An Essex attorney who is accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from clients and fleeing to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and San Diego, California has been arrested in Connecticut and charged with embezzlement.
Police said the attorney, 72-year-old John Carta Jr., of Essex, transferred nearly $300,000 from a client fund account to his own accounts instead of paying the client’s title insurance for property in Essex.
The investigation started in March and the San Diego County sheriff’s department took Carta into custody on Aug. 17, with help from U.S. marshals, while he was trying to re-enter the country, according to state police.
He waived extradition and was brought back to Connecticut to answer to a first-degree larceny charge.
He was held on a $50,000 cash-only bond.
