Former Indy attorney sentenced for theft from estate

Former Indianapolis attorney David F. Rees has been sentenced to four years of home detention and two years of probation after pleading guilty to stealing more than $270,000 from an estate that he was charged with managing.

Rees, 73, drafted the will and served as executor for the estate of the late Benjamin Roberts. Eight years after Roberts' death, $400,000 turned up missing, and Rees acknowledged diverting $270,549 to his own bank account.

Rees pleaded guilty to Class C felony theft and Class D obstruction of justice related to a final accounting of the estate, which he filed in January 2012, indicating all the money was still there.

He has been ordered to pay $270,000 in restitution.

The Indiana Supreme Court accepted Rees' resignation from the bar in January.

“Mr. Rees abused the position of trust he was given by the Roberts family, stealing from the very account he was obligated to protect,” Prosecutor Terry Curry said in a prepared statement. “As attorneys, we are bound by our oath to support the rule of law in every respect. We will accordingly vigorously prosecute those attorneys who have not only failed to uphold that standard, but have engaged in criminal conduct.”