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Photo of Robert A. DeFrank Mark Thomas, former commissioner and former Belmont County lawyer, appears before Belmont County Joint Pleas Judge Vavra on Friday with his attorney, Don Tennant.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury has indicted Mark Thomas, a former commissioner and lawyer for Belmont County, with crimes relating to the theft of more than half a million dollars from an elderly woman with dementia while he was acting in as the woman’s agent.

Thomas, 61, of St. Clairsville, is charged with four counts of mail fraud, a federal felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

According to court documents, from 2012 to August 2019, Thomas defrauded a client while serving as his power of attorney. It is alleged that Thomas took the victim’s money without his knowledge or knowledge or without permission to use it for his own benefit.

The indictment clarifies that Thomas misused the victim’s power of attorney and his legal status – even after his lawyer’s license was revoked in 2015 – to convince various entities, including banks and life insurance companies, to transfer the victim’s money for its use.

In May 2012, a family member of the victim obtained a separate power of attorney for the victim, and it is alleged that Thomas drafted a revocation of the family member’s power of attorney to be signed by the victim. At the time, the victim was 85 years old, had symptoms of dementia and lived in a nursing home. Thomas allegedly acted as a notary to verify the victim’s signature on the revocation.

The indictment further alleges that Thomas falsely told a banker that he needed $ 200,000 from the victim’s investment account to create an education fund that the victim wanted to establish. Once he received the money from the bank, Thomas reportedly transferred the money to himself instead.

In January 2014, Thomas allegedly cashed in over $ 290,000 of the victim’s US Treasury bills, then transferred $ 200,000 to his law firm’s bank account, and ultimately to his own personal bank account.

According to the indictment, in 2016 Thomas wrote letters to three life insurance companies claiming to be the victim, asking to cash the victim’s policies and address all correspondence to Thomas.

“In total, the indictment document alleges that Thomas stole over $ 500,000 from the victim’s funds while pretending to act in his best interests as a prosecutor,” Acting US Attorney Vipal J. Patel said.

“Having a power of attorney is not a license to steal,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “I am grateful that investigators in my healthcare fraud unit and our federal partners were able to expose this alleged breach of trust.”

Patel, Yost and the FBI Special Agent in Charge J. William Rivers announced the charges. The Ohio Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Unit and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorneys David J. Twombly and S. Courter Shimeall are representing the United States in this case.

An indictment is only an allegation and the accused are presumed innocent unless their guilt is proven by a court.

Thomas could not be reached for comment on Thursday.