Crime

Lawyer's False Filings End In Kidnapping Charge

That escalated quickly.

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Forgeries and false filings are serious offenses. But prosecutors say Ohio attorney Sean Porter managed to up the stakes on phony filings with a kidnapping via bureaucracy.

According to the indictment, Porter made a number of false filings in efforts to defraud the court — there are 46 counts in total — but none as serious as when he allegedly forged a journal entry that resulted in a child being taken from her home for almost three months.

This indictment isn’t Porter’s only problem, as he still faces possible discipline from a 2019 incident where he “admitted to forging a document and having sexual relationships with two of clients who were going through divorces.”

The woman, who according to court filings was a recovering alcoholic who was living and working in a rehabilitation center in California at the time, flew to Cleveland several times for court hearings, after which she and Porter had sex. Porter told the woman that he would buy a house in Lakewood where the two of them could live with the woman’s three children, court filings said. The woman quit her job at the rehab center to prepare for the move, but Porter broke off their relationship while the woman was returning to California after a court hearing in her case, the filing said.

Porter told the woman he was “just playing her,” the court filing said.

He was apparently sleeping with the second woman when he was confronted by his firm over the first woman.

The firm fired him in January 2020. Most of the causes of action in the indictment took place in 2020 and 2021 — the kidnapping wasn’t resolved until September. This means that after he had to self-report forging a document and inappropriate relationships with clients, he was still forging documents?

Bold.

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Cleveland attorney indicted on kidnapping charge filed forged documents that got woman’s kids taken from her, prosecutors say [Cleveland.com]
Attorney Charged With Kidnapping After His Forgery Cost Mom Custody of Her Kids, Prosecutors Say [Daily Beast]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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