Windsor attorney arrested on charges of fraud and embezzlement from family trusts

by JENNIFER SAWHNEY

Santa Rosa Police arrested a local attorney on charges of embezzlement and fraud in connection with the theft of more than $500,000 from trust funds he was managing.

Michael Voorhees of Windsor faces seven felony counts, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Chris Mahurin said Thursday.

“Based on interviews and evidence obtained through search warrants, detectives believe the suspect was illegally writing checks to himself from the trust accounts,” Mahurin said. “The embezzlement is estimated between $500,000 and $600,000.”

Reached by phone on Thursday, Voorhees declined comment. His attorney, Marty Woods, also declined comment.

Voorhees, who was arrested Jan. 11, is accused of stealing money from trusts he comanaged with the late Richard Holm, a real estate investor. Members of Holm’s family believe the embezzlement amounted to about $700,000, though total losses could be more.

Richard Holm died in May 2022. Voorhees was Holm’s lawyer, business partner and friend of over 40 years, according to Holm’s niece, Jackie Nelson.

“The relationship goes back years and years and years. Mike's mother worked for my uncle. It's a sad, sad thing” Nelson said.

Holm had invested in real estate since the 1970s, Nelson said. Nelson, a retired certified public accountant, began to help her uncle with his bookkeeping and tax returns in 2008.

She said she repeatedly requested financial statements from Voorhees over the years, but “he could never produce a financial statement for all the trusts that he was in charge of,” Nelson said.

She grew increasingly suspicious, and she and members of her family hired a lawyer before Holm died.

Nelson said that just weeks after her uncle’s death, Voorhees produced bank statements. He then resigned from the trust on May 24, 2022, three weeks after Holm died. Nelson said within a few days of receiving the financial documents she said it was “very obvious” and she notified police.

A Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said Voorhees’ case remained under review. He was scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

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Windsor attorney arrested on charges of fraud and embezzlement from family trusts

“I hope she remembers my face,”: 20+ victims come forward after attorney’s arrest in Bradford County

Click to Watch Video

By Ruelle Fludd

STARKE, Fla. (WCJB) -North Central Florida attorney Brittany Cooper faces theft charges in Bradford county.

“Why it happened? Don’t really know,” said Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith.

Cooper, 33, was booked Aug. 26 at the Columbia County jail on two charges of forgery but was released on $15,000 bond. She was arrested Tuesday in Bradford county after an investigation revealed she stole $9,100 from five victims in the area for failing to provide her services as an attorney. It’s a community she grew up in according to Sheriff Smith.

“It’s a sad story it really is because I’ve known Ms. Cooper most of her life, her family. Been involved in and around them most of my life. The victims? Know most of them, been in and around their lives. It’s just a tragic investigation all the way around that didn’t have to happen.”

Cooper could face more charges as more victims report their testimony to sheriff’s deputies according to the Sheriff.

“I have this big question that goes on in my head is why?,” said Sheriff Smith. “I may never get that answer knowing this entire family. My victims, they deserve justice. They paid for a service, most of them didn’t get it. There are people’s lives that are still held in limbo because of the actions that we’re finding of Ms. Cooper.”

So far, 29 more people have come forward with their case to Bradford county sheriff’s deputies. One victim, Kassie Gilliam said justice was served for her the day Cooper was behind bars.

“It’s just about getting justice for all the people that she’s wronged,” mentioned Gilliam. “I mean, I hope she remembers my face for a long time.”

It was June 2020 when Alachua resident Kassie Gilliam hired Cooper to negotiate custody of her son. Gilliam said no official receipts were filed for court documents cooper said she would file on Gilliam’s behalf for months.

33-year-old Brittany Cooper was arrested this week in Bradford County on charges of theft for failing to give legal advice after charging 5 clients according to sheriff's deputies. Although, more victims, like Kassie Gilliam shown here, are coming forward. @WCJB20 pic.twitter.com/UhrmRRCgFB

— Ruelle Fludd (@ruellefluddnews) September 3, 2021

Last December, Gilliam reported Cooper to the Florida Bar after losing $3,500. Despite all this, Florida Bar records show Cooper, under the name Brittany Loper, is a member in good standing.

“She was not equipped to take credit card payments but that she accepted cash and cash app,” said Gilliam. And so of course, I believed it. I was sitting in an office with a lawyer, you know? Lawyers are honest and me personally, not having much experience with a lawyer I put a lot of faith and trust in her as a person.”

Following Cooper’s arrest in Columbia and Bradford counties, deputies ask anyone who has hired her for help to check if their case exists before calling the sheriff’s office.

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“I hope she remembers my face,”: 20+ victims come forward after attorney’s arrest in Bradford County

Eastern Cape attorney accused of fraud after losing case released on warning

By ANA Reporter

Cape Town - An Eastern Cape attorney has been released on a warning after appearing in the new law court in Gqeberha on allegations of fraud, says the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks).

Chantal Arlene du Plessis, 46, faces charges involving over R158 000 in civil claim costs, Hawks provincial spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said in a statement.

Du Plessis was allegedly representing a client when she lost the case, resulting in the client paying R150 000 as per the court order into Du Plessis’ trust account on March 12, 2018. Du Plessis, however, did not pay the costs as per the order, but instead allegedly redirected the money for personal use.

The opposing attorneys reportedly secured a default judgment against du Plessis’s client for failure to comply with the court order, with the client’s assets set to be attached to defray costs.

“Du Plessis then used another client’s money in order to stop the execution on the existing attachment order,” Mgolodela said.

She said a complaint was then made to the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team in Gqeberha, leading to a probe and Du Plessis’ arrest. The court then released her on warning with conditions, while the matter was postponed to August 2.

In a separate incident, the Hawks’ Queenstown serious organised crime investigation unit was involved in the arrest of a 21-year-old man on suspicion of copper cable theft and damage to infrastructure on Monday morning, Mgolodela said.

Cala police were conducting routine patrols when they noticed a suspicious bakkie loaded with copper cables, whose driver sped off when he saw the officers. The driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into another one, before fleeing on foot.

He was subsequently identified by another motorist and an investigation linked the suspect to the bakkie and a scrapyard where stolen cables were often sold.

According to Mgolodela, the company responsible for erecting power poles for network signals around the Cala area, Sentech, identified the recovered cables and the value of the damage to infrastructure and stolen cables was estimated at more than R2.5 million.

The suspect will appear soon in the Cala Magistrate’s Court.

African News Agency (ANA)

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Eastern Cape attorney accused of fraud after losing case released on warning

Following a DUI Arrest, Maine Defense Lawyer Banned From Representing Defendants

For nearly two weeks after her arrest, a Maine lawyer continued to be contracted by a state agency with a record of mismanagement to serve as legal counsel for Maine’s poorest residents.

 

by Samantha Hogan

 

Chloe Cushman, special to ProPublica

A lawyer working on behalf of the state of Maine continued to represent low-income defendants after being arrested for impaired driving in May.

The attorney, Suzanne Dwyer-Jones, was arrested by police in York, Maine, for driving while intoxicated after failing a sobriety test on May 10, police said. She posted bail and returned to work on May 12 at Biddeford District Court as the state’s lawyer for defendants who can’t afford to hire their own attorneys.

In the last decade, Dwyer-Jones has been charged with driving under the influence at least four other times and been convicted twice of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. A judge suspended her law license in 2013. Within days of being reinstated to practice law in 2015, she was given a job defending Maine’s poor.

Dwyer-Jones did not return an email from The Maine Monitor seeking comment. She is being charged with felony Operating Under the Influence and is scheduled to appear in York County Superior Court in Alfred on June 9.

Maine is the only state that does not employ public defenders. People who cannot afford to hire an attorney instead rely on the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, which contracts private defense attorneys like Dwyer-Jones to represent both adults and juveniles in criminal cases and other legal matters. The agency, run by only four people, has repeatedly been scrutinized for inadequate training and oversight of the attorneys it hires.

Eleven years ago the Legislature formed MCILS. Its first executive director, John Pelletier, was in charge for a decade and routinely hired attorneys with criminal convictions or histories of professional misconduct, including Dwyer-Jones, a joint investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica found last October. The executive director has the power to remove or suspend attorneys.

Lawyers are required to notify MCILS within five days of being charged with any crime. Failing to report a criminal charge can result in an attorney no longer being eligible for court appointments, according to the commission’s rules.

Justin Andrus, the interim MCILS executive director, said Dwyer-Jones had not notified the commission of her new criminal charge and was no longer eligible to work on its cases as of May 20. Andrus became director in January and said he is still learning where he needs to be attentive, after being informed by a reporter of Dwyer-Jones’ recent charge.

Andrus has asked judges and the Maine Prosecutors’ Association for help establishing a protocol to notify MCILS when an attorney is charged.

“MCILS considers the need to address instances in which rostered counsel are charged with crimes integral to ensuring that our client base receives the quality of representation to which each client is entitled,” Andrus wrote in a separate statement. “While not every charge is necessarily disqualifying, MCILS will assess each charge it becomes aware of individually, and act appropriately to safeguard the rights of appointed clients.”

State Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, who serves on the Judiciary Committee with oversight of MCILS, said the arrest made it apparent that the agency does not have adequate staff or rules to oversee attorneys.

“When you are doing everything you can every day and things are still slipping by you, there’s a problem in the system,” Keim said. “It’s one the Maine Legislature needs to fix, and they haven’t been doing their job.”

Family members of a man who had Dwyer-Jones assigned to his case in 2017 said she didn’t show up to court and sent bizarre, confusing texts to excuse her absence. Despite their complaints about her conduct to the state’s licensing agency, Dwyer-Jones was allowed to keep practicing law and remained on the list of eligible court-appointed attorneys. Dwyer-Jones’ response to the family’s claim was kept confidential by MCILS, and she refused to answer questions by the news organizations. She was not disciplined or found to be deficient by the agency, MCILS records show.

Until her removal in May, Dwyer-Jones remained eligible to represent adult defendants facing domestic violence, drunk driving or drug offense charges, according to state records. She was also eligible to be assigned child protection cases in multiple York County courts earlier this year.

Even after being convicted of crimes or professional misconduct, attorneys have not routinely been removed from the MCILS roster. Pelletier suspended five attorneys during his decade-long tenure.

In April, Ian L’Heureux began appearing on MCILS’ list of approved attorneys for felonies, drug offenses and misdemeanors in Augusta, Bath, Wiscasset, Portland and Rockland superior courts. He had been banned from representing state defendants for at least a year in December 2019 for failing to report that he was facing criminal charges, records show.

L’Heureux was found guilty by a jury of assault in December 2019 and sentenced to a week in jail, according to court records. He had not informed MCILS that he had a pending assault case from December 2018 when he applied in August 2019, according to a termination letter by Pelletier.

L’Heureux did not return a request for comment. Andrus said he had no comment about L’Heureux’s recent approval to be a court-appointed lawyer.

The Legislature is considering three bills to reform MCILS, including a plan to open the state’s first trial-level public defender’s office and add personnel for training, oversight and auditing of attorneys. If passed, the changes would cost $11.7 million next year and $12.9 million the following year.

Gov. Janet Mills has not included substantial reforms for MCILS in any of her budget proposals this year.

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Following a DUI Arrest, Maine Defense Lawyer Banned From Representing Defendants

Orlando lawyer and mother left her kids at home to run an SUV into their father’s house

Francine Bogumil

by David J. Neal

Disbarment has been recommended for an Orlando lawyer who rammed her Land Rover into her ex-husband’s house, told his girlfriend, “I will kill you, b----!” and spat on police officers.

Court documents say 40-year-old Francine Bogumil later texted her ex-husband, “S---- bout to get ugly.”

All this violated several laws, court orders as well as the standards for behavior by a member of the Florida Bar, of which Bogumil has been a member since 2006.

As for the criminal matters, Bogumil pleaded no contest and was found guilty of one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; one count of assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of domestic violence battery, two counts of violating a domestic violence restraining order, and two counts of criminal mischief. She is doing 51 weeks in the Orange County Jail, which will be followed by a year of community control and two years of modified probation.

The state Supreme Court suspended Bogumil and ordered a referee to make a discipline recommendation. The referee, 19th Judicial Circuit Judge Daryl Jay Isenhower, posted his report last week in which he recommended “immediate disbarment.”

Domestic demolition, domestic violence

Bogumil didn’t get hit with any child neglect charges, though she left her 5-year-old and 11-year-old children at home alone for her middle-of-the-night automotive assault on her ex-husband’s home. Perhaps proximity prevented prosecution — her ex-husband and his girlfriend lived only a half-mile from Francine Bogumil’s home.

They already had restraining orders against Francine Bogumil as the clock turned to the wee hours of April 30, 2020. Around 3:30 a.m., Francine Bogumil smashed her Land Rover into the back of a rented white GMC Yukon in her ex-husband’s driveway. That sent the GMC SUV into the garage door, “bending it inward about 2 to 3 feet.”

Bogumil’s ex-husband came out of the house to see his ex-wife hurling objects at his girlfriend’s BMW sedan, shattering the windows. He told Orange County sheriff’s deputies after calling 911, he went outside to get between his girlfriend and former wife. He admitted responding to Bogumil’s two slaps to his face with a slap to her face.

Just before police arrived, the girlfriend said Francine Bogumil yelled at her, “I will kill you, b----!”

Her interaction with the arriving Orange County deputies seemed no less belligerent. After a deputy told her to stop shouting at him while he was talking to her ex-husband, Bogumil said, “No. F--- you!” and spat at him, according to the report.

Just not following orders

Francine Bogumil posted bond on May 3, 2020, and walked out of jail with the standard no-contact orders in place. And she violated them by May 9, 2020.

Court document say not only did she contact her ex-husband, but she left a social media messages for his girlfriend, including one that said, “next is your mom and pops. I’d back the f--- off if I were u. Just saying. You’ve been warned to stay away from my kids.”

A motion from prosecutors to have Francine Bogumil’s bond revoked wasn’t ruled on by Judge Julie O’Kane later in May 2020, who instead ordered Francine Bogumil to an inpatient treatment program.

Court documents include a November flier Francine Bogumil made and threatened to post at the local Starbucks, Publix and anywhere she could. The flier included a picture of the two kids, a picture of their father without referring to him as such and saying their mother hadn’t seen them since May 4.

The ensuing text messages say, “And each and every day as my heart bleeds without my kids, your life will become uglier and uglier because this is YOUR choice...you want war, you’ve got WAR…I chose peace…you didn’t oblige. You can blame yourself because I’m JUST getting started with the ways I can ruin u…I WILL f--- up your world up unless you surrender. I’m not backing down this time. S---- bout to get ugly.”

Bogumil was rearrested on Nov. 25.

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Orlando lawyer and mother left her kids at home to run an SUV into their father’s house

Attorney arrested

 By Mark Thornton

Attorney George "Dow" Yoder III is led into Jones County Justice Court on Wednesday. 

(Photo by Mark Thornton)

Former special assistant prosecutor charged with burglary

 •

The term “criminal lawyer” took on a different meaning with an arrest the Jones County Sheriff’s Department made on Monday afternoon.

George “Dow” Yoder III, 49, of Canton — a former state and federal prosecutor who has worked as a defense attorney in several high-profile cases in Jones County — is behind bars facing a felony charge.

He was booked into the Jones County Adult Detention Center charged with burglary of a dwelling after being caught in a home on Rocky Creek Cove, just outside of Ellisville, Sgt. J.D. Carter of the JCSD said.

Yoder was in the living room of the residence when the home owner confronted him and told him to leave, according to the report. Yoder then went outside and walked around the shed and the home owner, who had already called law enforcement, told Yoder to get off the property. Deputies arrested Yoder nearby a short time later.

“He didn’t steal anything,” Carter said, “but it’s not known what he would have done if he hadn’t been confronted.” 

The suspect was not making sense with his explanations of why he was there, a source close to the case said, but there was no evidence he was intoxicated.

“I have no idea what I’ve been accused of,” Yoder said Wednesday at his initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court. “I’ve been unable to make bond.”

Judge David Lyons responded, “That’s because I hadn’t set bond yet.”

Lyons set Yoder’s bond at $5,000. Yoder waived the reading of the indictment and the reading of the ways to make bond, saying, “I understand my rights.”

When the judge asked if he had any questions, Yoder said, “I’m not sure I got all of the questions. I‘m unsure of how I can communicate while I’m in the custody of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department,” saying that his constitutional right was being denied.

He went on to say that “no burglary occurred” and that “no criminal charges are being pursued” by the home owner. Yoder told the judge that the resident worked with his aunt for 30 years in Hattiesburg and “no crime occurred.”

That’s a matter that will have to be discussed in another setting, Lyons said, explaining that the purpose of the initial hearing was to tell Yoder what he was charged with and to set a bond. The defendant said he understood.

Yoder ignored questions from a reporter who was trying to get his side of the story as he was being escorted from the jail to the courtroom.

Yoder’s address is in Canton and his law practice is in Ridgeland, but he had reportedly been staying with family members near where he was arrested. A check of Yoder’s criminal history shows that he was arrested in Marion County on Dec. 27 for violation of a protective order.

Yoder was a candidate for the state Court of Appeals in 2016 after serving as ADA in Madison County and he was special assistant U.S. Attorney in the Jackson Division of the Southern District Court.

He represented James Barnett in a civil suit that was settled with the City of Laurel after two officers were accused of beating his client after a high-speed pursuit into Jasper County in 2018.

Yoder has also represented several defendants in criminal cases in Jones County Circuit Court in recent years.

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Attorney arrested 

Attorney arrested for fraudulently billing insurers $300,000

by Lyle Adriano

 

A Newport Beach, CA attorney has been arrested on 20 felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly billing multiple insurance companies for translation services.

The attorney, 73-year-old Moses Luna, allegedly defrauded insurers to collect $311,220 in workers’ compensation fees. A joint investigation by the California Department of Insurance and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office found that Luna created a company called Adelante Interpreting, through which he fraudulently billed 20 separate insurance carriers for translation and interpreting services.

According to investigators, Luna exclusively referred his own workers’ compensation clients to Adelante Interpreting to fraudulently collect fees from insurers. The fees the attorney received were for translation and interpreting services rendered to workers’ compensation claimants during depositions and medical appointments.

An official release from the California Department of Insurance said that Luna failed to disclose his financial interest in Adelante Interpreting, as required by law. He allegedly used his daughter’s name for the paperwork, but Luna ultimately controlled all aspects of the interpreting and translation company – including administrative protocols, employee protocols, independent contractor protocols, as well as billing and collection protocols.

The state Department of Insurance also disclosed that the insurance companies affected by Luna’s scheme include ACM, AIG, Amtrust, BHHC, CompWest, Employers, ESIS, Farmers, Hartford, ICW, Liberty Mutual, Markel, Matrix, Midwest, Sedgwick, SCIF, Sentry, Travelers, York and Zurich.

Luna is set to return to court next year, on January 19, 2021. The case is being prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

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Attorney arrested for fraudulently billing insurers $300,000

Lee County District Attorney arrested, charged with ethics violation, perjury, conspiracy

In this Dec. 2, 2019, file photo, Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes speaks at a press conference. / Sara Palczewski/

by Alex Hosey

 

Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes turned himself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Sunday on multiple charges including using office as personal gain, one count of conspiracy and one count of first-degree perjury.

“He was booked into the Lee County Jail at approximately 5 p.m. this evening,” Sheriff Jay Jones said Sunday. “He posted bond and was released.”

Jones said the indictments were issued by the state attorney general’s office, and Hughes turned himself in to the Lee County Detention Facility before being released on a $31,000 bond.

“It’s not [the Lee County Sheriff’s Office] case,” Jones said. “They sent us the indictment as a result of a grand jury that met at some point in the recent past.”

Hughes, who was elected as district attorney in 2016, self-reported a possible ethics violation to the Alabama Ethics Commission earlier this year, though it is unknown if the recent charges are related.

Hughes told the Opelika-Auburn News he will release a statement regarding the charges on Monday.

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Lee County District Attorney arrested, charged with ethics violation, perjury, conspiracy

Suspended Lincoln attorney gets probation for financially exploiting vulnerable woman

A Lincoln attorney whose law license was suspended after her arrest on allegations that she financially exploited a woman with developmental disabilities for whom she was a court-appointed guardian has been sentenced to five years of probation.

Christine Vanderford, 48, also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and serve 90 days in county jail starting May 10, unless it's later waived by the court.

Christine Vanderford

Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte found her guilty of abuse of a vulnerable adult and not guilty of felony theft at a bench trial this summer.

At a hearing Wednesday afternoon, her attorney, Bob Creager, argued for a new trial, saying there were unresolved issues at trial, including whether a trust could be a victim or qualify as a "vulnerable adult," as the state had alleged in the case, and whether Vanderford had criminal intent. 

"This is a strange statute. You exploit someone by exploiting them," Creager said.

He argued that when Vanderford wrote checks from the trust to herself, paying herself for the work she was doing for the woman, the conduct wasn't wrongful or unauthorized. She contended that the woman's father had OK'd it. 

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Jeremy Lavene pointed out that the woman's father denied it at trial.

"She was wrongfully taking money for her own benefit and not the benefit of (the victim)," he said. "Clearly there's intent here."

Lavene said Vanderford was having financial difficulties and paid herself more than $60,000 between 2014 and 2016 to keep her law firm afloat when she got behind on payments and maxed out her line of credit. 

The Lincoln police investigation started with a tip from Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services in June 2017 alleging that Vanderford, who had been appointed by the court to serve as a 33-year-old woman’s guardian, had been writing herself checks on a trust set up for the woman's benefit.

Creager said Vanderford was doing what she was asked to do, including taking the woman to medical appointments and helping her with the things her mother did for her before she died.

In the end, the judge gave her probation. 

 

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Suspended Lincoln attorney gets probation for financially exploiting vulnerable woman

Miami attorney arrested as serial bank robbery suspect

The FBI says Aaron Honaker, 41, shown here in his Florida Bar photo, is a serial bank robber. [ Miami Herald ]

A Miami attorney was called a “serial bank robber” by the FBI, which believes he robbed five banks since Sept. 30 before his Tuesday night arrest.

Coral Gables police said a detective driving in the downtown area Tuesday evening spotted 41-year-old Aaron Honaker and took him into custody as he was on his way into a bank.

Honaker, who is represented by the federal public defender’s office, had his first appearance in federal magistrate court in Miami Wednesday and remains in custody. Federal prosecutors are seeking to detain Honaker before trial, and a bond hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Honaker was charged by a criminal complaint, which means prosecutors will have to show they have probable cause to move forward with their case against him. If a judge makes that finding, then the U.S. Attorney’s Office will seek a grand jury indictment charging him with the Coral Gables bank robberies -- most likely in November, when the grand jury reconvenes after being shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. If he’s indicted, Honaker would then be arraigned and enter his plea.

While neither the FBI nor Coral Gables police named where Honaker was arrested, the FBI did list what it alleges were Honaker’s previous five robbery stops:

▪ Sept. 30 — Citibank, 396 Alhambra Cir., Coral Gables

▪ Oct. 3 — Chase, 20880 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura

▪ Oct. 5 — Wells Fargo, 2555 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Coral Gables

▪ Oct. 10 — Chase, 355 Alhambra Cir., Coral Gables;

▪ Thursday — HSBC, 2222 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Coral Gables

The FBI releases describing the thefts on Sept. 30, Oct. 5 and Thursday stated the robber demanded money from the tellers. No weapon was mentioned.

ONLINE REALITY VS. TANGIBLE REALITY

Honaker’s online profiles seem to be partially online masquerades.

Both his LinkedIn page and Florida Bar profile say he’s with the Coral Gables-based firm of Martinez Morales. But a Wednesday afternoon email to the Miami Herald from name partner Raul Morales said Honaker disappeared two years ago and never returned to work. Morales said he’s since tried to get his firm’s name removed from Honaker’s Bar profile.

Photo released by the FBI of the Oct. 15 robbery at an HSBC bank branch in Coral Gables. The FBI believes this was Aaron Honaker. [ Miami Herald ]

Similarly, both places claim he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 2006. An email from Duke University to the Miami Herald said there’s no record that Aaron Honaker ever went there. Other places, including a Wake Forest University alumni page, say he graduated from Wake Forest School of Law.

Honaker’s LinkedIn page also says he worked at Greenberg Traurig from 2006-2011, which the firm said Wednesday was actually 2008 to 2011. Before Martinez Morales, Honaker was one of the first attorneys at newly formed Salazar Jackson in 2012. The firm, now known as Salazar Law, still has a piece of the South Florida Business Journal article mentioning Honaker on its website.

Those are the only three employers mentioned on Honaker’s detailed LinkedIn profile.

A Jacksonville Daily Record brief from 2006 announces his and another associate’s hiring at Stutsman, Thames & Markey, a work stop some of his profiles list. Another database said he was at Bilzen Sumberg in 2008 and 2011. Other profiles say he worked for Infante Zumpano in 2012.

--By David J. Neal Miami Herald. Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

 

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Miami attorney arrested as serial bank robbery suspect

Lincoln attorney arrested for reportedly stealing $60K from vulnerable adult

LINCOLN, Neb. – Lincoln Police arrested a 47-year-old attorney for financial exploitation after she reportedly stole over $60,000 from a vulnerable adult.

According to LPD, in April 2018, DHHS reported the alleged financial exploitation of a vulnerable person to LPD.

In 2014, Christine Vanderford, 47, a Lincoln attorney, became the court-appointed guardian for a 33-year-old vulnerable adult.

According to police, investigators served a search warrant at Vanderford’s law office, processed financial evidence, and found she had stolen over $60,000 from the victim’s account.

On Thursday, Vanderford turned herself in to police and was arrested for exploitation of a vulnerable adult and felony theft by deception.

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Lincoln attorney arrested for reportedly stealing $60K from vulnerable adult

Longtime attorney arrested, accused of faking judge's signature

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Channel 2 Action News has learned a well-known attorney in Fulton County is now under indictment.

Elizabeth Vila Rogan has appeared in court many times as a veteran attorney and as a former Fulton County magistrate judge.

But she is likely to appear in court soon as a defendant indicted on a charge of first-degree forgery.

Rogan is accused of forging the signature of Roswell Municipal Judge Brian Hansford on a court document called an Order on Status of Firearms Rights.

"I think what these employees were saying is, 'We do not expect that person would be above the law.' In fact, I think what they were saying is, 'We would expect you to know better than anybody else,'" District Attorney Paul Howard told investigative reporter Mark Winne. "The lawyer in this case ... to present a document, trying to represent it as a judge’s signature is a serious matter."

A document Channel 2 Action News obtained indicates a Roswell police officer met with Kimberly Moody, the Roswell court administrator. Moody said Rogan came in to have an order stamped.

According to the document, Moody stated she asked Rogan when the order was signed. Rogan replied, 'This morning.’ Moody said she knew Hansford was out that particular day.

The document suggests Hansford texted that he did not sign the order.

“Fabulous lawyer, known her for a long time, very experienced, had a plethora of different jobs,” high-profile defense lawyer Manny Arora said about Rogan. “I’m hoping there’s an explanation for it.”

Rogan’s attorney, Mike Moran, suggests the case “does not involve the taking or misappropriation of any money. We believe the charge is predicated on a misunderstanding, a series of miscommunications and the truth is that there has been absolutely no crime committed. Ms. Rogan has an impeccable record as a judge, prosecutor and defense attorney. Quite simply, she submitted a clarifying order in the belief that she had authority to do so.”

A Roswell police document Channel 2 Action News obtained says, “Judge Hansford believes that Ms. Rogan became impatient with how court proceedings were moving forward so she signed the document herself.”

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Longtime attorney arrested, accused of faking judge's signature

Murray, KY attorney arrested for theft, accused of failing to disperse $900K

MURRAY, KY (KFVS) - An attorney from Murray, Kentucky has been arrested on a warrant for two counts of theft involving nearly $1 Million.

According to the Kentucky State Police, Joseph W. Bolin, 72, was booked into the Calloway County Jail after being arrested for theft failure to make required disposition over $10,000.

The investigation began in the spring of 2018 according to KSP, when a victim contacted police alleging that Bolin had not made all the required disbursement payments relating to a probate case he was overseeing.

A seven month investigation showed that Bolin failed to disperse over $900,000 on multiple probate cases. More charges could be forthcoming.

The investigation was presented to the Calloway County Grand Jury on November 6, 2018.

The investigation continues by KSP. If anyone feels that they may have been a victim, contact Detective Robichaud at 270-856-3721.

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Murray, KY attorney arrested for theft, accused of failing to disperse $900K

Johnston lawyer arrested in court on fraud, conspiracy charges

Robert F. McNelis

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — State police arrested a Johnston lawyer in court Wednesday on nine felony and two misdemeanor charges.

Robert McNelis, 38, of 13 Alma St., Providence, was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in District Court, Providence, on multiple charges, including fraud, conspiracy and falsely reporting a crime, a news release from the Rhode Island State Police said.

The case began with a fraud complaint from a Pawtucket check-cashing service, Xtreme Computers, at 210 Lonsdale Ave.

An investigation by the state police Financial Crimes Unit found that numerous checks were cashed by Marcus Crook in January 2016, drawn on a lawyer trust account held by Robert F. McNelis.

Detectives visited his law office at 986 Hartford Ave., Johnston, where McNelis said the checkbook for his trust account at BankRI had been stolen. He said he had learned of the theft after a check to a chiropractor on behalf of a client was returned for insufficient funds. McNelis said he asked at the bank and found that several checks had been cashed at Xtreme Computers.

Saying he knew of Crook but had no personal or professional relationship with him, and that his contact was “limited at best,” McNelis said he wanted to prosecute.

After another check was cashed, this one on McNelis’ personal account, he told the detectives that his personal checkbook had been stolen.

Losses from the eight checks amounted to $7,705 from Xtreme Computers and $5,138 from McNelis.

Crook was arrested on a warrant in December. Detectives then determined that McNelis had asked Crook to cash the checks.

The two misdemeanor charges against McNelis are falsely reporting a crime and obstructing a police officer. The nine felony charges are unlawful appropriation, bank fraud, forgery and counterfeiting, as well as two counts of soliciting another to commit a crime and three counts of conspiracy.

McNelis was released on his own recognizance. His next court date is May 2.

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Johnston lawyer arrested in court on fraud, conspiracy charges

General Absconding lawyer of wheelchair-bound girl arrested

Teenager Pattarada "Nong Beam" Kaewpong (right) and her mother at Bang Yi Khan

Police have arrested a lawyer accused of cheating a young girl of 5 million baht in compensation after a 2005 road accident that left her confined to a wheelchair.

Pisit Sammalert is in police custody, along with his wife, and being questioned over the allegation he stole most of the compensation money due to his crippled client Pattarada "Nong Beam" Kaewpong, who is now 14 years old.

It was reported they were apprehended in the parking lot of a condominium in Soi Ram-Indra 125, in Bangkok's Min Buri district.

Pol Lt Gen Sanit Mahathavorn, chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said the Anti Money Laundering Office (Amlo) will be asked to examine the lawyer’s finances and see if any of his assets can be seized.

He said the suspect claimed to have received 4 million baht from the insurance firm, deducted 500,000 baht for legal fees, and handed the remainder to his wife, Pornpavee Chukaew.

Pol Lt Gen Sanit said police have evidence supporting the allegation against Mr Pisit and were not bothered by the suspect's knowledge of the law. The city police chief enouraged people who are mistreated by their lawyers to file complaints.

He said police were investigating who provided aid and shelter to the suspects, and would take action against them.

"Nong Beam" was left with a crippling spinal injury after a 2005 road accident in Surat Thani in which her father was killed. The family's pickup was hit by an 18-wheel truck.

According to the girl’s mother, Pornthip Chantharat, Mr Pisit contacted the family and offered pro bono legal help. He was authorized to represent the family and get compensation from the truck operator.

In 2014, the lawyer told her the truck operator had agreed to pay 1 million baht in compensation in monthly instalments. The family received 40,000 baht a month for seven months, and then Mr Pisit disappeared.

Ms Pornthip later contacted the truck operator and learned that his company had paid 5 million baht in compensation, which it believed was going to the family.

A complaint was filed against Mr Pisit with Bang Yi Khan district police in Bangkok in 2015.

After the arrest of the lawyer and his wife, Mrs Pornthip said she was still worried whether she would get any of the money they were owed, or not.

“If I get a chance to talk to him, I’d really want to ask him if this was the help he once promised,” she said.

Mr Pisit has been charged with collaboration in falsifying documents and using falsified documents to defraud and embezzle money from a client.

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Absconding lawyer of wheelchair-bound girl arrested

Lafayette attorney arrested

A Lafayette attorney was arrested on a charge of forgery Friday evening by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office.

An arrest warrant was issued Thursday by Lafayette Magistrate Thomas Frederick for Harold Register Jr., and was the result of a Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office investigation that developed into probable cause that Register forged one of his client's checks.

The check was valued at $12,500 and deposited into his account.

Register surrendered himself to the LPSO Friday evening, and his bond is set at $50,000.

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Lafayette attorney arrested

Indianapolis Attorney, Special Needs Trust Fund Trustee Arrested On Lawrence County Theft Warrant

(BEDFORD) - An arrest has been made after the launch of an investigation late last September at the request of the Lawrence County Prosecutor's Office. Indianapolis Attorney Kenneth Shane Service, 43 of Indianapolis was arrested Thursday by Indiana State Police Detectives and charged with theft, a Level 5 felony.

He was transported to the Marion County Jail, where he is waiting to be transported to Lawrence County.

The initial investigation was launched in Lawrence County when PNC Bank filed complaints with the Department of Adult Protective Services and the Prosecutor's Office. Those complaints alleged that Service was acting as a Trust Fund Trustee and that large amounts of fraudulent loss had appeared in Trust Fund bank accounts that were under his management.

The actual owners of the Trust Fund accounts were not aware of the theft until notified by ISP Detective Stacy Brown.

According to a Lawrence Superior I Court probable cause affidavit, Detective Stacy Brown found Service was writing checks payable to himself, using debit cards to withdraw large sums of money and purchasing personal items and services, all without the approval of the Trust Fund Account owners.

Those items included a car, casino trips and major dental surgery and other items.

Detectives believe Service had access to several other Trust Fund accounts throughout Indiana, West Virginia and Florida.

According to Lawyer.com, Service license has been suspended.

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Indianapolis Attorney, Special Needs Trust Fund Trustee Arrested On Lawrence County Theft Warrant

Lawyer cuffed, jailed for estate thefts

Thad Jelinske

Waukesha — A Milwaukee corporate lawyer who regulators say had multiple conflicts of interest while representing a former client's estate was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail as a condition to 18 months of probation.

Thad Jelinske, 56, of Wauwatosa was led away in handcuffs after Circuit Judge Michael Aprahamian rejected the prosecutor's recommendation of a $3,000 fine as part of a plea bargain in the case.
"You're the attorney. You're supposed to be trusting and honest in everything you do," the judge said. "When you break that trust, the whole system suffers."

Jelinske was charged in September with three misdemeanor counts of theft in a business setting. He pleaded no contest to each charge Wednesday before sentencing.

District Attorney Sue Opper said the case was unusual in that it came to her office after years of litigation in probate court, and without any police investigation. She said the three misdemeanors were the most efficient charges her office could file without extensive further review of the voluminous record.

Opper said she felt $1,000 fine on each count was fair and appropriate given the collateral consequences to Jelinske — the loss of his position, money paid back to the estate by him and his firm, the likely loss of his law license and the serious damage to his reputation.

Jelinske apologized in court but offered no explanation for his conduct other than bad judgment.

His attorney, Michael Fitzgerald, said Jelinske did do some positive things for the estate but was in over his head.

But Aprahamian, a former litigator at Foley & Lardner, read from the probate judge's order that found Jelinske and his firm engaged in bad faith and deliberate misrepresentation to a "shocking" level.

The judge said if an employee for Sears or Kwik Trip had embezzled like Jelinske they'd likely go to jail, and it would send the wrong message if lawyers avoided such punishment just because they might also lose their license for the behavior.

Aprahamian also denied Jelinske's request to surrender to jail at a later date. "Sometimes it's important to stand up and be taken into custody," he said, and Jelinske was handcuffed and led off in his gray suit.

Shortly after he was charged criminally, Jelinske was also hit with an ethics complaint from the Office of Lawyer Regulation that lays out in far greater detail what the complaint calls his major mishandling of an estate left by a former client. It seeks an 18-month suspension of his law license.

Jelinske, a partner at a Milwaukee business law firm Mawicke & Goisman, had little if any experience in probate matters when he became the personal representative to the estate of Robert S. McCloud, who died in 2011. Park Bank, the estate's main creditor, became a party to the probate of the estate after the bank's lawyer felt Jelinske was not forthcoming about the estate's assets.

The bank's lawsuit was later combined with the probate matter and a trial was held in 2014. Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who presided, rejected Jelinske's contention that he and the law firm made honest mistakes in billing the estate thousands of dollars and claiming a "success fee" of $42,000 for selling McCloud's residence.

More than $100,000 in fees have been returned to the estate, and no outstanding restitution was ordered as part of the sentence in the criminal case.

Bohren also ordered Jelinske to pay Park Bank's costs and fees, which it claims amount to $250,000. That amount has been negotiated to a confidential settlement, lawyers said Wednesday.

The criminal complaint charged that Jelinske cashed a $573.61 insurance check intended for the estate and kept the money without recording a receipt and wrote himself a check for $834.65 from an estate-related account, both in 2011. A third count charged that in 2012 Jelinske deposited a $1,565.52 payment on a life insurance policy for his former client directly into Jelinske's own account and failed to include the payment in a 2013 inventory of the estate filed with a Waukesha County court.

The OLR complaint says he also spent estate funds on suits, Allen Edmonds shoes and to pay off his wife's American Express card bill, and lied during a probate court trial in 2014 and submitted false sworn court records.

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Lawyer cuffed, jailed for estate thefts

Lawyer accused of stealing from church trust fund

A local lawyer has been arrested on the allegations that he stole nearly $140,000 from a church trust fund in his care.

Larry D. Cantrell, 65, of Riceville, was indicted last month by the McMinn County Grand Jury and arrested Monday on charges of theft of property $60,000-$250,000 and tampering with evidence.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Cantrell is accused of having stolen a total of $139,325.98 from a fund designated for the Jones Chapel United Methodist Church and Cemetery that he was entrusted with overseeing. The alleged thefts reportedly took place over a seven-year period from March 2009 to September 2016.

The TBI first began investigating the issue in 2014 at the direction of then-10th Judicial District Attorney General Steve Bebb, who asked the agency to look into a suspicious matter. The investigation started on May 13, 2014, and Cantrell was indicted by the grand jury during the September 2016 session.

At some point during the course of the investigation, Cantrell allegedly falsified documents with the intent to "affect the course or outcome of the investigation."As a result, the charge of tampering with evidence was added on.

Cantrell was booked into the McMinn County Justice Center Monday and was released on $10,000 bond. His arraignment in McMinn County Criminal Court is set for Friday.

Cantrell is a longtime member of the McMinn County School Board.

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Lawyer accused of stealing from church trust fund

Disbarred Longwood attorney arrested on federal fraud charges

Julie Kronhaus, a former Longwood attorney, was disbarred

A Longwood attorney accused of draining hundreds of thousands of dollars from the trust accounts and businesses of her clients was arrested Friday on federal charges.

Julie Kronhaus, 51, is accused of 11 counts of wire fraud and seven counts of bank fraud.

An Orlando federal grand jury indicted her on Wednesday.

The indictment, unsealed Friday, accuses her of wrongdoing dating back to 2009. She's charged with making eight illegal wire transfers totaling $526,000 between 2012 and 2014.

In addition, she's charged with defrauding Bank of America out of $425,000 in a separate series of transactions.

Clients, however, have filed lawsuits and complaints with the Florida Bar accusing her of misappropriating more than $2 million.

Kronhaus provided legal advice, did accounting, set up trust funds and managed them for several clients. It's those funds that she's accused of raiding.

Disbarred attorney embezzled money from disabled girl, records allege

One of those was Brittany Jones, who gave birth 10 years ago to a baby girl who suffered severe brain damage while in a Lake County hospital. Kronhaus was in charge of the child's trust account when $180,000 disappeared, Jones alleged in a complaint with the Florida Bar.

"I'm glad it's finally happened," she said Friday when told of Kronhaus' arrest. "I've never seen where she's ever denied any wrongdoing."

Kronhaus had an office on Howell Branch Road near Winter Park and also was a certified public accountant. She was disbarred in 2014 and stripped of her CPA license by state regulators last year.

She did not return phone calls Friday evening.

Her arrest came as no surprise. Former clients have clamored for it for more than two years, when they first discovered checks she wrote to them began to bounce.

The first agency to take action against her was the Florida Bar. About that time, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office began an investigation, then turned it over to the FBI.

As the investigation dragged on, clients grew angry that she had not been charged with a crime.

They include the widow and son of a Casselberry man who was killed in an automobile crash, at least two Orlando-area aviation businesses and a Baltimore lawyer.

Kronhaus ran something similar to a Ponzi scheme, according to the indictment, sometimes transferring client money into the accounts of other clients in an attempt to cover up earlier wrongdoing.

She also made $120,000 in fraudulent wire transfers to American Express to pay for personal travel, clothes and entertainment, according to the indictment.

Former clients accused her of living a lavish lifestyle. She and her cardiologist husband, Ken Kronhaus, live in Alaqua, a gated community outside Longwood, in a 6,500-square foot home that has a heated swimming pool and backs up to a golf course.

Julie Kronhaus wore designer clothes, drove a Lexus, sent her daughter to Lake Highland Preparatory School and took the girl to out-of-state-beauty pageants and shows on Broadway, photos show.

The bank-fraud victim, according to the indictment, was Bank of America. Kronhaus carried out a check kiting scheme in 2014, leaving the bank holding $425,000 worth of bad checks.

She also diverted money from client accounts that were supposed to go to the Internal Revenue Service to pay their tax bills, the indictment alleges.

Kronhaus was booked into the Seminole County Jail about 1:45 p.m. Friday. After being transferred to federal custody, she was released on her own recognizance, according to Amy Filjones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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Disbarred Longwood attorney arrested on federal fraud charges