Former Uniontown attorney waives charges for allegedly stealing from clients’ estates
A former Uniontown attorney waived 12 felony charges Wednesday for allegedly stealing $286,000 from his clients’ estates beginning in 2013.
Officials said John Michael Zeglen, 63, of Independence Court signed a general waiver, meaning there will be no tentative plea offer in exchange.
He was charged by Fayette County Detective John Marshall in December with four counts each of theft, theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his case, Zeglen used funds that we deposited to his Interest of Lawyers’ Trust Account to pay other clients. IOLTAs are used to hold client funds only. They are separate from a lawyer’s business banking account. The funds deposited in an IOLTA on behalf of a client can’t be borrowed against for payment of other clients.
Greg Uphold Sr. filed a complaint with the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel regarding the estate of his mother, Betty Uphold, that led to the criminal investigation, according to court documents.
Zeglen was entrusted with at least $82,480.03 from the estate in October 2016. On October 25, 2016, his bank records indicated the balance of his IOLTA was $205.93, meaning $82,274.10 had been taken from the account, court documents said.
The day after he deposited estate funds from Uphold, authorities said, Zeglen deposited $287,616.60 on behalf of Theadore Smith. On Nov. 2, Marshall alleged, Zeglen used the Smith funds to make payment in full on the Uphold estate.
On Dec. 7, his records indicated $91,492.33 was missing, Marshall alleged. On Dec. 13, he deposited $93,230.54 into the account on behalf of Shirley Hillard and the Marion Herrington estate. He then allegedly used $93,212.33 from the Herrington estate to write a check to Smith.
“Zeglen had used the funds he was entrusted with on behalf of Hillard and/or (the) Herrington estate to make the Smith transaction,” Marshall wrote. “Again, Zeglen had no authorization or authority to use any portion of the $93,230.54 that was entrusted to him from the Herrington estate.”
Records indicate on April 20, 2013, he deposited $99,709.30 on behalf of the estate of Marion Herrington, and various disbursements to the estate from those funds, according to court documents.
On July 31, 2013, he received an additional $93,693.55 for Herrington’s estate, investigators said. At that time, his IOLTA account showed that he was deficient by $17,027.96 on the funds for that estate, Marshall alleged.
Marshall alleged the money from the Uphold estate was used to pay the Herrington estate.
Zeglen is free from prison on a $50,000 unsecured bond.
He was admitted to practice law in 1981, and formerly had an office on East Main Street in Uniontown. Zeglen was disbarred on consent, meaning he agreed to give up his law license, in April 2017.