Does it get any lower than this former judge?
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Former Cook County judge indicted for stealing $250K from Tuskegee Airman uncle
A former Cook County judge accused of stealing nearly $250,000 from her uncle, a former Tuskegee Airman, has been indicted on seven felony charges.
Patricia Martin, 64, was indicted on Nov. 9 on three counts of theft, two counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person, one count of money laundering, and one count of financial institution fraud.
According to the indictment, the thefts happened between December 2020 and October 2022. She's accused of moving money from her uncle Oscar Wilkerson's bank accounts to at least two other accounts in an effort to cover up the thefts, and used the money for cryptocurrency investments in her own name.
"She intentionally used for her own purposes more than $240,000 she had agreed to hold for an elderly relative who was residing in a nursing home, made false statements to the physician who held her relative's power of attorney about the balances in his bank and investment accounts, and did not produce documents in response to an ARDC subpoena," according to the court's Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
She had been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1986 before the state's highest court stripped her of her license in September.
CBS 2's Chris Tye first broke the story about Martin's conduct.
Martin, who spent 24 years on the bench, retired as Cook County's top juvenile court judge in 2020.
