Man Accused of Letting Pal, Not a Lawyer, Represent Him

An Orange County Municipal judge Thursday ordered a Long Beach man to show why he should not be held in contempt for allegedly allowing a friend, who is not a lawyer, to pretend to be his attorney.

Judge Dan Dutcher ordered Joe Segura, a reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, to appear in West Municipal Court April 5 for the latest round in what started as a landlord-tenant dispute and has become the county’s second incident involving an allegedly phony lawyer in less than two months.

Dutcher directed Segura to explain why he should not be found in contempt of court “for aiding and abetting or acquiescing” in an appearance on his behalf last Friday by his friend John Bradfford.

Bradfford, of Lakewood, was jailed briefly Friday in lieu of $500 bail after being arrested on suspicion on contempt of court for falsely claiming to be a lawyer. No charges have been filed against him.

Segura, who said he was not aware of Dutcher’s contempt order, said the chain of events began when he filed a suit against Ethalynn Ward, owner of a Sunset Beach apartment Segura rented for several months in 1983. The suit charged that living conditions were poor and demanded $15,000 for breach of contract.

Ward, a clerk in West Superior Court, which is in the same building in Westminster as the Municipal Court, retained Larry B. Bruce of Cosa Mesa as her attorney.

Segura, who said he had no money to hire an attorney, was representing himself but said Bradfford was helping him to draft the court complaints. Segura said Bradfford told him he was a lawyer in Texas and that Segura would get help from a lawyer Bradfford knew, David Unrot of Los Angeles.

But Bruce said Bradfford passed himself off as Unrot on documents he filed in court and in conversations with Bruce.

Bruce said he first met the man who said he was Unrot several days before last Friday’s scheduled hearing on Segura’s complaint against Ward. He said the man said he had just been hired and requested a postponement to study the case.

Bruce said that although he agreed, he had his doubts about the man because “number one, the guy doesn’t look like an attorney. He’s wearing paint-stained pants with holes in them.” Also, Bruce said, the purported lawyer asked that any correspondence be mailed to “in care of the plaintiff,” Segura.

Bruce said he checked with the State Bar Assn., found it listed only one David Unrot, and telephoned him. Bruce said Unrot told him he did not know Segura and did not practice in Orange County.

Last Friday, Bruce said, when the man appeared in court, “I whip out my Bar card and demand that the judge make him do the same.” When the man could not, investigators were called and the man who said he was Unrot admitted being Bradfford, Bruce said. He was arrested on suspicion of contempt for impersonating a lawyer.

Segura said he could not take time off from work to go to court last Friday but disputed Bruce’s description of Bradfford. Segura said that when he saw his friend an hour before he went to court he was wearing a neat blue suit.

Bradfford was jailed a week and a half after John Vescera, 28, and his brother, Frank, 34, were charged with falsely claiming to be lawyers and appearing at Central Municipal Court in Santa Ana from last August until Feb. 6, when John Vescera was arrested and jailed for 35 days for contempt of court.

The brothers are defendants in a preliminary hearing being conducted to determine whether there is enough evidence to require them to stand trial. Prosecutors have charged that the brothers represented nearly 200 defendants in court, many of them Spanish-speaking and most charged with drunk driving.