Lawyer gets 20 years for stealing money from children

BOERNE — Former attorney Karen Hogan was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes related to money taken from six children who lost their parents in a 2021 murder-suicide, according to prosecutors. 

Hogan pleaded guilty in March to misapplication of fiduciary-financial property of $300,000 or more, a first-degree felony, and to exploitation of a child-elderly-disabled person, a third-degree felony. 

Judge Kirsten Cohoon of the 451st state District Court presided over the June 1 sentencing hearing, according to an online post from the Kendall County District Attorney’s Office. 

“You owed an obligation to the court, the community and to our system of justice,” Cohoon said during sentencing. “I can't even understand how it is that you went to that bank account and withdrew those funds.” 

The judge added, “This is the hardest case I've presided over, because I can't understand such a break of trust to your clients and to the whole system we work for.” 

In addition, after the adjudication, Kendall County District Attorney Nicole Bishop offered an apology for the 20-year sentence cap put in place under the terms of the plea agreement.  

“For someone from my own profession, an attorney, who was put in a position of trust; to steal from such vulnerable children is despicable,” Bishop said. “However, to come to her sentencing hearing without the full restitution when she has the means, show no remorse, and to make empty excuses for her actions is absolutely abhorrent.” 

Bishop added, “If I had known then what I learned at the sentencing hearing, that deal would never have been made.” 

The case arose from Hogan’s misuse of estate funds while serving in a fiduciary capacity for six children connected to the estates of their parents Jason and Emily Evans.  

 Murder-suicide 

On Dec. 31, 2021, with the children inside the family home, Jason Evans killed his wife and then took his own life in the attached garage, according to investigators. 

The youngest child was 4 and the oldest child, who is also special needs, was 15. The children all went to live with their maternal grandmother. 

Hogan was the attorney appointed by the probate court as the temporary administrator of the estate, according to evidence presented to the court.  

Investigators determined Hogan improperly took and used estate funds intended for the benefit and protection of the surviving children, prosecutors said.