprive the owner thereof said proceeds.” It further states, he had a legal obligation “to make payment or disposition and intentionally dealt with the property as his own and failed to make the required payment or disposition.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Attorney indicted for allegedly stealing settlement money from client."