Suspended attorney accused of stealing funds from local client

Kenneth Service

MUNCIE, Ind. – An attorney being held without bond in the Delaware County jail is accused of stealing more than $23,000 from a local client.

Kenneth S. Service, 46, of Greenwood, was arrested Jan. 16 on a warrant Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees had issued last September.

In June 2018, Service was charged with theft, a Class D felony carrying up to three years in prison.

Authorities allege Service took $23,622 from the Delaware Count client between April 2014 and June 2016. A guardianship for that woman had been established in 2003, when she was a juvenile.

The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Service from acting as an attorney in 2017 after he allegedly refused to cooperate in a state  investigation of allegations against him.

Service's legal woes are not limited to Delaware County. He also faces related theft charges in Lawrence, Franklin and Marion counties. 

In all, Service is accused of stealing more than a quarter-million dollars from the trusts of special needs clients.

He also faces lawsuits alleging he took funds from clients in Allen, LaPorte and Wabash counties, according to The Indiana Lawyer, a website on the state legal system.

Service operated the National Foundation for Special Needs Integrity Inc., of Carmel, but was fired by that organization in 2014.

Vorhees issued the warrant for his arrest in the local case last September after he failed to appear for a pre-trial hearing.

A hearing on the local case is set for Feb. 3.

There is also a warrant for Service's arrest in Marion County, where he was charged last May with corrupt business influence and three counts of theft.

His trial on a theft charge in Lawrence Superior Court 1 is set for April 1.

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Suspended attorney accused of stealing funds from local client

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Special needs trust lawyer faces another theft charge

Lawyer accused of stealing from special-needs trusts

Special needs trust lawyer faces another theft charge

A suspended Indianapolis attorney who specialized in establishing special needs trusts before he was accused of stealing from those clients is facing felony theft charges in another Indiana county.

Kenneth S. Service, 45, was charged last month with Class D felony theft in Delaware County, where he is accused of stealing $23,622 from a former client, authorities said Thursday.

The charge accuses Service of exerting unauthorized control over the property of an alleged victim between April 30, 2014 and June 18, 2016. The alleged victim had been the subject of a guardianship established in 2003 when she was a minor. Online court records show Service was removed as trustee of the guardianship in December 2016.

Service was suspended from the practice of law in June 2017 for noncooperation with an investigation into a grievance filed against him, and he was suspended indefinitely the following October.

The disciplinary complaints against Service came after he was charged in December 2016 with stealing more than $85,000 from two clients in Lawrence County. Service faces a charge of Level 5 felony theft in that case and has a trial date of Aug. 1 at the courthouse in Bedford.

Service, who court records show is now representing himself in the criminal matter in Lawrence County, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Authorities said last year they feared Service’s alleged financial crimes could be widespread, with a law enforcement investigator warning of the possibility of “multiple victims in multiple states.”

Service was the founder of Carmel-based National Foundation for Special Needs Integrity Inc., before he was fired from the organization in 2014. Special Needs Integrity was ordered by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in February to repay the estate of a woman more than $234,000 that the organization took from her trust account after she died in 2011.

In that case, National Foundation for Special Needs Integrity, Inc. v. Devon Reese, as Personal Representative for the Estate of Theresa A. Givens, 17-1817, Circuit Judge David Hamilton wrote, “…(W)e must note that the Foundation’s (former) counsel, (Kenneth) Shane Service, testified that he intentionally drafted (a section of Special Needs Integrity’s agreement dealing with distributions upon the death of a beneficiary) to confuse Missouri government officials.”

Service is scheduled to appear for an initial hearing before Delaware Circuit Judge Marianne Vorhees on July 25 at the courthouse in Muncie to face his latest criminal charge.

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Special needs trust lawyer faces another theft charge

Nurse accused of stealing more than $8,000 from 91-year-old Decatur patient

A home health nurse is accused of stealing more than $8,000 from a 91-year-old patient in Decatur.

Lori Pendergrass Sconyers

Lori Pendergrass Sconyers, 43, used the elderly victim's bank account information and checks to pay her own bills and get cash, according to court documents made public today.

Police began investigating the theft in June when a woman reported her 91-year-old mother's credit card was stolen, Detective Michael Ferguson said in a news release. Initially Sconyers, a home health nurse from Athens, was arrested on a theft charge. But the investigation continued as multiple transactions were discovered on the victim's bank account, Ferguson said.

Sconyers is held in the Morgan County Jail with bail set at $10,000 cash only. She is charged with first-degree financial exploitation of the elderly. The Class B felony is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

In nearby Limestone County, Sconyers also has been indicted on two counts of fraudulent use of a debit card, according to court documents. Those charges were brought because Sconyers used the credit card, which was stolen from the Decatur woman, to make purchases in Athens, said Emme Long, a Decatur police spokeswoman.

Sconyers used the elderly woman's money to pay her own insurance, cellphone and credit card bills, Ferguson wrote in court records. Sconyers is accused of stealing $8,641.

Additional details haven't been released.

The Department of Human Resources has an Adult Services Division that investigates crimes against the elderly by working alongside local law enforcement agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If anyone suspects an elderly person is being exploited, it can be reported to DHR's hotline at 1-800-458-7214 or by contacting a local office. A report also can be filed via email.

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Nurse accused of stealing more than $8,000 from 91-year-old Decatur patient