Court Sentences Law Grad to Prison for Illegal Law Practice
She failed the Florida Bar Exam. Twice. She set up two phony law firm websites with international offices and decorated them with stock photos of her “partners.” She gave the law firm a name (not hers) and rented office space. She impersonated a law school friend and appeared in court under her name as a licensed attorney. She got caught. Now she’s going to prison.
Roberta Guedes, 41, a 2014 graduate of Stetson University College of Law was sentenced to 54 months in prison by U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. of the Middle District of Florida on November 18. He ordered her to pay $14,318 in restitution, to participate in a mental health treatment program, to refrain from using credit, and to serve three years of supervised release after her prison term is completed. She also agreed she would never again claim to be an attorney. Her sentence followed recommended court guidelines. Defendant’s oral motion for a sentence reduction was denied.
On November 17, 2019, Guedes entered a guilty plea for mail fraud and the aggravated identity theft of Social Security numbers and other personal information that she used to open bank accounts and establish multiple lines of credit. She used them for both business and personal expenses. Her sentencing was set for and conducted a few days following her plea.
Guedes set up an LLC in 2014, for which she listed her roommate as Vice President and a former law school roommate as a registered agent. Neither her roommate nor her law school friend was aware of Guedes’ actions. She then opened Immigration and Litigation Law Office, Inc., listing the same two women in the same roles. All their names appeared on her business cards. Sometimes, Guedes represented clients in her own name, and other times, she impersonated her law school friend who knew nothing about it, and whose reputation was damaged just as she was starting her practice. She used the mail for many of these actions, giving rise to the mail fraud charge.
The prosecutor’s sentencing memo claims Guedes took these actions in order to pose as a licensed attorney. They argued she conducted a “brazen pattern of fraud and deceit upon our legal and financial institutions, members of our guild, and vulnerable persons in our community.” The memo goes on to say that “she continued her skullduggery even when faced with a Florida Bar investigation.”
Guedes offered a tearful apology to those she had harmed. The Tampa Bay Times quotes her apology as, “I’m deeply sorry for causing you so much pain, so much agony, so much distress,” Guedes said. “I acted selfishly, with no regard for others. I violated the trust others had in me.”
Her defense attorney, Jason Mayberry, told the court his client was a good person who made face masks for the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic, sponsored African children and created a charitable foundation to protect animals. He also suggested that she had suffered depression and anxiety.
One of the victims, however, wrote a letter to Judge Moody that described Guedes as a cunning and manipulative pathological liar.
Guedes’ crimes were discovered when she appeared before Judge Frances Perrone in Tampa asking her to grant a family law petition. When the judge’s law clerk tried to locate Guedes, she discovered that no one with that name had been admitted to the Bar. An investigation followed. Now, she’s headed to prison.
