Frankel asks to move out of state, says he can't find job
Disbarred high-profile attorney and convicted felon Mark David Frankel was back in court Wednesday, where he told a judge he is unable to find a job.
"It isn't possible for me to find employment anywhere in this area, especially Pennsylvania," Frankel testified. "I am a pariah in the community and I can't support myself. ... I'm not wanted in York."
Frankel, who turns 63 next month, was convicted in November 2006 of 57 counts of theft and one count of misapplication of entrusted property.
The state Attorney General's Office said he stole about $1.1 million of his clients' settlement money.
Frankel was sentenced to four years of intensive probation, with the first 23 months and 20 days in York County Prison, followed by 10 years of probation. He also was ordered to pay restitution.
Frankel is asking visiting Senior Common Pleas Judge Joseph H. Kleinfelter to allow him to move to Florida, or another state, where he has a better chance of finding a job that pays a living wage.
"I made mistakes -- I admit that," Frankel said. "The only thing left for me is to rebuild my life (elsewhere). ... I'm not asking to get out from under anything."
Financial issues: Frankel said his Spring Garden Township home is in foreclosure and going to sheriff's sale in February, and that he cannot lived on the roughly $1,700 a month he receives in Social Security.
"I'm going to be thrown out of my house," he told the judge. "I'm literally going to be walking the streets."
At issue, however, is an interstate agreement that restricts when and how felons on probation can move to other states.
The judge asked York County Chief Probation Office Al Sabol to determine how long, under the interstate agreement, Frankel could visit Florida with a probation-approved travel pass. The judge told Sabol to call him with that answer.
The judge also said it's "ridiculous" that Frankel is paying only $100 a month toward his restitution, but Frankel said he simply can't afford to pay more.
"If I were your probation officer, we'd have a little Dutch-uncle talk," Kleinfelter said, to determine how much Frankel could actually be earning, and how much restitution he could be paying.
Restitution issue: Frankel's attorney, Frank Arcuri, is also asking the judge to reduce Frankel's restitution amount by about $188,000, arguing the restitution figure on record in the county's Clerk of Courts Office is incorrect.
The clerk's office states Frankel still owes about $585,927 to the Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security, which pays clients settlement money they should have received from their attorneys. The group is funded through an annual fee paid by every attorney licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, according to executive director Kathryn Peifer.
But Arcuri provided letters to the judge, signed by Peifer, that state Frankel only ever owed the fund about $397,881 for money the organization paid out to Frankel's victims.
Testimony Wednesday revealed county officials don't know how the discrepancy happened, or which amount is correct.
Awaiting ruling: Judge Kleinfelter instructed Senior Deputy Attorney General George Zaiser to contact Peifer to determine the correct amount, then either stipulate to it or have Peifer submit an affidavit.
Kleinfelter said he intends to grant Frankel's third request, which is to transfer his probation supervision from the state to York County Probation.
The judge said he will issue a written order on all three of Frankel's requests.
-- Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com, 505-5429 or twitter.com/ydcrimetime.
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