Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 79-year-old Carl B. Kustell of Clarence pleaded guilty before Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan to one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. The defendant pleaded guilty to the highest sustainable charge and the only count in the indictment against him.

The defendant admitted to stealing $236,250 from an elderly client between May 2017 and September 2017.

In addition to his plea, the defendant signed a confession of judgment admitting restitution owed to the victim. 

Kustell, who has been temporarily suspended from the practice of law, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 9:30 a.m.

The case was investigated by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau.

Candace K. Vogel, Chief of the DA’s SIPS Bureau, prosecuted the case.