Disbarred Clarks Green lawyer, wife charged with stealing from late Scranton man's estate
Jun. 8—A disbarred lawyer and his attorney wife were charged Thursday with stealing almost $150,000 from the estate of a Scranton man who wanted his money to go to a Catholic mission society after his death.
Kevin and Eileen Fitzgerald, both of 304 S. Abington Road, Clarks Green, surrendered at the Lackawanna County Criminal Justice Center to face theft by unlawful taking and other charges.
Both were released on $75,000 unsecured bail after their arraignments before Magisterial District Judge Kipp Adcock.
County detectives accused the pair of stealing $148,080.06 from the estate of Robert Thomas Barrett over a more than three-year period, with Kevin Fitzgerald, 65, cashing more than 100 checks written to him by Eileen Fitzgerald, 58, who was the estate's executor.
Barrett died in February 2013, and left his entire estate — estimated at $507,900, including $425,000 in personal property and $82,900 in real estate — to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Detective Joseph Blazosek said in a criminal complaint.
Kevin Fitzgerald was originally assigned as the estate's executor but later renounced his role and appointed his wife to the position. The state Supreme Court disbarred Kevin Fitzgerald in December 2013, after he admitted he took $30,000 on behalf of a Clarks Summit couple but never paid them or their heirs.
Blazosek's investigation began in October 2021, after attorney Joseph O'Brien, of Oliver, Price and Rhodes, told the district attorney's office the Society for the Propagation of the Faith had received no payments or assets from the Barrett estate, the complaint said.
Acting on behalf of the society, Oliver, Price and Rhodes petitioned county court in August 2021 for an accounting of the estate. Judge Vito Geroulo later issued an order removing Eileen Fitzgerald as executor and directed her to file an account of the estate and deliver all the remaining assets to O'Brien.
A review of the estate's financial documents showed several hundred missing checks, Blazosek said in the complaint. He requested and received a court order to obtain the estate's PNC Bank records.
He identified 106 checks written to Kevin Fitzgerald by Eileen Fitzgerald between February 2016 and September 2019, the complaint said.
While two of the checks were deposited into a Wayne Bank account, Kevin Fitzgerald cashed the rest, the detective said. Those included four checks with notations in the memo line indicating they were intended for taxes.
In an interview with the detective, Kelly Carruba, who served as attorney for the estate from 2014 until Eileen Fitzgerald discharged her in 2020, said she repeatedly asked for copies of the estate accounts to review but was never given them, the complaint said.
Every time she raised a question about taxes or bank statements, the Fitzgeralds said they "will take care of it," she told Blazosek.
Carruba said she finally had to remove herself as attorney for the estate because of her health but she also felt she could not perform her duties properly without access to the account information she sought, the complaint said.
In addition to theft by unlawful taking, the Fitzgeralds were charged with criminal conspiracy. Kevin Fitzgerald is also charged with receiving stolen property, and Eileen Fitzgerald faces a charge of misapplication of entrusted property.
Adcock set their preliminary hearings for 9 a.m. July 17.
Contact the writer:
dsingleton@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9132.
