JAY, Okla. –A Delaware County attorney can forfeit a six-month jail sentence if she pays back the money she’s accused of stealing from a client.
Lee Griffin, 56, of Centerton, Ark., is charged in Delaware County District Court with embezzlement. She is free on $85,000 bail and due back in court on May 1, court records show.
Griffin was also at the center of a Jan. 31 contempt hearing of a divorce case where she represented Ronald Tyer. Griffin testified she had put Tyer’s money in her IOTA (interest or dividend-bearing trust account), but gambled the money away.
On Wednesday Associate Judge David Crutchfield sentenced Griffin to six months in the Delaware County jail and fined her $500 on the contempt charge, which is separate from the criminal charge. He also ruled that she would not have to serve a sentence as long as she continued to pay Tyer.
The payment arrangement set by the Court is for Griffin to pay $1,500 in March and $3,000 monthly, until the debt is paid in full, court records show.
Records show Griffin paid $2,000 on Wednesday.
Tyer’s Trust Account
Giffin represented Ronald Tyer in his 2015 divorce, according to a criminal probable cause affidavit.
In the divorce settlement, the Court ordered the sale of the marital house which sold for $85,145.27. Those funds were put into Griffin’s IOTA. The Tyer’s divorce was granted on May 20, 2022, and the wife was awarded $58,072.63, the affidavit states.
On October 17, 2022, Griffin was cited for contempt when she failed to honor a court order to pay the former Mrs. Tyer, the affidavit states.
On an October 3rd, Ronald Tyer found out there was no money in the account, the affidavit states.