Lawyer accused of ripping off clients claims no memory

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A Delaware County personal injury attorney accused of stealing more than $400,000 in settlement funds that were supposed to go to his clients now claims he has no memory of his alleged actions.

Gregory G. Stagliano, 61, of the 500 block of Chaumont Drive in Radnor, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft of services, theft by deception and receiving stolen property, all felonies of the third degree, as well as a misdemeanor count of unauthorized practice of law. He is additionally charged in a separate but related case involving insurance.

Stagliano has been declared incompetent, however, on the basis that he cannot remember the entire period when he allegedly was pocketing money that was supposed to go to nine different victims he represented in personal injury cases.

Former District Attorney Jack Whelan said when announcing the charges in May 2017 that investigators led by county Detective Michele Deery began looking at Stagliano in July 2016, based on a tip from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Investigators found a similar pattern of theft in each of the nine cases, with Stagliano allegedly depositing funds meant for clients into his own Santander Interest on Lawyers Trust Account for personal use.

Stagliano has been represented by three attorneys in the case and previously appeared before Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Mary Alice Brennan, but the case is now before Senior Judge Michael Coll, who handles competency cases.

Stagliano’s current attorney, John Hickey, filed the competency motion on the basis that without his memory, Stagliano cannot assist in his defense. Hickey and Assistant District Attorney William Judge appeared before Coll at the end of January on that issue.

Coll signed the order Feb. 7 directing Stagliano to seek treatment for restoration of competency, but seemed incredulous of Stagliano’s claims during a hearing Tuesday.

“What a convenient lapse of memory, huh?” the judge asked Hickey. “It looks like we’re in this position – as long as he says he doesn’t remember, he’s going to be deemed to be not competent? That’s unacceptable. That’s unacceptable. How could you tell whether he’s faking it or not?”

But Hickey noted that a court-appointed psychologist, a neuropsychologist and Stagliano’s current treating psychiatrist all back up his claims of memory loss due to a combination of opioids and nerve pain medications he was taking at the time. Hickey added that a brain scan showed Stagliano has a lesion on the part of his brain that controls memory and cognition, which would lend his story some credibility.

“The fact that there’s a lesion on his brain doesn’t lead to the conclusion that he’s lost his memory,” the judge said.

“If someone says their foot hurts, you can say, ‘Anyone can say their foot hurts,’” said Hickey. “If you take an x-ray and you happen to see a broken bone, you say, ‘Oh, there’s something objective to verify what they’re saying.’”

Hickey said he was unable to get a complete update on Stagliano’s treatment before the hearing Tuesday, but Coll has ordered that a report be delivered within two weeks recounting precisely what is being done to restore his memory.

Hickey later said the record indicates that the combination of medications his client was taking actually precluded him from forming those memories in the first place, so it would be very difficult for him to regain them.

The next scheduled hearing is March 5.

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Lawyer accused of ripping off clients claims no memory