toledoblade.com --

A lawyer who admitted in December that she fabricated a story of being kidnapped from downtown and dumped off in Georgia was found guilty yesterday in Toledo Municipal Court of a misdemeanor charge of making false alarms.

Karyn McConnell Hancock, 35, of 2663 West Village Drive, also admitted guilt yesterday in an unrelated matter in Lucas County Probate Court involving the embezzlement of more than $130,000 from the estate of a murdered Toledo city worker, said her attorney, Jerry Phillips.

Similar accusations from other clients are pending against her, and the Lucas County prosecutor’s office continues to investigate theft claims.

“She took responsibility for what she did,” Mr. Phillips said yesterday. “She just wants to get as much of this behind her as she can.”

Before her municipal court arraignment yesterday, Mr. Phillips said his client also has signed a letter stating her intention to resign as an attorney.

The letter will be sent to the Ohio Supreme Court.

“She thinks the best for everyone is that she resigns from the practice of law,” Mr. Phillips said.

Ms. McConnell Hancock, who is seven months pregnant, was missing for three days in December. A national search ensued, and local family members and friends held prayer vigils hoping for her safe return.

When she was found near an amusement park outside of Atlanta, she told authorities she had been kidnapped near the juvenile court building in downtown Toledo and driven south. She later recanted her story.

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Ms. McConnell Hancock yesterday pleaded guilty in connection with the kidnapping hoax before retired Hardin County Judge David Faulkner and visiting Prosecutor Michael Shiels from Springfield, Ohio.

The retired judge and visiting prosecutor were assigned to handle the case because Ms. McConnell Hancock’s father, C. Allen McConnell, is a Toledo Municipal Court judge.

Judge Faulkner found Ms. McConnell Hancock guilty, and he referred her to probation for a presentence report.

She could face up to six months in jail and be fined $1,000 when she is sentenced March 19.

Following the court proceeding, Ms. McConnell Hancock and her husband, Bishop Lawrence Hancock, left the courtroom holding hands.

Karyn McConnell Hancock and her husband, Lawrence Hancock, emerge from court after yesterday's hearing.
( BLADE PHOTOS/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY )

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The couple declined to answer questions from reporters.

Mr. Phillips said he is unaware why Ms. McConnell Hancock faked her own kidnapping — or why she forged her name on checks through probate court to receive money she wasn’t entitled to.

Bishop Hancock, founder of Final Harvest Church in South Toledo, has said his wife has suffered from psychological problems for years.

“She experienced a meltdown and attempted to handle those matters without the assistance of professional help or others,” he said during a Dec. 11 news conference, one day after Ms. McConnell Hancock recanted her kidnapping story during an interrogation with Toledo police and FBI agents.

Ms. McConnell Hancock was reported missing on Dec. 5 after she failed to pick up her 3-year-old son from day care.

Bishop Hancock received a call from his wife the following afternoon saying she had been kidnapped. Three days later, Ms. McConnell Hancock turned up in Cobb County, Georgia.

She returned to Toledo that evening, and during a local police interrogation later, Ms. McConnell Hancock admitted she had lied about being kidnapped.

In the case of missing money involving a client, a consent judgment agreement involving Ms. McConnell Hancock was filed yesterday in Lucas County Probate Court to resolve questions concerning money belonging to the sons of slain Toledo city worker, Rodney Coley, Sr.

The agreement between attorney Sarah McHugh, who has been named guardian of the worker’s three sons, and Mr. Phillips said Ms. McConnell Hancock “has concealed, embezzled, or conveyed away” money belonging to the sons of Mr. Coley in the total amount of $130,497.92. The agreement also says that Ms. McConnell Hancock is responsible for a 10 percent penalty of $13,049.79, for interest and attorney fees.

The two-page document filed yesterday afternoon closes the case against Steven Coley, Rodney Coley’s nephew and one-time financial guardian of his three sons.

Ms. McConnell Hancock was the attorney for Steven Coley, who testified earlier this month that he knew nothing about the six checks from his uncle’s insurance companies. He also said he knew nothing about employment checks for Rodney Coley from the city of Toledo.

The money was supposed to have been deposited in the accounts of his three cousins. Instead, Steven Coley testified that his name had been forged on the back of the checks and cashed without his knowledge.

Ms. McHugh had filed a complaint for the concealment and embezzlement of assets against both Steven Coley and Ms. McConnell Hancock. The money since has been paid into the three boys’ accounts by Huntington Bank, where the original checks had been cashed.

Although that matter was resolved in probate court, the theft is still one of many under investigation by the Lucas County prosecutor’s office. Other claims against her include the theft of $37,000 in settlement checks from two separate clients, who have both filed civil lawsuits against her.

And still more charges arise.

On Monday, another former client filed a lawsuit against Ms. McConnell Hancock, claiming that she was hired to review a real estate sale contract.

Roscoe Townsend, who was named in a foreclosure complaint as a defendant with Ms. McConnell Hancock, said an intervener had given her $70,500 to purchase the property in May. Mr. Townsend claimed that not only had none of the home’s taxes or liens been paid off but that he did not receive any money from the purchase. He added that he suffered emotional distress because of the lawsuits filed as a result of the theft.

Assistant County Prosecutor J. Christopher Anderson said investigators are still reviewing the case and possible charges.

Contact Laren Weber at: lweber@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.

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