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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Ind. Law - "Attorney William Crabtree II, facing trial, found dead in Dyer home"
Updating earlier ILB entries, the most recent from Dec. 25, 2008, Christin Nance Lazerus reports today in the Gary Post-Tribune:
William Crabtree II, who was set to face tax evasion and fraud charges in federal court on Monday, was found dead in his home earlier that morning.Crabtree, 46, was pronounced dead at 5:07 a.m. in his Dyer home in the 1300 block of Ballybunion Court in the Briar Ridge subdivision.
Dyer Police alerted the coroner's office at 4:34 a.m.
The Lake County Coroner's office has performed an autopsy, but is not releasing a cause of death, pending a toxicology report.
The coroner's office has ruled out homicide.
Crabtree was charged with stealing more than $2.2 million from his clients between 2006 and 2008.
He allegedly set up a series of forged checks, phony receipts and bank transfers to steal money from clients of his law firm and a title company he owned.
Crabtree's lawyer, Clark Holesinger, filed a motion to continue the trial while final issues are resolved in the case. The jury selection was set to begin at 8:30 a.m. in Judge Rudy Lozano's court, but jurors were sent home.
Holesinger said his heart goes out to Crabtree's family.
Crabtree resigned his law license in December 2008, after the state Supreme Court had suspended his license and were investigating his possible disbarment.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 25, 2009 08:29 AM
Posted to Indiana Law