LAWYER STEALS $100,000 FROM POOR CHILDREN HE WAS APPOINTED TO PROTECT

Memphis Commercial Appeal

This may be a new lawyerly low.

Attorney David Weed was appointed eight years ago by a judge to take control of a corrupt child care program in Memphis where officials had stolen millions of state dollars intended to care for poor children.

Not only did barrister Weed NOT clean up the program, he apparently decided to apply the aphorism “if you can't beat um, join um” by helping himself to $100,000 in government funds Weed held in trust for poor children.

As the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports:

“The Nashville lawyer was indicted on two counts of official misconduct for allegedly siphoning more than $100,000 from accounts he controlled.

"It was an ironic twist for Weed, who as a court-appointed receiver was responsible for recovering misappropriated assets at Cherokee Children and Family Services, the firm that controlled the purse strings of state-subsidized child care in Memphis.

"Mr. Weed had been entrusted by the state of Tennessee and the courts to safeguard and watch over certain funds," said Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons. "We allege that he misappropriated those funds and violated the trust placed in him."

Weed, 60, was being held in jail late Wednesday on a $10,000 bond and was unavailable for comment.

Unavailable for comment indeed; the are no cell phones in jail. No email either.

Related: Lawyer Accused of Stealing Money He Was Hired to Safeguard (ABA J)