Lawyer accused of stealing $55,000 in probate case

Associated Press/Post-Dispatch, Teak Phillips

Rhea Dickrader checked in books on tape at the Wolfner Library in Jefferson City, Mo. The library, which services the blind and handicapped, has 350,000 taped and Braille copies of 100,000 titles.The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- A lawyer has been accused of cleaning out a nearly $55,000 bank account set up as part of a probate case, taking the money in cash or depositing it into his personal accounts.

John A. Klosterman, 47, was charged in late December with two dozen stealing counts -- 20 felonies, four misdemeanors -- in St. Louis Circuit Court. He is free on $20,000 bond and declined Friday to discuss the case.

According to documents filed with the court, Klosterman from late 1999 to early last year made 24 withdrawals from a trust account he was hired to handle in the estate of Leon Berry, who died in 1997. The withdrawals totaled $54,833 over the questioned 14 months.

Two Berry-owned houses were sold in 1999, with the proceeds funneled into a probate trust account at Lindell Bank and Trust Co., court records show. Klosterman emptied the account through withdrawals ranging from $33.88 to $8,000, authorities allege.

Before the charges were filed Dec. 20, the administrator of Berry's estate had paid Klosterman a $1,500 retainer and had been prepared to pay him a percentage of the estate when the probate case was closed.