COLUMBUS — Mark Thomas was sentenced to five years in prison for federal mail fraud early Tuesday afternoon.

The former Belmont County commissioner, St. Clairsville councilman and attorney will serve five years in federal prison for fraud.

His conviction is related to the theft of more than $882,000 from an elderly woman with dementia. He committed the crime while acting as power of attorney for his then-client.

The theft occurred from 2012 through August 2019 when he took the victim’s money without her knowledge or permission to use for his own benefit.

According to the court, Thomas was ordered to pay $882,502 in restitution and a fine of $20,000. Thomas was ordered to self-surrender to the prison system on or before May 25.

According to Jennifer Thornton, spokeswoman with the Department of Justice, Thomas will serve his sentence in an as-yet unspecified federal prison. Until then, he will be subject to electronic monitoring and home confinement.

Thomas, 63, pleaded guilty in August to one count of federal mail fraud related to his legal practice, not his time in elected office.

His sentence before Judge Algenon Marbley of the U.S. Southern District of Ohio was delayed numerous times due to health reasons and to consider facts of the case.

In a memorandum, Thomas’s attorney Andrew P. Avellano had asked Marbley to consider a sentence of 51 months.

He cited Thomas’s age and health issues and added that Thomas could begin to make meaningful restitution to the victim’s heirs if he was released sooner. Avellano also asked the judge to consider that Thomas had known the victim, said he cared about her well-being and intended to repay the money but got “in over his head.”

U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker outlined the crime in a later release, saying a longer sentence was deserved.

“Thomas’s grave abuse of power over this vulnerable victim demands today’s serious punishment,” Parker said. “The victim in this case was 86 years old, exhibiting symptoms of dementia, and living in a senior-care facility. She trusted Thomas, and Thomas abused that trust to steal her money for more than seven years. His actions to take advantage of her were utterly shameful.”

He added that Thomas improperly used the victim’s power of attorney and his status as a lawyer — even after his law license was revoked in 2015 — to convince various entities, including banks and life insurance companies, to transfer the victim’s money for his use.

Parker said in May 2012, a family member of the victim obtained a separate power of attorney for the victim and Thomas drafted a revocation of the family member’s power of attorney for the victim to sign. He said Thomas acted as the notary to verify the victim’s signature on the revocation.

He said Thomas also falsely told a banker he needed $200,000 from the victim’s investment account to set up an educational fund that she wanted to establish. Once he received the money from the bank, Thomas transferred the money to himself instead.

Parker said in January 2014, Thomas cashed more than $290,000 of the victim’s U.S. Treasury Bonds, then subsequently transferred $200,000 into his law firm’s bank account, and eventually into his own personal bank account.

According to court documents, in 2016 Thomas wrote letters to three life insurance companies purporting to be the victim and asking to cash out the victim’s policies and direct all correspondence to Thomas.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Unit and the FBI investigated the case.

In 2019 after concluding his term as a commissioner at the end of 2018, Thomas served 30 days in jail for contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order to turn over documents from his private law practice related to the case. He later complied with the records request. A lawsuit related to that case was dismissed. The contempt charge had no connection to his role as an elected official.

The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct in Columbus suspended Thomas’s law license in Ohio in 2015 after he reportedly failed to file an answer to a formal complaint pending before the board.

In 2021, Thomas ran unopposed for the St. Clairsville City Council’s 3rd Ward seat and was elected. He served in that role until his August 2022 resignation following his guilty plea.

Neither Thomas nor Avellano could not be reached for comment Tuesday.