Attorney who stole from clients gets 4 years

A disbarred Algonquin attorney who admitted to stealing from his clients was sentenced to four years in prison Friday.

Stephen E. Ford, 56, pleaded guilty in March to two felony theft charges under a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid serving up to seven years behind bars.

Ford will serve two years of his sentence.

"The state's attorney's office is pleased with the sentence. We believe it will serve as a deterrent," said Nichole Owens, chief of the criminal division in the McHenry County State's Attorney's office. "This defendant's conduct is a black eye on the face of the legal profession."

Ford's attorney, Mark Gummerson, sought probation for his client and said he was disappointed with the sentence.

"I sympathize with Mr. Ford and the victims in the case," Gummerson said. "The judge specifically said in his ruling he wanted to send a message."

According to authorities, Ford withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement payments from his clients.

Gummerson said his client used the money to finance his gambling addiction.

Ford has expressed remorse for his actions and asked McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon to delay the start of his sentence until after Christmas. Condon denied Ford's request.

Ford will probably serve his time in a minimum-security prison because of his age, his clean record before his arrest and the nature of his crime, Owens said.

Ford turned in his attorney's license in 2005 as the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission was charging him with misappropriating his clients' funds and punching a client outside his Algonquin office.

Ford has been living in South Carolina with his wife and two daughters and has been working for a tree-cutting company, Gummerson said.