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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 8, 1994                   TAG: 9411080115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAWYER ACCUSED OF EMBEZZLING $100,000

Thomas J. Meadows, 52, was named in three indictments returned by a grand jury in Roanoke Circuit Court, according to Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony.

The indictments allege that from July 1983 to June 1994, Meadows took money from three bank accounts established for clients who had hired him to handle the estates of their deceased relatives.

One of the victims, Al Ritchie of Lake Worth, Fla., said he and his wife hired Meadows to handle an estate after both of her parents, who lived in Roanoke, died within a week of each other in December 1991.

"We trusted him" at the time, Ritchie said. By the following year, he said, he and his wife had discovered that $30,000 was missing from a checking account established for the estate.

"I will never trust another attorney," Ritchie said.

In addition to the Ritchie case, Meadows is accused of taking money from accounts that were established for Bernard Dungee and Alex and Mary McNeil, according to the indictments.

Anthony said Meadows has paid back some of the missing money, but Ritchie said he has yet to see any reimbursement.

Authorities began to investigate after the victims reported money was missing from their accounts, Anthony said, but prosecution was delayed until an investigation by the Virginia State Bar was completed.

Meadows, a lawyer since 1967 who had most recently run his own practice, surrendered his license to the state bar earlier this year after learning of the investigation. Anthony said Meadows has until Friday to turn himself in, and to arrange a bond.

Meadows could not be reached for comment Monday.