A Westmoreland County judge has appointed an overseer to close the practice of a Latrobe lawyer accused of bilking a client.
Common Pleas President Judge Christopher Feliciani assigned North Huntingdon attorney John Eric Bumbaugh to review case files and communicate with current and former clients of John Allen Roth, who was arrested last year on theft and related charges.
Investigators say Roth, 71, stole $31,000 from a jailed client and used the money for gambling.
Roth is free on $75,000 bail as he awaits trial but was barred from working as an attorney as a condition of his pretrial release. His law license was suspended in January.
Court records revealed Roth now lives in a nursing home and has health issues.
According to a court filing from the state Supreme Court’s lawyer disciplinary board, a visual inspection of Roth’s Latrobe office in March found a pile of unopened mail, boxed client files and 16 large moving boxes with 60 expanding file folders. Furniture also was removed.
Feliciani appointed Bumbaugh to serve as a conservator for Roth’s law practice, which included criminal, civil and family court cases.
Bumbaugh said Monday he has yet to inventory Roth’s files to determine the extent of his legal practice.
“I will rescue the client files and then return those files to them. This could take six months and up to a year,” Bumbaugh said.
His duties will include contacting Roth’s clients, reviewing his computers, cellphone records, bank accounts and all other aspects of the practice. Bumbaugh will not represent Roth’s clients.
The judge ordered all active legal cases in which Roth served as a lawyer be indefinitely stayed to allow clients to obtain new representation.
Roth’s criminal case was delayed in March for two months to allow Westmoreland County prosecutors to continue their investigation based on additional complaints made by as many as 10 other clients alleging improprieties. No additional charges have been filed against Roth.
He is scheduled to appear before Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio in May for a status conference to determine how his case should proceed.