A former Pierce County resident now living in Colorado pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to stealing money from an elderly client.
Federal prosecutors said Michael D. Montgomery, 43, took as much as $1 million from the man, who lived in the Tacoma area until his death in 2006.
Montgomery was the man’s financial adviser and later the trustee of his revocable living trust, prosecutors said. In that position, he transferred money between the victim’s Charles Schwab account and bank account, then wrote himself checks, prosecutors said.
Montgomery claimed the money was for services rendered, but never provided the victim’s family with an accounting of those services. He also failed to report the income on his federal tax returns, prosecutors said.
He is to be sentenced in September on one count each of wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
adam.lynn@ thenewstribune.com