Well-Known So. Illinois Attorney Pleads in Client Theft Case
In an apparent plea bargain, a prominent Southern Illinois attorney has pleaded guilty to a felony count in a client theft case.
Patrick Cox is scheduled to be sentenced in April, and could get as little as four years of probation and as much as seven years in prison and a $25,000 fine, reports the Associated Press. Union County State’s Attorney Allen James says he will ask the judge at sentencing to order Cox to pay almost $58,000 in restitution.
Cox was formerly a Union County public defender and Cairo city attorney, as well as a 2004 candidate for the post of state’s attorney.
He reportedly disappeared for a while last summer after a divorce client he represented discovered that money was missing from a trust account to which he had access, according to the Southern Illinoisan and local CBS and ABC affiliates.
However, according to a local NBC affiliate, Cox apparently continued to maintain a residence with his wife in Anna at that time and was never missing.
