Disbarred Bedford Attorney to Serve One Year in Prison

Maureen Pomeroy, a disbarred Bedford attorney who stole more than $810,000 from former clients, was sentenced on Monday to pay restitution to her former clients, serve one year in prison and serve another year-and-a-half under house arrest, according to a report by the Boston Globe.  

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According to a statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley's office, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kimberly Budd sentenced Pomeroy to serve two-and-a-half years in prison, with one year to serve and the rest being served under house arrest.

Pomeroy must also pay $277,292 in restitution to her former clients, according to the statement. 

Pomeroy stole more than $810,000 from an 85-year-old client who retained her services to help him manage bank account, prepare his will and assist with estate planning, according to the statement. 

“This defendant took advantage of clients who entrusted her with access to their funds and believed that she would assist them with their best interests in mind,” said Coakley in the statement.

In addition to using some of this money for personal gain, Pomeroy used some of the money stolen from her elderly client to pay two clients from whom she had previously misappropriated money, according to the statement. 

Pomeroy also embezzled $32,000 when handling the closing sale of a deceased client's home in 2007, according to the statement, and set up a trust for the deceased client's son, from which she withdraw substantial sums, totaling more than her fees, for her own benefit. 

In 2008, Pomeroy used some of the $810,000 stolen from her elderly client to pay back the $32,000 to the estate of her deceased client, as well as more than $50,000 to her deceased client's son, according to the statement. 

“It is particularly appalling that she stole more than $800,000 from an elderly client and from someone who was grieving the loss of a family member," Coakley said in the statement. "This defendant is being held accountable for these injustices and is no longer able to practice law.”

An investigation was opened by the state Attorney General's Office in 2010 after a complaint was made by a former client of Pomeroy's.

Pomeroy was temporarily suspended from practice in 2009 following an investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Bar Counsel, resigned and was disbarred in February 2010, according to the statement. 

A Middlesex grand jury indicted Pomeroy in March 2011 and she was arraigned in May 2011 at which time she pleaded not guilty, according to the statement.