GREENE COUNTY — A former Greene County lawyer accused of stealing over $2 million from the trust he had been appointed to manage reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced Friday.
Brian Wiggins changed his plea to guilty on 15 of the 55 counts he was originally charged with and was formally found guilty by a Greene County judge. Wiggins agreed to plead guilty on charges of identity theft, money laundering, tampering with records, theft, aggravated theft, and possession of cocaine.
The change in plea was part of a plea agreement agreed to by Wiggins’ lawyer Thomas Kollin and Greene County prosecutors.
As a part of the agreement Wiggins was sentenced to five years in an Ohio prison. The maximum penalty he could have received was 54 years, however the sentences will run concurrently, meaning they will all be served at the same time.
As a part of the agreement Wiggins will also pay various restitution that adds up to about $2 million and he has been stripped of his ability to practice law in Ohio.
Investigators alleged Wiggins stole the money from a $3 million trust of a deceased Greene County resident after he was appointed a trustee of the account. The trust was designed to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Smile Train, a charity that provides free surgeries to children born with cleft palates and other facial deformities.
Prosecutors said he used the funds to pay for a house, a boat, a car, for gambling trips and for cosmetic surgery of family members among other things.
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