We Don’t Advise It, Unless You Want Jail Time.
Lubbock, Texas. “Poochy”. 1942. Library of Congress.
Here is one way of collecting fees we don’t advise doing.
San Antonio attorney Hilda Valadez pleaded guilty in March of this year to criminal fraud charges of forging a judge’s signature on orders showing she had performed services justifying her to court-appointed attorney’s fees in certain cases (indigent criminal matters). Of course, she had not performed most of the services, with one official in the Texas county auditor’s office saying Ms. Valadez was improperly paid $594,639 in fees between 2008 and 2011.
The price for this behavior? 10 years in state prison, ruled a Texas judge presiding over the criminal case. The judge indicated that restitution of the improperly taken funds would influence his probationary review of the matter along the way.