Lawyer is accused of stealing $1.8M from estate bequeathed to Connecticut town
The town of Oxford, Connecticut, is re-evaluating payment plans for a library after federal prosecutors accused a lawyer of stealing $1.8 million from an estate bequeathed mostly to the town.
Lawyer Peter Clark, 57, of Woodbury is charged with one count of mail fraud, according to an FBI press release. The Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Post have stories.
Clark was co-executor for the $4.8 million estate of Miriam Strong, a chemist and Oxford resident who served on the town’s Inland Wetlands Commission. Prosecutors allege he used the stolen $1.8 million to buy an all-terrain vehicle; to pay credit card and utility bills; to make a payment to a trustee in an unrelated probate matter; and for a property sale.
Part of the bequest was intended to fund a town library, Selectman George Temple told the newspapers. “This has at least slowed down the plans” for the library, which will have to be funded by taxpayers to a greater extent, he told the Hartford Courant.
