Current And Former Tulsa Attorneys Focus Of Fraud Investigation

Former Tulsa attorney William Anton and the still-practicing&nbsp;Fred Schraeder were in court&nbsp;Wednesday and face 53 counts of fraud, embezzlement and forgery. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=11451690">One Current And One Former Tulsa Attorney Charged With Embezzling $1.1 Million</a>

Wednesday, March 24th 2010, 7:58 pm

By: News On 6


By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Two men sworn to follow the law are now accused of violating it.  Former Tulsa attorney William Anton and the still-practicing Fred Schraeder were in court Wednesday and face 53 counts of fraud, embezzlement and forgery.

Imagine hiring a lawyer to help you with a worker's comp claim or an injury or even a life insurance policy, and when the check comes in, the lawyer keeps all or most of that money and you end up with next to nothing.

That's what these two men are accused of doing to dozens of people.

Johnnie Myers raised six children and will soon welcome her 16th grandchild. When her ex-husband passed away, she asked attorney Bill Anton to help her get the $248,000 life insurance policy money.

She says he got the check, but only gave her a few hundred dollars at time, first claiming the IRS had frozen his account, then playing on her sympathies.

11/5/2990 Related Story: One Current And One Former Tulsa Attorney Charged With Embezzling $1.1 Million

"He said his wife had cancer, and he was strapped for funds and would give me what he could, when he could," Myers said.

Then she says he told her there was no more.

She says she'd received less than $10,000 of the $248,000, but still - she believed him.

"Because I trusted him so much, I had never gone to the district attorney or gone to the sheriff or gone to the police department or gone to anyone, because I trusted that man," said Johnnie Myers, a client of attorney Bill Anton.

Then investigators for the Attorney General's office visited her, and she learned there were many more victims.

Charges were filed last November. While Anton and Fred Schraeder are out of jail, Myers is struggling to survive on her income.

"It's been one of the most difficult things I've ever had to endure," she said.

She believes the attorneys accused of fleecing their clients should go to jail, and she's hoping she can be reimbursed.

The Oklahoma Bar Association did reimburse some of the victims some of their losses, but not her.

"I didn't plan any Caribbean cruises. I didn't plan any trips to New York. I just wanted to be able to help my children and grandchildren; that's all I wanted to do," Myers said.

The case has been delayed eight times. On Wednesday, a preliminary hearing was set for May. That's when a judge will decide if there's enough evidence to make Anton and Schraeder stand trial.

Anton gave up his law license in 2007. Schraeder is still a practicing attorney.

Schraeder's attorney didn't return a call from The News On 6 and Anton doesn't have one.

 

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