Court Watching: White arraigned in Wayne Co. Circuit Court on 20 felonies

By Diane Madigan
Independent Court Reporter
On April 23, disbarred Belleville attorney Thomas A. White appeared at 3rd Circuit Court in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit for an arraignment on the information on two cases, carrying a total of 20 felony charges.
In the first case, with five charges, White, 46, is charged with altering a $73,800 check from Metropolitan Title Company dated Sept. 14, 2007 and made out to Judith and her now-deceased husband Leland Jordan.
White is accused of forging the Jordans’ signatures, cashing the check, and stealing the cash.
The warrant on this case was signed by a Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor on Sept. 6, which just beat the seven-year statute of limitations.
White, who is free on a $50,000 personal-recognizance bond, stood with his Ypsilanti attorney Michael Vincent as Circuit Court Judge James R. Chylinski read the charges.
Official charges in the first case are uttering and publishing, larceny by conversion – $20,000 or more, embezzlement, and two counts of identity theft.
Judge Chylinski read the charges in White’s second case, which was filed Dec. 18. They are one count of conducting a criminal enterprise and 14 additional counts of embezzlement.
White is accused of stealing an estimated $11 million dollars from widows, families, and estate beneficiaries.
White was due back in Judge Chylinski’s court at 9 a.m. April 30 for a disposition conference.