A former Bristol attorney and town councilor, sentenced to 46 months in prison in April for stealing more than $169,000 from clients while she served as a court-appointed conservator, has now been disbarred from practicing law in Connecticut for 12 years.

News of Jodi Zils Gagne's disbarment came from the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel this week as part of a report on attorneys disciplined in May.

Zils Gagne was among probate court-appointed conservators tasked with overseeing financial or personal affairs of incapacitated adults. But according to authorities, the 43-year-old attorney used that position for her own personal gain.

Prosecutors said Zils Gagne defrauded several people under the court's protection, including a client older than 90 and another who had multiple sclerosis. They say she also misappropriated clients' money and overbilled them.

Zils Gagne, who was released on a $50,000 bond, must report to prison on July 8. She pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud by misappropriating money intended for clients' medical care, housing, other bills and personal expenses.

In one case, prosecutors said Zils Gagne defrauded a victim of about $130,000. Authorities said she took $113,000 of that money under the guise of an investment when, in fact, it was a 10-year-old note that paid only a prime rate and was signed between her husband and her, as the victim's conservator. The money, authorities said, was used to fund Zils Gagne's husband's startup internet radio station in Bristol.

The government said Zils Gagne misrepresented, or failed to disclose, material facts about her conservatorship activities to the Bristol probate court and others between May 2015 and February 2018.

In court papers, the government also said Zils Gagne, an attorney for 16 years, fraudulently obtained and converted money and property from her victims through, among other means, commingling the victims' money with each other and her husband's business and personal funds.

Zils Gagne's attorney, Francis O'Reilly of Southport-based O'Reilly & Shaw, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. His memorandum in aid of sentencing asked for a sentence of one-year home confinement, which would allow Zils Gagne time to “address her physical and mental health concerns in a less-restrictive environment.”

The government, though, in its sentencing memorandum said Zils Gagne “abused her position of trust as a conservator and an attorney to prey on some of the most vulnerable victims in our society, the elderly and the infirm, to steal nearly $170,000 to benefit herself.”

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