Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced that a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, returned an indictment today against David T. Mazanec charging him with one count of mail fraud.

David T. Mazanec, age 60, resides at 5826 Briarwood Lane, Solon, Ohio.

The indictment alleges that Mazanec, an attorney admitted to practice in the State of Ohio, misappropriated approximately $434,206.89 from the trust accounts of an unnamed woman and her parents. The indictment further alleges that this family was seriously injured in an automobile accident in November 1999 and the unnamed woman was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of this accident. The indictment further charges that, in May 2001, the woman and her parents retained the defendant to establish trust accounts with the proceeds of a civil settlement.

The indictment alleges that Mazanec opened a trust account for the woman with $520,000 in May 2001. Subsequently, Mazanec funded a trust account for the woman’s parents with approximately $275,000. The indictment alleges that, from June 2001 until April 2004 on about 25 occasions Mazanec wrote checks totaling about $329,766.89 from the woman’s trust account without her knowledge or authorization. In addition, the indictment charges Mazanec with writing three unauthorized checks totaling $104,440.00 from the parents’ trust account without their knowledge or authorization. The indictment states that most of the unauthorized funds taken from the two trust accounts were deposited into Mazanec’s bank account or his investment account.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John D. Sammon, following an investigation by the Cleveland Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.