A former lawyer sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding clients of $450,000 apologized for blemishing the legal profession.
"I'm embarrassed to be here. I embarrassed my profession, my family, my friends. There's no excuse for my conduct," Mark Sampson, 37, told the courtroom at his sentencing Thursday. He was once president of the State Bar Association.Sampson fled the state in 1986, abandoning his wife, their two young sons and a luxury home built with his clients' money.
He was arrested in January in Taos, N.M., where he had opened a bed-and-breakfast inn. He lived under an alias and told people that his wife and sons had died.
His identity was discovered after he was convicted of writing a bad check for $10,000.
Sampson pleaded guilty in federal court in April to three counts of mail fraud and one count of interstate transportation of property taken by fraud. He also pleaded guilty in county court to 14 charges of theft by swindle.