Parma attorney who took clients’ money but did no work is disbarred

Parma attorney Gary A. Vick Jr., left, shown here in Lake County Common Pleas Court in 2014, was permanently disbarred after the Ohio Supreme Court found he stole from several clients and then failed to cooperate in the disciplinary process.Duncan Scott, The News-Herald

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday permanently disbarred a Parma attorney who pleaded guilty in 2022 to stealing from six clients.

Gary A. Vick Jr., 49, of Strongsville also failed to file paperwork with the high court to show he was complying with the indefinite suspension he received after clients said he took their money but didn’t do any legal work for them.

The court’s unanimous opinion said Vick must pay the ultimate professional price for not only the multiple ethical violations but also a “complete failure to cooperate in the resulting disciplinary proceedings.”

Justices first placed Vick on an interim suspension in July 2022 after finding that he took money from a woman who needed a lawyer for child support case and a man who was charged with drunken driving. He then stopped responding to them.

The court extended its suspension in December 2022, when Vick pleaded guilty to grand theft, a fifth-degree felony, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. In addition to his two clients who filed disciplinary complaints, prosecutors said Vick stole money from four more people. Judge Kathleen Sutula sentenced Vick to five years on probation and ordered him to pay $19,000 in restitution to his former clients.

Bank records showed that Vick deposited the fees he charged two of the clients into his business checking account and then used the account for personal expenses. In August 2021, Vick’s business account had a balance of just $88, when it should have had more than $6,000 in legal deposits it, the court found.

After his suspension, Vick failed to file an affidavit saying that he had informed his clients of his suspension and otherwise was complying with the terms of his suspension.

Vick earned his law license in 1997 after he graduated from Cleveland State University’s law school. In addition to private practice, Vick also worked as an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor from 2003 to 2006.

Vick represented a Parma man who was arrested and accused of creating a parody Facebook account of the Parma Police Department in 2016. The man was found not guilty, and the case garnered national attention for its First Amendment implications.

He also represented former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon in a speeding ticket case in 2014, as well as a former Fairview Park High School principal who stole more than $60,000 from the district and used it on personal expenses in 2012.

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Parma attorney who took clients’ money but did no work is disbarred