Luwain Ng and Denise Doll waited almost five years to hear family law attorney Patricia Gregory, admit she was a crook.
They waited through the State Bar proceedings. They waited through Gregory fighting them tooth and nail, including telling reporters she was owed money. They waited through Gregory appealing the decision of the State Bar....with Gregory claiming to do great legal work.
Which must have been about as galling for Ng and Doll, as waiting for the DA to take action, only to have Jeff Dort blow off their hard work in a Friday afternoon voicemail in which Dort said the DA's office was "declining to prosecute."
Things change
But the case was given to DA Sherry Thompson, who had other ideas. I'd heard Thompson was serious and three times she requested Gregory be taken into custody. But it's Vista - where bias against family court litigants who are likewise crime victims has garnered (deserved) national attention. If that wasn't bad enough, the case was before Judge Kimberlee, "Let 'em Go" Lagotta, so no dice.
Lagotta kept saying she was "concerned," or "suspicious" each time Thompson brought to her attention Gregory was violating conditions which allowed her to remain free. But it turns out, at least in Lagotta's court, white collar crime is not a "get out of jail free card" but a "hey, we're not going to arrest you, much less take you in custody" kind of Department.
Still, Thompson never wavered. She pulled cases from other family court litigants Gregory's represented. She tracked down other victims of Gregory, including one a Trustee recommended filing Bankruptcy after Gregory picked her pocket to the tune of 19k.
One day I caught a glimpse of Thompson pulling an enormous box of files to her car. It must have weighed forty pounds.
But in the end, on January 24, 2012, Gregory admitted to two counts of embezzling funds....and one count of the unauthorized practice of law.
Completely giving up the ghost, Patricia Gregory also removed her objection to Ng and Dahl applying for funds from the client security fund. (Should Gregory ever petition the State Bar to practice again, she'll first have to pay back any funds the State Bar paid to cover client losses.)
Patricia Gregory; embezzler.
Still advertising on Martindale.
And likely looking for other prey, online as she drove out of the parking lot in her late model car.
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