Oxford officials said the future of a $3 million library project is in doubt because $1.8 million is missing from an estate fund that was meant to cover a big chunk of the costs.
At a press conference Wednesday in Oxford Town Hall, George Temple, the town’s First Selectman, accused a lawyer, Peter M. Clark, of Woodbury, of mishandling the estate of Miriam Strong, a woman who left the town more than $1 million in her will.
Click the video above to watch Temple summarize the situation.
Temple said he was scheduled to meet with detectives from the State Police Major Crime Unit Wednesday to report the allegation.
Clark’s lawyer, William Stevens of Watertown, said it would be inappropriate to comment because a criminal investigation is pending. But he told the Republican-American that Clark has voluntarily resigned from the state bar association.
Clark was the executor of Strong’s estate, along with Oxford resident Paul Schreiber, a longtime Strong family friend.
A judge removed both men as co-executors during a hearing in probate court in Southbury on Monday, at the request of Oxford town officials.
Background
Strong, a retired chemist and longtime civic volunteer in Oxford, died in 2010.
She left part of her roughly $4.3 million estate to the Oxford Library’s building fund. She also left money to the town for open space acquisition, and to the schools to establish scholarships.
In addition, Strong left money and land to a number of friends and relatives.
However, the people who were supposed to get paid, including Strong’s close friends, never got paid — even after a probate judge ordered Clark and Schreiber to make the payments last month.
The blame, according to Temple and Oxford town attorney Kevin Condon, lies with Clark.
Temple said the town tried to collect its money starting in July, but kept getting excuses and delays.
“I’m a lawyer, too. I don’t necessarily do estate work, but I got the sense we were getting the runaround,” Temple said.
The Library
Oxford has a small library in the basement of Oxford Town Hall. It was put there temporarily — in 1978.
Town officials have been talking about building a new library for years.
According to a Feb. 10 article in the Republican-American, the library will either be built on Great Oak Road for an estimated $3.2 million, or it will be built within a sprawling mixed-use development proposed for Route 67 at an estimated cost of $3 million.
The Strong estate was supposed to will about $800,000 to the project, Temple said.
“That’s gone,” Temple said. “It may make it a little less likely to pass because we don’t have that money available.”
Click the video below to see Temple’s reaction to the library project question.
The Probate Hearing
At a probate hearing March 9 in front of Judge Domenick N. Calabrese, Schreiber said there was $812,000 left in the Strong estate, and that $1.6 million had been transferred to support Oxford school scholarships.
At the same time, Schreiber indicated he was expecting Clark to authorize additional payouts, which didn’t happen.
Clark didn’t speak during the hearing. Schreiber indicated a willingness to talk to police.
“The money that Peter Clark took, I found where he put it, when it went out and I have an entire list of records because I am going to be involved in the police side of this,” Schreiber said, according to an audio recording of the hearing.
Click the play button on the audio clips below to listen to the March 9 probate hearing.
Judge Calabrese removed Clark and Schreiber from handling the estate and ordered a complete accounting of the assets. Calabrese said he doubted the validity of a previous accounting of the Strong estate given to the court.
“It appears to me that the accounting that was submitted to the court … and approved back in 2014 may have been fraudulent,” the judge said. “This is a most upsetting and disturbing turn of events.”
The judge appointed former Ansonia-Derby-Seymour probate Judge Clifford Hoyle Sr. as executor.
It will be Hoyle’s responsibility to investigate where the estate’s money went and how much is left.
Please Investigate
The probate judge also sent a letter to Leonard C. Boyle of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, saying Clark “may have misappropriated some or all” of the money from the Strong estate.
“This may be a matter for your office to investigate,” Judge Calabrese wrote.
The probate judge sent a similar letter to the state’s Chief Disciplinary Counsel, the organization that disciplines lawyers.
A message seeking comment was left with the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel.
That office is already very familiar with Clark, who has several blemishes on his professional record for mismanaging finances. He’s been practicing law in the state since 1983.
In 2008, he was ordered to take refresher classes on proper maintenance of his business accounts.
In 2009, he handled an estate in Shelton Probate Court, but the deceased person’s family complained he was late in paying bills — including the one for their family member’s funeral service.
In 2010, he was ordered to attend a course on Quick Books (accounting software for small businesses) at Naugatuck Valley Community College.
