Former Temecula Attorney Convicted Of Stealing From Customer Have confidence in

TEMECULA, CA — A now-disbarred Temecula attorney has been sentenced to three a long time of probation subsequent his guilty plea Friday to two felony counts of grand theft.

In accordance to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Business office, Edward J. Nowakoski, 69, previously worked as a trusts and estates legal professional and served as treasurer of the Southwest Riverside County Bar Association. His schemes unraveled when he was not able to justify why he experienced not created the required distributions in a shopper probate situation.

In accordance to the D.A.’s business, Nowakoski was appointed as trustee of a client’s estate, but when the consumer died in 2016 the now-disgraced legal professional transferred a sizeable portion of the estate resources to his personal accounts rather of disbursing the belongings to the client’s spouse and children as directed in the rely on, according to the D.A.’s business.

From 2016 to 2018, Nowakoski made use of the stolen resources for own expenses, such as expenses and tuition for someone else, the D.A.’s business alleged.

He was subsequently disbarred. When the Southwest Riverside County Bar Association got wind of it, the nonprofit uncovered Nowakoski experienced been embezzling cash from its accounts, in accordance to the D.A.’s office. Nowakoski had been the lengthy-time treasurer for the affiliation, where he oversaw membership dues and expenses associated with networking activities, and experienced sole handle more than its accounts, the D.A.’s workplace documented.

As element of a plea settlement with the D.A.’s place of work, Nowakoski agreed to pay back restitution — furthermore
interest — to the victims. At the time of Friday’s plea, he paid out a total of $562,854 in victim restitution, according to the D.A.’s business office.

As a end result of his conviction, Nowakoski can not follow legislation of any variety or reapply to the bar during his probation.