DA files new theft charges filed against local attorney

New charges were filed Monday against the suspended Downingtown attorney Joshua Janis for defrauding more than two dozen former clients by taking their money to help them with a variety of legal matters and doing no, if any, work for them.

The charges were announced by Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan in a press release, stating the additional allegations would be consolidated with accusations that he had stolen money from his former law firm, charges that were filed late last month.

“People turn to an attorney when they need help with often stressful personal or business issues,” said Hogan, whose office has been investigating Janis since shortly after he was suspended by the state Supreme Court in Dec. 2015. “The defendant betrayed the trust of his clients, taking their money and often doing no work in return.”

Janis, 37, of East Caln is charged with multiple counts of theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds — graded both as felonies and misdemeanors, depending on the amount of money taken from the individual clients — and related charges.

A complaint filed against Janis by Chester County Detective Gerald Davis states the total amount of money that Janis is alleged to have stolen from the more than two dozen clients is $93,241.

Janis was arraigned Monday by Magisterial District Judge Nancy Gill of Parkesburg. He appeared with attorney Greg Francis of West Chester, filling in for defense attorney Evan Kelly, who is representing him in the case. Gill set bail at $100,000 unsecured. A preliminary hearing has been set before Magisterial District Judge William Kraut of West Chester for Aug. 16.

Janis had been awaiting a preliminary hearing on the earlier charges before Magisterial Dis-

trict Judge Marian Thayer Vito on Aug. 7. It is unclear whether that complaint will be withdrawn in favor of the new case.

Kelly decline comment on the specific charges, but said that his client would likely contest at least some of the allegations.

According to Hogan’s release, during the relevant time period, he resided in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. From 2006 to 2013, he worked for the Ciccarelli Law Firm in West Chester, where he handled mostly domestic relations and personal injury cases. From 2013 to 2015, he worked for his own law firm, which had offices in Downingtown, West Chester and Malvern.

The facts alleged in the criminal complaint are as follows:]

Janis had a general law practice, handling family court matters, civil disputes, and minor criminal cases. During the course of his practice, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania received multiple complaints about Janis from clients and from President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody. Those complaints eventually led to his being suspension for five years from the practice of law and triggered the criminal investigation.

The investigation by county detectives revealed a simple, but ultimately unexplainable, pattern. Janis would be retained by a client to do work. The client would give him money for the case. But instead of depositing the client’s money into a trust account required for client’s money, Janis would deposit the money into his own account or otherwise take the money.

Then he would do no work, or very little, on the case, even though the matters were sometimes legally very simple and straightforward, all the while assuring the client that he was handling the matter. When the client discovered the problem, the client would have to hire another lawyer to address the problem, represent him or herself, or the problem remained unresolved.

For instance, Andrew Whitmore hired Janis to represent him in a divorce case, paying him a total of $2,650. Janis never entered his formal appearance in the case to represent Whitmore, and ultimately Whitmore had to retain a different attorney to handle the matter.

Dawn DiDonato hired Janis to file a civil cause of action for invasion of privacy. She paid him a retainer of $1,500, and although he allegedly told DiDonato that he filed the civil complaint on her behalf, he did not, according to the complaint.

Gary Willman hired the defendant to represent him in a divorce case. Mr. Willman paid the defendant $1,500. Janis took the money, deposited it into his own account, but never even filed an entry of appearance in the case on behalf of Willman, who, again, eventually had to hire another lawyer to handle the case.

Elizabeth Flower hired the defendant to obtain a civil-union divorce for her son Charles, who had married his partner in a civil union in Vermont in 2001. She paid him $1,000. Janis told Flower that he had filed the paperwork, but that the case was delayed because the judge had “something against gay people and that straight people’s divorces are put first.” Eventually, he allegedly told Flower that the divorce was final, when in fact, he never filed any divorce proceeding and Flower had to hire another attorney.

In addition, the complaint contains the allegations made by Bonnie Kennedy, who hired Janis to represent her in a custody case involving her sons in September 2014. He took $2,500 from her, which she managed by depleting an IRA, yet never filed any paperwork in the custody case, taking the money and using it to pay for a family vacation, she said. Eventually, she sued him and won a $2,500 award, but has never received anything from that verdict.

On Monday, Kennedy, who lives in Elverson, said Janis’s failure to properly represent her had had an impact on her life far more than a lost dollar amount. The failure to be able to adequately represent herself in the custody proceedings drove a wedge between her and her younger son, now a teenager.

“The most important part of their lives,” was lost to her because of Janis’ conduct, she said. “I had to struggle as a single mother, and I can’t tell you what this man has done to my life. This has been four years of hell. I’ve waited for this guy to acknowledge what he’d actually done.”

As well as wanting Janis to be found guilty and sentenced to prison, Kennedy said she wanted something more as punishment. “I want him to apologize, to explain to my sons in writing why it was more important for him to go on a vacation than to help them.

“It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about my boys.

The assigned prosecutor is Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Yen. Anyone with more information should contact Davis at (610) 344-6866.

“This is not the first criminal complaint filed against the defendant, and I fear it will not be the last,” Hogan said in a press release. “We are concerned that there are other victims out there. If anybody else has been defrauded by Joshua Janis, they should report it to the Chester County Detectives immediately.”

Joshua Janis