Lawyer Who Texted Undercover Officer Posing as Teen Suspended

An Ohio lawyer who through text messages tried to solicit an undercover officer posing as a teenager was suspended indefinitely by the state’s highest court.

Harold McClure Schwarz III’s “fitness to practice law has been severely undermined by his criminal conduct,” and the sanction will help “protect the public, deter other lawyers from similar wrongdoing, and preserve the public’s trust in the legal profession,” the Ohio Supreme Court said April 22.

In 2019, the Akron attorney pleaded guilty to one count of “importuning"—trying to engage a minor in sexual activity—a fifth degree felony, the court said. He was designated a Tier I sex offender, and sentenced to three years of community control, with one year under intensive supervised probation followed by two years under general supervision, it said.

At his disciplinary hearing, Schwarz admitted that through an application on his mobile phone, he had exchanged sexually charged text messages with a person he believed was a minor but who was actually an undercover police officer, and had also arranged to meet the person at a restaurant, the court said.

The parties stipulated that Schwarz’s conduct had violated ethics rules prohibiting lawyers from breaking the law and engaging in conduct that adversely reflects on the their fitness to practice law.

Aggravating factors include that Schwarz had acted with a dishonest or selfish motive, and that even though is his conduct was unsuccessful, it was directed “at a vulnerable teenaged victim,” the court said.

He also didn’t express remorse and didn’t appear to understand “the gravity of his offense, the vulnerable nature of minors, or the potential adverse consequences to them as a result of solicitation offenses,” it said.

Schwarz’s clean disciplinary record, cooperative attitude toward the disciplinary proceedings, and evidence of his good character and reputation counted in his favor, the court said.

Also noteworthy was that one week after his arrest, Schwarz began working with a clinical psychologist and that he signed an Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program in 2019 and was in compliance with it.

The court suspended him indefinitely with no credit for the time he served under his 2019 interim felony suspension. It conditioned Schwarz’s reinstatement on his compliance with the terms of the probation in his criminal case and OLAP contract.

The case is Disciplinary Counsel v. Schwarz, 2020 BL 148955, Ohio, No. 2019-1738, 4/22/20.