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March 17, 2023
Just over a year after pleading not guilty to forging documents from at least 10 judges that he gave to his clients, a former Kirkwood attorney has pled guilty.
Andrew Gavin Wynne presented falsified court orders, judgments and emails as if they were from judges assigned to the cases of at least 30 of his clients between 2020 and 2021. He faked documents using the names of at least 10 judges throughout St. Louis County, St. Louis City and St. Charles County.
According to the plea agreement, “The fictitious documents that Defendant provided to his clients were not authored or endorsed by any judge, and Defendant knew that those documents were not authored or endorsed by any judge.”
He pled guilty on March 2 to the felony charges after pleading not guilty on Feb. 17 of last year. Wynne had been working at the firm then known as Menees, Menees & Wynne until August 2021.
In one example, Wynne emailed a client a faked judgment and decree of dissolution claiming to certify a dissolved marriage and joint custody of minor children. It also claimed the client was owed $900 a month for child support, $5,000, a car and other assets. In another case, he emailed another client an order with a judge’s forged signature that claimed $20,200 was owed to the client.
“On both occasions, Wynne told his clients not to discuss the documents that he’d sent,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Missouri stated.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Kyle Bateman are prosecutors in the case. Federal Public Defender Beverly Biemdiek, who represents Wynne, declined to comment on the pending matter.
Wynne faces a maximum of five years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine, according to the plea agreement. He also may have to serve a supervised release for three years at most. His sentencing is on June 1.
The case is U.S. v. Wynne, 4:22-CR-00076.
Tagged with: Attorney Discipline topnews
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