Former Houston personal injury attorney accused of stealing from clients arrested on Vegas gambling debt warrant
HOUSTON – A former Houston-area attorney who has been accused by many past clients of stealing their personal injury settlement checks was arrested in Galveston County last month on out-of-state charges.
David Lee Pettus was arrested Jan. 12 by the Bayou Vista Police Department, KPRC 2 News has confirmed.
He was taken to the Galveston County Jail before being released two days later.
RELATED: ‘He should be put behind bars’: Clients say Houston-area attorney stole settlement checks
Pettus had been wanted for years in Clark County, Nevada, over an unpaid gambling credit of nearly $100,000 to a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas, according to records.
He was taken to the Galveston County Jail before being released two days later.
After his arrest in Texas, Pettus entered into an agreement with Clark County prosecutors that will require him to make regular payments toward the debt, according to a spokesperson for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. If he continues making the payments, he will not be required to come back to Las Vegas.
The Galveston County Jail confirmed the warrant was recalled on Jan. 14 and Pettus was released.
Bayou Vista Police Department Cpl. J. Proffitt told KPRC 2 News a defective head lamp led to the traffic stop, when an officer confirmed Pettus had the active extraditable warrant for fraud out of Nevada. He was taken to jail without incident, police said.
KPRC 2 News first reported on Pettus in Jan. 2024 when his personal injury law firm clients claimed he ghosted them after being hired and then stole tens of thousands of dollars they thought they’d receive in insurance settlements after car crashes. At least five victims have spoken publicly.
In Sept. 2024, the Supreme Court of Texas accepted Pettus’ resignation “in the best interest of the public and the profession” which barred him from practicing law in Texas. At the time, records showed the State Bar of Texas had at least 24 active investigations of professional misconduct.
Court records show he has been found liable in several civil cases filed by former clients who sought to recover their stolen funds after he failed to show up or respond in court.
Pettus wrote the following in a statement to KPRC 2 News in Sept. 2024:
“A number of my former clients who were upset at the amounts of the settlements they got apparently banded together to report to the Bar that somehow they were deceived, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!! The truth is I represented the regular person-not big shots in big cases. I just don’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars that it will take to fight the Bar. I wish that I could, but since I can’t I felt at this stage of my long career, the best thing to do was resign my license to save me and my family from bankruptcy.”
But Pettus then filed for bankruptcy in May 2025, indicating in federal court records that he owed multiple people, including banks and victims who have been interviewed by KPRC 2 News and obtained default judgements in their cases, more than $8.5 million.
In a motion to dismiss the case, attorneys for a bank wrote that Pettus filed for bankruptcy “in bad faith and for non-economic motives,” calling him a “disgraced former attorney” who was attempting to avoid foreclosure on his Tiki Island home.
The court granted the motion to dismiss which barred Pettus from refiling for bankruptcy until mid-April, records show.
Victims tell KPRC 2 News they have shared documentation about their losses with prosecutors at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, but so far, Pettus has not been criminally charged for any wrongdoing with his clients’ monies.
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