Crooked Workers Comp Lawyer Turns Himself in After 6 Years on the Lam in Mexico

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

DISBARRED CHICAGO LAWYER SURRENDERS AFTER MORE THAN SIX YEARS ON THE RUN; ALLEGEDLY SKIPPED PRISON TERM

CHICAGO — A disbarred Chicago lawyer was indicted in a new federal case for allegedly failing to surrender to begin serving a federal fraud sentence in 2006. The defendant, STEVEN J. DELLA ROSE, surrendered to authorities in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 11, 2012, more than six years after he was ordered to self-surrender to begin serving a 41-month sentence for defrauding a client of $64,000.

Della Rose, 61, formerly of Chicago, was charged with failing to surrender to begin serving a sentence in a single-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury.

Gary Shapiro

Gary Shapiro

The indictment was announced today by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Darryl McPherson, United States Marshal for the Northern District of Illinois.

Della Rose was returned to the U.S. and immediately began serving his original sentence once he was in U.S. custody last month. No date has been set yet for his arraignment on the new charge in U.S. District Court.

According to the indictment, Della Rose was released on his own recognizance after he was charged with mail fraud in 2002.

After a trial in March 2003, a jury found him guilty of defrauding a client of $64,000 in a worker’s compensation case.

On Dec. 5, 2003, a judge sentenced him to serve 41 months in prison. Service of the sentence was delayed by two appeals, and on June 22, 2006, Della Rose was ordered to surrender to a designated U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility on Aug. 7, 2006.

He allegedly failed to self-surrender at a prison on that date and he remained a fugitive until he turned himself in to authorities in Mexico last month.

The new charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines, and any new sentence must be served consecutively to the original sentence.

The Government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifford Histed.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.


Comments

Crooked Workers Comp Lawyer Turns Himself in After 6 Years on the Lam in Mexico — 2 Comments

  1. You are absolutely correct. My English teacher mother would be chiding me too, if she were still alive.

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