Maybe this guy was watching a little too much
Breaking Bad.
Local Defense lawyer is facing 5 years for his part in a money laundering scheme.
By: Mark Morris of the
Kansas City Star
A prominent Kansas City criminal defense lawyer pleaded guilty
Wednesday in Kansas federal court to laundering money that he thought
came from illegal drug sales. In reality, the money came from an undercover federal agent involved in a sting operation. Ronald
E. Partee, 66, admitted that he and the operators of a Northland credit
counseling service, Forbes and Newhard Credit Solutions, agreed to help
hide the source of the money. Partee discussed the storage of
marijuana, according to federal court records. He also advised the
undercover agent on the risk of using drug couriers and how money should
be transported to pay drug suppliers, court records said.
Workers
at the credit counseling agency are charged with conspiracy, money
laundering and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Mendy
Read-Forbes, 37, and Laura Shoop, 46, both of Platte City, initially
were charged in June. They faced additional charges last week. Partee
has practiced criminal law for 37 years and has been a regular and
genial figure at courthouses in Kansas and Missouri. Through his
attorney, Gary W. Hart, he declined to comment after the hearing. In
a written statement, Hart said that Partee has been a respected member
of the Missouri Bar and served his clients and the courts with
distinction.
“But his errors of judgment in a small-scale money
laundering case, in which he did not receive even a dime in illegal
money, have now cost him his career and his freedom for up to five
years,” Hart said.
According to state records, Partee served for a
period on the board of the nonprofit credit counseling agency, which
provided financial advice for those who were filing for bankruptcy in
federal court.
In March, a member of a Secret Service task force
approached Read-Forbes, telling her that he was in the “shrubbery”
business and had cash that he needed to conceal, according to
allegations in federal court records. The undercover agent later said
the cash came from drug sales.
A month later, Partee approved two
wire transfers, believing that the money had come from unlawful
activity, according to the facts of the case recounted in his plea
agreement. Audio and video recorders captured a May 25 meeting
with Partee in his office in which he discussed with the undercover
agent and another person the storage of the agent’s marijuana, the risk
of using drug couriers and transportation of the money. U.S.
Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara accepted Partee’s guilty pleas to two
money laundering counts at a 50-minute hearing Wednesday morning. O’Hara
ordered a pre-sentence investigation and ordered Partee released
pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.
As a lawyer, Partee had ringside seats for some of the area’s most intriguing cases over the last quarter century. He
represented Kansas City Councilwoman Saundra McFadden-Weaver on
mortgage fraud charges in 2007. She was convicted and sentenced to two
months of confinement and four months of home detention. In the
late 1990s, Partee represented political consultant Cathryn M. Simmons
in the public corruption trials of former Missouri House speaker Bob
Griffin.
But Partee has told friends that his proudest day in the
law came on Sept. 28, 1994, when an all-white Linn County, Kan., jury
voted to acquit his African-American client, Evan Townsend, of
first-degree murder in a white man’s death more than a decade earlier. Last
week, Partee began asking judges to allow him to withdraw from
representing clients in several Missouri criminal cases in federal
court, telling them in written motions that he could not continue. His
wording was identical in each case.
“Personal circumstances have
arisen for counsel such that his mental condition materially impairs his
ability to represent the defendant,” Partee wrote.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/30/4039401/kc-defense-lawyer-admits-money.html#storylink=cpy
