Judges, Clients Fooled : He Looked, Talked Like a Lawyer, but Now He’s in Jail

Lawyers referred clients to John Vescera, judges thought he was competent and defendants believed that with him on their side they might get a break. The problem was, the man they thought of as a defense lawyer was not an attorney at all, authorities said Thursday.

Jacquelyn D. Thomason, the Municipal Court judge who ordered Vescera jailed for 35 days for civil contempt on Wednesday for “misrepresenting himself to the court as an attorney when he’s not,” said the 28-year-old man seemed to know his way around a courtroom.

“I thought he did a good job” in his months of appearances in her courtroom, said Thomason, the presiding judge in the central district of the county Municipal Court.

If anything, she said in an interview, she was suspicious because he handled so many cases.

State Bar officials said Thursday that Vescera is not licensed to practice law in California.

Richard Thornton of Venice also was impressed by Vescera--so impressed that he sent him a check for $150 and then another for $100 to be his lawyer. Thornton did not find out about the allegations that Vescera was not an attorney until Thursday, when contacted by a reporter. Thornton said he would stop payment on the second check.

Attorneys said it is rare for people to practice law without a license, which is a misdemeanor. Although no criminal charges have been lodged against Vescera, prosecutors said they are reviewing more than 100 cases in which he was involved to see if any of them will have to be retried in court if the allegations are found to be true.

While Vescera remained in Orange County Jail, held without bail on the civil contempt sentence, Deputy Dist. Atty. Arthur Koelle said that investigators are hunting for Frank Vescera, thought to be John’s brother or cousin, also on suspicion of practicing without a license.

Koelle said investigators searched the Vesceras’ offices Wednesday and are trying to determine if criminal charges should be filed, as well as checking to see how many cases Vescera handled.

“The last count that we had of cases that we could find--and we have not done a full search--was over a hundred,” Koelle said.

Vescera appeared in court Wednesday with seven of those cases due to be heard. But Thomason called him into her chambers because she had received a complaint that he was soliciting clients, which attorneys are not allowed to do.

The judge said that Vescera gave her his bar association card at her request but that a check showed it had been issued in 1922 to a John Vescera who is now 95 years old. She said that Vescera told her he graduated from USC Law School but that when she checked, there was no record.

State bar records list the 95-year-old Vescera as a practicing attorney in Newport Beach, but he could not be reached Thursday.

Thomason said that over the months John Vescera appeared in her court, he handled only drunk-driving cases, and she could not recall him ever taking one to trial. In the cases that were finished, Vescera’s clients always pleaded guilty, she said.

Thomason’s colleague, Municipal Judge Eugene Langhauser, said Vescera had “appeared in all the (municipal) courts” in Santa Ana, and “I thought he was a competent attorney.”

The same opinion was held by Thornton, who said he was arrested in December in Santa Ana and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood-alcohol content higher than .10.

Attorneys said that in such cases it is common for the district attorney’s office to dismiss one count if the defendant pleads guilty to the other. Thornton said that, essentially, was what Vescera offered to do for him.

Vescera telephoned him at home, said he had found a record of the arrest and “told me all he could do,” Thornton said.

“He said he could get (the charge) dropped down, it wouldn’t affect my license, he could get my fine held off for about six months.”

The 30-year-old mechanic said he compared prices charged by other attorneys and decided on Vescera. He said he was contacted last week by Frank Vescera, who reminded him of the upcoming court date but said Thornton need not appear. After the phone call, Thornton sent off another check, he said.

A man who dealt only with Frank Vescera was Jesse Santiago of Santa Ana. Santiago said he had already paid Frank Vescera $575 for legal fees and had a Thursday afternoon appointment to pay “around $500” to cover court costs and a fine for drunk driving.

Santiago said Frank Vescera, who is listed by the Department of Motor Vehicles as living in Mission Viejo, told him he had succeeded in getting Santiago’s Breathalyzer test thrown out of court.

“He seemed like a pretty good lawyer,” Santiago said, adding that after he was charged with drunk driving he was contacted by Frank Vescera, who identified himself as a public defender.

The law firm at 600 West Santa Ana Boulevard, a five-minute walk from the courts where the Vesceras appeared, is listed as Vescera Chancellor Lawford & Hill. A widely used listing of lawyers practicing in Orange County does not list a Chancellor, Lawford or Hill practicing at that address.

Koelle said it appeared that Vescera had rented the office last summer and had started appearing in Municipal Court about that time.

Mark David Werts, an attorney who said he handles mostly civil cases and who has an office on the same floor as Vescera’s, said he referred several clients charged with crimes to his colleague.

Werts said there was nothing to arouse suspicion that Vescera might not be an attorney. He said he knew Frank Vescera to say hello to, and “everyone always referred to them as the Vescera brothers.” But Werts said that when it came to the partners Vescera listed, “I never knew who they were.”

Koelle, too, was unsure if there were any partners. Asked if they exist, he said, “not that we’re aware of. No one seems to know who they are.”

Times staff writer Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this story.