Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2009

Metro-east attorney will replace money missing from dead person's estate

BELLEVILLE -- John F. Pawloski, a metro-east attorney accused by state regulators of unauthorized use of at least $28,000 from a disabled adult ward and two estates, has for the second time agreed to pay back missing money.

Pawloski, who in 2007 was acting as St. Clair County's public guardian and administrator, in May was accused by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of using $2,500 for himself from deceased Cahokia resident Vernon Denbo's estate without permission from a judge. Pawloski denied that claim in his response to the ARDC complaint.

Pawloski's lawyer, Jim Williams, told St. Clair County Associate Judge Stephen Rice on Tuesday that Pawloski would repay $7,522 missing from that estate.

Williams has advised Pawloski, who did not appear in court Tuesday, not to speak to the news media. He said Pawloski is "contrite."

"We're repaying," Williams said.

Also in May, the ARDC accused Pawloski of unauthorized use of at least $20,000 from Cahokia resident Harold Watts' estate, and he has denied that claim, as well. Pawloski in April agreed to repay the $63,075 missing from the estate. The money, to be repaid through a payment plan, will mostly go to the National Cystic Fibrosis Association, the sole beneficiary of Watts' estate. Some will be used to pay the new administrator's cost of managing the estate.

"We're moving along nicely in this matter and the other matter," said attorney P.K. Johnson IV, who is the current administrator of both estates; Pawloski was removed in January. "Hopefully, we can close the estate and move on."

Johnson said there's no known heir in the Denbo case, though he and other attorneys involved continue to look for one. He said much of the repaid $7,522 will go to costs of administering the estate.

In November, the ARDC accused Pawloski of using for himself $6,300 from a disabled adult ward, Belleville resident Frances Moll, who is now deceased. He has denied that charge, and he hasn't yet promised repayment in that case.

Pawloski has not been charged criminally in any case. If the commission finds him guilty of its civil charges, he could face disbarment in Illinois.

He has refused to account for his use of more than $50,000 of wards' and deceased people's estate money. His attorneys have cited his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. He has appealed a judge's demand he provide the accounting, and that appeal is pending in the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon.