Grand jury: Kentucky lawyer stole money meant for children of a car-crash victim
An Eastern Kentucky attorney stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a settlement he was supposed to distribute to children of a man killed in a car wreck, a federal grand jury has charged.
The grand jury indicted Timothy Belcher, of Elkhorn City, Thursday on seven charges of fraud and three charges of filing false tax returns.
The widow of a man killed in a car wreck in Pike County in 2001 hired Belcher to represent her in a wrongful-death lawsuit, according to the indictment.
The indictment did not name the man who died, but a separate decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court identified him as Samuel Johnson.
Belcher, now 55, won a significant settlement in 2004, with half going to Johnson’s widow and half to his children, the indictment said.
The money for the children went into an escrow account controlled by Belcher to be distributed later.
For years, Belcher transferred money from the account to his own checking account and used it for business and personal expenses, including mortgages, food, insurance and cell phones, the indictment said.
On Dec. 31, 2007, there was $817,155 in the account. There was still $664,541 in the account on June 30, 2012, but by Dec. 31, 2018, there was just $389 left, the indictment said.
When the children or people acting for them tried to contact Belcher to ask about distributing the money, he ignored or misled them and took more, the indictment charged.
Johnson’s widow and daughter asked attorney Angie Hatton for help in early 2019, and Hatton contacted attorney Ray S. Jones II, who worked with Belcher on the original wrongful-death lawsuit, according to a disciplinary case against Belcher before the state Supreme Court.
Jones, who is now Pike County judge-executive, reached Belcher in April 2019 to ask about the money.
When Jones pressed him, Belcher admitted he had spent the money and was “sick and broke,” according to the Supreme Court order.
Jones told Belcher he would report Belcher’s conduct.
A grand jury in Pike County indicted Belcher in July 2019, and the state Supreme Court suspended his license two months later.
Jones said Belcher estimated he had taken about $600,000, but after speaking with police, Jones said it appeared quite a bit more had been drained from the account, according to the Supreme Court order.
Belcher filed tax returns for 2013, 2014 and 2016 that didn’t include the money he had taken, the indictment said.
On his 2014 return, for instance, he listed his total income as $25,125, but didn’t count $165,000 he embezzled, the indictment charged.
The bank-fraud charges against Belcher are punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
