Disbarred attorney will serve one year in prison for stealing nearly $900,000

By Todd Feathers, Globe Correspondent

A disbarred Bedford attorney who stole nearly $900,000 from several people, including an 85-year-old client, will pay restitution to her victims, serve one year in a house of correction, and an additional year-and-a-half under house arrest, prosecutors said today.

Maureen F. Pomeroy, 46, was sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court Monday, after she pleaded guilty March 4 to two counts of larceny from a person over 60, one count of larceny, and one count of embezzlement by fiduciary, Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a statement. Pomeroy was accused of stealing from two clients and one of their sons.

“This defendant took advantage of clients who entrusted her with access to their funds and believed that she would assist them with their best interests in mind. ... This defendant is being held accountable for these injustices and is no longer able to practice law,” Coakley said.

Pomeroy will be required to pay $277,292 in restitution to her victims, the statement said.

Coakley’s office said that during the summer of 2008, Pomeroy stole more than $810,000 from an 85-year-old man who had hired her to draft his will, estate planning documents, and assist him with several bank accounts.

Pomeroy embezzled some of that money for personal gain and used the rest to repay two other people whom she had previously misappropriated money from, the statement said.

Beginning in 2007, Pomeroy had embezzled $32,000 from the proceeds of a house she sold on behalf of a deceased client, the statement said. She also had withdrawn money from a trust account she managed for the client’s son and used the funds for herself.

Pomeroy used a portion of the $810,000 she stole from the 85-year-old man to repay the $32,000 she stole from the deceased client’s estate and to deposit more than $50,000 in the trust account of the client’s son, the statement said.

“It is particularly appalling that she stole more than $800,000 from an elderly client and from someone who was grieving the loss of a family member,” Coakley said.

Pomeroy was indicted and pleaded not guilty in 2011, following an investigation by Coakley’s office, which was spurred by a complaint from one of her former clients. As a result of the indictments, Pomeroy resigned as an attorney and was disbarred, the statement said.

Todd Feathers can be reached at todd.feathers@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ToddFeathers.