John P. Bender, an Austin attorney, will have to wait until July 29 to learn his sentence. On June 23, a 331st District Court jury convicted Bender of aggregated theft and aggregated misapplication of fiduciary property, both first-degree felonies, according to Patty Robertson , the Travis County assistant district attorney who prosecuted State v. Bender . On Nov. 12, 2008, a Travis County grand jury indicted Bender on the theft and misapplication of fiduciary property charges in connection with his alleged personal use of P.E.T. Imaging Ltd. funds between Aug. 1, 2000, and Feb. 1, 2003. Robertson says Bender withdrew more than $930,000 of the company's funds; P.E.T. Imaging conducted positron emission tomography scans of patients to detect cancer and other medical problems.

Details.

[I graduated from UH Law Center with Bender. Turns out one of the victims of his theft scheme was another classmate from that same law school and has been a long-time friend. In addition, for my first job upon leaving law school, I worked as a briefing attorney at the CCA. Got to know Judge Miller then, as he was one of the nine judges on the CCA. Bender's victim worked with me at the same time, although for a different judge. Interesting connections. I am curious to see the sentence.

Any other classmates out there? Anyone else know Bender?]

Yes, I've known John for almost ten years now. His conviction came as quite a shock- he didn't want me to know about it, but I found out thru an odd chain of events. If you see this reply and would like to communicate via email off this message board, I'll be happy to exchange addresses with you.

Has there been an update on this case?

Ed Lane

Not a recent update, but on July 30 there was a report that Bender was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

That's correct. He got 20 years and was transferred to prison. Although he may appeal, he won't be out on bond pending that appeal.

$930,000??? And he thought maybe they wouldn't notice?

No doubt that kind of money creates more temptation than most folks ever have to deal with, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that's the kind of thing you do just before you change your name, have plastic surgery, and move to a remote Pacific island.