Bad barristers

Fort Wayne attorney R. Mark Keaton lost his law license in April for stalking, intimidating and threatening a woman who ended a long-distance relationship with him. Keaton, who was in an intimate relationship with his daughter’s college roommate a decade ago, engaged in a “scorched earth” campaign when the woman discontinued the relationship in 2008. Keaton left expletive-filled messages on the woman’s voice mail and even posted explicit photos of the woman online.

David J. Steele, who operated Steele Legal Group LLC in Indianapolis, was disbarred for stealing about $150,000 from his clients, disclosing confidential client information for retaliation and amusement, and threatening and intimidating his office staff, according to the disbarment order.

In June, the Supreme Court suspended Indianapolis attorney Charles B. Blackwelder, who was sentenced in April to four years in the Department of Correction. He pleaded guilty in December 2014 to four Class B felony counts of securities fraud, enhanced under I.C. 23-19-5-1 because victims were 60 or older or their relationship to Blackwelder was based on religious affiliation. Blackwelder was criminally charged in Hamilton Superior Court with 20 felony security fraud counts and two charges of theft of at least $100,000. Blackwelder resigned from the bar in August.

He and his daughter Cara Grumme, of Yorktown, were accused of scamming more than 300 elderly Hoosiers of more than $19 million. The two agreed to pay restitution to victims in the amount of $19,379,104.23.

Anderson attorney Stephen W. Schuyler, 62, faces multiple felony counts for allegedly stealing as much as $500,000 from clients’ estates. His law license was suspended in September for non-cooperation with the Disciplinary Commission. A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 9, 2016, in Madison Circuit Court 3.

Clark Holesinger, of Valparaiso, was sentenced in August to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution to clients he defrauded. The ex-attorney faces five felony counts in state court for stealing from business clients he represented.

William Conour, who is serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison for stealing nearly $7 million from clients, is set to be resentenced in January because there were standard uniform special conditions of post-sentence release handed down that do not apply in his case. U.S. District Chief Judge Richard Young in the Southern District of Indiana is presiding over Conour’s case, but Conour filed a motion late in the year seeking Young’s removal. He claimed that Young appears to be biased in favor of prosecutors because he had not yet ruled on Conour’s attorney’s request to withdraw from the case and allow Conour to represent himself.

The 7th Circuit denied Conour’s mandamus petition Dec. 21.•