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Defense lawyer gets 90 days behind bars in courthouse fraud

Defense lawyer Brian Bloomfield was sentenced Monday to serve 90 days in the Clark County Detention Center for his role in defrauding the court system.

After hearing a lengthy appeal for leniency from Bloomfield, District Judge Jessie Walsh also ordered him to serve 19 to 48 months in prison but suspended the sentence and placed him on five years probation.

Bloomfield, 40, was handcuffed in court and hauled away by marshals after the sentencing.

Chief District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo sought lengthy prison time, arguing the entire legal community was harmed because of Bloomfield’s actions in the courthouse scheme.

But Walsh appeared swayed by Bloomfield, who apologized and asked for another chance to become a productive member of the community.

“I’ve lost everything in my life, your honor, and I am humbled,” Bloomfield said. “I pray very hard on this knowing I’m going to have to meet my maker.”

Bloomfield, who said he cooperated fully in the criminal investigation, asked Walsh to keep him out of prison because he didn’t want to see his three young children go back to the custody of his estranged wife and co-defendant in the case, Amber Bloomfield.

His lawyer, William Terry, called Bloomfield’s wife a “dysfunctional” and “irrational” woman who failed nine drug tests since the couple became embroiled in a fierce child custody battle several months ago. Those proceedings are under seal and overseen by Family Court Judge Linda Marquis, a former Terry law partner.

Afterward outside the courtroom, a tearful Amber Bloomfield denied the drug charges and said the sentence Walsh handed out was an “insult to the court system.

“I’m not a drug addict, and I didn’t fail nine drug tests,” she said. “Everything (they) said was a lie. He doesn’t want to take responsibility for his actions.”

Bloomfield’s wife pleaded guilty in the courthouse fraud and received no prison time because of her cooperation with authorities.

The lighter sentence comes despite allegations by both DiGiacomo and Amber Bloomfield that her husband lied under oath before a state bar panel considering action against him over his guilty plea for forgery. DiGiacomo last month provided Walsh with lengthy transcripts of the bar hearing and other supporting evidence.

DiGiacomo also accused Bloomfield of trying to disrupt the forgery investigation of another lawyer, Vicki Greco, who was indicted by a county grand jury in December on 139 felony and gross misdemeanor counts.

Both lawyers were involved in a courthouse scheme to provide clients, mostly prostitutes, with phony certificates of completion for court-ordered counseling and community service to resolve misdemeanor cases, prosecutors have alleged.

Bloomfield, whose license is temporarily suspended, admitted that he filed or helped file forged records in 91 cases that falsely claimed a client had completed counseling or community service.

DiGiacomo last month said Bloomfield lied when he told the State Bar of Nevada panel in June that he didn’t personally participate in the destruction of files at his office in April 2010.

His words contradicted what he told authorities in November 2013 before he pleaded guilty to felony forgery charges, DiGiacomo argued.

Bloomfield, who said he has been taking anti-depressant medication and getting mental counseling, denied that he was untruthful with the bar panel, but he admitted he made a big mistake getting involved in the scheme.

He said numerous members of the district attorney’s office, including District Attorney Steve Wolfson, have voiced support for him over the years, as the criminal case proceeded through the court system.

A couple of months ago, when he ran into Wolfson at a restaurant across from the courthouse, Bloomfield said, Wolfson told him, “You’ll be alright. I know what kind of person you are.”

Wolfson, who was a defense lawyer when the Bloomfield investigation began, declined to comment.

Last month Walsh ordered a lesser defendant in the scheme, Steven Brox, 50, to serve two to five years in prison for his forgery guilty plea.

Brox’s former company, United States Justice Associates, was used in the scheme.

Bloomfield is waiting to hear whether the Nevada Supreme Court will accept a five-year suspension recommended by the disciplinary panel in the forgery case or impose a tougher punishment.

State bar prosecutors want Bloomfield permanently disbarred.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ

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