Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993 TAG: 9311300138
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
George W. Harris III is suspected of embezzling the money, according to search warrants filed in Roanoke Circuit Court.
The warrants, which seek records from First Union National Bank of Virginia, allege that three trust accounts established for underage beneficiaries of life insurance policies have been almost emptied since 1991.
Clients had given Harris power of attorney in each of the three accounts, the warrants state.
Harris, 34, has not been charged. Authorities said his case probably will go before a city grand jury early next year.
In the meantime, Harris faces 15 charges of writing more than $18,000 in bad checks in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. He is accused of writing checks for up to $2,500 on his account and cashing them, knowing there was not enough in his account to cover the checks.
Because Harris is the son of General District Judge George Harris, local judges and prosecutors have removed themselves from some of his cases.
Stephanie Shorter, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Harrisonburg, has been appointed special prosecutor in the Roanoke County and Salem cases, according to Salem Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King. It was not clear Monday if she will handle the Roanoke cases as well.
Harris, of the 6500 block of Greenway Drive, continued to practice law from his Roanoke County office after the bad-check charges were filed in July. In one case, however, a Roanoke judge advised Harris that he not represent a murder defendant because of his own legal difficulties.
According to the search warrants, Harris was appointed power of attorney in 1992 over Teresa Lynn Newbill in Franklin County. Newbill, 17, was the beneficiary of her grandfather's life insurance policy and $32,000 was placed in a trust fund for her.
After withdrawing about $8,900, Newbill was told by Harris that she could not take any more money from the account, the warrant states.
Newbill then hired a new lawyer and discovered the $32,000 trust fund had been depleted to a balance of $791.
The warrants outline similar allegations in which $19,000 was discovered missing from a second account and more than $5,000 from a third.
Harris could not be reached for comment Monday.
by CNB