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HOW MUCH DOES HE OWE? $397,236
THE BACKSTORY: Gruetter once ran thriving legal offices in Portland and Bend—until 2012, when the Oregon State Bar took over his law practice after a series of clients’ complaints. It turned out he’d been using their settlements to cover personal expenses.
The swindle sent shock waves through the Oregon legal community. Not only did it wipe out the bar’s “Client Security Fund,” which paid the people Gruetter had cheated, but subjected the organization to criticism: Gruetter was the former chairman of its legal ethics committee.
He was convicted of wire fraud, sentenced by a federal judge to five years in prison, and ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution after he admitted, prosecutors say, to “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Gruetter spent three and a half years in California and Oregon prisons. But he has not repaid the debt. He’s currently on a $200 per month payment plan—not including the 25% of his paycheck that’s garnished by the state of Oregon for unpaid taxes.
Last year, in a Washington County divorce petition, he listed his various disputed debts: $395,000 to the state, $263,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, and $1.1 million to the U.S. Treasury.
INTERESTING DETAIL: During his prison stint, Gruetter got sober and played bass in an inmate band.
WHAT DOES HE SAY? Gruetter tells WW that his problems with the Oregon Department of Revenue stem from a personal income tax return he failed to file in 2010. Since then, he says, penalties and fees have inflated the debt far beyond what he can afford to pay.
Gruetter says he’s currently living paycheck to paycheck in a rental in Cedar Mill, earning $20.30 an hour as a full-time puppy trainer. “It’s what I should have been doing my whole life,” he says.
WHAT THE BACK TAXES COULD BUY: One year’s salary for five forest managers at the Oregon Department of Forestry.