Trial set for disbarred Sylvania lawyer in property suit

12/1/2007

A longtime Sylvania lawyer who was disbarred for ethical misconduct will go to trial Feb. 11 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on felony charges stemming from her interaction with an elderly client.

Linda S. Cook, 56, is charged with one count each of tampering with records and theft from the elderly or disabled. She is free on a $50,000 bond. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

Her attorney, John Potts, has filed a motion for the dismissal of the charges, saying that the indictment was handed up more than six years after the incident occurred.

Judge Gary Cook has taken the motion and the response filed by assistant prosecutors under advisement.

According to a report by the Ohio Supreme Court Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, Ms. Cook is accused of falsifying the deed to an elderly client's farm in July, 2001, to qualify that client for Medicaid.

Additionally, she is charged with transferring the property to herself before giving the farm to her client's church, as she was instructed to do, so as to allow her to take charitable deductions for the gift on her own taxes.

Ms. Cook, who was admitted to the practice of law in 1993, was disbarred July 11 by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In 2002, her license had been suspended after the Supreme Court found that she violated the Code of Professional Responsibility in another matter.