AUBURN – A former Skowhegan lawyer sentenced to prison for bilking his grandfather’s estate out of more than $150,000 is due back in court after allegedly failing to repay the stolen money as planned.

John P. Frankenfield, 40, who now lives on Loring Avenue, served about two years in prison after he was convicted on a felony charge of theft and a misdemeanor charge of misuse of entrusted property after skimming assets from the estate of his grandfather, Wayne Frankenfield. He also had pleaded guilty to similar charges for stealing $55,000 in escrowed real estate money from unrelated clients. He was ordered to serve four years on probation after his release from prison.

In all, he was ordered to make $219,000 in restitution. A clerk at Androscoggin County Superior Court said Thursday that records show he has paid back only $50. He is expected to appear in court on Jan. 14 for a hearing on a motion to revoke his probation because he allegedly has failed to make payments scheduled by his probation officer, the clerk said.

In 1999, Frankenfield was appointed personal representative of his grandfather’s estate. When a probate court-appointed attorney was ordered to take over as supervisor of the elder Frankenfield’s estate in 2003, she filed a report noting that the lawyer had depleted the estate’s $166,583 and failed to account for the money. He also failed to transact other necessary business for the estate, the attorney wrote.

A short time earlier, a family member filed a grievance complaint against Frankenfield.

Later that year, a grand jury indicted him on the criminal charges.

The money in his grandfather’s estate was supposed to assist his grandmother, a resident at a Farmington nursing home at the time.

He was sentenced in 2005 to six years on each of the two theft charges, to be served concurrently. In addition, he was sentenced to six months on the two misdemeanors, also to run concurrently.

In September 2004, he was disbarred from practicing law in Maine by the the state’s Board of Overseers of the Bar.

A Mount Blue High School graduate, Frankenfield earned a degree from Bowdoin College before going on to law school.

He blamed a gambling problem and anger against an uncle for his thefts, according to published reports.

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