MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — The office for attorney Robert C. Klingensmith, 61, remains closed Monday after a standoff between Klingensmith and police on Saturday. He’s accused of stealing more than $300,000 from a woman he had as a client, who died three years ago. Now, he’s in the hospital after what police say was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Viewer video shows the moments that tense standoff ended. Channel 11 blurred Klingensmith, who was shirtless and bloody. He appeared to ignore police commands to get on the ground, and he was tased.
“It was pretty crazy because things like that don’t happen around here usually,” said Sean Griffith, owner of Griff’s Italian Ice and Soft Serve. He left work around 2:30 p.m. and got a call from his daughter who was working a few hours later about the standoff, and arrived as an ambulance was leaving.
“He was always nice to me, didn’t really have much interaction. We’d always say hi, he’d come over and get a cone or something, he let my customers use his parking lot at night, so we had a good relationship in that sense,” Griffith said.
Police showed up at Klingensmith’s office Saturday to arrest him after he was charged Thursday for allegedly stealing more than $300,000 from a deceased client’s estate from 2021 to 2024.
According to court records, the Office of Disciplinary Council started an investigation in October, then temporarily suspended his law license on May 13.
“Must have been dire straits to do something like that,” Griffith said. “Feel bad for the family who had the money taken. I feel bad, you never want to see something like that happen to somebody.”
With his law license suspended, there are questions about other clients Klingensmith may have had.
Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek asked attorney Phil DiLucente, who is not involved in this case, what clients need to know if they have an attorney who can no longer practice law.
“The welfare of the client is of the utmost importance. So, it’s the duty of the lawyer to notify their current clientele what the situation is,” DiLucente said. “That client can choose to go elsewhere and/or that lawyer can make recommendations. They can’t tell them where to go, but they can make recommendations.”
A spokesperson for the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office tells Channel 11 there is no update on Klingensmith’s condition as of Monday afternoon.
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