A former Lehigh County attorney is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a client.
Glenn D. McGogney, 70, was charged Friday with theft, theft by failing to make required disposition of funds, and receiving stolen property.
McGogney, of the 6100 block of Woodledge Drive in Upper Macungie Township, was released on $50,000 unsecured bail.
Prosecutors alleged McGogney, who was disbarred in 2012, kept a check for inheritance taxes instead of paying it.
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In 2009, McGogney represented Christopher and Tammy Cruz, executors of the estate of Charles Knautz. McGogney had an office in South Whitehall Township at the time.
In the fall of 2009, Christopher Cruz received a document drafted by McGogney, which showed $42,507 in inheritance taxes would be owed to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.
A check for $50,049 was written from the estate and the Cruz’s payable to McGogney for taxes and attorney fees, prosecutors said. The taxes were never paid, prosecutors allege.
By March 2012, McGogney was disbarred by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in part because he took a $25,000 loan from a client for Coyotes, a Bucks County strip club he owned at the time, according to media reports.
From 2011 to 2014, Christopher Cruz received several tax delinquency notices and McGogney reportedly assured Cruz he would handle the issue.
In 2014, Tammy Cruz learned the check was deposited into McGogney’s account at National Penn Bank, but that the inheritance taxes were not paid.
Over two years, the Cruz’s tried to resolve the issue with McGogney, according to prosecutors, but on Sept. 1, 2016, they filed a theft report.
South Whitehall Township police said they learned from the Lehigh County Register of Wills that the inheritance taxes were never paid, and that the money deposited into McGogney’s account was never sent to the Register of Wills on behalf of the estate or the Cruz family.
Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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