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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 9, 1995                   TAG: 9505090100
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAWYER GETS 30 DAYS IN JAIL

Prosecutors had asked that J. Thomas Meadows receive 15 years in prison, but Judge Barnard Jennings sentenced him to 30 days in jail. Meadows also received a 30-year suspended sentence and was placed on probation for 10 years.

Earlier evidence had shown that Meadows took the money while battling problems with alcohol, cocaine and bankruptcy.

In asking for a prison term for Meadows, Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony argued that someone educated in the law should be held to a higher standard, and that Meadows' actions had tarnished the reputation of the legal profession.

``Mr. Meadows took not only himself down to the level of a common thief, but the rest of us with him,'' Anthony said.

Meadows earlier had pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement. The charges alleged that during a 10-year period, he pilfered money from three bank accounts he established for clients who hired him to handle their wills or the estates of deceased relatives.

Exactly how much Meadows stole remained in dispute throughout his sentencing hearing Monday in Roanoke Circuit Court. Prosecutors said he owed his former clients at least $186,000, but Meadows and his Richmond attorney, Murray Janus, contended the amount was significantly less.

In one case, Meadows obtained a $25,000 loan from a client who lay suffering from cancer on his deathbed, having the man sign an ``X'' to documents approving the loan.

Prosecutors and family members say that Bernard Dungee, who died a short time later, was in no condition to approve the loan. ``Mr. Meadows was well aware that my father was dying and was on his deathbed, and that was just the ultimate of ripping someone off,'' Dungee's daughter testified.

Meadows testified that he has paid back some of the money he took. ``I am deeply sorry to have hurt anyone,'' he said.

Jennings ordered Meadows to make restitution of $73,000 to two of his three victims, noting that the third case was tied up in civil litigation.

Three lawyers testified as character witnesses for Meadows, praising his hard work and ``totally unselfish'' involvement in a Virginia State Bar committee for lawyers who suffer from alcohol or substance abuse.

Meadows, a lawyer since 1967 who has most recently run his own practice, surrendered his license to the State Bar last year, shortly before he was charged.