WV Lawyer Charged with Bank, Wire Fraud

A lawyer and her office manager were charged Tuesday with defrauding the West Virginia state Public Defender Services by submitting false vouchers totaling nearly $275,000.^[1]

Martinsburg, WV, lawyer Heidi J. Silver Myers, and Nancy P. Burkhart, were each charged with one count of conspiracy, 99 counts of mail fraud and 12 counts of wire fraud.^[2] Myers owns Myers Law Group in Martinsburg and Burkhart is the firm's office manager; they are accused of conspiring to submit vouchers to Public Defender Services for court-appointed work that Myers did not perform.^[3] Other vouchers falsely billed the agency at the $45 per hour rate for attorney time when the work was performed by paralegals or other employees of the law firm; vouchers also were allegedly submitted for research, court hearings and other work when Myers actually was on vacation.^[4]

The women allegedly conducted the voucher scheme from July 2004 to July 6, 2006, and in the course of the scheme allegedly received $274,580.38 from Public Defender Services, between Jan. 24, 2005, and March 21, 2006.^[5]

If convicted of all charges, Myers and Burkhart each face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy count. Each fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.^[6]

Bank fraud is committed when a person knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice, 1) to defraud a financial institution;^[7] or 2) to obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises; this shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.^[8]

Wire Fraud is a crime that takes place when a person, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.^[9]

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^[1] AP Staff, Lawyer accused of defrauding public defender agency, Associated Press Newswire, Jun 19, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (1)(2007).
^[8] Id. § 1344(2).
^[9] 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (2007).