Attorney Charged With Felony Theft

A Knoxville attorney already under suspension for misappropriating clients' funds in the early 2000s now faces a criminal charge in connection with a new set of similar claims.

John O. Threadgill, a veteran civil attorney who long was active in both the Knoxville Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association, was arrested Monday on a sealed presentment charging him with felony theft over $60,000.

John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols, said Tuesday the charge involves allegations of misappropriation of clients' funds. The case is believed to stem from Threadgill's handling of client funds in 2008.

The theft case was probed by Knox County Sheriff's Office Detective Mike Freels and presented to a Knox County grand jury by Assistant District Attorney General Steve Garrett.

In an opinion released in September and penned by Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia A. Clark, the high court upheld the one-year suspension of Threadgill's law license issued by the Board of Professional Responsibility, which polices attorneys.

In that opinion, the court addressed three different clients who, in 2003 and 2004, were shorted money by Threadgill, deeming at least one of those incidents as rising to the level of "criminal conduct." The court also noted that Threadgill had been similarly accused in 1994.

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Knox Attorney Charged With Felony Theft