Windsor attorney arrested on charges of fraud and embezzlement from family trusts

by JENNIFER SAWHNEY

Santa Rosa Police arrested a local attorney on charges of embezzlement and fraud in connection with the theft of more than $500,000 from trust funds he was managing.

Michael Voorhees of Windsor faces seven felony counts, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Chris Mahurin said Thursday.

“Based on interviews and evidence obtained through search warrants, detectives believe the suspect was illegally writing checks to himself from the trust accounts,” Mahurin said. “The embezzlement is estimated between $500,000 and $600,000.”

Reached by phone on Thursday, Voorhees declined comment. His attorney, Marty Woods, also declined comment.

Voorhees, who was arrested Jan. 11, is accused of stealing money from trusts he comanaged with the late Richard Holm, a real estate investor. Members of Holm’s family believe the embezzlement amounted to about $700,000, though total losses could be more.

Richard Holm died in May 2022. Voorhees was Holm’s lawyer, business partner and friend of over 40 years, according to Holm’s niece, Jackie Nelson.

“The relationship goes back years and years and years. Mike's mother worked for my uncle. It's a sad, sad thing” Nelson said.

Holm had invested in real estate since the 1970s, Nelson said. Nelson, a retired certified public accountant, began to help her uncle with his bookkeeping and tax returns in 2008.

She said she repeatedly requested financial statements from Voorhees over the years, but “he could never produce a financial statement for all the trusts that he was in charge of,” Nelson said.

She grew increasingly suspicious, and she and members of her family hired a lawyer before Holm died.

Nelson said that just weeks after her uncle’s death, Voorhees produced bank statements. He then resigned from the trust on May 24, 2022, three weeks after Holm died. Nelson said within a few days of receiving the financial documents she said it was “very obvious” and she notified police.

A Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said Voorhees’ case remained under review. He was scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

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Windsor attorney arrested on charges of fraud and embezzlement from family trusts