Tribune staff reports

The state has suspended a Seymour attorney — arrested earlier this year as part of a welfare fraud investigation — from practicing law.

Stephen Shoemaker Pierson told the members of a disciplinary commission during a recent hearing that he could no longer serve as an attorney because of a disability. The hearing had been scheduled to determine whether Pierson’s practice of the law should be suspended because of the welfare fraud case.

After the hearing, the Indiana Supreme Court disciplinary commission suspended Pierson’s license to practice, effective Nov. 6.

Pierson, the Jackson County prosecutor from 2003 to 2007, and an employee in his office, Teresa L. Cantu, were arrested in July.

Cantu, 49, of Seymour, faces Level 6 felony charges of welfare fraud and perjury, while Pierson faces a Level 6 felony charge of welfare fraud in connection with the investigation that led to Cantu’s arrest.

The trial for the two is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 29 in Jackson Circuit Court.

Cantu said at the time of her arrest that the