Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Money From Client

A Woodland Hills attorney was sentenced Monday to two years in state prison for pocketing $240,000 from the sale of a client’s house.

Bernard Krentzin, 49, who pleaded no contest July 7 to one count of grand theft, was immediately taken into custody after the sentencing in Van Nuys Superior Court .

Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schwartz said Krentzin could have been sent to state prison for five years, but that she agreed to the two-year term in exchange for the plea, which is the legal equivalent of an admission of guilt.

In accepting the plea agreement, Judge Alan B. Haber ruled that Krentzin must make restitution to the victim.

According to a probation report filed in the case, Krentzin already has repaid $90,000 of the money he took from Paula Mintz of Woodland Hills in 1988.

Krentzin supervised the sale of Mintz’s house a year ago, but did not tell the woman when it sold, Schwartz said.

Mintz, who had moved out of the house when it was placed on the market, learned of the sale in December in a conversation with the buyer and complained to authorities, the prosecutor said.

“She was relying on the proceeds of the sale to support herself,” Schwartz said. “The loss of the money was a tremendous blow to her.”

Loren McQueen, a senior litigator with the State Bar of California, said that Krentzin was provisionally disbarred in June and resigned before a decision could be made on permanent disbarment.