Warren lawyer faces more charges
Gray is also accused of
taking $85,359 from his aunt.
WARREN — A Warren lawyer charged last summer with four crimes involving his law practice has been indicted on two charges involving another client.
James E. Gray, 61, of Hunter’s Hollow, Howland, was indicted Wednesday on charges of grand theft and forgery involving a case he handled for a Vienna man, Timothy Everett, around 2004.
If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.
Gray’s law license was suspended during the summer of 2006, and a hearing that would determine whether he would lose the license permanently has been put on hold by Gray’s criminal charges, said Atty. Randil Rudloff, who investigated the matter for the Trumbull County Bar Association.
The bar association investigation into Everett’s case indicated that Gray handled a personal injury lawsuit for Everett in which Gray charged Everett $7,330 for the assistance of another attorney and then kept the money.
The investigation also indicated that Gray put two forged pages into a settlement agreement in Everett’s case. The pages said Everett was settling his entire case for $200,000, when Everett’s actual agreement left one aspect of the case unsettled.
In a previous case, Gray was indicted on a charge of theft from the elderly and three counts of grand theft in August on allegations he cheated four clients whose case were before the Trumbull County Probate Court. In one of the cases, Gray was accused of taking $85,359 from his now-deceased aunt while representing her.
That case is pending before Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay.
Gray will be arraigned at 2 p.m. May 8 on the newest charges by Judge Andrew Logan.