Show-Me State Times

A former alderman in Des Peres, Missouri, was sentenced on Thursday to five years of probation and ordered to repay $292,305 that he embezzled from clients.

John Pound, 81, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud. Pound admitted that from 2010 through June 30, 2020, he embezzled from two clients of his real estate management company, Commercial Realty Management Inc.

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, Missouri. Pound maintained bank accounts and paid bills on behalf of the owners but took significantly larger management fees, kept larger commissions, and charged higher hourly rates than he was authorized to take. Pound prepared annual budgets which misrepresented the monthly management fee and concealed the inflated fees he was collecting. From 2006 through June 30, 2020, Pound paid himself $220,000 in commission payments that he had not legitimately earned. From Jan. 1, 2015 through Dec. 31, 2019, Pound made about 132 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 after his guilty plea.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll prosecuted the case.