A Polk County, Florida, attorney was arrested for stealing nearly $2 million from a trust set up for a Pennsylvania brother and sister by their now-deceased father.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference on Thursday afternoon that 47-year-old Jason Penrod of Family Elder Law has been arrested and charged with first-degree felony grand theft of over $100,000.

Judd said that his office had received complaints on July 25 and July 29 about Penrod that are still under investigation and pending the return of bank records.

But on Aug. 2, a complaint was filed with the Pennsylvania State Police, accusing Penrod of ripping off a brother and a sister who had a trust from their now-deceased father.

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Judd said that Penrod had flown to Pennsylvania to look the trustees in the eye and say, “I took your money. Not only did I take your money, I took $1.7 million. I wiped out the trust. But I’m going to pay it back.”

The sheriff also said Penrod told the siblings he had a gambling addiction and gambled the money away at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa.

After Penrod blamed the loss of money on his gambling addiction, he then said he would pay it back with interest like a “short-term-loan,” Judd said.

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Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference that attorney Jason Penrod swindled over $1.5 million from a trust for a pair of siblings in Pennsylvania whose now-deceased father had set up. (Polk County Sheriff Facebook)

The suspect also allegedly provided a litany of excuses, Judd explained, saying that he had repressed memories, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma, numbness and stress.

When Penrod returned, he allegedly checked himself into a facility to be treated for his gambling addiction, and as the investigation continued, Judd’s investigators learned that there were at least two more victims, bringing the number of victims to four, and the total loss to about $4 million.

Judd said Penrod had agreed to give up his law license before refiling so he can make the money to pay it back.

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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd alleged that attorney Jason Penrod gambled away millions of dollars put aside in trust funds. (Matthias Kulka)

“This guy’s delusional, among all of his other excuses,” Judd said.

The sheriff said his investigators and the state’s attorney are going to do what they can to send Penrod to prison “for a very long time.”

The one crime he has been charged with so far, grand theft of over $100,000, carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Adding to the number of excuses Penrod allegedly gave for draining the account, Judd said the suspect considered suing the Hard Rock for letting him gamble there.

“Now, you tell me that this guy doesn’t have a hitch in his giddy up,” Judd said. “He’s got about five brain cells, and three of them he left in the Hard Rock. And now, he’s locked up and going to prison. That’s our goal.”

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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he plans to send to prison an attorney who swindled millions from a trust fund. (iStock)

Judd provided additional details about the alleged swindles that Penrod is accused of conducting.

One of the victims is a 93-year-old woman whose husband and two sons died. One of the sons had left his mother a trust to help take care of her. That money is now at the Hard Rock, according to Judd.

“Jason stole the money, and by his own confession, he was spending the money at the Hard Rock,” the sheriff said. “Now he’s trying to hide behind mental illness. He’s not mentally ill. He’s a thief. He’s an absolute thief.”

Judd said the investigation into Penrod is underway, and it is unknown how many other cases or victims there may be.

He also said there may be people who lost money and do not even know they lost the money because they get paid out only once or twice a year.

Still, Judd alleges that Penrod stole millions of dollars.

“The worst kind of criminal is the one that hides behind a coat and a tie and steals money with a law license or a professional license of any kind,” Judd said. “So, at the end of the day, Jason, you’re not going to have a royal flush, but you have a jailhouse flush that’s guaranteed from us.”

A South Carolina death row inmate scheduled to be executed later this month is urging the state Supreme Court to delay his execution to allow his lawyers to argue that his co-defendant who testified against him lied about having no plea deal in exchange for his testimony.

Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, is set to be executed on Sept. 20 for the 1997 killing of store clerk Irene Graves during a string of robberies in Greenville. Owens also killed his cellmate at the Greenville County Jail after his conviction in 1999, but before his sentencing.

In addition to the argument over the plea agreement, attorneys for Owens said in court papers filed Friday that a juror observed an electronic stun device Owens had to wear in court to assure good behavior and that a judge never addressed why he was required to wear it, according to the Associated Press.

This comes as South Carolina seeks to put Owens to death, which would mark the state’s first execution in 13 years after an involuntary pause over struggles in recent years obtaining lethal injection drugs.

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Lawyers for the state have until Thursday to answer Owens’ request to delay his execution while he presents new evidence to a judge and demands a new trial.

The bar is typically high to grant new trials after death row inmates exhaust all their appeals. Owens’ lawyers said previous attorneys scrutinized his case carefully, but the new evidence only came up in interviews as his potential execution neared.

Co-defendant Steven Golden testified that Owens shot Graves in the head because she was unable to open the safe at the Greenville store 27 years ago.

The store had surveillance video, but it did not show the shooting clearly. Prosecutors never found the weapon used in the shooting and failed to show any scientific evidence linking Owens to the killing.

Golden told jurors at the trial in 1999 that he did not have a plea agreement with prosecutors and could still be sentenced to death or life in prison after testifying. 

However, in a sworn statement signed Aug. 22, Golden said he reached a side deal with prosecutors, an admission Owens’ attorneys said might have changed the minds of jurors who believed his testimony.

“My written plea agreement said the death penalty and life without parole were still possible outcomes and there were no specific guarantees about what my sentence would be,” Golden wrote in his statement. “That wasn’t true. We had a verbal agreement that I would not get the death penalty or life without parole.”

This undated photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the state’s death chamber in Columbia, South Carolina, including the electric chair, right, and a firing squad chair, left. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, File)

Golden was sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, court records show.

Addressing the electronic stun device Owens was wearing during trial, Owens’ lawyers said courts have long required judges to explain to juries why defendants are wearing visible restraints, such as shackles, and that there must be debate by the judge balancing courtroom security versus the impact the device might have on a fair trial.

Owens’ lawyers said the judge failed to do this in his trial.

Once one of the busiest states for executions, South Carolina has not carried out the death penalty since 2011 due to trouble in recent years obtaining lethal injection drugs after its supply expired because of pharmaceutical companies’ concerns that they would have to disclose that they had sold the drugs to state officials. But the state legislature passed a shield law last year allowing officials to keep lethal injection drug suppliers private.

South Carolina previously used a mixture of three drugs, but will now use one drug, the sedative pentobarbital, for lethal injections in a protocol similar to that of the federal government.

Lethal injection, electrocution and the new option of a firing squad are all expected to be available for Owens’ execution. Owens has until Sept. 6 to choose the method for his execution. He signed his power of attorney over to his lawyer, Emily Paavola, to make that decision for him.

If Owens does not make a decision, he would be sent to the electric chair, and he does not want to die that way, Paavola said. Lawyers for the state asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to rule if Owens’ lawyer can make that decision for him.

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Once one of the busiest states for executions, South Carolina has not carried out the death penalty since 2011. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

“Mr. Owens has a long-standing, deeply held religious conviction that physically signing the election form is taking an active role in bringing about his own death and is thus akin to suicide. Mr. Owens’ Muslim faith teaches that suicide is a sin, and it is forbidden,” Paavola wrote in court papers.

The state Supreme Court also said on Friday it would wait at least five weeks between executions.

The court rejected a request from lawyers for the condemned inmates to set three months between executions to relieve pressure on prison staff that could result in mistakes and give lawyers time to dedicate time exclusively to each prisoner’s case.

Instead, the court promised five weeks between executions. Under state law and a timeline first issued when the justices ruled executions could restart last month, the court could issue execution orders every week on Friday if it wants. Prison officials told the state that four weeks would be acceptable.

South Carolina currently has 32 inmates on death row.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A transit agency in Florida installed new Narcan kits at its four bus terminals and its employees are being trained on how to use the nasal spray to reverse opioid overdoses.

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority told Fox 13 it is the first transit agency in the Sunshine State to offer such a Narcan training program. A Narcan kit was also installed at PSTA headquarters.

“We transport a lot of people every day. And we’ve seen, there are times when people go unresponsive and that could be for a preexisting medical condition. It could be for something else,” PSTA safety, security, and training supervisor Eddie Kester told the outlet. “And we want to be equipped with the right tools for the job.”

“We know we have a challenge,” Kester added. “We’re putting things out there that we think can help people who are in need around Pinellas.”

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Pinellas County, Florida, has seen a steady increase in deaths caused by accidental opioid overdoses since 2018, according to data from the Pinellas County Opioid Task Force.

Dan Zsido, a retired lieutenant with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, served 40 years in law enforcement, mostly in narcotics investigations. He is working to train hundreds of PSTA employees on how to use the new Narcan kits.

“This little, tiny device with a very small amount of fluid ultimately can mean the difference between life and death,” Zsido told Fox 13, referring to the Narcan nasal spray.

Pinellas County has seen a steady increase in deaths caused by accidental opioid overdoses since 2018. (FOX News)

“It could be either heroin, which is obviously an illicit drug. It could be prescription medication,” Zsido said of the drugs that can cause overdoses that Narcan can help reverse. “It could be oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine. Of course, street drugs. Fentanyl.”

The Narcan kits were installed in locations that only PSTA staff have access to ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31.

PSTA is now seeking to inform the public, so passengers will know that life-saving resources are available at the bus terminals in an emergency.

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The Narcan kits were installed in locations that only PSTA staff have access to ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day. (Fox News)

“Maybe we could be a pilot program for other counties,” Zsido said. “But I’m just glad that we’re able to take this further now and save more lives.”

Officials said they would like to eventually install Narcan kits on all the buses themselves.