The D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended to the D.C. Court of Appeals that former White House aide Claude Allen, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to one misdemeanor count of theft of property under $500, be suspended from the practice of law for one year. That suspension would be a much stiffer penalty than the 90-day suspension earlier recommended by a hearing committee.
Allen, who worked for President George W. Bush, admitted that, on three separate occasions, he bought an item at a Target store, later went back to the store with the receipt, pulled an identical item off the shelves, and used the receipt to “return” it, allowing him to keep the purchased item at no cost. According to the hearing committee’s Nov. 19 report, Allen used such means to steal a $525 Bose stereo, a $237 Kodak printer, and an $88 RCA stereo in 2005.
