Supreme Court receives complaint regarding Atty. Timothy Bellew of Girard

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline has received a certified complaint from the Trumbull County Bar Association regarding Atty. Timothy E. Bellew of Girard.

A certified complaint has been sent to Bellew, and he has been asked to file an answer to it. A hearing is likely to be scheduled in the matter in four to six months.

According to the bar association, Bellew, who has been an Ohio attorney since 1997, is a solo practitioner with an office at 1 S. State St.

The complaint is based on his handling of a case involving Petra Richardson, who sought help from Bellew with a divorce case in April 2013 and paid him $400.

Though Bellew promised he would file her divorce action, he did not, and Richardson could not reach him by email or phone call.

On June 8, 2013, she emailed Bellew to inform him she had hired another attorney. Bellew “failed to cooperate with the investigator throughout the investigation” and was unable to talk to him about the matter, the bar association said.

His conduct is a violation of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, the association alleges.