York, PA - Mark David Frankel can't get a job.
"It is impossible for me to find employment in this area," Frankel said Wednesday. "I'm a pariah in the community."
At the time of his theft conviction in November 2006 for embezzling from the escrow account of his defunct personal injury law firm, the disbarred York County attorney owed his clients and insurance companies $1.1 million in restitution.
Since then, the Lawyers Fund for Client Security, a state program to protect defrauded law clients, has paid Frankel's victims somewhere between $397,000 and $585,000. Frankel, who must reimburse the fund, was in court Wednesday disputing the difference.
Frankel, while serving two years in prison and two years on state parole, has paid almost $4,000 toward restitution, costs and fines, primarily in monthly payments of $100 and $1,525 he made on work release, according to court records.
Frankel, 62, told visiting Judge Joseph Kleinfelter he can't pay more than $100 a month, that he is living on a monthly Social Security check of $1,700 and wanted to move to Florida to look for employment.
Saying he took "full responsibility" for the theft, Frankel told the judge, "The only thing left for me is to rebuild my life somewhere else and make restitution.
"I cannot live on Social Security. It's not enough. I'm going to get thrown out of my house. I'll be living on the streets."
Frankel said his Wyndham Hills home on Kentwood Lane in Spring Garden Township is under foreclosure.
"Do you agree with me that $100 a month is ridiculous?" Kleinfelter asked Frankel.
"Yes," Frankel said. "But that's all I can afford."
Senior deputy attorney general George Zaiser told Kleinfelter he will contact the office for the lawyers fund, which was not represented in court Wednesday, to determine what Frankel owes to the fund.
According to court records, Frankel still owes a total of $724,000 to one former client, three insurance companies and the lawyers fund.
Frankel also was asking the court to clarify the 10 years' probation he began serving Dec. 10 be supervised by the York County Probation Department instead of the Pennsylvania state parole board and that his probation be non-reporting so he could move to Florida.
Al Sabol, chief of adult probation for York County, told Kleinfelter an interstate compact would preclude Frankel, a convicted felon, from moving to Florida under non-reporting supervision.
Sabol explained Kleinfelter could issue Frankel a travel voucher that would allow him a limited amount of time -- possibly up to 60 days -- to go to another state to seek employment. If Frankel finds work, his probation conditions would have to be re-addressed to allow him to move, Sabol said.
Kleinfelter said he will issue an order on Frankel's requests that will move his probation supervision from the state to the county and will issue a voucher as a special probation condition that will let him travel outside of Pennsylvania.
Kleinfelter said he will address the restitution dispute after hearing from Zaiser.
At a glance
The case: Mark David Frankel and son Stephen Frankel were charged in 2005 with multiple counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received for an approximate $1 million shortage in their personal injury law firm's client escrow account.
The trial: In 2006, Mark Frankel, then 58, was convicted of 58 counts of theft. He served two years in county prison and two years on parole. He is beginning a 10-year probationary period. Stephen Frankel, then 35, was acquitted of the theft charges and convicted of misappropriation of property, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to two years' probation and 500 hours of community service. Both men were ordered to pay restitution.
The latest: Mark Frankel, now 62, said he cannot find a job in York County that enables him to pay more than $100 a month toward his restitution. He is asking for permission to move out of state to seek employment. A judge said he will issue Frankel a travel voucher so he can cross state lines to look for employment.
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