Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994                   TAG: 9404060049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EX-LAWYER GUILTY OF BAD CHECKS, THEFT

George W. Harris III pleaded no contest to 20 felony charges in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.

W.C. Rogers, a detective for the Roanoke Police Department, testified that Harris told a Virginia State Bar investigator that he wrote bad checks and embezzled from trust funds to cover his office expenses and to purchase cocaine.

Harris, 34, began to have cash-flow problems shortly after starting a solo law practice several years ago, authorities said.

Harris will be sentenced June 6 by Judge James Lumpkin, who on Tuesday all but promised a prison sentence.

"The burden will be upon you to show the court why you should not be incarcerated," Lumpkin told Harris, adding that crimes like his usually result in incarceration.

"I say that to you so you can make your plans accordingly for June 6," he said. Harris was allowed to remain free on bond until sentencing.

Last summer, Harris was charged with writing $17,650 in bad checks, using several accounts and visiting numerous banks to get the cash over a three-day period in June.

The checks, which were written for amounts as high as $2,500 each, were cashed at banks in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.

In March, Harris was accused of embezzling $47,506 from trust accounts established for three clients, all minors.

In each case, Harris had been appointed power of attorney for underage beneficiaries of life insurance polices. The clients later found that their accounts had been nearly emptied, Rogers testified.

In one case, Harris was granted power of attorney for a 17-year-old Franklin County girl, who was the beneficiary of her grandfather's $32,000 life insurance policy.

After spending about $8,900 for a used car and college tuition, the girl was told by Harris that she could not withdraw any more money from the account, Rogers testified.

She then hired another attorney and found that the $32,000 account had been depleted to $791. Soon afterward, $19,000 was discovered missing from a second account and $5,000 from a third.

Harris continued to practice law after the bad-check charges were filed, but voluntarily surrendered his license to the Virginia State Bar in January.

Lumpkin, a retired judge from Richmond, was appointed to hear the case after Roanoke Valley judges excused themselves because Harris is the son of General District Court Judge George Harris.