from staff
Jacksonville attorney Stephen Edward Silkowski was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court effective immediately and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $228,452.87 to one client, following a Sept. 17 court order. A Florida Bar audit revealed that Silkowski had converted at least $220,000 in client funds to his own use. During the course of the investigation, Silkowski defrauded the Bar by altering his trust account records to reflect that the money was still in the trust account.
Overall, the Supreme Court disciplined 30 attorneys, disbarring nine, suspending 17 and placing four on probation.
The following lawyers are disciplined:
• Roger Besu of Miami Lakes was permanently disbarred, effective immediately, following an Oct. 8 court order. During the course of representing a client, $4 million was delivered to Besu’s trust account on behalf of the client. Besu subsequently transferred nearly $2 million from his trust account to personal and office accounts. The Bar has been unable to locate Besu.
• Richard Joseph Da Fonte of Clearwater was permanently disbarred, effective immediately, following a Sept. 3 court order. Da Fonte was charged in court with 15 counts of theft. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution to clients.
• Leslie Denise Fortune of St. Petersburg was disbarred effective 30 days from an Oct. 29 court order. In the summer of 2007, Fortune began suffering with serious depression. It eventually became so severe that it interfered with her ability to represent clients. In June 2008, Fortune abandoned her law practice.
• James Tyler Hendrick of Key West was disbarred effective retroactive to April 9, 2007, following an Oct. 8 court order. Hendrick was found guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
• John A. Yanchek III, 889 N. Washington Blvd., Suite B, Sarasota, disbarred effective immediately, following an Oct. 29 court order. Yanchek failed to provide competent representation to a client and her medical malpractice claim was dismissed. He did not inform his client that his case had been dismissed until she asked.
• Vincent James Krocka of Palm Harbor was disbarred for five years, effective retroactive to May 4, 2009, following an Oct. 29 court order. In March, Krocka was found guilty in court of 14 felonies including mail threats and witness tampering. He was sentenced to 121 months of federal prison, to be served upon the conclusion of his five-year state prison term.
• Jack Barry Phillips of New York, N.Y. was disbarred effective immediately, following an Oct. 29 court order. In several instances, Phillips failed to respond to the Bar’s inquiries regarding the handling of cases. Also, after being retained to handle an immigration matter, Phillips abandoned the case and lost critical documents.
• Terry M. Fitzpatrick Walcott of Palm Bay was disbarred effective immediately, following an Oct. 29 court order. Walcott is further ordered to pay restitution totaling more than $126,000 to five clients. (Admitted to practice: 2003) Walcott misappropriated trust funds belonging to his clients. He also failed to comply with repeated demands by the Bar for an accounting and delivery of the funds held in trust.
• Frank Joseph Heston of Coral Springs was suspended for 20 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 29 court order. In two separate cases, Heston was hired to represent clients and he failed to adequately provide legal services; he failed to communicate, failed to keep accurate records and failed to return documents.
• Suzanne Marie Himes of Ocala was suspended for one year, effective immediately, following a Sept. 11 court order. Himes practiced law while suspended by participating in a mediation hearing for a workers’ compensation case. Himes held herself out as an attorney and did not tell the judge or opposing counsel that she was suspended and unable to practice law.
• Robin Peter Jung of Seminole was suspended for two years, effective retroactive to July 15, 2009, following an Oct. 15 court order. In February, Jung pleaded guilty in court to possession of cocaine, a felony.
• Marilyn Leslie Maloy of Miami was suspended for 90 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 29 court order. Maloy is further placed on probation for two years, effective immediately. Maloy failed to properly maintain minimum trust accounting records. In one instance, checks in the amounts of $179,446.46 and $15,761.65 from her trust account, were returned by the bank due to insufficient funds. Also, Maloy’s failure to properly supervise non-lawyer employees resulted in the misappropriation of more than $1.5 million from the trust account.
• John Stanley Morse of Tampa was suspended for 91 days effective immediately, following an Oct. 29 court order. Morse was suspended for 91 days in November, 2007. In January 2008, while suspended, Morse acted as an attorney and filed a motion on behalf of his son. Morse never responded to the Bar’s inquiries regarding the incident.
• Venol C. Adams of West Palm Beach was suspended for 90 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 8 court order. Adams acted as the notary on two quit claim deeds that were not signed or acknowledged in his presence. One of the deeds was fraudulent.
• Eric Seymour Affholter of Pompano Beach was suspended for two years, effective retroactive to March 30, following an Oct. 8 court order. Affholter was found guilty of a federal felony-conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
• David Noble Doss of Gulfport was suspended effective immediately, following a Nov. 2 court order. Doss pleaded guilty in court to grand theft, a felony.
• L. Daniel Ferrer of Fort Lauderdale was suspended effective immediately, following an Oct. 9 court order. Ferrer had knowledge of persons committing securities fraud, but he failed to notify the authorities about the crime. He pleaded guilty in May 2009 to misprision of a felony and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
• Michael Sean Foster of Miami was suspended for three years, effective immediately, following an Oct. 8 court order. Foster is further placed on probation for two years. Foster accepted retainer fees in several cases, then failed to perform the legal services for which he was hired. In one instance, he charged a clearly excessive fee; in another, he did not inform clients of a conflict of interest.
• David Lee Ham Jr. of Vero Beach was suspended for 91 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 29 court order. In numerous instances, Ham was hired to represent clients and he neglected to communicate with them and failed to adequately provide legal services.
• Rory Kenny Rohan of Pembroke Pines was suspended for 90 days, effective retroactive to March 5, following an Oct. 5 court order. In 1993, Rohan pleaded guilty in federal court in Colorado to interstate travel in aid of racketeering, a felony. He was sentenced to 24 months incarceration and two years probation.
• Christian N. Scholin of West Palm Beach was suspended, until further order, following an Oct. 28 court order. According to the petition for emergency suspension. Scholin appeared to be causing great public harm. A Bar audit revealed that Scholin misappropriated client funds including $468,000 in real estate proceeds. Also, he did not maintain minimum trust accounting records nor did he follow minimum trust accounting procedures.
• Jack Willard Snyder of Potomac, Md. was suspended for three years, retroactive to May 8, 2009, following an Oct. 8 court order. In February, Snyder pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Maryland, to one count of knowingly and willfully making a false statement to a government entity, a felony. Upon taking a job with a federal agency, Snyder was instructed to cease his litigation consulting business. As a government employee, he was required by law to seek approval for participation in outside activities and report any compensation he received. Snyder never informed his primary employer that he continued to operate the consulting business for which he received $589,450 in additional income from 2003 to 2005.
• Cynthia Gaskins Strickland of Hollywood was suspended until further order, following an Nov. 16 court order. According to the petition for emergency suspension, Strickland appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating client funds. A Bar audit revealed that during the period reviewed, Strickland had numerous overdrafts in her trust account.
• Merrill Carlton Tunsil of Lake City was suspended until further order, following a Sept. 30 court order. According to the petition for emergency suspension, Tunsil appeared to be causing great public harm by commingling and misappropriating client funds from his trust account. On numerous occasions, Tunsil used trust account funds to pay personal and office expenses. He also used the funds of one client to pay another client or another client’s expenses.
• William Bedford Watson III of Gainesville was suspended until further order, following a Sept. 1 court order. According to the petition for emergency suspension, Watson appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating third-party funds from his trust account. In one instance, Watson received $300,000 from a client to be deposited in his trust account. He then disbursed the money to two different banks without the client’s permission. Despite repeated requests, Watson did not return the $300,000 to his client.
• Cheryl L. Anderson of Palatka was publicly reprimanded and placed on probation for three years, effective immediately, following an Oct. 8 court order. Further, Anderson shall pay restitution totaling $795 to clients in two separate cases. Anderson was retained to represent clients and in both instances failed to communicate and perform services.
• Charles Edward Hobbs II of Tallahassee was publicly reprimanded following an Oct. 29 court order. In several instances in which Hobbs was retained to represent clients, he failed to communicate with them and he failed to file or timely file necessary paperwork.
• Josie Kerrie-Ann James of Fort Lauderdale was publicly reprimanded following an Oct. 8 court order. In February 2008, a former client filed a complaint against James with The Florida Bar. Thereafter, James failed to respond to repeated Florida Bar investigative inquiries.
• Benjamin David Rust of Tallahassee was publicly reprimanded and placed on probation for two years effective immediately, following an Oct. 22 court order. Rust engaged in several acts of misconduct during depositions where he made demeaning remarks toward opposing counsel and described the conduct of opposing counsel in demeaning and sarcastic terms. Rust also wrote a letter to the JQC falsely accusing a judge of using her position to influence a Bar investigation. During a civil jury trial Rust inappropriately touched the court reporter recording the proceedings and was admonished by the presiding judge. In this same trial Rust tossed a flip chart exhibit to the floor while opposing counsel was examining the exhibit.