NY attorney who ripped off disabled clients for $4 million sent to prison

From the NY Daily News:

A corrupt Brooklyn lawyer who admitted to ripping off disabled clients to the tune of $4 million was sent to prison May 4 for up to 15 years.

Steven Rondos, 45, previously pleaded guilty to grand larceny and money laundering for stealing settlement claims and other money from 23 victims beginning in 2001.

"The son of a b---- was a pretty vicious guy, preying on incapacitated people," former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said when Rondos was busted in January 2009.

The disbarred lawyer spent the cash on a luxurious Ridgewood, N.J., home, including dishing out $31,000 for a plasma TV and $10,000 for kitchen curtains, according to court documents.

Rondos swiped $1 million from Andrea Spagnoletti, a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. It was money she desperately needed for around-the-clock home nursing care.

Rondos, a married father of three who got access to his victims by court appointment, was ordered to repay just $2.6 million of the stolen money.

Labeled a philanderer by prosecutors, Rondos faced up to 25 years in prison if he'd been convicted at trial. He now will serve a minimum of five years and as many as 15 years in the slammer, prosecutors said.