ALTON, Ill. (CN) - A lawyer is accused of stealing $137,800 from a client's inheritance. Dennis F. Nalick, 62, is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person.
Police say the 81-year-old victim, an only child, arranged for Nalick to handle the estate of her late mother in 2004. The attorney and his client attended the same church.
After 5 years passed without receiving the money, the woman hired another attorney to investigate what she thought was a communication problem in Ohio, where her mother died.
The attorney discovered that the estate had been settled and the checks sent and cashed in 2006, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
It is not clear how much money, if any, the woman will recover.
Nalick's law license in Illinois was suspended in 2006 for 1 year, according to a statement from the Chief Disciplinary Counsel.
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