PRESS RELEASE

DECEMBER 6, 2011

For more information, contact:        John J. McCarthy, (240) 777-7390

                                                            Seth Zucker, Communications Director, (240) 777-7345

                        LAWYER SENTENCED FOR THEFT SCHEME FROM CLIENT

John J. McCarthy, State’s Attorney for Montgomery County, announced that Glenn Edward Culpepper, 70 , was sentenced on December 5, 2011 to three years suspend all but four months of executed incarceration, with five years supervised probation, and a restitution order of $150,000 by the Honorable Mary Beth McCormick, Circuit Court, Montgomery County, Maryland.  The Defendant pled guilty on August 17, 2011 to one count of Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult, and one count of Misappropriation by a Fiduciary.  As a condition of his plea, the Defendant agreed to disbarment in every state to which he was admitted to practice law.

            In September, 2010, Douglas Welebir and Evelyn Welebir made a complaint to the State’s Attorney’s Office alleging that Glenn Culpepper, attorney for the estate of Evelyn Welebir’s husband, had misappropriated estate assets. Investigation revealed that in Evelyn Welebir’s husband, Daniel Welebir, died in May, 2007. The defendant, who was a practicing attorney since 1967, was hired to be the attorney for the estate. At the time the contract was entered into, Mrs. Welebir was 84 years old. In March, 2008, the defendant filed a First and Final Account for the Estate, which was intended to close out the estate. The filing states that the estate assets would be distributed within 30 days of account being approved. The defendant also filed a Petition for Attorney’s Fees in the amount of $85, 877. A month later, the Court approved First and Final Account, and the Register of Wills closed the estate on the same date. In May, 2008, the Court also approved the Petition for Attorney’s Fees.

            After the estate was supposed to have been closed, the defendant did not make final distribution of the estate assets. Instead, he continued to conduct transactions in the name of the estate. On September 15, 2009, over a year after the estate was supposed to have been closed, the defendant opened a second banking account in the name of the estate. Subsequent investigation revealed that between 2007 and 2010 the defendant created a scheme whereby he would have Mrs. Welebir sign checks for the estate and then deposit the checks in his own accounts. He also would cash third-party checks written to the estate into his own accounts. Additionally, at the same time the defendant was stealing from the estate, he continued to ask Mrs. Welebir for monthly attorney’s fees in excess of the $85, 877 that the Court approved. All told, an analysis by the State’s Attorney’s Office determined that $259, 805 was paid to the defendant by the Estate and Mrs. Welebir after he had already received the $85, 877 approved by the Court. 

            “We are committed to aggressively prosecuting cases involving the exploitation of vulnerable adults and seniors” McCarthy said in reaction to the sentence.

In making today’s announcement, McCarthy thanked Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Bryan Roslund and Special Investigator David Newcomer for the investigation and prosecution of the defendant. e police found the victim, Elizabeth Velez Vasquez, dead in one of the bedrooms.  Upon questioning, the defendant told the police that he had gotten into an argument with his wife because he suspected she was being unfaithful. As the argument escalated, the defendant sent their nine year old child to another apartment. The couple’s 2 year old and 3 month old children were still in the apartment. The defendant then confronted the victim in the kitchen, where he picked up a kitchen knife from the butcher block.  The victim then ran out of the kitchen and into a bedroom. The defendant then followed her into the bedroom and after their argument escalated, began to stab her with the knife. Florez-Olvera told police he killed his wife because she told him she did not love him anymore. The couple’s two youngest children were in the apartment at the time of the murder. An autopsy showed that the victim had been stabbed or cut 79 times, including 5 stabbing wounds and 74 cutting wounds.

            “The defendant has accepted responsibility for this brutal killing” McCarthy said “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victim’s friends and family.”

In making today’s announcement, McCarthy thanked Assistant State’s Attorneys Karla Smith and Donna Fenton for their prosecution of the case.  McCarthy also praised the Montgomery County Police Department for their investigation of the case.