Case Title: Disciplinary Counsel v. Longo

Citation: 2002-Ohio-641

Docket Number: 20011576

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2002-01-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as Disciplinary Counsel v. Longo, 94 Ohio St.3d 219, 2002-Ohio-641.] 
 
 
OFFICE OF DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL v. LONGO. 
[Cite as Disciplinary Counsel v. Longo (2002), 94 Ohio St.3d 219.] 
Attorneys at law — Misconduct — Permanent disbarment — Conviction of a 
felony. 
(No. 01-1576 — Submitted October 16, 2001 — Decided January 30, 2002.) 
ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and 
Discipline of the Supreme Court, No. 01-34. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam.  On February 13, 2001, being advised that respondent, 
Thomas G. Longo, presently of Devens, Massachusetts, Attorney Registration No. 
0019110, had been convicted of a felony, we suspended him from the practice of 
law for an interim period.  In re Longo (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 1438, 742 N.E.2d 
137.  On April 9, 2001 relator, Disciplinary Counsel, filed a complaint charging 
that the conduct which underlay respondent’s conviction violated the Code of 
Professional Responsibility.  Respondent answered, and the matter was submitted 
to a panel of the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the 
Supreme Court (“board”) on the stipulations of the parties. 
 
The panel found that in March 1996, after respondent and a business 
partner had obtained $130,000 as insurance proceeds after a fire destroyed the 
Wizard’s Inn, which they jointly owned in Richmond Heights, Ohio, they each 
deposited a check for $65,000, representing their respective shares of the 
proceeds, in Caesar’s Palace Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Respondent 
and his partner then withdrew cash from the Casino, each returning to Ohio with 
$65,000.  On March 11, 1996, respondent gave his partner $70,000 in cash, 
knowing that the partner intended to travel to Buffalo, New York, to use the funds 
to obtain marijuana.  The partner was arrested the next day by federal agents in 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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Buffalo while attempting to purchase one thousand pounds of marijuana.  
Respondent, having knowledge of the commission of a felony, concealed it and 
did not make it known to any authority of the United States.  On November 28, 
2000, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, 
pursuant to respondent’s plea, to misprision of a felony, Section 4, Title 18, 
U.S.Code, sentenced him to three years in prison. 
 
The panel concluded that respondent’s conduct violated DR 1-102(A)(3) 
(a lawyer shall not engage in illegal conduct involving moral turpitude), 1-
102(A)(4) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, 
deceit, or misrepresentation), and 1-102(A)(6) (a lawyer shall not engage in 
conduct adversely reflecting on the lawyer’s fitness to practice law) and  
recommended that respondent be disbarred from the practice of law in Ohio.  The 
board adopted the findings and conclusions of the panel but recommended that 
respondent be indefinitely suspended from the practice of law. 
 
Having reviewed the record, we adopt the findings and conclusions of the 
board.  However, we believe that under the circumstances the recommendation of 
the panel is appropriate.  Respondent is hereby permanently disbarred from the 
practice of law in Ohio.  Costs are taxed to respondent. 
Judgment accordingly. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, PFEIFER, COOK and LUNDBERG 
STRATTON, JJ., concur. 
 
F.E. SWEENEY, J., dissents and would indefinitely suspend respondent. 
__________________ 
 
Jonathan E. Coughlan, Disciplinary Counsel, and Stacy Solochek 
Beckman, Assistant Disciplinary Counsel, for relator. 
 
Koblentz & Koblentz, Richard Koblentz and Craig J. Morice, for 
respondent. 
__________________