Former Stark County attorney admits to stealing $882,109 from clients
CANTON ‒ A former attorney has pleaded guilty to six theft charges, admitting he stole $882,109 from seven clients.
As part of a negotiated plea agreement, 16 other criminal charges against William R. Sparks were dismissed at a special prosecutor's request.
All the charges against the 71-year-old former attorney involve real estate transactions handled by his title company, American Realty Title Assurance Company of Stark County Inc.
After accepting the Jackson Township man's guilty pleas on Wednesday, Stark County Common Pleas Judge Natalie R. Haupt dismissed the remaining criminal charges as requested by special prosecutor Micah Ault, an assistant Ohio attorney general.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 17. Prison time is possible.
"There's no agreed sentence in this case," Ault said. "The state will be asking for restitution in this matter."
Attorney has repaid most of the stolen money
In a response filed in court, defense attorney Jeffrey Jakmides wrote that all but $84,388 has been repaid to the victims. Sparks personally repaid $597,721. Two clients each received $100,000 from a state fund that reimburses clients for losses suffered due to dishonest conduct of licensed Ohio lawyers.
Jakmides' filing says Sparks is not legally permitted to pay the balances owed to two victims, totaling $84,388, until he repays $200,000 to the state fund that paid his two clients.
"Defendant has liquidated all of his and his wife's assets in an effort to make restitution," Jakmides wrote.
Sparks pleaded guilty to three counts of theft from a person in a protected class, two counts of aggravated theft and a single count of grand theft.
The judge dismissed a charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, six counts of money laundering, three counts of passing bad checks, two counts of aggravated theft, two counts of theft from a person in a protected class, and one count each of theft and grand theft.
Five of the seven victims named in Sparks' indictment match those in a complaint filed in June 2020 by the Stark County Bar Association against him with the Board of Professional Conduct of the Ohio Supreme Court.
A sixth victim identified in the indictment told The Repository his losses were incurred in a real estate transaction. The amounts listed in the indictment are the same as amounts in the bar association complaint for the five victims identified in both documents.
Sparks resigned from the practice of law in October 2020 while disciplinary action was pending against him.
The time frame of the offenses is Aug. 15, 2018, to Nov. 7, 2020, according to Sparks' criminal indictment.
The method for the thefts was not detailed in the indictment.
However, the bar association complaint said that Sparks withdrew money from an escrow account for his own use. The funds in the escrow account are supposed to be paid out to parties in a real estate transaction. The allegation matches two aggravated theft charges in the indictment that say Sparks took $229,365 from the same two people named in the bar association complaint.
Another allegation in the bar association complaint said that he deposited a $233,444 check payable to one of his clients into his own account. The name and amount match two aggravated theft charges in the criminal indictment.
The indictment said Sparks took amounts of $164,228, $120,160, $90,000 and $44,911 from four other people.
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: William Sparks, former attorney, admits to stealing from clients
