Police: Clark County worker used stolen bar number to pose as lawyer

A Clark County employee was arrested Wednesday after police accused him of posing as an attorney with a State Bar of Nevada number that belongs to someone else.

Jerrell Roberts, 39, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of eight felony counts, including obtaining or using someone else’s ID, impersonation, practicing law without a license, burglary of a structure and perjury.

A Metropolitan Police Department arrest report states that Roberts, who works for Clark County Juvenile Justice Services, impersonated Las Vegas attorney Jerrell Berrios for nearly a month in multiple probate filings and hearings.

Police allege that Roberts used Berrios’ bar number, 15504, three times: first in a July 22 complaint he filed; then three days later during a court hearing in which he also identified himself as “J.B. Roberts;” and on Aug. 15 while filing another notice in the case.

According to the report, Roberts’ mother, Rosalind Richard, is a respondent in the case, which deals with the will and estate of her dead father.

The report noted that an attorney’s bar number is a unique identifier — similar to a Social Security number or employee number for a business — required for court proceedings and filings. It is “highly unlikely” for an attorney to mistake or confuse their bar number, the report said.

Later asked by a detective why he used the state bar number associated with Berrios, Roberts said he “made up the number,” according to his arrest report. The report said Roberts told police he intended to represent himself and Richard in the probate case but had received no response after filing the required documents.

“After not receiving a response from probate court, Roberts became discouraged and believed if he represented himself to be an attorney that the process would be expedited,” the report said. “Detective Espejo asked if the process did in fact start after utilizing the state bar number belonging to Berrios (15504), to which Roberts stated the process did begin after the courts believed Roberts was a barred attorney in the State of Nevada.”

Roberts, during his post-arrest interview with police, also stated that while working at the juvenile courthouse, he had only heard bar numbers ranging from the low to mid hundreds up to one thousand, so he assumed that a number in the 15000s, like Berrios’, would not be assigned to anyone, according to the report.

Never sat for the bar exam

Roberts was arrested inside a courtroom at the Regional Justice Center and “detained without incident,” according to the arrest report.

Berrios contacted authorities after Chase Pittsenbarger — a lawyer also involved in the probate case — had watched Roberts present arguments in open court and found that he “did not make sense.” Afterward, he searched the State Bar of Nevada website to verify his credentials.

Pittsenbarger, who also was interviewed, told police he was unable to find a listing for “Jerrell D. Roberts” on the website, even though Roberts’ business card identified him as an attorney and a financial consultant. When he searched the site by first name only, he discovered that Jerrell Luis Berrios was the only licensed attorney named Jerrell in Nevada and then notified Berrios of the contradictions he saw in court.

Verifying this information with a state bar administration employee, Metro wrote in the report: “Jerrell D. Roberts is neither an active nor a licensed member of the State bar, has never applied to become a licensed member and has not sat for the Nevada bar exam.”

Berrios confirmed to police that he had not authorized anyone to use his bar number, according to the report.

Sworn in as an attorney

According to the report, Family Court Judge Sunny Bailey told a detective that she administered the oath of attorney for Roberts’ admission to the bar in 2024 but “did not confirm whether Roberts passed the bar exam or not before the swearing-in ceremony.”

The judge noted that Roberts had submitted the necessary paperwork and that family, friends and co-workers from the juvenile probation department had attended the proceeding. However, Roberts was evasive when police asked him about being sworn in, according to the report.

“Detective Espejo asked Roberts about the certificate from the State bar of Nevada that he provided, filled out for Honorable Judge Bailey,” the report noted. “Roberts only commented that Honorable Judge Bailey provided the documents for him. Roberts does not know what he did with said certificate.”

Bailey could not be reached for comment, and a district court spokesperson did not respond to questions about Roberts’ swearing-in ceremony. Jennifer Cooper, chief communications officer for Clark County, said that Roberts was placed on unpaid leave.

Pittsenbarger told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday that the bar typically holds a large ceremony about twice a year to recognize the hundreds of people who pass the exam in a given period. He added, however, that prospective lawyers also have the option of being sworn in individually by a judge, often one with whom they share a close personal connection.

“After you pass the bar, you get a packet in the mail with all the materials you would need to provide to the judge for the ceremony,” the lawyer said. “I don’t know how he would have the paperwork. I would not expect Judge Bailey to be the one who gave him that and then sign it. And I don’t fault her at all because I don’t see why you would go on the bar website and look him up.”

Pittsenbarger noted that in his 10 years as an attorney, he has never seen anyone impersonating a lawyer “in real life.”

“I think so many people just missed the red flags,” he said.

Roberts could not be reached for comment. As of Friday, he did not have a lawyer, according to online court records.

The records suggest that Roberts paid $50 to “Free Bail Bonds” before he was released from custody. His actual bail amount was not clear.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.