The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the filing of disciplinary orders involving a number of licensed lawyers. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law. More information on each case is available at the ARDC website.

DISBARRED

• Dave Ellis Compton, Chicago

Mr. Compton, who was licensed in 1991, was disbarred on consent. He pled guilty to bringing cannabis into a Cook County Criminal Court House detention area. He was suspended on an interim basis on July 9, 2010.

• Forrest David Laidley, Libertyville

Mr. Laidley, who was admitted in 1978, was disbarred on consent. He pled guilty in federal court to attempted mail fraud and bank fraud and was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison. He was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court on December 28, 2010.

• Eric Tyrone Tolen, St. Louis, Mo.

Mr. Tolen, who was licensed in 1986, was disbarred on consent. He was convicted in Missouri on multiple counts of statutory sodomy and one count of victim tampering. He was sentenced to a 65-year term of imprisonment. Mr. Tolen was suspended on an interim basis on February 3, 2009.

• Bradford Francis Wisniewski, Chicago

Mr. Wisniewski, who was licensed in 1977, was disbarred. He misappropriated approximately $35,000 in client funds, neglected multiple client matters, failed to communicate with clients, did not return unearned fees and failed to cooperate with the ARDC. He did not appear at his disciplinary hearing.

SUSPENDED

• Joseph Paul Abraham III, North Miami, Fla.

Mr. Abraham was licensed in Florida in 2007 and in Illinois in 2008. He was suspended in Florida for ninety days and placed on probation for one year, subject to conditions. He was arrested on a felony charge of possession of cocaine. Thereafter, he entered into a trial court’s drug program. Upon successful completion of that program, the felony charge was dismissed.  The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline, suspended him for 90 days, and placed him on probation for one year, subject to conditions. The suspension is effective on February 9, 2011.

• Paul Mathew Bach, Northbrook

Mr. Bach, who was licensed in 1992, was suspended for 60 days. He mishandled $6,934.22 in funds that he was to remit to a trustee in a client’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The suspension is effective on February 9, 2011.

• Randolph Karl Blomberg, Aurora

Mr. Blomberg, who was licensed in 1976, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a two-year period of probation subject to conditions. He was arrested at his residence when, in response to a tip, police searched his residence and found 591 grams of cannabis. Thereafter, he pled guilty to, and was convicted of, unlawful possession of cannabis.

• Charles Augustus Conner Jr., Chicago

Mr. Conner, who was admitted in 1987, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. Following a contested proceeding, a hearing panel concluded that he had misappropriated more than $137,000 in funds relating to 37 different clients and/or their creditors. Further, on multiple occasions, he submitted doctored bank records to the ARDC in order to conceal those conversions.

• Guy Vincent Croteau, Chicago

Mr. Croteau, who was licensed in 1987, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court and until he makes certain restirtution. He neglected five different client matters and he failed to keep his clients reasonably informed about the status of their cases. He did not appear at his disciplinary hearing.

• F. Patrick Davis, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Mr. Davis was licensed in Missouri in 1984 and in Illinois in 1985. The Missouri Supreme Court suspended him for two years with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a two-year period of conditional probation. He left the scene of a motor vehicle accident in violation of Missouri criminal statutes. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for two years with the suspension stayed in its entirety by probation for two years, subject to the same conditions as those imposed in Missouri.

• John Patrick Fadden, Chicago

Mr. Fadden, who was licensed in 1974, was suspended for 60 days. He directed his law firm paralegal to notarize signatures on a will that the paralegal had not witnessed and he directed the same paralegal, as well as other persons, to falsely attest that they had witnessed the signing of a power of attorney for healthcare and a codicil which had been signed outside of their presence. He then instructed a law firm associate to file the will and the codicil with the probate court. The suspension is effective on February 9, 2011.

• Wigmor Ponce Gadia, Chicago

Mr. Gadia, who was licensed in 2002, was suspended for six months and until further order of the Court. He neglected a client’s breach of contract matter, failed to refund an unearned fee, and failed to cooperate with the ARDC. He did not appear at his disciplinary hearing.

• Gerald Joseph Harvath, Pacific, Mo.

Mr. Harvath was licensed in Missouri in 1974 and in Illinois in 1975. He was suspended in Missouri for six months, with the probation stayed by one year of conditional probation, for neglecting two client matters. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for six months, with the suspension stayed by one year of conditional probation.

• America Lenore McAlpin, Crown Point, Ind.

Ms. McAlpin was licensed in Illinois in 1985 and in Indiana in 1993. She was twice disciplined in Indiana. First, she received a private reprimand for advertising that she was an “elder law specialist” when she had not been certified as such. Second, she was suspended for six months, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by probation, subject to conditions, for failing to maintain client funds in a trust account, not maintaining proper records for trust account activities, and commingling her funds with clients’ funds. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for six months, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a one-year period of probation subject to conditions imposed in Indiana.

• Mahendra R. Mehta, Chicago

Mr. Mehta, who was admitted in 1970, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. Following a contested proceeding, a hearing panel concluded that he had misappropriated over $100,000 in real estate escrow funds and had used most of those funds to pay sanctions entered against him by a bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas. He later falsely testified in court proceedings that he had been authorized by the parties to the real estate transaction to take the escrow funds, and that his client told him to take the funds as payment for attorney’s fees.

• Donald John Pochopien, Long Grove

Mr. Pochopien, who was licensed in 1988, was suspended for one year. While employed at an intellectual property law firm, he obtained confidential client information relating to a corporate acquisition. He used that information to purchase, and later sell, stock in the target company. The suspension is effective on February 9, 2011.

• James Rodney Reppy, Springfield

Mr. Reppy, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for six months and until further order of the Court. He made sexual advances toward four different clients over a period of two years.

• Ian Jackson Sharping, Chicago

Mr. Sharping, who was licensed in 2003, was suspended for six months and until further order of the Court. He neglected a client’s worker’s compensation claim and failed to cooperate with the ARDC. He did not appear at his disciplinary hearing.

• Larry E. Smith, Oak Park

Mr. Smith, who was licensed to practice law in Illinois in 1994, was suspended for nine months.  In connection with a real estate transaction, he improperly notarized several documents which facilitated the improper transfer of the property. The suspension is effective on February 9, 2011.

• Peter Raymond Vogel, Wheaton

Mr. Vogel, who was licensed in 1972, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court. He misappropriated approximately $3,800 in funds belonging to three different clients and forged a client’s signature in order to negotiate checks belonging to that client. He did not appear at his disciplinary hearing.

• Brent Allan Winters, Casey

Mr. Winters, who was licensed in 1997, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. A federal jury found him guilty of filing a false tax return. During 1998, while running for a seat in the United States House of Representatives, he loaned his own election campaign fund $36,616.50 and, after he was defeated, “sold” the debt to a company for $2,500 in order to falsely claim a loss on his 1998 federal income tax return.

CENSURED

• Steven Sam Koukios, Arlington Heights

Mr. Koukios, who was licensed in 1986, was censured and was ordered to attend the program offered by the Illinois Institute of Professional Responsibility. He represented a client in a criminal case when he had been charged with a related ordinance violation. He did not advise the client that his representation of her might involve a conflict of interest, nor did he obtain her informed consent to the representation.

REPRIMANDED

• Mitchell Brian Stoddard, St. Louis, Mo.

Mr. Stoddard was licensed in Missouri in 1990 and in Illinois in 1991. He was reprimanded in Missouri for engaging in a conflict of interest when he advised a client that, should she accept an offer to settle her opponent’s claims for $667, half of the amount claimed by the opponent, she would have to pay Mr. Stoddard an additional $2,000 for his legal fees. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and reprimanded him.