Josiah E. Hutton also was ordered to pay $93,255 in restitution to the victim by U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore.

TAMPA A 60-year-old former attorney from Winter Haven has been sentenced to six months in federal prison followed by six months of home confinementfor concealing assets from a bankruptcy estate.

Josiah E. Huttonalso was ordered to pay $93,255 in restitution to the victim by U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore.

Hutton pled guilty in March and had faced amaximum sentence of five years in prison.

According to the plea agreement, Hutton was retained to represent a debtor who was planning to file for bankruptcy. In anticipation of filing a bankruptcy petition, Hutton received a settlement check, which was property of the debtors bankruptcy estate, and deposited it into his attorney escrow account.

Hutton later prepared and certified the debtors bankruptcy petition, yet he failed to list the settlement check as an asset, thereby concealing the asset from creditors and the Bankruptcy Court.

The Florida Bar shows he had been practicing law since 1989, most recently in Fort Myers, but the Polk County Property Appraisers Office website shows he has owned a house on Lake Otis in Winter Haven since 1991 and claims homestead exemptions on that property.

He has been disbarred, according to the Florida Bar website.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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Winter Haven attorney gets prison for concealing assets in ... - News Chief