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!)

Very effective assistance of counsel ...

Time to open up the rumor mill!

Here's what we've heard about the so-called "PD scandal" so far:

A female deputy public defender (let's call her Suzy Squarebush) allegedly got caught giving an inmate (let's call him Prince Charming) oral sex while visiting the inmate at Clark County Detention Center.

Suzy was allegedly caught because she photographed the act, and sent the photos to Charming's cell phone (how an inmate has a cell phone, we have no idea). Charming then allegedly showed the photos around to some inmate friends ... thus blowing everything. [Rimshot!]

Anyone have more information on this?

(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!)

Stan Walton's Visit to CCDC Was Over Missing Millions, Ignoring Warnings

Walton was appointed administrator over an estate that allegedly ended up with approximately $4 million in unaccounted-for funds. Walton apparently received "numerous warnings from probate court and several continuances" before being suspended as administrator of the estate in January 2009. Judge Cadish held Walton in contempt when Walton failed to appear for a judgment debtor exam after being admonished multiple times.

As an aside, what do you guys think is proper mugshot protocol for jailed attorneys - professional smile, or, as Mr. Walton went with here, silent rage?

(LVRJ)

Lerner Complaint

Here is a copy of the Heavy Hitter Firm Complaint everyone has been talking about. Take .2 and give it a read.

(Thanks, tipster!)

UPDATE:

Thanks to Anon 8:54PM, we have pictures of the event. Could these be the young ladies mentioned in the complaint?

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!)

State Bar Slaps Gage With Petition

In a stunning display of intestinal fortitude, the State Bar filed a petition with our Supremes seeking to suspend Noel Gage's law license. From the RJ:

If previous disciplinary procedures are an indication, Gage could be disallowed from the practice of law for more than a year as the investigation unfolds.

The Nevada Supreme Court generally approves such recommendations.

We happened to get our sweaty little palms on a copy of the petition (Part 1; Part 2). To be honest, tl;dr.

We did, however, find one interesting document during our skim. It appears that criminal defense heavyweight William Terry may be representing Gage in his proceedings. (Bill's reputation is much better than his website). If that's true, we hope bar counsel Rob Bare is ready to rumble.

If you find yourself a little heavy on the billables today, take a look at the petition an tell us if you find anything interesting.

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipsters!)

UPDATE:

Our apologies to those of you who were offended by our previous accompanying photograph. Our mandatory 12 hours of blogger sensitivity training taught us that photographs of domestic violence, even from old black and white movies, are not acceptable.

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)

Drugs (and fraudulent certificates) are bad.

Defense attorney Brian Bloomfield had his house raided recently in connection with a criminal investigation into allegations that United States Justice Associates (a company with which Bloomfield presumably has ties) sold fraudulent certificates stating people had completed counseling programs.

During the raid, however, The Man used that plain view thing and allegedly found Mr. Bloomfield's stash. From the RJ:

... on April 27, police found a "plastic bag containing several individually bagged leafy substances believed to be marijuana." They said they found a water pipe with residue and rolling papers.

Busted! Huh huh huh huh ... awesome. Pass the nachos.

United States Justice Associates was one of several companies that offered programs for alcohol and drug abuse, AIDS awareness, anger management and petty larceny to those charged with misdemeanors. At sentencing, judges often order defendants to attend such programs to steer them out of the justice system.

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipster!)

The Nyes Have It!

According to the RJ, Nye County District Attorney Robert Beckett was arrested Wednesday morning on fraud and embezzlement charges in connection with a bank account his office managed for more than 13 years.

Beckett has been charged with more than 40 counts, including 20 counts of fraudulent appropriation of property, 20 counts of misconduct of a public officer, one count of malfeasance of office and one count of embezzlement.

Seriously. The District Attorney.

The account in question was used to hold money from people charged with writing bad checks. The money was supposed to be used to reimburse victims of bad checks. Bad-check writers also must pay fees on top of their reimbursements.

Problem is, the account came up a bit short during a recent audit. Beckett's explanation for the shortfall is classic:

Beckett last week said the fund was being phased out because "people aren't writing bad checks anymore."

Yay! Only "good checks" in Nye County from now on - problem solved. Give that man another term in office!

You may remember Beckett as the DA who managed to wreck two vehicles in six hours while driving drunk back in June of 2008. He is, incredibly, running for his fifth term as Nye County DA ... but this time he has some stiff competition. [Rimshot!]

The election will (hopefully) come down to a choice between Ron Kent, Beckett's former chief civil deputy and Brian Kunzi, a senior deputy attorney general. Although, maybe it would be better for us if Beckett stayed in office. Who knows what he'll do next?!

(LVRJ; Thanks Tipsters!)

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)

Bad Goldberg

Our old friend Randolph Goldberg is back in hot water; he's being sanctioned, yet again, by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bruce A. Markell.

This time the allegation is that Goldberg (or a member of his staff) impersonated clients and completed an online credit counseling program on their behalf. Goldberg then filed a Chapter 13 petition for the clients, attaching the "forged" certificates as proof of their completion of the program.

BAM did not take kindly to these antics; the judge has referred Goldberg's case to the U.S. attorney for possible criminal prosecution for forgery, and to the State Bar for a stern talking to and the possibility of wrist-slappery.

The State Bar has ten complaints currently pending against Randy G. His response to JAM's request for comment appears to be consistent with his level of legal prowess:

Asked for comment for this column, Goldberg, in five rambling e-mails, wrote he might appeal Markell's ruling, calling it "biased and with no fact but his gut and hatred for me."

(LVRJ - Jane Ann Morrison; Thanks Tipsters!)

Eye of "El Tigre"

Turns out that you can't skirt the rules of professional responsibility by advertising in another language. Who knew?

Anthony "Tony the Tiger" Lopez Jr. ran a 10-second Spanish advertisement on two radio stations in Las Vegas and one in Reno which stated: "If you have had an auto accident, by law you have the right to receive at least $15,000 for your case."

Yeah, that's NRS 15,000(4)(b)(S), right?

Tony the Tiger argued that the commercial was intended to inform the public of the minimum insurance requirements for automobile drivers. Seriously. That's the best he could come up with. As an attorney.

The State Bar's disciplinary panel got a little creative with Mr. the Tiger's "punishment." The panel decided that since Tony spent $19,500 promoting the misleading ad, he must now spend the same amount on a public service announcement that actually does inform the public of the $15,000 minimum auto insurance limits in Nevada.

While we're proud of the panel for thinking outside the box, we don't really see how the punishment helps remedy the violation, and no suspension was imposed despite Mr. the Tiger having a previous public reprimand on his record from 2003. Maybe the panel was all punished-out after Ms. Winkler's lifetime disbarment.

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipsters!)

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)

Supremes Reject State Bar's Wrist-Slappery

It looks like our Supremes might be sending a little message to the State Bar. The Court has rejected the recommendation of the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board that Philip Singer be disbarred for three years and repay $67,334 to eight clients. The board also said Singer must submit to binding arbitration on $32,200 in dispute.

According to the LV Sun, Singer admitted to stealing "mishandling" close to $100,000 of his clients' funds. He pled guilty to 14 counts of bar violations and admitted to 59 violations involving misappropriation of funds and failure to communicate with his clients. He also pled guilty to lack of competence and diligence and lack of candor and cooperation with the State Bar.

The Supremes viewed the State Bar's proposed punishment as "inadequate to protect the public." We'd have to check Brooklyn Law School's tuition to see if Singer qualifies for the WWL bright-line rule, but regardless we say good for the Supremes for finally taking a stand against the ridiculously underwhelming punishments SBN has been considering lately.

However, to our disappointment, the Supremes only requested an additional two years of disbarment and 15 hours of ethics CLEs. Not exactly hard-hitting. What do you guys think? Where should the line be for permanent disbarment in this state?

(LV Sun, Thanks Tipster!)

Guess He Didn't Liker ...

There's been quite a buzz around here lately about the "NFL Tough, Stanford Smart" Tony Liker, who also happens to be running for judge in Department S.

Well, Tony's flushing the judicial misconduct from his system early - you know, so he won't be tempted once he actually takes the bench. He reportedly disappeared Sunday night after (allegedly) trying to run over his wife in his car.

The argument reportedly started as a domestic dispute, when Mr. NFL Tough decided to go all vehicular on his bride. Mrs. Liker was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries; Tony is still at large as of this writing.

Tony was previously arrested on a domestic violence charge a couple of years ago after fighting with a roommate. When asked about the incident while running for judge, he said it was dismissed after authorities reviewed the facts of the case.

A helpful Tipster reminded us that Tony once wanted to start a TV show starring him as a judge who boxed defendants in domestic violence cases. We posted about the story a while back, but we thought this would be a good time to revisit, what with Vegas lawyers going Hollywood now.

If you find yourself a little heavy on billables today, here's .5 you'll never get back:

Stay classy, Tony Liker.

(Thanks Tipsters!)

***UPDATE***

Channel 13 is reporting that Liker is no longer "at large," but has yet to be questioned by police. They also have some additional information about the incident.

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)