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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTwo Indianapolis attorneys are facing criminal charges after the Marion County prosecutor filed charges in unrelated cases.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry issued a press release Friday, announcing the criminal charges against attorneys David F. Rees and Steven B. Geller.
According to the release, Rees has been charged with theft of funds held in an estate that he managed, a Class C felony, and with obstruction of justice, a Class D felony. He has agreed to enter a guilty plea to both charges with a sentence to be concurrent on the two counts. He faces a maximum sentence of eight years, $20,000 in fines and restitution of $270,549.
Rees, according to the probable cause affidavit, drafted the will and was executor of the estate for his client Benjamin Roberts. Eight years after the client’s death, about $400,000 was missing from the estate. Rees has acknowledged diverting $270,549 into his personal account.
The obstruction charge arises from Rees allegedly filing a fraudulent “final accounting” in the estate on Jan. 20, 2012, indicating the unaccounted for funds were still in the estate.
In a separate case, Steven B. Geller has been charged with five counts of Class D felony evasion of tax for failing to file Indiana individual or business income tax returns for the tax years 2007 through 2011. He was arrested Thursday.
Rees, who was admitted to practice in 1965, resigned from the bar on Jan. 28, 2013. Geller, admitted in 1989, is listed as active in good standing on the Indiana Roll of Attorneys, but has one concluded disciplinary case and another pending.
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