Kentucky Attorney Cops Plea To Ripping Off Clients, Forging Deed In Effort To Score 66 Acres At Deep Discount

In Covington, Kentucky, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports:

• Covington lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing thousands of dollars from his clients and forging a state senator’s name.



• Patrick Moeves, 42, admitted in Kenton Circuit Court that he took fees for legal work he did not do and forged state Sen. Jack Westwood’s name on a land deed – allowing the land to be sold to Moeves’ cousin.



• Moeves, who has been held in the Kenton County jail for more than eight months, faces up to eight years in prison when Judge Martin Sheehan sentences him next month.

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• Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said he agreed to accept the guilty plea because Moeves will likely serve more than five years in prison. Sanders is seeking a total of eight years in prison – one four-year sentence and two, two-year sentences consecutively.



• “I think the court, as does the Commonwealth, understands that we have to be able to trust attorneys,” Sanders said. “Contrary to what many people think, a license to practice law is not a license to steal. To maintain the public’s trust in the system it’s important that anyone with a law license that violates that trust goes to prison.”

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• In December, Moeves was removed as co-executor of the estate a Park Hills woman after the other co-executor, state Sen. Jack Westwood, said his name was forged on a deed.



• The forgery allowed 66 acres in Harrison County to be sold to Moeves’ cousin for less than half its taxable value of $289,000. Sanders said Wednesday that because Moeves admitted to the forgery in court, the land sale should soon be voided.

For the story, see Covington lawyer guilty of theft, forgery.