Alex Frank Gallegos

DEL NORTE — Visiting Judge Scott Epstein on Friday sentenced former attorney Alex Frank Gallegos, 57, to two years in prison for felony theft related to a trust account for which he had responsibility .

The judge ordered Gallegos, a former South Fork resident, to pay $506,593 restitution to the William H. Sherman Revocable Trust.

Sherman died in an automobile accident on Jan. 20, 2008. The sole beneficiary of the trust, which had an approximate cumulative value of more than $1 million at the time of his death, was the Rio Grande Hospital.

At the time investigations began the hospital had received 0 while Gallegos had begun drawing funds from the various trust accounts shortly after Sherman’s death. Gallegos was the personal representative and trustee of the estate until the court replaced him in January.

In April the Colorado Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Gallegos from practicing law in Colorado. He had been a lawyer since 1994.

Gallegos could have been sentenced to up to six years in prison, but the judge considered Gallegos’ failing health in deciding on a two-year sentence, Deputy District Attorney Geoffrey Rieman said following the sentencing.

Rieman said Gallegos is very ill, and Gallegos’ attorney asked the judge for unsupervised probation given his medical condition.





For the complete article see the 10-22-2009 issue.

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