PANAMA CITY — The attorney for Jackson County is still a member in good standing of the Florida Bar despite being indicted by a federal grand jury on a dozen felony charges.
In addition to his role as an attorney for Coastal Community Investments, a holding company that owned two Panhandle banks that failed in 2010, Frank Alfred Baker, of Marianna, has been the attorney for the Jackson County Board of County Commissioners since the 1980s, according to County Administrator Ted Lakey.
Lakey said the County Commission directly hires two positions: his, the county administrator and Baker’s. Since the commission hired Baker, it would take an act of the commission to alter the contract between the county and Baker, Lakey said.
The commission meets Tuesday. The meeting agenda doesn’t have any items referring to Baker’s indictment.
“I don’t know if the topic will come up,” Lakey said. “It’s up to” the commissioners.
When an attorney is charged with a felony, they are required to report it to the Florida Bar, which will open a case file and monitor the case, according to spokeswoman Zannah Lyle. Under certain circumstances, the bar will suspend the attorney before they have been convicted, Lyle said.
“In cases where there’s known to be harm to the public, the bar will seek an emergency suspension,” Lyle said.
Lyle said “harm to the public,” in most cases, involves an attorney who holds a client’s money in trust and misuses the money. She did not say whether Baker’s case would warrant an emergency suspension.
Baker was also Coastal Community Investments’ largest shareholder. He was indicted along with former chief executive officer Terry Dubose of Panama City Beach and former chief financial officer Elwood West of Monroeville, Ala.
They have pleaded not guilty to charges they cheated the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) out of $3.8 million.
The 19-page indictment charges them with conspiracy to defraud the FDIC, seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of making false statements to the FDIC and a count of aiding and abetting a false claim against the United States.