LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. — A disgraced former Alabama judge who confessed to stealing nearly $73,000 from a juvenile court fund and former legal clients has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Douglas Lee Patterson, a 38-year-old former district judge in Limestone County, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in October to three felony charges, including using his position for personal gain, financial exploitation of the elderly and theft, Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a press release.
“It is fitting that Patterson has received a stern sentence for his crimes and that we have brought a measure of justice for his victims,” Marshall said in the statement. “He betrayed the citizens of Limestone County and exploited those who trusted him, stealing from the most vulnerable among us – children, the disabled and the elderly.”
As part of a plea deal, Patterson, who resigned in July after being indicted last year, admitted stealing $47,800 from the Limestone County Juvenile Court Service Fund, which he oversaw as the county’s juvenile court judge.
Prosecutors said he wrote 70 checks to himself from the fund, AL.com reported.
The disgraced jurist also acknowledged that prior to becoming a judge in 2016, he worked as a private attorney and financially exploited a disabled veteran who was living in a nursing home, Marshall said.
Doug Patterson, the former Limestone County district judge, was sentenced on Dec. 8, 2020 to four years in prison. (Image via AL.com)
Prosecutors said Patterson stole roughly $47,000 from the veteran, Charles Hardy, who died in 2015, but has already repaid about $22,000 to Hardy’s daughter, AL.com reported.
Patterson also admitted to stealing $601 from another client three years after the man died while working in private practice in July 2015, New York Post reported.
A judge sentenced Patterson to 16 years, but split the term for him to serve four years in prison followed by six years of probation. If he fails to meet the terms of his probation, Patterson could be ordered to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison, Marshall said.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year prison term, AL.com reported.
The former judge said he was “deeply remorseful” and “heartbreakingly sorry” for his conduct, but a specially appointed judge to the case wasn’t moved, according to the news organization.
“Your apologies and expressions of remorse ring pretty hollow,” Judge Steven Haddock told Patterson.
Patterson, meanwhile, had no answers when asked by reporters what motivated him to theft when he was led out of a courthouse Tuesday, WBRC reported.
