ST. LOUIS – A former alderman in Des Peres, Missouri was sentenced to probation on Thursday and ordered to repay hundreds of thousands in an embezzlement case.
John Pound, 81, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud during a federal court hearing in March. He was sentenced to five years of probation and $292,305 in restitution.
As part of his plea agreement, Pound admitted that he embezzled from two clients of his real estate management company, Commercial Realty Management Inc. between 2010 and 2020.
Pound’s company provided real estate management services to the owners of a commercial property on North Euclid Avenue in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis. Pound maintained bank accounts and paid bills on behalf of the owners.
Investigators say Pound took significantly larger management fees, kept larger commissions and charged higher hourly rates than he was authorized to take. Pound prepared annual budgets that reportedly misrepresented the monthly management fee and concealed the inflated fees he was collecting.
Investigators say, from 2006 through June 30, 2020, Pound paid himself $220,000 in commission payments that he had not legitimately earned. Then from Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2019, Pound made around 130 entries in QuickBooks falsely identifying a third-party payee when the money went to Pound.
Pound resigned from his elected position as an alderman in Des Peres, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The FBI investigated the case.
