Lawyer apologizes for ripping off clients

May 01--Donna Loveday trusted her lawyer when he insisted there wasn't much he could do to help her recover damages in an auto accident in which she bore no fault.

"He told us there wasn't much he could do because there wasn't much insurance money," Loveday said of Knoxville personal injury attorney Robert L. Cheek Jr.

What Loveday didn't know was that Cheek settled her case and pocketed most of the money, leaving Loveday with a stack of medical bills and lost wages.

"I've almost lost my house," Loveday told Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan on Wednesday at a hearing in U.S. District Court.

Loveday wasn't alone, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kolman. For at least two years, Cheek ripped off clients -- many of them poor -- for more than $130,000, Kolman said.

Varlan on Wednesday sentenced Cheek to a year behind bars for his admission of guilt to mail fraud.

Cheek's thievery was uncovered in 2012. His law license has been suspended, and disciplinary charges are pending against him before the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility.

Assistant Federal Defender Bobby Hutson Jr. told Varlan that Cheek had "several real life issues," including alcoholism and bipolar disorder, which "impaired his judgment and his ability as a lawyer."

"He has sought treatment, and he plans to stay on a path of sobriety and rehabilitation," Hutson said.

Although federal sentencing guidelines in his case made Cheek eligible for a split sentence in which a portion could be served on home confinement in lieu of prison, Hutson said Cheek instructed him not to make such a request.

"It was clear Mr. Cheek himself did not want to make any special requests for himself on the issue of sentencing," Hutson said.

Cheek apologized to Loveday and fellow victims who showed up for Wednesday's hearing.

"I make no excuses for what I've done," he said.

Cheek could have remained free pending designation by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons of the prison to which he would be assigned. But he chose, instead, to go into custody at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing.

He is being ordered to repay his victims.

___

(c)2014 the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.)

Visit the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.) at www.knoxnews.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services