Court Watching: White forgets check, given until Friday to come up with $25,000

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
Thomas A. White, Belleville’s disbarred attorney who is charged with 20 felonies that took at least some $1.9 million from his clients, was in Wayne County Circuit Court Tuesday morning for sentencing.
But, White has announced he has changed lawyers and he “forgot” to bring the cashier’s check for $25,000 in earnest money.
Judge Dalton Arnold Roberson gave him until Friday to come up with the $25,000. If he does, he will be given something like another month to come up with the rest of the $900,000 he promised to produce.
That money would be divided among the victims on a percentage basis, Michigan State Police Detective/Sergeant Joseph White told the victims gathered outside the courtroom. He said it is three-quarters of what he took.
He said the new attorney White has was not prepared to go forward and so Judge Roberson gave him a few days to get prepared. White’s former attorney was Michael Vincent.
“This is how the wheels turn,” Det/Sgt. White said to the frustrated victims of defendant White’s embezzlement and criminal enterprise, all from the Belleville area.
White was charged with the first five felonies on Sept. 4, 2013 and the next 15 in December 2013. The 20 felonies were combined in the spring of 2014. He pled no contest to 20 felonies on Nov. 3, 2014, the day his jury trial was to begin. The no-contest plea is treated as a guilty plea.
When the victims asked how much time White will get, Det./Sgt. White said it will be 2-3 years if he comes up with the promised money.
It will be 30 years in prison if he doesn’t, Det./Sgt. White said.
He said if White turns up on Friday without any money, he will be immediately taken to jail.
“The only person being accommodated is Tom White,” said one of the victims. “The rest of us are getting screwed.”
“Judge Roberson is not happy right now,” Det./Sgt. White said.
Earlier he said there is no way to tell what Judge Roberson will do.
One victim said, “I trusted this man. I’ve known him since he was 15.” The man had been a school teacher at Belleville High School and defendant White had been his student.
“You can see how well I did with him,” he said ruefully. He said it took him an hour and a half to get to court from Belleville that morning because his tires were low on air and he had to pull over. Then, the freeway traffic was snarled. He was very frustrated.
Another man of the ten victims present showed his anger, saying he had to take off work to come and now it’s postponed again.
Some of the victims refused to come to court. One said she didn’t ever want to see the man who cheated her again.
The victims started waiting in Judge Margaret Van Houton’s courtroom where the sentencing had been scheduled. After about an hour of waiting, they were directed up a floor to a courtroom used by Judge Roberson, the retired judge who had presided over previous court sessions for White while Van Houton was out having knee and foot surgery.
Shortly after they were seated in his courtroom, Judge Roberson told the victims the case had been adjourned until Friday. Det./Sgt. White gathered the victims together in the hall to talk to them. Many of them had hoped to make victims’ statements before the judge pronounced sentence.
Charges against White include 15 charges of embezzlement, four of those over $100,000 each. He also was charged with forging a check and two counts of identity theft, along with larceny by conversion.
White, 47, a lifelong Belleville resident, also was charged with conducting a criminal enterprise while embezzling millions of dollars from trusting clients and their families.
He currently is renting a house in Sumpter Township and lives with his two sons and two dogs. About two months ago JaniKing terminated White’s franchise and so he is unemployed.