Attorney Charged With Soliciting the Murders of Father, Ex-Associate

A newly hired attorney was arrested in Costa Mesa on Monday by FBI agents for allegedly hiring a “hit man” to murder his father and a former business associate. The hit man turned out to be an FBI agent.

Joseph Walter Shambaugh, 31, is being held without bail on charges of conspiracy, carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, possessing an unregistered firearm and use of interstate commerce facilities with intent to commit murder for hire, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed late Monday.

Shambaugh, who is believed to be a Costa Mesa resident, was arrested without incident at the firm of Galvin & Plyler, located in the 6000 block of Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. He started working for the firm last Friday, according to a government prosecutor.

Also charged was William Henry Darnold, 64, a former client of Shambaugh who is serving a seven-year federal prison sentence for selling a pound of cocaine to undercover agents. In a 1984 sentencing memo, government prosecutors described Darnold as a “Mafia-connected career criminal.”

“It is an interesting case,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Jon C. Cederberg. Cederberg declined to comment on whether Shambaugh had any ties to organized crime.

Working from his El Reno, Okla., prison cell, Darnold allegedly helped Shambaugh hire a hit man to murder Shambaugh’s father, retired Anaheim attorney Walter Shambaugh, and Steven Szu Hong Sung, a former business associate of Shambaugh and Darnold, according to the indictment.

Sung, who once shared an office with Shambaugh, could not be reached for comment. The elder Shambaugh also could not be reached for comment. Cederberg said he was unsure of their whereabouts.

“Obviously Shambaugh denies the charges,” said Alan I. Rubin, Shambaugh’s court-appointed attorney. “The indictment comes as a surprise.”

Rubin said he will ask a federal magistrate to release Shambaugh on bail at a detention hearing scheduled for today.

Shambaugh was suspended from the California Bar in September, 1986, for failing to pay his Bar dues, according to a spokeswoman for the Bar in Los Angeles. He can practice law again if he pays his dues and is reinstated by the state Supreme Court.

Galvin & Plyler, with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, recently opened an office in Costa Mesa, according to attorney G. Michael Galvin. Galvin confirmed that Shambaugh had been with the firm for one day but declined to comment further because “we are trying to get to the bottom of it.”

The indictment describes how Shambaugh allegedly arranged for the murder of his father and Sung. In February, 1985, Darnold allegedly arranged a meeting between Shambaugh and a Beverly Hills man who turned out to be an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The informant arranged for Shambaugh to meet a hit man, who was actually an undercover FBI agent, the indictment said.

Shambaugh allegedly offered to pay $20,000 for Sung’s murder and provided the informant with a $1,000 cash down payment, according to the indictment.

A week later, Shambaugh met with the informant again, this time to arrange the murder of his father, according to the indictment.

On Feb. 24, Shambaugh allegedly met the so-called hit man in Marina del Rey and provided him with “a 9-millimeter semi-automatic Luger handgun with no serial number, a silencer with no serial number and two pairs of rubber gloves to be used in the murders-for-hire,” the indictment said.

In late March, Shambaugh and the informant flew from Los Angeles to El Reno to meet with Darnold in prison and to finalize the arrangements, according to the indictment.

About two years ago, the elder and younger Shambaughs practiced law together in Anaheim. It was unclear what Joseph Shambaugh had done between then and his recent hiring by Galvin & Plyler.

If convicted on all charges, Shambaugh and Darnold each face a maximum prison term of 35 years and $70,000 in fines.