KIRKLAND, WASH. — Former Kirkland attorney Brian Boddy is facing 16 charges of first-degree theft for allegedly duping his clients and stealing nearly half a million dollars that should have been theirs.
"He actually stole $20,000 from us,” a couple, who didn’t want their names and faces on TV, told us. They thought they were the only victims.
When the woman broke her leg after a restaurant slip and fall, the couple wanted to take their case to trial. They say Boddy bullied them into a settlement, then forged the woman's signature on a check meant to reimburse their insurance company and kept it.
"We took all our documentation, wrote up a complaint and sent it to the Bar Association,” they explained. Kirkland police say it was that complaint that got Boddy caught and forced him to resign his license to practice law.
Police say for three and a half years he stole from clients -- sometimes pretending their cases were still ongoing, then pocketing a settlement they never agreed to. He admitted to some of the thefts and using the cash to support his $40,000 a month lifestyle.
We wanted to ask him about it but he didn't return our call. The couple who caught him tell us there's nothing he could say to make up for what he did anyway.
"When you hire an attorney you trust them to be on your side so this was a breach of trust?" we asked.
"Yeah, he wasn't on our side,” they told us.
Boddy's attorney didn't want to talk either, at least until he's arraigned. That will happen June 19 at the King County Courthouse.
KIRO
