Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

M110315

E/ct

A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J.

WILLIAM F. MASTRO

REINALDO E. RIVERA

PETER B. SKELOS

ARIEL E. BELEN, JJ.

2010-05717 In the Matter of Jacob C. Armon, an attorney and counselor-at-law. Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District, petitioner; Jacob C. Armon, respondent. (Attorney Registration No. 1687060)

DECISION & ORDER ON MOTION

By letter dated June 4, 2010, the Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District submitted to the Court three original certificates of disposition, all dated April 15, 2010, which indicate that the respondent was convicted of one count of attempted identity theft in the third degree, in violation of Penal Law § 110/190.78(1), a class B misdemeanor, in satisfaction of three felony charges. The respondent pleaded guilty and was sentenced before the Honorable Margaret C. Reilly in the District Court of Nassau County on March 22, 2010. During the plea allocution, the respondent admitted that on September 9, 2005, at approximately 11:00 A.M., at 55 Sandy Hill Road in the Village of Oyster Bay Cove, he attempted to commit fraud by assuming the identity of another person and attempting to sign documents which would cause financial loss to another person. The court thereupon imposed sentence of a one year conditional discharge, a $500 fine, a mandatory surcharge of $140, and a $20 Crime Victims' Assistance Fee. The respondent was admitted to the Bar at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department on June 25, 1980.

The Grievance Committee submits that the subject conviction of attempted identity theft in the third degree may qualify as a serious crime within the meaning of Judiciary Law § 90(4)(d) or 22 NYCRR 691.7(b). The respondent has not moved, pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(f), to vacate any interim suspension attendant upon his conviction of a serious crime.

Upon the papers submitted to the court, it is

ORDERED that on the Court's own motion, the respondent, Jacob C. Armon, is immediately suspended from the practice of law pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(f) as a result of his conviction of a serious crime, continuing until further order of this Court; and it is further,

ORDERED that the respondent, Jacob C. Armon, shall promptly comply with this Court's rules governing the conduct of disbarred, suspended, and resigned attorneys (see 22 NYCRR 691.10); and it is further,

ORDERED that pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, during the period of suspension and until further order of this Court, the respondent, Jacob C. Armon, is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form, either as principal or agent, clerk or employee of another, (2) appearing as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, Judge, Justice, board, commission or other public authority, (3) giving to another an opinion as to the law or its application or any advice in relation thereto, and (4) holding himself out in any way as an attorney and counselor-at-law; and it is further,

ORDERED that on the Court's own motion, the Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District is hereby authorized to institute and prosecute a disciplinary proceeding in this Court, as petitioner, against the said Jacob C. Armon, based on his conviction of a serious crime; and it is further,

ORDERED that Robert A. Green, Chief Counsel to the Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District, 150 Motor Parkway, Suite 102, Hauppauge, New York 11788, is hereby appointed as attorney for the petitioner in such proceeding; and it is further,

ORDERED that the petitioner Grievance Committee shall serve a petition upon the respondent and the Special Referee and file with this Court the original petition within 30 days after receipt of a copy of this order; and it is further,

ORDERED that the respondent shall serve an answer to the petition upon the petitioner and the Special Referee and file the original answer with this Court within 20 days after service upon him of the petition; and it is further,

ORDERED that the issues raised by the petition and any answer thereto are referred to the Honorable Michael F. Mullen, a former Acting Supreme Court Justice, Suffolk County, Lamb & Barnosky, LLP, 534 Broadhollow Road, Suite 210, Melville, N.Y. 11747-9034, as Special Referee to expeditiously hear and report, together with his findings on the issues, and to submit a report within 60 days after the conclusion of the hearing or the submission of post-hearing memoranda; and it is further,

ORDERED that if the respondent, Jacob C. Armon, has been issued a secure pass by the Office of Court Administration, it shall be returned forthwith to the issuing agency and the respondent shall certify to the same in his affidavit of compliance pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.10(f).

PRUDENTI, P.J., MASTRO, RIVERA, SKELOS and BELEN, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Matthew G. Kiernan

Clerk of the Court