Attorney charged with draining funds from survivors’ accounts

An attorney appointed to handle the estates of a Boerne couple who died in a 2021 murder-suicide is charged in a warrant with stealing nearly $540,000 set aside for their six surviving children. 

Karen Hogan, 68, a San Antonio attorney, remained in the Kendall County Jail Tuesday, Feb. 4, charged with three felony counts for alleged mishandling of funds in two accounts set up for the six surviving children of Jason and Emily Evans, according to affidavits attached to the warrants.  

Bond totaling $1,050,000 has been set on the three charges. 

“The defendant has refused to explain the illegal and improper use of the victim’s monetary resources diverted for the defendant’s monetary gain,” Kendall County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Thomas Matjeka stated in the affidavit. 

According to investigators, Judge Sandee Bryan Marion in November 2022 appointed Hogan, an elder law, wills and estate attorney, as administrator for the estates of the Evans on behalf of their children. 

According to court records, Hogan appeared as the joint account owner of savings and checking accounts for Jason Evans’ estate, with a total topping $400,000. Similar accounts were later opened in Emily Evans’ name, with those accounts totaling $24,500, according to the court document. 

Investigators said withdrawals from the accounts began in the summer of 2023. The Jan. 27 sheriff's arrest warrant alleges Hogan initially transferred $40,0000 from Jason Evans’ account into her business checking account on Aug. 5; two days later, she transferred $20,000 of that sum “into an unknown account this time.” 

A pattern of withdrawals from the two accounts followed, as spelled out in the arrest warrant: $105,000 on Oct. 3, 2023; $20,000 on Oct. 4, 2023; $125,000 on Oct. 13, 2023; $150,000 on Oct. 20, 2023; $75,000 on Nov. 3, 2023; $4,550 on Feb. 16, 2024; and $22,000 on Feb. 20, 2024. 

The affidavit claims Hogan “continued to illegally or improperly use funds from Jason Evans’ account until the balance ... remaining was less than $100.”  

In addition, Hogan is accused of draining the Emily Fulton Evans estate account “until the balance of the account remaining for the victim was $9.”
 

The victim listed in the affidavit is identified as “a disabled individual diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder” and the oldest of the six children, five girls and one boy who ranged from 4 to 15 years old in 2021 at the time of the incident.