Former attorney arrested for forgery and theft

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Former Evangeline Parish Assistant District Attorney Timmy Fontenot was arrested in June 2018 on charges related to an incident that recently led to his permanent disbarment.
According to the Evangeline Parish Jail, Fontenot was arrested on June 4, 2018 on one count of forgery and one count of theft.
Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Dominic Myles also shared Fontenot was arrested for allegedly “signing his client’s signature on a settlement check.”
The former local attorney’s probing date or pre-trial date was set for Thursday, November 8th, in Judge Gary Ortego’s courtroom.
Fontenot is being represented by attorney Jacob Fusilier, who in June requested a “gag order” be put in place to keep all parties involved in this matter from speaking publicly in regard to Fontenot’s case.
A gag order, which was granted in this case, is a judge’s order prohibiting the attorneys and the parties to a pending lawsuit or criminal prosecution from talking to the media or the public about the case. Therefore, the attorney general’s office, which is the agency prosecuting this matter, said it could not discuss Fontenot’s case.
Fontenot’s attorney also declined to comment due to the gag order.
Records relating to Fontenot’s permanent disbarment revealed his disbarment resulted from how he handled a case that began in 2013 and centered around a claim in the Deepwater Horizon case.
Fontenot became the liason in this case between the client and another law firm Fontenot referred the case to.
According to records from the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, the client was suppose to have received a check for $275,214.02 in April of 2016 but instead was given a check in the amount of $200,214.02.
In July 2016, another attorney called the law firm “to inquire about the status of the funding for the client’s settlement,” and was informed by the law firm that it had sent $275,214.02 in settlement funds along with all appropriate disbursement and settlement documents to Fontenot on June 1, 2016.
The law firm then called the client and learned that Fontenot had issued the client a check for $200,214.02. According to court records, the firm also learned Fontenot “had forged the client’s name on the back of the firm’s trust account check made payable to the client and deposited the check into his trust account.”
Once discovering this, on July 28, 2016 an attorney at the firm instructed Fontenot to disburse the entire settlement to the clients, which he advised he did the following day. Fontenot also sent a copy of is trust account check, which contained a copy of the client’s signed acknowledgement that it had received these funds.
It was later learned, according to court records, that Fontenot had copied the client’s handwritten acknowledgement of receipt of funds from the first check Fontenot provided to his client for $200,214.02.
The firm and another local attorney, who had been working with Fontenot, ultimately filed a formal complaint against him with Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC), who began investigating the matter.
During its investigation, ODC was unable to make contact with Fontenot after several attempts. However, according to court records, because there was sufficient evidence to prove the charges were accurate, the allegations against Fontenot were classified as “admitted.”
The Louisiana Supreme Court ultimately found Fontenot forged his clients signature on a check, created false documents to cover his tracks, failed to cooperate with ODC in its investigation and retained possession of $75,000 of his client’s money.