Legal Ethics

Lawyer Arrested For Forging Judge's Signature To Get Client's Ankle Monitor Removed

Yeah... you can't do that.

By  
on

I don’t know how this lawyer thought he’d get away with this. I mean, forging not just just a prosecutor’s signature but also a judge’s in the hopes of getting your client’s ankle monitor taken off, well, that’s bold.

Paul “Jake” York, an attorney in Georgia, is accused of doing just that. York’s client, Valerie Ryals, was ordered to wear an electronic ankle monitor after she was arrested for aggravated stalking. That set back the single mom $380 every two weeks, and York believed the charges against his client would ultimately be dismissed, so he asked assistant District Attorney Meredith Davis to sign off on bond modification. All pretty straight forward so far, but, don’t worry, it all goes, allegedly, sideways.

As reported by Law.com, York filed an order that would allow his client to remove the ankle monitor that purported to be signed by ADA Davis and Habersham County, Georgia Superior Court Judge B. Chan Caudell. Only problem, Caudell does not recall that at all and wasn’t even able to sign the order the date it was dated:

“The court does not recall signing the order. The date the order was purportedly signed, March 4, 2020, the undersigned was not in the circuit and was unavailable to to sign the order,” Caudell wrote.

So Caudell set aside the order removing the ankle monitor in a new order and attached a transcript of a phone call between Caudell, York, Davis, and District Attorney George Christian where York admitted to forging Davis’s signature, but denied forging Caudell’s:

“I mean, I thought we had hammered that out yesterday where she gave me the green light,” York is quoted in the transcript.

“Bad assumption on my part, I guess,” he said.

Davis said she had made clear to York that she could not agree to any such modification until she talked to Ryals’ ex-husband.

Davis is quoted saying she had no idea the bracelet was removed until her investigator texted her.

“I did not agree to do this,” she said. “I had no idea this was being done.”

Caudell also said that he didn’t think his signature was real.

“Well, I would just be frank with you,” he said. “This doesn’t look like my signature. … I couldn’t swear that it’s not, but I don’t—it doesn’t look like my signature.”

During that same transcribed call, Caudell said the incident — at a minimum — warranted referral to the state bar. But it seems more than that minimum was called for — York was arrested on two counts of forgery and one count of filing a false document charges and released after posting a $6,900 bond.

Sponsored

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Sponsored

Topics

,