June 4, 2018
Conn has said he ‘knows others involved’, may give names for time off sentence
Former Eastern Kentucky disability lawyer Eric C. Conn pleaded guilty Monday to three felonies that carry a 15-year prison sentence.
The latest sentence will add to a 12-year sentence Conn began serving in December on separate charges related to fraud against the Social Security Administration, for a total sentence of 27 years.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves accepted the plea deal during a hearing Monday in Lexington.
Conn, 58, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration; conspiracy to escape; and conspiracy to retaliate against a witness.
Conn, who lived in Pikeville and had his office in Floyd County, was once one of the top-paid federal disability lawyers in the nation.
However, last year he admitted he used false evidence of physical or mental disabilities in clients’ claims for benefits, paid medical professionals to approve claims with little scrutiny, and paid more than $600,000 in bribes to a Social Security judge, David L. Daugherty, who approved claims for Conn’s clients.
The conspiracy involved thousands of cases.
Conn was on home detention awaiting sentencing when he fled the country last June. He ended up in Honduras, where police caught him on Dec. 2 at a Pizza Hut where he’d gone for lunch.
Federal prosecutors had agreed to dismiss the original 18-count indictment against Conn as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty to two related charges that resulted in the 12-year sentence.
However, after Conn fled, prosecutors kept those 18 charges in place, and a grand jury added four more based on his escape.
The plea he entered Monday resolves all charges.
There is no parole in the federal system but inmates can trim sentences by 15 percent for good conduct. That means Conn could cut his sentence to 23 years.
However, Conn also could get a further sentence reduction by giving authorities information about others involved in fraud, if he has such information.
Conn has told the Herald-Leader in letters that he had knowledge about others who have not yet been charged being involved in fraud.
By Bill Estep
Lexington Herald-Leader
