MISCONDUCT REPORT Sturgeon takes unpaid job leave

Two women say the attorney demanded sex as payment for legal services.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Edward G. Sturgeon, an assistant prosecutor for Mahoning County, took an unpaid leave of absence Wednesday, the day a disciplinary report accused him of offering legal help to clients of his private law practice in exchange for sex.
County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said Sturgeon said the leave was voluntary and "is in no way to be construed as an admission to any allegations."
Jonathan E. Coughlan, Supreme Court of Ohio disciplinary counsel, said Tuesday his office is proceeding with disciplinary prosecution against Sturgeon. His investigative report, obtained by The Vindicator, detailed two similar allegations from women who were seeking legal help with domestic cases. The report alleges that in each case the women were asked for sex when they did not have the money for Sturgeon's fees. Coughlan said the allegations would violate the lawyer's code of professional responsibility.
Zero tolerance
Meanwhile, the president of the Mahoning County Bar Association said the organization has a zero-tolerance policy for the kind of complaints made against Sturgeon. "Our grievance committee took the lead and investigated this complaint, allowing for the grievance to be certified by the Supreme Court," Clair M. Carlin said Wednesday.
Carlin added that this is an "isolated incident, and the bar association has a zero tolerance policy for such complaints."
Sturgeon, 52, of Boardman, had been assigned as an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor in the area court in Canfield. He maintains a private practice in Boardman.
Sturgeon has until March 25 to reply to the certified complaint, after which the hearing date will be set. Sturgeon was unavailable to comment Wednesday.
The investigation of the complaints was a dual effort of the bar association and Coughlan's office, Carlin said.
Accusations
The report alleges the first encounter occurred March 11, 2003, when 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.
When the woman said she could not afford the $2,500 retainer, the report says Sturgeon told her he needed an incentive to take the case. He then asked for, and received, oral sex while fondling the women's breasts.
Though the woman filed a police report the next day, no criminal charges were 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, city Prosecutor Dionne Almasy said at the time.
The second encounter involved a woman in a custody case involving her two children in March 2004. By then, Sturgeon had relocated to a Market Street office in Boardman.
The Coughlan report alleges he arranged a meeting at the woman's home, where he repeatedly asked her for sex as a way to pay for legal help. She declined and eventually hired another lawyer.