LEAGUE CITY — A former League City mayor and attorney pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of mishandling nine clients’ funds, a Galveston County prosecutor said.
Leonard Arthur Cruse, 68, pleaded guilty to a charge of misapplication of fiduciary property, Assistant District Attorney Lester Blizzard, said.
A criminal complaint that was amended in April alleged Cruse mishandled between $100,000 to $200,000 in an account from which settlement claims were paid, Blizzard said.
State law requires private practice attorneys to maintain accounts where litigation proceeds are deposited. The funds are used to pay attorney’s and clients.
Cruse remains free on bond pending a July 27 sentencing hearing, Blizzard said.
Visiting Judge David Walker of Lufkin presided over Monday’s guilty plea in Galveston’s 56th District Court, because Judge Lonnie Cox and other judges in the county know Cruse personally.
Walker could sentence Cruse to probation or up to 20 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine, Blizzard said.
Cruse’s attorney Greg Russell said no sentencing agreement was reached in Monday’s plea.
Neither Blizzard nor Russell revealed the exact amount of settlement funds misapplied.
“He wants to pay them back,” Russell said. “And he’s going to make every effort to do that. He just needs time to get everybody paid.”
Cruse served a term as mayor in the 1970s and was disbarred in 2005.
