Former assistant district attorney pleads guilty to stealing $58K from elderly client in personal injury case

LAPLACE – A former assistant district attorney in St. John the Baptist Parish has pleaded guilty to stealing $58,000 from an elderly client.

Earlier this week LaPlace attorney Kerry D. Brown pleaded guilty to theft of the assets of an aged person, monetary instrument abuse and forgery stemming from an incident that began in April 2010 after he received a settlement on behalf of an elderly client who had been in a vehicle accident.

The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board's Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Louisiana State Police found Brown did not notify his client that he had received the funds or relinquish them and instead began to forge checks from the settlement to himself that eventually amounted to more than $58,000.

Brown was originally was indicted by a grand jury in July after the Louisiana State Supreme Court suspended his bar license for allegedly mishandling $85,000 in client funds.

For the crime Brown will receive no jail time, but will get two years active supervised probation, three years of inactive probation and a five-year suspended sentence on each count. He has also been ordered to repay $58,041.09 to the victim and $5,000 in fines and court costs.

Before becoming a personal injury attorney Brown was an assistant district attorney with the St. John the Baptist Parish District Attorney’s office.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Derbes prosecuted the case for the attorney general’s office.

Special Ad Hoc Judge Michael Kirby presided over the case.