Summary: The following is a list of attorneys who are associated with child pornography because they were either caught with it or publicly defended those caught with it.
This year, we all shuddered when it was announced that former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle possessed child pornography, but it’s not just celebrities who shock us with this deplorable crime. Sometimes it’s fellow lawyers that harbor a dark secret or defend pedophile behavior.
The following is a list of stories about lawyers that will both break your heart and gross you out.
Self-righteous anti-gay lawyer made child porn
You know the phrase–She doth protest too much… And that phrase precisely describes hypocrite Lisa Baron. Baron, an attorney, worked with the anti-gay, Christian defense group, Alliance Defending Freedom; and in 2012, police searched her home for child pornography after a tip. Prosecutors also claimed she kidnapped a teen girl and forced her to make a sex tape.
This disgusting lady was charged with transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, possession of child pornography, and five counts of sexual exploitation of children. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2012/11/23/anti-gay-lawyer-arrested-for-sexual-exploitation-of-children/
Arnold & Porter lawyer pled guilty to child porn possession
Ex-Arnold & Porter attorney Joshua Jesse Robert Gessler, had his Virginia law license revoked in 2011 because he pled guilty to possession of child pornography. He had also been accused of paying a teenager for sex. Yikes.
Gessler had been a corporate and securities lawyer with Arnold & Porter before his arrest. He had also worked as an adjunct law professor at George Mason University. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2011/07/02/ex-arnold-porter-lawyer-loses-law-license/
Allen & Overy Partner distributes kiddie porn at the office
Edward De Sear, a former Allen & Overy partner, was indicted in 2012 on charges of collecting and distributing hundreds of child pornography images. According to the Newark U.S. Attorney’s office, De Sear used peer-to-peer file sharing programs to distribute child porn and used Allen & Overy’s Internet network to view it. Before he was discovered to be a pedophile, De Sear had a distinguished career. He graduated from Columbia University and from University of Virginia Law School before working at big law firms such as McKee Nelson, Bingham McCutchen and Milbank Tweed. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2012/08/24/ex-allen-overy-partner-arrested-for-distributing-child-porn-from-law-firm-office/
Dummy lawyer creates child porn for a case, gets fined $300,000
In weird news, Ohio lawyer Dean Boland doctored images in 2004 to showcase how impossible it was to tell if child porn was real or fake. He took stock images of kids and manipulated the images to make them appear to be engaging in sex acts. He was fined $300,000 by the courts. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2012/11/10/lawyer-fined-300000-for-creating-child-pornography-to-prove-a-point/
John Grisham weirdly defends child pornography users
In 2014, attorney and bestselling author John Grisham confused everyone when he gave an interview to The Telegraph where he lamented the harsh punishments towards those who enjoyed child porn.“We have prisons now filled with guys my age. Sixty-year-old white men in prison who’ve never harmed anybody, would never touch a child,” Grisham said.“But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons, went too far and got into child porn.” Um…never once in the history of drunkenness has anyone just casually stumbled upon child porn, but whatever, creepy John. Whatever. He later apologized. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2014/10/16/john-grisham-tells-magazine-that-u-s-imprisons-too-many-child-porn-offenders/
Chicago Attorney caught with hundreds of kiddie porn images
James Crowley, a 36-year-old Chicago attorney living in Arlington Heights, was charged with one felony count of possession of child pornography in June of 2015. After receiving a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Cook County, authorities investigated and found 500 photographs and 50 videos on his electronic devices. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2015/06/26/illinois-attorney-faces-child-porn-allegations/
Young lawyer caught in “To Catch a Predator” style bust
In July of 2015, 29-year-old Matthew Gigot, an attorney in Washington, D.C., was charged with sexual performance using a minor. According to legal documents, an undercover cop communicated with Gigot online through a chat website and an app called Kik. Gigot allegedly told the undercover officer he wanted to have sex with a 12-year-old boy and also sent child porn. After his arrest, he was forced to wear an ankle bracelet and ordered not to talk to minors. But was that enough? For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2015/07/01/washington-d-c-attorney-arrested-for-child-porn-allegations/
Warden and former attorney caught with kiddie porn, imprisoned where he used to work
“Imagine being an inmate in the jail where you were once the warden. It’s exactly what happened to Alan Abadie this week after he was caught with child pornography,” JDJournal wrote back in October 2015. Authorities had been investigating Abadie, a lawyer and warden, since 2011, and they found he was in possession of child pornography. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2015/10/16/former-attorney-and-warden-arrested-for-child-porn/
Attorney claims child porn was research for novel
Attorney and aspiring author George Bock Ditter claimed he was surfing for child pornography on his work computer because he was researching a novel. Is this the kind of man John Grisham was defending back in 2014?
Ditter will be formally arraigned in January 2016. For the full story: https://www.jdjournal.com/2015/11/06/attorney-claims-child-pornography-images-were-research-for-sexual-graphic-novel/
