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WARREN -- A former Lisbon attorney disbarred for misappropriating client funds and trying to conceal it has pleaded innocent to felony charges brought against her in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The attorney for Virginia Barborak, 46, entered not guilty pleas on her behalf at an arraignment hearing held here on Monday. She is charged with grand theft, perjury and forgery, and two counts of tampering with evidence. She is due back in court on July 17.
The Ohio Supreme Court voted to disbar Barborak in December because of her "six-year pattern of dishonesty" during which she misappropriated more than $150,000 in client funds and submitted false documentation to conceal her actions from the courts.
According to the court, Barborak took money from three estates and an education trust fund, starting in 2009 and continuing into 2015, using the funds to "not only pay herself and her personal expenses," but to make payments to other clients' estates. Two of the estates and the education trust fund involved matters in Columbiana County Probate Court.
The third estate was filed in Trumbull County Probate Court and involved the estate of James Patsey, the former Lisbon resident and teacher who died in 2013. Patsey's will directed the first $50,000 from his estate go to the Lisbon Alumni Association (LAA). His attorney was Barborak, and the charges against her have to do with her handling of Patsey's estate.
According to court records, Barborak is accused of submitting forged bank statements to the court in March 2015 showing her client account still included the $50,000 due the LAA. The perjury offense involved Barborak lying under oath when she stated in February 2015 there were no problems with the estate assets and she still had the money due the LAA.
The one tampering with records charge had to do with with Barborak reportedly filing a fraudulent estate report with the court in March 2014 stating the $50,000 has been distributed to the LAA. The other tampering charge was about an allegedly fraudulent amended estate report filed in June 2014 advising the court $25,000 had been distributed to the LAA.
The grand theft offense involves making six inappropriate withdrawals totaling $47,879 from the Patsey estate in March 2013.
The Ohio Attorney General's Office is serving as special prosecutor in the case.
Before being disbarred and indicted, Barborak had a law practice in Lisbon, where at one time she also served as village solicitor and an assistant county prosecutor.