Summary: A disbarred attorney in Corpus Christi, Texas who stole from his elderly clients is finally behind bars.
A college senior decided to look into her grandmother’s interactions with an attorney that was hired to make changes to her will. Kayla Bales, 28, was looking out for her grandmother’s well-being since she was suffering from Alzheimer’s and had mentioned things about investment dividends that got Bales curious.
Local attorney Michael Maldonado, 58, had been hired by Josephine Regmund to amend her will. What Bales discovered was more than just an amendment to her will. Maldonado is accused of stealing between $20,000 and $100,000 from Regmund in May 2014.
Regmund is not the only victim either.
Maldonado is now going to jail years after he stole money from clients. According to The Caller-Times, the Corpus Christi attorney took a plea agreement in three separate cases. He is sentenced to 90 days in Nueces County Jail and then 10 years of community supervision. He is also required to pay restitution. Attorney Fred Jimenez represented Maldonado in two of the cases.
Texas disbarred Maldonado in 2015, according to a judgment signed in July of that year. In that ruling, he was ordered not only to pay restitution but $10,000 for attorney fees and other expenses to the State Bar. At the time, he was accused of stealing over $200,000 in 2012 from John Alliniece, who has since passed away.
Alliniece and his wife Johnnie Mae hired Maldonado after a car crashed into their home. Their daughter Daisy Alliniece explained that her parents, who are both now dead, lived in Van Vleck, Texas. Daisy, 61, said, “My mother said she couldn’t believe he had done her like that, and she’s saying ‘I look like a fool.’ And I tried to tell her no, it was that he took advantage of the elderly.”
The third case involves a disputed $2,400. Jimenez does not think this case matters. He said of his client Maldonado, “He’s lost everything. He’s lost his license. He’s become a convicted felon and he’s sitting in a county jail, so I think he’s paid.”
Bales explained that she would have to tell her grandmother over and over again what was going on with the case until she passed away in 2016 at the age of 99. Bales said, “Her reaction in general though, every time when I did explain it or talk to it, she was crushed. You could see it in her eyes. She was heartbroken.”
Bales gave advice for others unsure of their situation. “There are things now that looking back you see and you’re like ‘OK, wow, that’s shady.’ But definitely people need to not feel scared to ask a million questions and to stay involved.”
Do you think those who take advantage of the elderly should receive harsher punishments? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
To learn more about attorneys caught stealing from their elderly clients, read these articles:
- Former Attorney Sentenced to 5 Years Probation for Stealing From Elderly Client
- Lawyer Accused of Stealing $600,000 from Elderly Clients
- West Virginia Lawyer Steals from Elderly Woman
Photo: kristv.com