Lawyer Receives Probation for Theft

A lawyer who had a 44-year career in the law has been sentenced to probation in Lucas County Common Pleas Court and ordered to pay more than $26,000 in restitution to clients from whom he stole.

William A. Garrett, 69, of Sylvania was sentenced to five years’ probation, including 60 days in the Correctional Treatment Facility and 30 days on electronic monitoring. He also was ordered to pay restitution.

Garrett told Judge Gary Cook he was “extremely depressed” and took up alcohol as a way of self-medicating. He said that his drinking led to other problems.

“I don’t know how I could have violated the trust of the people, the trust of my clients, and the trust of my good work over 44 years,” he said.

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Lawyer Receives Probation for Theft

Supreme Court of Georgia Bars Judge From the Bench

The Supreme Court of Georgia ordered the permanent removal of a Twiggs County probate judge from the bench and barred him from ever holding or seeking judicial office.

In an 11-page ruling, the court unanimously found that Twiggs County Probate Judge Kenneth E. Fowler had violated the state’s judicial canon of ethics and that his conduct “shows that he is simply unwilling to live up to his legal and ethical responsibilities as a judge.”

The high court also dismissed Fowler’s contentions that any judicial misconduct in which he may have engaged stemmed from unintentional errors and a lack of legal education. Fowler has a high school education, which is all that the state mandates for probate judges in its less populated counties. Instead, the Supreme Court found that Fowler had demonstrated judicial incompetence, disregarded the law, taken actions that eroded public trust and confidence in the judiciary, engaged in behavior inappropriate for a judge and showed a lack of judicial decorum and temperament.

After a year-long investigation of Fowler that began in 2008 following several complaints about his demeanor on the bench, the JQC filed charges against the Twiggs County judge in 2009.

In Georgia counties with populations of less than 100,000, probate judges are not required to have either a college degree, a law degree or a license to practice law. They have the authority to rule on misdemeanor offenses and traffic citations; fine defendants, sentence them and place them on probation or in jail; probate wills and rule on the division of personal estates; appoint guardians; and issue involuntary commitments to the state’s mental institutions.

In April, the JQC recommended to the state Supreme Court that Fowler be removed from office and barred from seeking or holding any judicial post.

That recommendation was awaiting action by the high court when the JQC filed an emergency petition asking that Fowler, who had remained on the bench, be suspended immediately, claiming he had retaliated against two probation officers assigned to his Twiggs County courtroom who had testified against him at the JQC hearing.

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Barred From Bench, Judge Blames Lack of Education for Ethics Errors

Attorney and Wife Arrested for Theft and Fraud

A week after arresting a Kissimmee attorney on charges of theft and fraud, authorities took the attorney’s spouse into custody on a related charge.

Osceola County Sheriff’s detectives arrested Ross Littlefield and charged him with grand theft. Littlefield’s wife, Linda, was recently arrested for grand theft and fraudulent use of a credit card after a client came forward with fraud allegations. In court on Wednesday, a judge ruled that Linda Littlefied would be allowed to take off her ankle monitoring system that she has had on since her arrest. Ross Littlefield bonded out of jail on Wednesday.

Detectives said Ross Littlefield owns the Littlefield Law Group office with his wife and had oversight over the trust fund for the victim. Detectives say they discovered he was aware of the fraud and authorized the payments for the fraudulent charges from the victim’s trust fund.

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Kissimmee Duo Under Investigation for Theft

Lawyer Indicted Third Time for Meth

A courtroom drama stretching out over the past year took a new twist this week when a Ravenswood attorney was indicted for the third time on meth-related charges.

A Jackson County grand jury indicted lawyer Jessica Sullivan, 32, on 16 felony counts of possession of substances to be used as a precursor to manufacture methamphetamine, three counts of attempting to operate a clandestine lab and four counts of conspiracy to commit a felony.

Prosecutors have accused Sullivan of dropping off “care packages” of precursor material at a designated spot inside a Ravenswood bar. Co-conspirators allegedly would use those packages to manufacture methamphetamine in a lab located in an apartment above the bar.

The case has bounced in and out of the court system for a year – with Sullivan allowed to continue practicing law in the past few months.

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Lawyer Indicted Third Time for Meth

Florida Lawyer Arrested

A Kissimmee lawyer hired to manage money for an Alzheimer’s patient and his wife used their credit cards to pay for a trip to Mexico, office furniture and other personal expenses, Osceola County investigators said.

Linda Littlefield, 38, was arrested at the Sheriff’s Office, where she went to meet with detectives. The charges are grand theft and credit-card fraud. The Florida Bar also is investigating a complaint about the case.

Deputies say the man’s family hired Littlefield in 2006 to set up a $40,000 trust. She told them they needed to give her their credit cards and monthly bills so she could pay them with the trust fund, investigators said.

The man was in his mid-80s when he died in February 2009. Last January, his wife began receiving statements from her credit-card company saying she owed nearly $15,000 on one of the cards. There was no balance when she hired Littlefield, detectives said.

An investigation showed Littlefield made five unauthorized purchases, one on each of five cards, sheriff’s spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said. The total spent was nearly $54,000. Littlefield also used $7,900 of the trust to make payments on the credit-card bills, she said.

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Investigators: Kissimmee Laywer Used Client’s Credit Cards to Pay for Mexico Trip

Editorial: PA Supreme Court Shouldn’t Let JCB Off the Hook

Of all the system failures that led to the Luzerne County judicial scandal, one of the worst was the Judicial Conduct Board’s whiffing on a detailed complaint against former judge Michael T. Conahan that alleged case fixing, mob ties, and the basics of the “kids-for-cash” scheme. Now that the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice has issued its report, it’s up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to make sure the JCB undergoes meaningful reform.

There’s no reason to believe the JCB won’t fail again unless the justices step in. And I have real concerns that unless they do, the JCB is going to return to doing what it does best: ignoring real corruption and looking to kick only the most unpopular judges off the bench.

My fears stem from listening to some knowledgeable and sensible people make excuses for the JCB. Some of these folks claim the JCB is simply being used as a scapegoat for what happened in Luzerne County.

Right now the JCB has gotten knocked around in the press and by the ICJJ. But other than that, there have been no repercussions at an agency that was alerted to the worst judicial scandal in Pennsylvania history almost four years ago and did nothing.

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PA Supreme Court Shouldn’t Let JCB Off the Hook

Disbarred NY Lawyer Faces Grand Larceny

A former lawyer who practiced in Monroe has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $50,000 of a client’s money from an escrow account.

Orange County District Attorney Frank Phillips announced that J. Bennett Farrell, 67, of Brant Lake, NY has been indicted on a single count of second-degree grand larceny. The charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

Farrell disappeared from his practice in the Village of Monroe in the summer of 2007, leaving a partially emptied office and abandoning confidential client files.

Misconduct charges were filed against Farrell, including for failing to finish client work, mishandling money in escrow and for failing to properly dispose of the client files. A state appeals court disbarred Farrell in May 2009, although he had surrendered his license the previous December.

Phillips said that between May 30, 2006 and Nov. 8, 2007, Farrell had pilfered $66,000 that had been held in escrow for a client.

Farrell, who surrendered voluntarily, pleaded not guilty, and was released on his own recognizance pending further court proceedings.

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Disbarred Lawyer Faces Grand Larceny Charge

Scott Rothstein Gets 50 Years in the Federal Pen

Former lawyer Scott Rothstein was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison Wednesday for using his Fort Lauderdale law firm to run a $1.2 billion Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme that brought him yachts and sports cars and allowed him to make sizable contributions to Florida politicians.

Rothstein had faced up to 100 years behind bars after pleading guilty in January to two counts of fraud and three counts of conspiracy. The sentence imposed by Judge James Cohn, however, is ten years more than prosecutors requested, and 20 years longer than the term Rothstein had hoped to receive because of his reportedly extensive cooperation with federal investigators.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said that the “rags-to-riches-to-jail saga” of Rothstein, who rose from blue-collar roots in the Bronx to the society pages of South Florida, was a “humbling reminder of what can happen when greed and ambition run amok.”

“Today’s sentence punishes the defendant for his thievery,” said Ferrer, “and hopefully brings some sense of justice to the victims of this massive fraud.”

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Scott Rothstein Gets 50 Years in 1.2 Billion Ponzi Scheme

Equal Opportunity Defalcators

Arizona’s highest court has tasked a committee to review the status of probate court with a mind toward identifying improvements. See Yet another court committee to look at guarding the guardians.

But as if another indicator was warranted of the need for improved judicial oversight of those hired to protect the vulnerable, there’s the case this month of the now disbarred New York lawyer, Steven T. Rondos. See Mtr of Rondos; Grievance Committee.

On Tuesday, May 4, 2010, Rondos, who before being disbarred, had served as a legal guardian of incapacitated wards, was sentenced to a stretch of 5 to 15 years in prison for stealing more than $4 million from the settlement monies that belonged to 23 vulnerable wards whose physical and financial affairs he was supposed to be managing and preserving.

When it comes to temptation, defalcation is an equal opportunity offense. It can afflict not only lawyers, but the public guardians and the private professional guardians.

Sadly, the temptation to embezzle also worms its way into caregivers, including friends, family members and strangers hired by the hour. But when lawyers fall prey to human avarice and exploit their wards, the betrayal weighs most egregiously.

Not the first nor the last.

Steven T. Rondos is not the first lawyer nor will he be the last to get in trouble for financially abusing vulnerable wards. In fact, in January of this year, Matthew Terry Graff, a former southern Utah lawyer was sentenced for stealing from clients, In Graff’s case, it also involved taking settlement money that wasn’t his. Graff got his mitts on settlement money belonging to two men who had lost their wives in a plane crash.

And just last month, a Virginia man, Troy A. Titus, Real Estate Investor, Disbarred Lawyer was sentenced to 30 Years for multiple fraud schemes and misappropriating over $10 million, including funds given to him by elderly or incapacitated clients who provided him with income intended to be held in trust. And it was just a few years ago, that Michigan lawyer Richard McQuillan was sentenced to six to 10 years in prison for embezzling some $800,000 from the estate of a long time client.

The real cost.

But beyond the human cost involved when fiduciaries exploit wards, the real cost is the consequential one once all the ward’s money is gone. That’s when the wards are left for the state to take care of. And who pays for that? We do.

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The Irreverent Lawyer: Equal Opportunity Defalcators

Court of the Judiciary Disciplines TN Judge

The Court of the Judiciary found Cocke County Judge John Bell guilty of ethical violations in his handling of a civil lawsuit.

Presiding Judge Don Ash announced that the panel had decided to suspend Bell with pay for 90 days beginning Aug. 1. The panel also imposed sanctions, including a requirement that Bell complete 42 hours of ethics training over the next three years.

Disciplinary counsel Joseph Steve Daniel concluded his case against Bell with testimony from David Pleau.

Pleau filed a complaint against Bell after the judge waited nine months to make a ruling in a lawsuit over a car crash in which Pleau was involved.

Bell was also accused of having attorney Tom Testerson call Pleau about dropping his complaint and failing to tell others involved in Pleau’s lawsuit that Pleau had a pending complaint against the judge.

Bell testified that he had done nothing wrong and was the victim of a political plot.

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Judiciary Panel Finds Cocke County Judge Guilty of Violations