An arrest is ahead in killing of victim in Puna
HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT
Sean Alan Rutledge
Hawaii County police Friday expect to formally arrest 40-year-old disbarred attorney Sean Alan Rutledge, indicted in the murder of his 63-year-old mother in Puna.
Rutledge is being held without bail at Hawaii Community Correctional Center on a California extradition warrant.
A Hilo grand jury indicted Rutledge, also known as Alan Frank, on Wednesday on the charge of second-degree murder.
Police officers, responding the evening of Aug. 25 to a disturbance on Kapoho Kai Drive, found Nadean Rutledge's body outside her house with stab wounds, police said.
"We were investigating the murder that night," and Sean Alan Rutledge was a possible person of interest, Capt. Robert Wagner said Thursday.
Nadean Rutledge was a retired information officer for the Waiopae tide pools in Kapoho, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
Police found Sean Alan Rutledge had an outstanding warrant for a parole violation in California. The warrant related to a conviction stemming from "a criminal threat to cause great bodily injury," the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. No details were available.
Police sent out an email bulletin early Aug. 26 naming Rutledge as a suspect wanted on a California extradition warrant, warning that he was armed and dangerous. Police captured him later that morning.
The attorney resigned from the California bar and was disbarred in New York, and legally changed his name in Hawaii in 2011 to Alan Frank, according to a legal document disbarring him.
The State Bar of California's online data show Rutledge, an Irvine resident, resigned Aug. 12, 2011, with charges pending, and was deemed ineligible to practice law in November 2009.
Rutledge's disciplinary proceedings in California resulted from his operation of United Law Group. He represented homeowners in California and other states who were in default payments or in foreclosure proceedings, the New York decision said.
The California Bar also charged him with intentionally, recklessly or repeatedly failing to perform legal services with competence; settling a client's claim or potential claim for malpractice without informing the client he could seek advice of independent counsel, and failing to refund unearned fees; and he also formed a law practice with a nonlawyer, the New York decision said.
Rutledge denied all charges, but the California Bar had him declared inactive because his conduct posed a substantial threat of harm to his clients or the public and any future clients.
He then resigned with charges pending, and "fled" California and could not be located, according to the New York decision. The Supreme Court of California accepted his resignation July 13, 2011.
In Washington state Rutledge and United Law Group were ordered on Nov. 23, 2009, by the state's Division of Consumer Services director to cease and desist offering loan modification services or otherwise conducting the business of a mortgage broker or loan originator in Washington.
ULG and Rutledge were also were also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $9,200 to consumers, and were fined $10,000.
Rutledge was disbarred in New York on Nov. 26, 2013. The judiciary there said he failed to cooperate with its investigation of 15 complaints against him.
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