A recently disbarred San Diego attorney who allegedly stole of hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients pleaded not guilty Thursday to grand theft and check forgery charges.
Kelly Duford Williams, 36, who ran Slate Law Group in San Diego, is accused of taking funds her clients received in settlement agreements she reached while representing them.
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A declaration in support of an arrest warrant states that around $280,000 was allegedly misappropriated from eight victims. Some of the alleged victims have only received partial amounts of the settlement funds they were due, while others have received no money at all, the declaration states.
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Williams faces up to eight years and eight months in state prison if convicted of all charges.
She was arrested in Washington state earlier this month and extradited to San Diego this week.
At her arraignment in San Diego Superior Court, Deputy Public Defender Doug Miller disputed a prosecutor's allegations that Williams fled the state in order to avoid facing the charges, which were filed in March.
Miller alleged the D.A.'s Office "did not make any effort" to locate her and provide her with notice of the arrest warrant and charges. The defense attorney said Williams was working in Washington on a temporary basis for an events and promotions company.
Deputy District Attorney Gina Darvas said a U.S. Marshals' Fugitive Task Force worked "full time" to try and find Williams, to no avail.
The prosecutor also noted there was both local and national media coverage of the allegations.
"I don't know how she could not have known that there was a warrant for her arrest," Darvas said.
Miller said Williams turned herself in when she learned of the charges, but Darvas said her arrest occurred differently.
The prosecutor alleged Williams was arrested in Kirkland, Washington following an investigation into an alleged domestic violence report.
When local law enforcement discovered the San Diego warrant, Williams told police she was pregnant, so she was not immediately booked into jail, Darvas said. Police arrested her the following day and took her to a medical center, where it was determined she was not pregnant, according to the prosecutor.
Williams was being held on $250,000 bail, but was granted supervised release by San Diego Superior Court Judge Aaron Katz. Miller stated in court that Williams has no funds with which to post bail and did not present a flight risk due to her "many, many ties" to the community, including her three children.
The alleged misappropriation of funds led the State Bar of California's Office of Chief Trial Counsel to announce Williams' disbarment last month.
The State Bar also alleged Williams made false allegations against an ex-boyfriend regarding a child's welfare and had a person appear in court as an attorney on behalf of her law firm, despite that person not being licensed to practice law in California.
