The Indiana Supreme Court accepted the resignation of an attorney convicted of embezzling entrusted funds. The Fort Wayne journalgazette.net has details:

Ernest Beal knew what was in his clients’ best interests.

At least that’s what he told an Allen Superior Court jury Thursday morning as the final day of his criminal trial wrapped up.

Charged with theft, Beal, 56, was accused of raiding the trust fund accounts of the developmentally impaired residents of his group homes – in order, he said, to pay operating expenses.

But after about 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, the jury didn’t believe him, convicting him of the charge.

Beal is chief operating officer of Your Friends and Neighbors, a company that runs group homes in Indiana and Georgia for adults with developmental impairments. A lawyer and licensed minister, Beal is also the pastor of Faith United Church of Christ in Fort Wayne.

Prosecutors characterized Beal’s actions as theft, arguing that while he said he needed the money to make payroll, that payroll included salaries of $300,000 each for him and his ex-wife, the company’s chief executive officer.

The trust fund holds money from clients’ Social Security checks, paychecks and other income and is meant to pay for the expenses and care of the residents. The accounts also include money earned by the clients at various jobs and gifts from family members, according to testimony.

Beal’s defense attorneys, however, said he hadn’t committed a crime because he paid the money back, which had been his intention all along.

Under cross-examination by Chief Deputy Prosecutor Michael McAlexander, Beal gave often lengthy, rambling explanations for why his actions weren’t illegal or improper.

While Beal had characterized the transactions as loans, Beal also said he didn’t need to claim them to be loans because what he had done was not wrong, McAlexander summarized during his questioning of Beal.

“Are you saying that everything in the trust accounts is yours?” McAlexander asked him.

“Well, I have the benefit of hindsight,” Beal said, adding that he had gone through the mountainous piles of paperwork generated as part of the investigation.

“I don’t think it really matters,” Beal said. “I wasn’t wrong with what I said originally.”

McAlexander reminded him that a number of his employees testified about what Beal had said and expressed concern about what he was doing.

“Yes,” Beal agreed. “But they haven’t had the benefit of reading the rules, the appeals court rulings, the Supreme Court rulings.”

McAlexander read to Beal from a U.S. Social Security Administration document that said the money in the trust fund accounts is not to be given or lent to anyone else.

“You’re saying that’s a misstatement?” McAlexander asked.

“Well, you have to understand the context,” Beal said, suggesting that McAlexander read the preamble to the Social Security rules.

Part of Beal’s defense was that he paid the money back with interest, though that did not happen until after the charges were filed.

McAlexander questioned him about whether Beal believed his clients were better off.

“They are better off if I pay them interest,” Beal said. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“Because you didn’t ask them,” McAlexander said.

McAlexander said he was pleased with the jury’s verdict.

The resignation moots disciplinary proceedings brought as a result of the conviction. (Mike Frisch)