United States of America v. Edward L. Stief

East St. Louis, Illinois, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with one count of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of unlawful monetary transactions in criminal derived property.

Edward L. Stief, Jr., age 42, met the victim in May 2023 after becoming acquainted with him while offering lawn care and landscaping services. Shortly thereafter, Stief used several misrepresentations to convince the victim to appoint him as his Financial and Healthcare Power of Attorney.

After becoming the victim’s Power of Attorney, Stief became a signatory on the victim’s bank accounts. In August 2023, he talked the victim into cashing out his life insurance policies and deposited most of the victim’s money into Stief’s personal bank accounts. Over the course of the next several months, Stief spent the entirety of the victim’s life savings on himself. In addition, Stief also took the majority of the victim’s personal items including his gold coin collection, gold necklaces, guns and watches.

In October 2023, Stief persuaded the victim to leave a nursing home facility and move into his full-time care. Under Stief’s supervision, the victim was not cared for and his medical needs were not met.

The FBI Springfield Field Office and the Effingham Police Department contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Howard prosecuted the case.

The Defendant was found guilty and was sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment.
The judge ordered him to pay $411,773.51 in restitution.