A disbarred attorney who pleaded guilty earlier this year to defrauding elderly and other clients in Cobb County and who was a fugitive wanted for his mother’s murder was captured over the weekend in Tennessee.
Richard Merritt, who was sentenced in January to 30 years, with 15 to serve, on 34 counts of theft and elder abuse, also is facing murder charges in DeKalb County.
Merritt’s mother was found stabbed and beaten to death on Feb. 2, the day after Merritt was to have turned himself in to begin serving his Cobb prison sentences, according to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Nashville.
That’s where Merritt was spotted and arrested, while shopping at a thrift store, according to published reports. Photographs and footage of his apprehension showed he had grown his hair and beard long.
On Monday he was booked into the Davidson County Jail in Nashville, charged with a felony count of being a fugitive from justice. His bond is $250,000.
The manhunt for Merritt began after police found his mother’s body at her Stone Mountain home. Shirley Merritt’s car was missing and his was parked at the home, according to DeKalb Police.
Police also said at the time that in addition to his failure to surrender himself, Merritt, 44, removed an ankle monitor as part of his sentencing.
Merritt, whose law practice was in Smyrna, was indicted in 2018 on 34 counts of theft by taking, forgery and elder exploitation. According to the indictment, starting in 2015, he settled clients’ cases for such things as accidents and civil disputes without telling them by forging their signatures, then pocketing the settlement checks.
Those ranged between $1,500 and $75,000, according to the indictment. Some of those clients were elderly, prompting the charges of elder exploitation.
He pleaded guilty to all 34 counts, according to Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s records, and was sentenced to serve most of them 10-15 years concurrently. At the sentencing Merritt was ordered to serve 15 years in prison, with the rest on probation if he turned himself in at the Cobb jail on Feb. 1.
Merritt also was ordered to pay than $454,000 in restitution.
On Tuesday, Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes said “that it is a relief to know he is back in custody and I am confident that justice will ultimately prevail.”
She also said that “at some point he will be returned to Cobb for a hearing to revoke his probation.”
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