Okai pleads guilty
By Andy Gates - Argus Observer
Sunday, May 6, 2007 12:22 AM PDT
VALE - Ontario-based attorney Thomas Kelly Okai pleaded guilty Friday in Malheur County Circuit Court to three felony crimes involving theft and drugs.
Okai, 49, was arrested in October at his office on a felony drug charge, and then again April 27 at his home on charges involving theft and bad checks. After the April arrest, police located suspected methamphetamine in his pocket at the jail and subsequently searched his residence on a warrant.
Okai was charged with 10 counts of negotiating a bad check, contempt of court, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, first degree theft, four counts of second degree theft and three counts of possession of methamphetamine.
He pleaded guilty Friday to unlawful possession of a controlled substance, first degree theft and unlawful possession of methamphetamine.
“I plead guilty your honor,” Okai said Friday in court.
Okai spent the week in jail before Judge Ronald J. Pahl, Pendleton, accepted the plea Friday via video-phone.
Pahl released Okai to the Malheur County Work Release Center.
Okai faces a presumptive sentence of probation, or a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, according to the plea agreement. He is set to be sentenced May 24.
According to the plea agreement, the state recommends Okai pay $1,800 restitution to Sunset Lanes in Ontario and undergo 90 days of jail or work release — depending on his level of withdrawal from substance abuse. The state will recommend Okai participate in work crew and undergo an alcohol and drug evaluation.
If Okai successfully completes his probation, the state will recommend the felony theft charge be reduced to a misdemeanor, according to the plea agreement.
Malheur County Deputy District Attorney Erin Landis told the court Friday that $1,800 was taken from Sunset Lanes bowling alley in Ontario. Landis said Okai wrote checks that did not clear, for money to use in lottery machines.
Okai’s license to practice law in Oregon is also hanging in the balance.
The Oregon State Bar Disciplinary Counsel is in the process of prosecuting Okai for ethical misconduct; however, his license is presently active.
His arrest last year for illegal possession of a controlled substance followed an undercover law enforcement operation. The sting arose from accusations made by Okai’s client, who alleged Okai attempted to exchange attorney services for drugs.
However, Okai continued to practice law after he was arrested.
He filed a notice of appearance in Malheur County Justice Court between his two arrests, law enforcement officials said.
That came as a surprise to some authorities.
“It was our understanding that Mr. Okai’s practice had been closed down and he was not practicing law,” Oregon State Bar Community Relations Administrator Kateri Walsh said. And, Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris agreed, “they were assured he was not practicing law.”
A lawyer’s license to practice in Oregon can be temporarily suspended while disciplinary proceedings are pending, Walsh said, if substantial harm to the public is likely.
The bar’s disciplinary counsel had been investigating allegations of ethical misconduct against Okai for several months, Walsh said, and the State Professional Responsibility Board decided in March that formal charges could be filed against him.
“We are in the process of prosecuting Mr. Okai for ethical misconduct,” Walsh said.
Complaints against Okai were made to the Oregon State Bar between May 2006 and April 2007, Walsh said.
Clients and a former employee filed complaints concerning Okai to the bar, with allegations including: drug use, over-billing, dishonesty and negligence, according to information provided by Walsh.
Okai’s license remains active, though, until an Oregon State Bar trial panel holds a hearing and makes a determination.
“Except in some narrow circumstances, we do not have the legal authority to suspend a law license until we prove ethical misconduct in a formal proceeding. We are moving forward with those formal charges,” Walsh said.
Norris said suspending an Oregon attorney’s license involves due process — just like seeking a conviction in a felony court case.
“They have as many hurdles as I have as a criminal prosecutor,” Norris said.
