William Duty, Jr., a self-employed attorney in Williamson, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3 after pleading guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $119,000 in legal fees.
faces charges of submitting payment vouchers for services he did not perform.
Duty was appointed, at various times, to represent indigent clients in criminal procedures in Mingo County Circuit Court. The procedure for payment for these legal services was that Duty would obtain a payment voucher, signed by the Circuit Judge, verifying the amounts owed and the services rendered for the various clients. These vouchers were submitted to the WV Public Defender Services for payment.
According to court documents, Duty entered into an agreement with a third party, identified only as Known Entity, for advance on payments. Duty submitted vouchers to the third party, who would advance him payment less a percentage. Duty, in turn, authorized the Public Defender's office to pay the third party dircectly for the vouchers after they were processed.
But, from June 2005 until December 2007, Duty allegedly altered signed payment vouchers with false names and other false information.
These fake vouchers were allegedly submitted to the third party by fax to a location outside of the state.
That Known Entity advanced Duty approximately $132,000 as payment for these allegedly false documents.
According to the indictment, the vouchers Duty submitted for services for various clients included those in the amounts of $2,780, $2,990, and $2,970 in February 2006, and one for $2,875 in May of the same year.
Duty had his license to practice law suspended in 2008 for misappropriating client funds, trying to charge excessive attorney fees, obstructing the disciplinary process, falsely testifying and failing to keep disputed funds separate from his own.
Duty could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined $250,000.
Post a Comment
