SEATTLE — A former Bainbridge Island accountant who fled the state and changed his name to avoid arrest pleaded guilty over $1.5 million in embezzlement charges in a King County Courtroom Monday.
"I did this by convincing them to invest in different securities with me when no such securities existed,” the prosecutor read aloud, quoting Patrick Michael Leonard’s confession.
He admitted to all 14 counts of theft from dozens of friends and clients like the couple we met in Kirkland back in October.
"I mean he did our taxes for 20 something years. No questions asked, no worries, no problems—nothing,” Kathy Rall told us then.
Kathy and her husband, Greg, said the man they knew called himself Patrick Snetsinger.
He “borrowed” $5,000 from them and robbed other clients -- one of more than $700,000 -- skipped town, changed his name and set up shop in California.
The Ralls were shocked. "I mean whatever his deal was, he did a very good job of scamming people,” Kathy said.
Leonard admitted to friends he was a pathological liar and out of control.
He was arrested in October and has been in the King County Jail ever since. That's where he returned Monday.
One of his victims -- the only one present in the courtroom -- stared him down in silence as he was escorted out in handcuffs.
Leonard will return to court for sentencing on March 6. He faces up to 10 years in prison, but the state recommended just over five.
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