Additional theft charges filed against Latrobe attorney John Allen Roth

Additional theft charges were filed Wednesday against a Latrobe attorney who is awaiting trial on police accusations that he stole $31,300 from an elderly jail inmate and used the money to gamble at a casino.

John Allen Roth, 70, is accused in three new cases of taking $7,735 from clients and failing to do any work in their cases, according to court papers. The clients told Westmoreland County detectives they hired Roth to represent them in matters related to bankruptcy, custody and a pardon in a criminal case.

Roth’s attorney declined to comment Wednesday. During a preliminary arraignment, attorney Brian Aston asked District Judge Tamara Mahady to allow Roth to remain free while the cases progress. Roth recently was released from a rehabilitation facility and is living at home after posting $75,000 bail in the original case, Aston said.

“Anytime I call him, he immediately answers the phone. We’ve had absolutely no problem in communicating,” Aston said.

Mahady set a $50,000 unsecured bail in each of the three cases, which involve three counts of theft and two counts of deceptive business practices. Preliminary hearings were waived.

The new accusations came to light after Roth’s November arrest on nine felony charges, including dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, theft, financial exploitation, deceptive business practices and related offenses. He is accused in that case of taking money out of a then-70-year-old inmate’s bank account between April 23 and Aug. 29, 2024, after she signed a document appointing a part-time employee of Roth’s as power of attorney, according to court papers.

The woman had been deemed incompetent by a judge at the time, police said. Authorities believe money was spent gambling.

In the three new cases, detectives said Roth took money from the clients but didn’t do any work for them. A search warrant at his office was executed in March.

One client reported paying Roth $2,335 in October for representation in a bankruptcy case. The second said he paid $2,000 in 2016 for Roth’s help to seek a pardon in a Bucks County criminal case.

A third client met with Roth in October 2023 and paid him $3,400 over the next year to represent her in a custody case, according to court papers.

After Roth’s November arrest, authorities said 10 new theft allegations came to light, but only three of them — the cases filed Wednesday — rose to the level of criminal charges, according to Melanie Jones, spokesperson for the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.

Roth’s license to practice law has been temporarily suspended, according to the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He’s prohibited from working as a lawyer as part of the conditions of his bail in the original case. Roth spent about two months in jail before posting $75,000 after his bail was reduced from $250,000.

A conservator was appointed in April to handle closing his practice, review case files and communicate with his current and former clients.

North Huntingdon attorney John Eric Bumbaugh wrote in a report filed this month that about 50 case files are being categorized and clients will be notified soon. Eight to 10 boxes of files have been found at Roth’s home in the backyard under a tarp and were destroyed because they were damaged after being exposed to the elements, according to the report.

A business checking account was found to have a negative balance. The conservatorship is set to end Oct. 3 but may need to be extended because of the ongoing work, Bumbaugh wrote in the report.

Roth’s part-time employee, Tina Curry, 50, of Mt. Pleasant, is facing theft charges in the case involving the jail inmate. Police said Curry withdrew money at Roth’s request and attempted to use $5,000 of the funds to purchase a vehicle.