The Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 23 attorneys, disbarring three, suspending 14, placing three on probation, reprimanding six and ordering three to pay restitution. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline.
One of the attorneys, Branch Lamar Winegeart III, is from the Jacksonville area and was suspended for 30 days effective 30 days from a Nov. 16 order. Winegeart did not pay Bar costs in a minor misconduct discipline in 2002 and became delinquent in his Bar membership in June 2005 owing both costs and interest. While he was delinquent, he practiced law on four occasions.
The following lawyers were also disciplined:
• William Garcia, Coral Gables, permanently disbarred effective 30 days from a Nov. 29 order. In September, Garcia pleaded guilty to 13 felonies including grand theft, money laundering, and fraud. He received 10 years reporting probation. Multiple counts were not prosecuted in a plea arrangement that included Garcia giving up his law license in Florida and being liable for $500,000 in criminal investigation costs.
• Mark T. Guariglia, Miami, permanently disbarred effective immediately following a Nov. 8 order and additionally ordered to pay restitution to The Florida Bar’s Clients’ Security Fund. After not complying with a subpoena for trust account records, Guariglia’s bank, in response to a subpoena, produced them and showed he misappropriated thousands of dollars of clients’ funds to satisfy obligations incurred in prior periods and also using funds for his own purposes.
• Martin Kirby Watson, St. Petersburg, disbarred effective 30 days from a Nov. 1 order. In June 2006, he requested the personal representative of the estate write a check for $288,712 to be put in his trust account for final distribution of estate proceeds. He distributed only $50,000 and by the end of 2006, no distribution of the remaining funds had been made. Watson has not returned all the money.
• Charles Guy Batsel, Placida, suspended for three years effective immediately following a Nov. 15 order. In July, Batsel was convicted of operating a vessel under the influence, a second-degree misdemeanor. The court then withheld adjudication on the count of possessing a controlled substance, a third-degree felony. A third charge was dropped.
• Michael Allen Bryant, Fort Lauderdale, suspended for 18 months effective 30 days from a Nov. 15 order and ordered to pay restitution of $6,120. Bryant committed multiple ethical violations in acting as a closing agent for transactions involving the sale of a client’s home by failing to disburse money in accordance with the closing statement, by failing to apply funds entrusted to him for the purposes for which they were entrusted and by failing to promptly give the client the money he owed her.
• Andrew Alexander Byer, Fort Lauderdale, suspended for three years effective retroactively to June 20, 2006 according to a Nov. 1 order. In 2006, Byer was convicted of misprision of a felony for delivering money and buying drugs on behalf of an acquaintance on one occasion in 1996 and delivering drugs on another occasion in 1997. He served four months in prison, four months house arrest and four months probation.
• Marshall Lawrence Cohen, Fort Myers, suspended for 90 days effective 30 days from a Nov. 15 order. When U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requested additional evidence for a client’s visa extension petition, Cohen did not respond and the client’s petition was denied, putting the client at risk of arrest and deportation. Cohen did not inform the client in a timely manner the petition was denied. Additionally, Cohen failed to fully respond to repeated requests for documents in the case.
• Ronald Clyde Denis, West Palm Beach, suspended for 10 days effective 30 days from a Nov. 21 order and ordered to undergo an office procedures and record-keeping analysis. Without proper supervision from Denis, his non-lawyer assistant sent a demand letter to an insurance company on behalf of a client for the $10,000 policy limits shortly before the statute of limitations was about to run. No lawsuit was filed. The company responded with a $1,000 settlement offer, which the client refused. Denis then closed the file, took no further action on the case and didn’t inform the client.
• Julio Gutierrez, Miami, suspended for six months and placed on probation for six months effective immediately following a Nov. 21 order. Additionally, Gutierrez was ordered to enter into a new rehabilitation contract with Florida Lawyers Assistance Inc. Gutierrez was unable to file a motion on behalf of a client because he had been suspended from practicing law but failed to inform the client and only after a grievance was filed did he refund the fee. He accepted another case while suspended and failed to inform the client and failed to respond to Bar inquiries about the case.
• Kenneth Clarence Jenne II, Fort Lauderdale, suspended effective 30 days from a Nov. 26 order. In September, Jenne pleaded guilty to the felonies of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and three counts of income tax evasion. The Bar case has been referred to the chief judge of the 15th Judicial Circuit for referee appointment.
• Peter William Martin, Sarasota, suspended for three years effective retroactively to Sept. 7, 2006 and ordered to pay restitution totaling $29,990 to two clients following a Nov. 21 order. Responding to a Bar complaint that he had misappropriated $19,500 from a client, Martin failed to produce trust account records and bank statements. A year later, he sent a check to the former client for $19,500 but could not account for another $9,900 belonging to the client. In another case, there was a shortage of $20,000.
• Tommy Eugene McPherson, Pensacola, suspended effective 30 days from a Nov. 28 order. The Bar case has been referred to the chief judge of the 14th Judicial Circuit for referee appointment. In February, a jury found McPherson guilty of bankruptcy fraud. He was sentenced in August to five years probation.
• Alan D. Watson, St. Petersburg, suspended for 15 days effective 30 days from a Nov. 15 order and ordered to attend Ethics School. Watson began handling financial matters for a client, whose family believed he wasn’t competent to make decisions on his own behalf. Using the power of attorney, Watson paid the client’s bills and his attorney’s fees. He also renewed a real estate listing agreement for the client with a real estate agent, who was also a client. Separately, Watson accepted a client from an “Accident and Injury Attorney Hotline” and had the duty to assure it was in compliance with Florida Bar rules.
• Alberto Jose Xiques, Coral Gables, suspended for three years effective immediately pursuant to a Nov. 1 order. Xiques wrote a check from his operating fund for $55,136 to pay mortgage documents and intangible tax on a mortgage and security agreement in the sale of a Miami property. The check, which was not honored twice for insufficient funds, should have come from Xiques’ trust account. On the same day, he wrote a check for $8,112 on his operating account to the Clerk of the Circuit Court for state tax/stamps on the deed for the transaction. The tax should have been $81,000. Civil complaints later dismissed by Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust Co. indicated Xiques did not have sufficient funds in trust accounts to cover obligations in one case and did not timely pay a mortgage and record it in another.
• Carl K. Zolezzi Jr., Cape Canaveral, suspended effective immediately following a Nov. 29 order. The Bar case has been referred to the chief judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit for referee appointment. In September, Zolezzi entered a plea of no contest to the felony charge of cocaine possession and was sentenced to 18 months probation.
• Laureen Adele Cameron, Sarasota, to receive a public reprimand from The Florida Bar Board of Governors, be placed on probation for two years effective immediately and be directed to complete The Bar’s trust accounting workshop following a Nov. 21 order. Cameron failed to diligently and competently represent and communicate with a client who was seeking repayment of a loan in one case and attempting to set aside a judgment from an insurance company in another. Cameron failed to respond to a Bar subpoena for trust account records and violated Bar rules.
• Elias Leonard Dsouza, Plantation, reprimanded pursuant to a Nov. 21 order. Shortly after graduating from law school in 2000, Dsouza filed on his own behalf a voluntary petition for bankruptcy using a commercial software program. The bankruptcy was denied and a bankruptcy judge concluded that Dsouza had — in an attempt to hinder, delay or defraud his creditors — intentionally misrepresented his assets, including an interest in nine different businesses; his marital status; and his business and commercial interests. The case was upheld on appeal.
• Anthony George Filomeno, Wayne, N.J., reprimanded by publication in the Southern Reporter following a Nov. 1 order. Filomeno was arrested in November 2004 on counts of possessing cocaine and drug paraphernalia. In January 2005, he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine. He waived his right to a trial and entered a Pre-Trial Intervention Program after being charged with a single count.
• Kevin Alan Fuller, Hudson, reprimanded and directed to attend Ethics School following a Nov. 21 order. In one case, Fuller failed to competently represent a client by not taking the necessary steps to enforce a company’s Claim of Lien, resulting in the lien expiring. Fuller also failed to competently and diligently represent another client in her dissolution of marriage case. He did not keep her reasonably informed or promptly comply with reasonable requests for information. He did not complete discovery about her husband’s retirement pension plan, prepare for the final hearing or, as requested, timely file a motion to set aside the court’s ruling.
• Franklin Delano Kelley, Titusville, reprimanded following a Nov. 21 order. Hired by two separate clients to probate the estates of their mothers, Kelley took no legal action and failed to communicate with the clients. In similar cases involving dissolution of marriage, petition for reduced child support, seal a juvenile’s records, handle a violation of probation and represent two children’s interest in their father’s estate, Kelley failed to file legal papers or take promised actions or communicate in a timely fashion. Additionally, he did not timely respond to Bar inquiries.
• Robert Michael Marasco, Rockledge, ordered to receive a public reprimand and placed on probation for two years following a Nov. 15 order. During the probation, a certified public accountant will monthly review Marasco’s trust account records. Marasco will undergo an office procedures and record-keeping analysis. An audit revealed that Marasco was negligent in bookkeeping his trust.
• John Stanley Morse, Tampa, ordered held in contempt of court and suspended for 91 days effective 30 days from a Nov. 16 order. Morse was suspended for 90 days on March 22, 2007. As required by Bar rule, he was obligated to notify his clients, opposing counsel and tribunals of his suspension and notify the Bar that he had done so. The Bar sent three letters to Morse about his obligation to submit the affidavit, but he failed to do so.