PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette Attorney Mary C. Kilgus’ former office on North Main Street in Hughesville.

A former Lycoming County assistant district attorney and judicial candidate has been suspended as a practicing attorney for four years, effective May 18, as a result of an investigation and ruling by the state Supreme Court’s Office of Discipline.

Mary C. Kilgus, who was practicing law in Towanda, was aware of the charges of misappropriation of clients’ funds as early as February, when she signed a consent form agreeing to pay restitution. Notice of the suspension was made Tuesday.

Kilgus was investigated for professional misconduct, according to the ruling.

One investigation concerned a vehicle accident between Devon Feaster and John Gillespie III that took place on June 19, 2017.

Feaster retained Kilgus Law Offices to represent him in connection with the accident in exchange for a contingency fee of one-third of any recovery, the court stated.

For more than two years after receiving Feaster’s $15,000 settlement, Kilgus failed to pay any portion of it to him, the office ruling stated.

On June 2, 2022, Kilgus obtained a bank check in the amount payable to Feaster.

However, the court alleged Kilgus failed to identify the bank accounts into which she had deposited Feaster’s settlement.

The investigators asked for the bank accounts, but Kilgus said the bank gave her the wrong bank records and asked for more time.

Another matter concerned John Bathgate and his mother, Wendy Bathgate, on Jan. 23, 2020, and a children and youth and custody case and another matter concerned an immigration case, the ruling stated.

In the Bathgate case, Kilgus allegedly took a retainer fee, put it in a business account and did not do the work, including sending emails that were knowingly false, according to the court.

Kilgus, ultimately, was ordered by the Office of Discipline to pay restitution to her clients, including the $15,000 settlement to Feaster, the $2,500 unearned fees to Bathgate and the $4,481 advanced fees and expenses to two individuals in an immigration matter.

In September, 2021, Kilgus took a job as assistant district attorney in Bradford County and has since resigned that position.

Kilgus had run as the Democratic candidate for district attorney in 2015. Kilgus also sought a judicial bench seat occupied by a retiring judge in 2019.

That the attorney served as a prosecutor is a significant aggravating factor, particularly since her conduct includes misappropriation of funds from clients, the ruling stated.