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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Ind. Courts - "Pastor-lawyer facing theft trial: Accused of raids on trust funds for group homes"
Rebecca S. Green of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports today:
Accused of taking money from the trust fund accounts of residents with disabilities in his group homes, Ernest M. Beal Jr. stood trial Tuesday in Allen Superior Court.Beal, 56, is chief operating officer of Your Friends and Neighbors, a company that runs group homes in Indiana and Georgia for adults with developmental impairments. Last June, he was charged with felony theft, accused of ordering company officials to take money from the clients’ trust funds to make payroll and other operating expenses.
The trust fund holds money from clients’ Social Security benefit checks, paychecks and other income and is meant to pay for the expenses and care of the residents, according to court documents.
Beal, a lawyer, is also pastor of Faith United Church of Christ in Fort Wayne.
During opening statements, Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tim McCaulay said Beal “borrowed” from the clients multiple times over a 3 1/2 -year period. Beal and his ex-wife, the company’s chief executive officer, each drew a salary of more than $300,000, he said.
McCaulay characterized the case as one of arrogance, greed and the avoidance of truth.
When employees brought their concerns about the practice to Beal’s attention, Beal warned one in an e-mail that she “needn’t be quite so cautious,” McCaulay said.
But defense attorney Frank Gray said Beal’s actions were not criminal.
“This isn’t stolen money,” Gray said, adding Beal paid the money back with interest.
Even the federal Social Security Administration investigators who were asked to look into Beal’s actions found that it was not a violation of the law and didn’t pursue the matter, Gray said.
“The decisions made were proper,” Gray said. “The employees who didn’t think it was right are not lawyers or experts.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 21, 2010 11:51 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts