Conservator, Attorney Face New Swindle Allegation

The amount of money allegedly stolen by a private Riverside conservator and her attorney from the estates they managed has grown to nearly $1 million, according to grand jury indictments announced Monday by the Riverside County district attorney’s office.

The updated prosecution of Bonnie J. Cambalik and her attorney, Michael Molloy, includes a previously undisclosed allegation that they stole $240,000 from a client whose estate they were assigned to handle by a Riverside County judge, authorities said.

Cambalik and Molloy were first arraigned last year after their arrests on charges of embezzling more than $750,000 from the estates of 23 people who were too old or infirm to handle their own financial affairs.

But new evidence, recently presented to a Riverside County grand jury, brought the amount of losses to nearly $1 million, Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Kotkin said Monday.

Kotkin took the case to a grand jury rather than air the allegations publicly in a preliminary hearing.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the updated charges at their arraignments Monday. Cambalik remains in custody at the county jail, where she has been held since last year on $700,000 bail. Molloy was released last year after posting a bond of $250,000.

Cambalik’s attorney, Steve Harmon, said the indictments “were not unexpected. We’re still awaiting receipt of discovery [of the prosecution’s evidence] and, when we do, we’ll be in a better position to begin mounting her defense.”

Molloy’s attorney, Clarence Hewatt, could not be reached for comment.

A trial date is expected to be set April 28.

Since the 1980s, Cambalik’s company, West Coast Conservatorships, was assigned by the Riverside County probate judge to manage the estates of people whose financial affairs were not managed either by their own families or the county. For their work, Cambalik and Molloy were to be paid fees from the estates, as approved by the court.

Prosecutors allege that over the years, Cambalik and Molloy paid themselves excessive and unauthorized conservator and attorney fees from the estates, and sold clients’ assets without the approval or knowledge of the court, the conservatees or their kin.

In one case, Cambalik allegedly sold $265,000 in stock owned by the estate of a client who had died and used the proceeds to pay herself and others cash bonuses, the district attorney’s office said.

The new indictment alleges the single theft of more than $240,000 from an estate, but Kotkin said he would not discuss the details.

The grand jury, Kotkin said, heard nine days of testimony from 16 witnesses and reviewed more than 100 exhibits.