Attorney accused of sex misconduct
YOUNGSTOWN -- Edward F. Sturgeon remains on the job as an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor while facing Ohio Supreme Court discipline over allegations of having sex with one client and trying to have sex with another.
Sturgeon, 52, of Boardman, is assigned to Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield. He also maintains a private practice in Boardman.
The allegations, which refer to conduct in his private practice, are contained in a 13-page report obtained Tuesday by The Vindicator from Jonathan E. Coughlan, Supreme Court of Ohio disciplinary counsel.
Coughlan said his office is proceeding with disciplinary prosecution against Sturgeon. The lawyer is accused of violating the code of professional responsibility by misconduct.
The Supreme Court Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline has accepted the case for a hearing, Coughlan said.
Sturgeon has until March 25 to reply to the certified complaint, after which the hearing date will be set. He was out of town Tuesday and could not be reached to comment.
Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said Tuesday that Sturgeon will remain at Canfield court because the allegations involve Sturgeon's private practice, not his conduct as an assistant prosecutor. Gains said that if the allegations prove to be true, he will take action, which could mean reprimanding or firing Sturgeon.
First investigation
The investigation of two complaints was a dual effort of the Mahoning County Bar Association and Coughlan's office.
The first investigation revealed that, on March 11, 2003, a 23-year-old woman met with Sturgeon at his private office at Sky Bank downtown with the idea of hiring him to represent her in a custody and support case that involved her 2-year-old child.
The following is from Coughlan's report:
The woman told Sturgeon she didn't have the $2,500 retainer he wanted and could give only $50 that day. The lawyer then closed and locked his office door and sat next to the woman.
He asked her to remove her jacket and, when she did, told her she had a "nice figure" and wasn't as "chunky" as he thought.
He said he needed incentive to take her case and asked if there was anything she was willing to do to "make it easier" for him to take the case. He moved closer, pulled down his pants and underwear, asked her if she knew how to [perform oral sex] and then told her to do it after she didn't answer.
He removed her shirt and bra and fondled her breasts while she performed oral sex.
Afterward, the woman became upset and began to cry. She handed him a check for $50 and left. That evening she sought medical treatment and, the next day, reported what happened to Youngstown police and stopped payment on the check.
At the time, The Vindicator inquired about the woman's allegation, which appeared in a police report. The newspaper did not report the woman's allegation in March 2003 because no criminal charge was filed and complaints about lawyers filed with the bar association are not public unless the Ohio Supreme Court makes a finding of reasonable cause. Such a finding has since been made.
What was alleged to have happened didn't meet the elements needed for a criminal charge but if true presented "huge ethical concerns" for Sturgeon with the Mahoning County Bar Association, City Prosecutor Dionne M. Almasy said at the time. She and then-Law Director John A. McNally IV notified the bar, by letter, that the allegation was documented in a police report and a 60-minute videotaped interview.
Almasy said no criminal charge would be filed because the woman didn't allege force or threat of force or coercion, for example, which would be needed to charge rape, sexual battery or gross sexual imposition. The woman did not imply that the act was anything but consensual, Almasy explained.
The young woman told her mother what happened and went to Forum Northside Medical Center for a sexual assault examination a few hours after she left Sturgeon's private office. An officer interviewed the woman at the hospital and collected the examination evidence, which remains in the Youngstown Police Department evidence room refrigerator, reports show.
The woman's police report was first reviewed by YPD Detective Sgt. Jose Morales, who videotaped his interview with her March 12. He then discussed the case with Almasy, who also reviewed the tape.
Almasy said she found the woman bright and well-spoken and her statements consistent. The city prosecutor said the woman never wavered from what she first told police when interviewed at the hospital.
Second probe
The second investigation of Sturgeon involved a woman in a custody case that involved her two children in March 2004. By then, Sturgeon had relocated to a Market Street office in Boardman.
The following is from Coughlan's report:
Sturgeon, after ushering the woman into his office, told her she was very beautiful but wasn't certain if he was interested in taking her case. She left and made a second appointment. The day of the appointment, Sturgeon, saying he had a scheduling conflict, offered to meet the woman at her home instead of his office.
Initially, they sat at the dining room table. Sturgeon suggested they move to a place in the house where it would be warmer, and they sat in the living room.
Sturgeon moved close to the woman on the couch. The woman complained about her ex-husband's influence on the children and his interest in pornography.
Sturgeon said his retainer would be $2,500. She had $1,000.
Sturgeon then walked around the house, checking doorknobs and locks and telling her that, as an assistant county prosecutor, he carried a gun. He looked in the children's bedroom closets.
In the woman's bedroom, Sturgeon closed the blinds, laid on her bed and asked her to lie next to him. She said no.
He stood, touched her arm, back, head and then her buttocks and the side of one breast. He told her she could pay his fees by having sex with him.
The woman began to cry and walked out of the bedroom.
Sturgeon followed and grabbed her waist and arms, telling her that he loved her breasts. She told him she didn't want to have sex with him.
Sturgeon told the woman he has sex with clients "all the time."
She asked about his family. He told her he had a wife, a child in college and one in high school.
When the woman continued to refuse sex, Sturgeon became angry and said he wouldn't take her case. She told him she thought he was a good attorney but she wasn't interested in having sex with him.
Sturgeon continued to ask for sex in return for legal services.
Fearing that he wouldn't leave, the woman agreed to schedule another appointment and Sturgeon went to get his appointment book from his car. Before he left, he asked if he could peek at her breasts and described himself as a "sociopath."
Once back with the appointment book, Sturgeon said he needed $1,000 retainer and continued to ask for sex. He said no one else would take her case.
Sturgeon told the woman to not tell anyone about their conversation. She made an excuse about work and said she had to leave.
Sturgeon left, and the woman hired another attorney.