Crime & Safety
No Jail for Disbarred Lawyer Accused of Fraud in Edgartown
Charged with multiple counts and separate cases of fraud, larceny, forgery and misrepresentation, 64-year-old John C. McBride of Edgartown has been placed on probation until 2015 and must undergo counseling, court records indicate.
He drove a BMW, kept a home on South Water Street in Edgartown and appeared to be a prosperous attorney.
But John C. McBride, now 64, has been ineligible to practice law since 2005, when he was disbarred.
That didn't prevent him from representing a Martha's Vineyard man in a 2011 insurance claim involving a bicycling injury, in which McBride advised the man to accept a $5,000 settlement.
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According to documents filed in Edgartown District Court, the bicyclist became suspicious when weeks went by during which McBride continued to assure him the check was in the mail, and contacted the insurance company directly to learn that McBride had received and deposited the check into his own account.
This case of forgery is one of several in which McBride admitted to sufficient facts this week, in return for which he was placed on probation until 2015 and ordered to counseling.
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McBride must also repay the people he is accused of defrauding, including an Edgartown man pulled over on the Cape for driving while intoxicated, who gave McBride more than $3,000 to represent him and then learned from an article on Martha's Vineyard Patch that his lawyer had been disbarred.
The man also was not facing any charges in the Cape case, due to lack of evidence, according to the court file.
Among the other charges against McBride that were continued this week pending successful completion of his probation and counseling, court documents indicate:
- Two counts of identity fraud, for trying twice to finance a car using the social security number of an Edgartown woman for whom he had done some financial work.
- Four counts of credit card fraud involving another Edgartown resident's ATM card, a case in which surveillance videos were used to identify McBride.
- One count of unauthorized practice of law.
- One count of practicing law after having been removed as an attorney.
For more police and court news on and off the Vineyard, please see our Police & Fire section, available in the News tab above or by clicking here.
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