Pedo-Counsel

Las Vegas attorney Richard L. Crane has been "temporarily suspended" from practicing law after pleading guilty to one felony count of sexually motivated coercion. From the RJ:

Crane was arrested in August 2009 in a Henderson police sting that nabbed men seeking to meet underage boys and girls via Craigslist.com.

According to Crane's arrest report, he believed he was speaking to a 15-year-old girl, and asked when she would turn 16. Crane asked questions about the girl's sexual history and asked on several occasions to "hang out," the report stated.

Crane is was a member of the Willick Law Group, where his bio used to read as follows:

Richard “Rick” Crane

Mr. Crane received his B.S. degree in General Studies from Excelsior University in 1996 and his M.S. degree in Management from Troy State University in 1997 while serving overseas with the United States Navy. Upon his return to the United States, Mr. Crane received his J.D. degree in May 2005 from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. Mr. Crane has represented the Government's interest in administrative hearings and performed an internship with the San Diego Public Attorney's Office prior to retiring from the Navy after 30 years of service.

Crane also authored a letter to the Editor of the June, 2007, Nevada Lawyer magazine entitled,
How Low Does the Bar Go? Surprising a guy like this chose to go by "Rick."

(Full Bio (PDF); LVRJ; Thanks, Tipsters!)

Walton may have more than a missing $4 million to worry about ...

According to the RJ, Stan Walton also failed to file a formal answer to a Nevada State Bar complaint alleging he "misappropriated" $20,000 given to him by a client in an unrelated case.

Oh, and he may have been appointed as special prosecutor in a domestic violence case in which said client was the victim.

Oh, and he may have been "intimate" with said client.

Oh, and the complaint involves Walton recommending "gold Mexican bearer bonds" as an investment to said client.

See where this is going?

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipster!)

Finally, Some Northern Nevada Dirt

Ken McKenna, a well-known Reno lawyer, has been charged with two federal misdemeanor counts of failing to pay taxes.

(RGJ; Thanks, Tipster!)

Oh good, at least we have a theme now ...

A helpful tipster sent in the following photo, taken Monday outside of the RJC:

Yes, that appears to be a Halloween/stripper cop uniform she is wearing.

Stay classy, Scott Holper, Esq.

Sidebar: Race to the Advertising Bottom?

Scene: A bikini-clad woman standing on the southeast corner of the Regional Justice Center holding a large sign advertising traffic ticket services for Vegas Ticket Masters.

Discuss.

APB for the RJC Cell Phone Spammer Firm

Looks like that bomb scare/lawyer advertising rumor turned out to be true, although it turns out that the the "advertising" was a bit more nefarious than our tipster originally reported. From LV Now:

The evacuation of the Regional Justice Center last week may have been the result of a misguided advertising campaign.

Court marshals and Las Vegas police cleared the downtown courthouse for several hours last Tuesday to investigate a suspicious package found across the street. The package was a car battery with jumper cables used to power an electronic transmitter.

The device, according to knowledgeable sources, was being used to track email IP addresses from nearby cell phones.

The man who claims he planted it told investigators he needed the information to send email advertisements for a local traffic law firm. But sources say the man would not reveal the name of the attorney who hired him.

LV Now also has the police incident report, here.

One of the comments on the story is a bit scary:

Hiding transmitters have been going on for awhile. They just carried out this time very amateurish. What were they thinking that no one would see this package sitting on the ground, or just ignore it. Usually the people hiding the transmitter, pose as air conditioner personnel and hide the device on the roof, they get better range, and out of sight out of mind. Then they go back later and take their device down and down load the information and start making their calls for wiping out the traffic tickets for a small fee. Anything to make a buck. This practice isn't new, just stupid if it isn't done right.

Great, so people have just been leaving these devices on rooftops and gathering private data. Seems like the FCC should be looking into this.

Okay, we just know that one of our wonderful commenters knows what firm was attempting to steal cell phone numbers for advertising purposes. If you know which firm is pulling this crap, PLEASE out them in the comments - 100 WWL points* to the first Anon to identify the offending firm.

*Remember - 10,000 WWL points gets you a genuine (read, "plastic") WWL collector's spoon ... possibly used by Elle to eat her yogurt.

(LV Now; Thanks, Tipster!)

Sidebar: Fair Use

Discuss.

(Photo courtesy LV Sun ... please don't sue us)

You Got Marcummed!

The comments (and the courthouse) were abuzz yesterday with a rumor that criminal defense attorney Jonathan MacArthur has been served with a Marcum notice - which informs an individual they are a target of a grand jury proceeding and gives them an opportunity to testify before the grand jury. Yes, we had to look that up.

We have no idea why MacArthur is being targeted ... oh, wait.

You may remember MacArthur as the attorney who got himself in a bit of hot water with the DA's office back in 2007 for posting on his MySpace page under personal interests: "Breaking my foot off in a prosecutor's ass ... and improving my ability to break my foot off in a prosecutor's ass."

Shockingly, that statement got MacArthur removed as a judge pro tem, a position which he defined like this: "Imagine a substitute teacher with a black choir robe and a disconcerting amount of authority."

Mr. Mac - if you're looking for an outlet for all that pent-up provocative legal wordery, we'd be happy to provide you a guest spot here at WWL. Don't waste that stuff on MySpace!

(LVRJ; Thanks Tipsters!)

Negligencia Legal

The Nevada Supreme Court has issued an order temporarily suspending the license of Las Vegas bankruptcy attorney Jorge Sanchez, who abruptly shut down his office leaving approximately 400 cases unresolved. Here's a little background from his website:

Jorge L. Sanchez

· Practice Areas: Bankruptcy, Foreclosure Defense, Creditor Harassment

· Law School: Michigan State University – Cum Laude

· College: University of Nevada, Las Vegas

· Member: Nevada and Minnesota, United States District Court for the District of Nevada, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, Clark County Bar Association, Latino Bar Association, National Association of Consumer Advocates

· Languages: Fluent Spanish

Cum Laude at Michigan State and a member of two bars? Very impressive, Mr. Sanchez, we're sure you'll make a fine attorney. Oh, wait. From the RJ:

The petition said Sanchez has filed 669 cases in Bankruptcy Court since August 2008 and is still listed as the counsel of record in at least 400 of them.

Sanchez acknowledged in the petition that he received a retainer of $1,500 to $2,500 for each of his cases but no longer has any of that money to refund to his clients.

Let's see: 669 * ($1,500 + $2,500)/2 = $1,338,000. Oh, we're sorry, Jorge. That fails the WWL bright-line rule for permanent disbarment. Thanks for playing, please leave your law license at the door. In your next life, be sure to steal less than your total law school tuition.

The Supremes also seem to have come up with a too-little, too-late solution for Jorge's clients:

The Supreme Court ordered that a trust account be set up to hold any future funds from Sanchez's clients and that he not be given access to that money.

Future funds from clients? Oh, they must mean from all those new clients he'll be taking on during his suspension. Got it.

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipsters!)

Gage Sentenced to Probation

After coping a plea back in February, Medical Mafia member Noel Gage was sentenced to probation yesterday. U.S. District Court Judge Quackenbush seemed to pity Gage, calling him "a good man who made a serious mistake."

We wonder if the judge was talking about the "obstructing justice" mistake, or the (allegedly) "paying off doctors" mistake. Maybe it was the "going to law school" mistake.

Quackenbush imposed probation, stating that 72-year-old Gage would "'suffer" from the terms of his probation, likely facing suspension of his law license. Gage went down swinging though, from the RJ:

Since the inception of the case, Gage has maintained that he did nothing unethical or illegal. Had he sued Thalgott and Kabins, rather than Burkhead, the lawyer said after Thursday's hearing, "Melodie Simon would have gotten a big goose egg" and been responsible for the opposing parties' costs and attorney fees.

"If I had to do it over again -- but for the wrongful prosecution -- I would have sued the same people, if I wanted to obtain the best result for my client," Gage told the Review-Journal.

Awwww. That Gage, always looking out for the interests of his clients. Now, State Bar, please take that man's law license.

(LVRJ)

UMC Leak Allegedly Plugged

A Federal Grand Jury has indicted 54-year-old Richard Charette on one count of conspiracy to disclose personal health information in violation of HIPPA.

Charette, a UMC volunteer, is alleged to have paid "about $8,000" to a trauma unit employee for confidential patient records, and then used the information to solicit clients for personal injury lawyers. If convicted, Charette faces a sentence of up to five years in prison.

Previous WWL posts about this story are available here and here.

Our State Bar is also investigating attorneys possibly involved in this matter, from the RJ:

"Our inquiry is ongoing and, in fact, was initiated before the indictment was handed up," Assistant Bar Counsel Phil Pattee wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. "The State Bar's investigation has not been in conjunction with the apparent federal probe. Because the State Bar's investigation, pursuant to Supreme Court Rules, remains confidential, the Office of Bar Counsel cannot provide further information at this time, including the identity of any attorney who might be involved."

Translation: "We got nothing."

(LVRJ)

Winkler Disbarred For Life

Let this be a lesson to you young attorneys - if you steal more than $260,000 from your client trust account, you will be disbarred for life. Less than $260,000? Well, that remains to be seen.

The State Bar disciplinary panel took less than one hour to deliberate Jeanne Winkler's fate, and unanimously recommended that she be disbarred for life. The panel consisted of attorneys Tom Ryan, Robert Schumacher, and Lary Lamoreux and "lay member" Carrie Taylor.

During his closing argument, bar counsel Rob Bare had this to say about the responsibilities of attorneys:

"A law license is a license of trust. We as attorneys have to be held to a higher standard or else the public loses faith in us. We are the guardians of the justice system."

Well said, Mr. Bare. Now let's tattoo that quote on the forearm of every member of the disciplinary committee and maybe we can start to earn back a little more of the public's faith.

The Supremes have to sign off on the panel's decision before it becomes final.

(LVRJ)

When Is A Bribe Not A Bribe?

The LV Sun is reporting that a man has come forward with inside information regarding the UMC patient data leak scandal. If you don't recall the story, UMC was accused back in November 2009 of selling patient information to local attorneys who could then use the info to contact potential clients.

According to the Sun's latest story, UMC was also selling referrals to local doctors. The Sun spoke to Dr. Steven Holper, who claimed that he was approached by the "manager" of a local PI law firm with an "unusual proposal" on how to get patient referrals from UMC: give a gift card to a particular, well-placed employee of the hospital.

Holper, being the upstanding citizen that he is, immediately purchased a $200 gift card to P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and delivered it to Deep Throat ... you know, just out of curiosity. The LV Sun describes the exchange:

Leichty [Holper's girlfriend/gift card mule] told the Sun that the encounter with the hospital employee was awkward, possibly because three people were within earshot of their conversation. She thought the hospital employee expected the visit, so she handed the employee the gift card and explained it was a gift from Holper.

The employee “looked surprised,” Leichty said — and kept the gift card.

Holper later realized there was a hitch to the referral plan: He did not have credentials to practice at UMC, which would be required to accept its patients. The law firm manager urged him to start the process, Holper said.

Awwww maaaannnn! Maybe next time Holper will read the fine print before attempting to bribe someone. Holper, of course, had no idea he was doing anything wrong ... it was all that sneaky "law firm manager":

Parts of the law firm manager’s pitch made Holper wonder if the deal was legitimate. For example, the manager allegedly emphasized it was just a gift card — not a bribe — to help the UMC employee remember to send the doctor patients.

It’s just something nice for Christmas so (the UMC employee will) remember you, Holper recalls the manager saying about the gift card.

So, let's get this straight. Holper managed to make it through medical school, yet somehow was convinced by a "law firm manager" that a bribe isn't a bribe so long as it's paid in Chang's Spicy Chicken? Sounds fish-saucy to us. Holper's justification is even better:

Holper figured the plan would benefit everyone involved. The gift card seemed harmless, he reasoned, and patients who couldn’t pay for their care or were uninsured would benefit because he would not charge them for medical care. Instead, he would refer them to the law firm that, according to the plan, would represent the patient in litigation and use a jury award or settlement to pay the doctor’s fees and its legal fees. Because doctors refer patients to attorneys frequently, he said, there was no problem sending the patients to this law firm.

Yeah, win-win-win. Doctors and law firms working together to achieve a common goal, no problem there ... what could possibly go wrong? Funny how there's no mention of the types of patients that would be referred, just anyone who couldn't pay the doctor's bill. "Been to UMC, you need a check!" ... just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Holper's only regret?

Holper now wonders why the employee accepted the gift card.

“I want my $200 gift certificate back!” he said.

Somehow we think the good doctor is missing the big picture here.

What are your thoughts, commenters? Is Dr. Holper a do-good-know-nothing-whistle-blower, or is something else going on here? We'd love to hear the inside scoop if any of you know which firms are about to be dragged into this mess.

(LV Sun)

Supremes Refer Three To Disciplinary Board

Our Supremes finally got around to looking at what some of our local attorneys have been up to ... and they are not happy. They referred two of our favorites (and one who slipped under the radar) to the State Bar for disciplinary action. From the RJ:

The Supreme Court's Feb. 26 orders apply to Chief Deputy Public Defender Gary Guymon, who resolved his Utah theft case in December by pleading no contest to trespassing; Edward Miley, who pleaded no contest in December to domestic battery and cruelty to animals; and Steven Shinn, who pleaded no contest in June to driving under the influence.

A State Bar disciplinary panel will now look at the individual cases and decide what (if any) wrist-slappery action should be taken.

We covered Mr. Guymon's incredibly strange antics here, and Ed "Randy" Miley's self-destructing, puppy-killing, judge/wife-beating drinking binge here, but we missed Shinn's debauchery. Our bad.

Strangely, Shinn's DUI, though undoubtedly serious, seems tame next to the lunacy of those other two. Maybe he'll get off easy just by luck of the draw.

Guymon is currently at the PD's office, Miley is in private practice, and Shinn works at Michael M. Mushkin & Associates (mushlaw.com? Didn't give too much thought to that website name, eh?)

The RJ also elaborated on the punishments these naughty attorneys received as a result of their crimes:

Guymon:

According to an answer filed Feb. 22 by Guymon's attorneys, he has been seeing a clinical psychologist since April and will pay the $595 fine in his criminal case. The fine is due March 21.

Miley:

According to the Supreme Court order pertaining to Edward Miley, he was sentenced to 100 hours of community service in the battery case. He also was ordered to attend domestic violence counseling and pay a total of $1,000 in fines and fees.

Shinn:

According to the Supreme Court order regarding Shinn, he was sentenced in his drunken driving case to two days in jail, fined $400, assessed $160 in fees and ordered to attend the victim-impact panel.

What do you think, commenters? Any inside information on these three?

(LVRJ; Thanks Tipster!)

Place your bets ...

Will Jeanne Winkler be disbarred?

The woman who took money out of her client trust account and lost it all on a questionable "investment" begged for her license at a State Bar disciplinary proceeding last Tuesday. How "questionable" was the investment? From the LVRJ:

During a 13-hour hearing, Jeanne Winkler told a State Bar of Nevada panel that she put $270,000 of her own money into a scheme she claimed involved World War I bonds, the Chinese government, U.S. senators, and a man who worked directly for President George W. Bush. She also took at least $233,000 out of her client trust fund for the scheme, money she claims went to Thomas Cecrle, a former client and the former brother-in-law of [Family Court Judge Steven] Jones.

We propose a bright-line rule: If you screw your clients out of an amount greater than your law school tuition, you don't get to keep your license. Fair enough?

Winkler is currently working as a paralegal at attorney Bret Whipple's office (who's website has, as of this writing, been hijacked by some architectural firm), and has reportedly paid $84,000 in restitution since her suspension two years ago. Apparently, Whipple pays his paralegals quite well.

Winkler's hearing will resume sometime in the next 30 days. The State Bar panel, which consists of three attorneys and a layperson, could disbar Winkler, continue her suspension or reinstate her license with or without conditions. Which will/should it be, commenters?

(LVRJ)

Amador Gets All Thuggy

Turns out the rumors were true. Attorney Michael Amador pulled a gun on two men in the parking lot of a PT's pub on Thanksgiving morning and got himself beat up and arrested.

According to the police report, Amador followed three men out of the bar, apparently believing that one of them had taken $200 off a pool table. Amador pulled a gun from his waistband (he has had a CCW) and hit the rear window of a vehicle one of the men got into, shattering it.

The weapon Amador pulled was an FN 57, coincidentally the same weapon used in the Fort Hood massacre (see yesterday's comments for a discussion regarding whether or not this particular type of gun constitutes a "cannon").

At one point, Amador pointed the gun at the two remaining men. The two men then tackled Amador and wrestled the gun away from him, doing enough damage in the process that Amador had to be treated at Sunrise Hospital before being taken to Clark County Detention Center.

On an interesting side note, the bartender who was on duty at PT's that morning is one of Amador's clients in a pending case.

Amador is facing two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and injury to the property of another. According to LV Now, he is facing up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

(Amador's Website; LV Now Story, Video; LV Sun)

Ambulance Chasers No Longer "Chasing"

In an effort to maximize efficiency, some of our unscrupulous P.I. attorneys have skipped casually dropping a business card at the scene of an accident in favor of going directly to the source for clients.

The LV Sun is reporting that UMC has been selling a compilation of the hospital’s daily registration forms for accident patients to local attorneys (names still unknown). But worry not, citizens, Kathy Silver is on the case:

Kathy Silver, chief executive of the hospital, said Thursday in an interview with the Sun that she heard rumors about information being leaked from the trauma center early this summer. She said a source put her in touch with a local chiropractor, who shared with her the rumor that attorneys were illegally gaining access to patient information. She did a cursory investigation of the attorneys who had requested medical records, but she and the chiropractor agreed that nothing seemed unusual.

Good enough for us ... what's for lunch?

Ok ... don't worry if Ms. Silver missed it, County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly has it handled:

County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, who serves as chairman of the UMC board of trustees, told the Sun that he heard of the alleged breach from more than one reliable source about 10 days ago. He said he was told that representatives of law firms were approaching car accident victims even while they were in the hospital. He had not talked to the hospital about it because he was not sure if it was illegal for private patient information to leave the hospital.

Yeah, sharing private medical information is more of a faux pas, really. Why else would we have to stand a football field away from the next person being helped at the grocery-store pharmacy? And really, if it's for a good cause ... like a frivolous lawsuit ... where's the harm?

Back to reality - the attorneys involved will likely maybe be investigated by the bar for their role in this. However, as the Sun notes, UMC could be in a whole heap of trouble:

HIPAA violations can be investigated by the county district attorney, the state attorney general’s office or the United States Attorney’s office, Pritts said. Congress increased the penalties for HIPAA violations, effective at the end of November. A person who violates a patient’s privacy with the intent to sell information can be fined up to $250,000 and imprisoned for up to 10 years.

We're always interested in names and numbers. Anyone on the "inside" care to share who the attorneys involved were and how much they paid for the lists?

(LV Sun)

Taking The Bar Is For Suckers!

Question: How do you practice law in Clark County for over 10 years without being licensed?

Answer: Just make up a bar number.

Sounds too easy, but that is exactly what Charles Radosevich, Esq. did. According to the LV Sun, Chuck actually has a law degree and has the distinction of having been disbarred in both Colorado (in 1989) and Nebraska (in 1993). From the LV Sun:

He attracted the attention of the Nevada State Bar in 2000, when it got him to sign a court-approved agreement in which he promised not to handle divorces, bankruptcy petitions, immigration-related matters, personal injury cases or any other activity that could be viewed as practicing law.

So, he basically signed an agreement stating that he would not practice law without a license? That had to work, right? Wrong:

Authorities say Radosevich printed business cards and stationery referring to himself as an “attorney at law” specializing in “wills, trusts, estates” and “corporations.”

On legal documents, Radosevich sometimes listed below his name phony state bar identification numbers or numbers the bar had assigned to licensed lawyers. One of the numbers belonged to a deputy attorney general.

That's pretty brazen Chuck, but not as brazen as this:

Eventually, Radosevich set himself up in an office in the upscale Hughes Center, a haven for big-name law firms. Shortly thereafter he even boldly passed himself off as a lawyer in dealings with members of the district attorney’s office.

Those dealings were on behalf of Michelle Geris and her husband, who had hired Radosevich to help them negotiate with the district attorney’s bad check unit the payment of a $128,000 gambling debt that the couple incurred at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino in November 2006. The casino had asked the bad check unit to prosecute Geris.

After Chuck negotiated the debt down to $118, 000, Ms. Geris sent the money to Chuck to pay the DA. You can guess what happened next:

Geris thought her legal and financial obligations had been met, but on Aug. 29, more than two years later, she was arrested near her home in Glendale, Calif., on a warrant obtained by the bad check unit for failing to pay the entire gambling debt.

Surprise! The DA had no record of $59,000 in missing payments. So, why did it take the State Bar so long to catch up with this guy? They blame it on the paralegals:

Radosevich managed to stay outside the reach of the bar by working in the offices of licensed attorneys, Clark [counsel for the State Bar] said. Nevada, unlike some other states, requires no licensing of people who do paralegal work. When alleged misconduct occurs by people at a law office, the bar has authority to go after only the licensed lawyers in the firm, Clark said.

Chuck also once presented a pleading to a client with a district court "Filed" stamp and the forged signature of Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez in order to get the client's money.

On an interesting side note, Chuck is the brother-in-law of recently disbarred attorney Manuel Montelongo.

Check out the article, it's pretty amazing what Chuck was able to pull off by just assigning himself a bar number.

(LV Sun)

WWL Mailbag

While sifting through the WWL mailbag, we came across the following email:

Dear WWL -

There was a litigation partner working for us who moved to another smaller firm. He took his Legal Secretary with him. We told her not to go, as she'd only worked with him a few months and hadn't seen his tirades as of yet. Thus, she took his offer to go to the firm with him.

A few weeks or a month or so working with him, she was getting treated like crap, he was throwing tantrums, and she walked out. He asked her to come back, apologizing and stating that he'd mend his ways, etc. She went back, only to be treated worse. She walked out again and he bribed her with money not to say anything to anyone about his treatment of her or his temper, tantrums, etc. Actually his girlfriend who is another lawyer made the money offer and negotiated the bribe.

I wonder how often this happens. I've heard of attorneys throwing things at their staff, having hissy fits, and being 5 year olds. I'm sure people have stories.

How about it, commenters - Do you have a tyrannical boss? We've covered the exploits of certain ego-heavy attorneys in the past, but we're always interested in new gossip. Let's hear the latest.

(Thanks, Anonymous!)

Local Attorney Disbarred (For Three Years)

In an attempt to show that our Rules of Professional Conduct do have consequences, the Supremes disbarred Las Vegas attorney Manuel Montelongo, who must wait three years before applying for reinstatement.

Montelongo reportedly misappropriated (read: stole) client funds and, according to the LVRJ, didn't put up much of a fight:

In the affidavit, Montelongo wrote, "I submit the instant affidavit consenting to disbarment with full knowledge that if the State Bar of Nevada prosecuted the complaints and grievances, I could not successfully defend against the charges."

His attorney, Gregory Knapp, declined to comment on the disbarment.

Good call going with an attorney on this one, Manny. You don't want to go into a disbarment proceeding pro se, especially if you suck. Enjoy your three-year "time out."

(LVRJ)