Cook County prosecutors intend to pursue a criminal contempt case against a former Cook County judge who has been in accused in civil filings and an attorney discipline complaint of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of an elderly man, an assistant state’s attorney told a judge Thursday morning.
Patricia Martin, who stepped down as presiding judge in the child protection division in 2020, was the subject of a fraud complaint filed May 31 by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which handles allegations of lawyer misconduct. It alleged that she stole from Oscar Wilkerson, an elderly man she was tasked with assisting financially and using the funds for her own purposes, including buying cryptocurrency.
Lawyers for Wilkerson also filed a lawsuit against Martin last year, which remains pending, though Cook County Judge Anna Demacopoulos in May ordered a default judgment of more than $1.1 million due to Martin’s “continued unresponsiveness” to court orders after Martin failed to appear in court after previously being warned that non-compliance with the case could result in sanctions, including a default judgment.
Martin, though, appeared in court on Thursday via Zoom with her lawyer, Matthew Chivari.
Attorneys for Wilkerson, a Tuskegee airman who died in February, in May filed a petition seeking to hold Martin in criminal contempt of court orders that mandated that she participate in the case filed against her and not move any more of Wilkerson’s find.
The petition for indirect criminal contempt alleged that Martin has failed to appear in court and moved more money after she was ordered not to by the judge.
At Thursday’s hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jeremy Bergstrom told Demacopoulos the office intends to prosecute Martin on the criminal contempt matter, which could come with criminal penalties.
It would be a separate proceeding from the lawsuit, and Bergstrom said the office needs a few weeks to file the petition.
The issue dates back to November of 2020, when a doctor who held a power of attorney for Wilkerson recommended the man move to an elder care facility and asked Martin, the niece of the man’s former spouse, to help the doctor manage the man’s financial affairs, according to the attorney discipline complaint.
Martin said yes and agreed to use the man’s funds only for his own benefit, but then proceeded to transfer large amounts of money out of his accounts.
