| Description: |
Jonathan William Milstein (WSBA No. 27564, admitted 1997), of Bellevue, was suspended for 18 months, effective September 9, 2010, by order of the Washington State Supreme Court following approval of a stipulation. This discipline is based on conduct involving the commission of a crime, acts involving moral turpitude, and disregard for the rule of the law.
In 2006, under the Internet username "biseattlebi06," Mr. Milstein joined online sexual networking websites. From December 2006 until May 2008, Mr. Milstein, portraying himself on the websites as a woman, engaged in sexual banter with website members. On multiple occasions, Mr. Milstein informed members that his name was "V," a real person who had previously been a friend of Mr. Milstein and his wife. Mr. Milstein, impersonating V, gave V's home telephone number to members, asking them to call her for an in-person sexual encounter. As a result, between December 2006 and May 2008, V received telephone calls at home from members who wanted sexual encounters with her. While pretending online to be V, Mr. Milstein, at times, would provide members with a pornographic photo of a woman that Mr. Milstein falsely identified as V, before telling them to call her for an in-person sexual encounter.
The FBI investigated and determined that the IP addresses on the adult websites were sent from Mr. Milstein's Internet account, and eliminated other members of Mr. Milstein's household as suspects. On July 29, 2009, the prosecuting attorney filed an amended complaint in district court charging Mr. Milstein with one count of Telephone Harassment (RCW 9.61.230(1)(a) and (b) and RCW 9A.08.020(1) and (2)(a)), a gross misdemeanor. On August 5, 2009, Mr. Milstein pleaded guilty to the amended complaint and was sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation, 240 hours of community service, and a fine of $250.
Mr. Milstein's conduct violated RPC 8.4(b), prohibiting a lawyer from committing a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects; and RPC 8.4(i), prohibiting a lawyer from committing any act involving moral turpitude, or corruption, or any unjustified act of assault or other act which reflects disregard for the rule of law, whether the same be committed in the course of his or her conduct as a lawyer, or otherwise.
Kathleen A. T. Dassel represented the Bar Association. Todd Maybrown represented Mr. Milstein. |