An Ugly Tale

Gary E. Peel of Glen Carbon IL (a few miles NE of St. Louis) has been indicted regarding the following:

Peel's troubles began in November 2003 when he and his wife, Deborah J. Peel, divorced. Under the terms of the divorce settlement, Peel was required to pay his ex-wife.

Gary Peel filed for bankruptcy a month later, listing more than $840,000 in debts, including a $175,000 mortgage on his three-bedroom, 3,200-square-foot home in Glen Carbon.

Peel claimed income earnings of $232,000 that year.

In the bankruptcy case, Peel tried to discharge the divorce settlement owed to his former wife. Deborah Peel opposed the discharge of the debt in bankruptcy court.

On Jan. 20, Gary Peel called Deborah Peel and told her that in 1974, he had an affair with her then 16-year-old sister and had taken "sexually explicit" photographs of her, the indictment stated.

Gary Peel told his former wife that if she did not abandon the bankruptcy challenge and agree to a new financial settlement, he threatened to mail the pictures to his ex-wife's parents, the indictment stated.

Yikes.  What a horrifying way to attempt to get out from under a divorce settlement.  The article mentioned that Peel is 62, meaning in 1974 he was 30. 

Deborah J. Peel contacted police, and FBI agents arranged a sting, according to the indictment.

On Jan. 31, Deborah J. Peel met with her ex-husband and agreed to a reduced financial settlement in exchange for the pictures of her sister.

Federal agents moved in and seized the photographs, the indictment stated, and found copies of the photographs in Peel's wastebasket at his office at the Lakin Law Firm in Wood River.

If convicted, Peel could face up to five years in prison on the bankruptcy fraud charge, up to 10 years on the possession of child pornography charge and up to 20 years on the obstruction of justice charge.

If convicted, he could also face losing his law license.  He and the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of Illinois have a past--a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the ARDC alleged that the letterhead Peel used as an attorney contained misleading advertising regarding his credentials.  Peel appealed an Illinois Supreme Court ruling for the ARDC; the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case.  That case contains the following background on Peel.

Petitioner practices law in Edwardsville, Illinois. He was licensed to practice in Illinois in 1968, in Arizona in 1979, and in Missouri in 1981. He has served as president of the Madison County Bar Association and has been active in both national and state bar association work.  He has tried to verdict over 100 jury trials and over 300 nonjury trials, and has participated in hundreds of other litigated matters that were settled. NBTA issued petitioner a "Certificate in Civil Trial Advocacy" in 1981, renewed it in 1986, and listed him in its 1985 Directory of "Certified Specialists and Board Members."

And he supposedly saved the photos for 32 years?

Comments

[Jeff]

Wow... what a thing to add to the "Lawyers are scum" file.