CHARLESTON — A Charleston attorney's law license has been suspended for three and one-half years after stealing money from a youth soccer league's account and later attempting to raise funds via Go Fund Me in exchange for legal advice.
Mark Allen Glover began practicing law in 1999. In 2007 he became involved as a volunteer, coach and officer with youth soccer in Charleston and, two years later, he was elected president of the South Hills Soccer Association (SHSA), where he remained president until 2017.
Glover also served as the SHSA representative to the Board of the Kanawha Valley Soccer League (KVSL) and became treasurer of the KVSL in 2016.
Glover
From November 2016 until June 2017, Glover transferred money from KVSL's checking account to his personal checking account for personal use. He diverted approximately $12,274.38 during that time, according to documents obtained by The West Virginia Record.
In June 2017, another board member discovered Glover's theft and confronted him. Glover then repaid the money in three installments and resigned from his position. He later provided a sworn statement to the Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel and self-reported the incident.
After his employer discovered he had taken money from KVSL and converted it for his own use, his employment was terminated.
On Sept. 18, 2017, Glover set up a Go Fund Me fundraiser, seeking funds to help in his attempt to transition to being a sole practitioner. He offered free legal advice to those who donated to him.
Three days later, Glover provided a sworn statement to the Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel stating he did not receive any funds from the Go Fund Me page. Later that same day, he removed the page.
In his answer in response to the statement of charges against him, Glover admitted to the charges involving the KVSL money and that he had made the Go Fund Me page, but denied that he violated a rule regarding solicitation of clients or that he knowingly published the campaign to any individual and was unaware that the campaign was accessible on the internet to any person other than himself.
The Supreme Court agreed with the sanctions against Glover. His law license is suspended for 42 months, he will receive a public reprimand and pay the total costs of the investigation and proceedings.
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Case number: 18-0093