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Lawyer says she gave incarcerated boyfriend $11, faces suspension Max Londberg Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
At fi rst, she didn’t fully understand the importance of the law she’d just broken at the Campbell County Detention Center. But Virginia Riggs would learn why some strictly enforce rules against providing money or other things to inmates, she said by phone June 19. The family law attorney based in Bellevue, Kentucky, was visiting her boyfriend in August 2017 when he asked her for some cash. She slipped him three bills totaling $11 under the table, Riggs said. Her boyfriend, Gary Chandler, was incarcerated after violating probation, she said. Before, he’d been struggling with opioid use after he was prescribed painkillers for broken bones suff ered in a 2002 accident. She wanted to give him the money so he could use a vending machine. But the Detention Center’s rules stipulate gifts of money must be submitted through a guard before reaching an inmate, according to documents fi led with the Ohio Supreme Court’s board overseeing attorney conduct. When she returned to the facility days later, she was detained and served some nine hours in jail. Now Riggs faces a possible sixmonth suspension from her work as she awaits a ruling from the state’s Board of Professional Conduct. She pleaded guilty to promoting contraband, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced in late 2017 to 180 days in jail, time she won’t have to serve if she remains clear of trouble until this November, she said. “I accept full responsibility for what I did,” Riggs said. “It was stupid on my part. Even lawyers make dumb decisions.” She stressed that she didn’t wish to make excuses and that she is “deeply
“I accept full responsibility for what I did. It was stupid on my part. Even lawyers make dumb decisions.” Virginia Riggs
Virginia Riggs poses with her boyfriend, Gary Chandler. PROVIDED
regretful” for the incident. She added she’s also come to learn that disputes can arise over possession of contraband in jails, such as money or tobacco, putting inmates’ and jail guards’ safety at risk.
The Campbell County jailer, James Daley, sought jail time for Riggs, she said. She was charged with providing Chandler with tobacco, but she said she only gave him the $11. Passing either item to Chandler would have constitu-
ted the same off ense, Riggs added. After pleading guilty to the misdemeanor, Riggs reported herself to the Cincinnati and Kentucky bar associations. The Cincinnati Bar Association and Riggs agreed to a six-month suspension, to be served only if Riggs engaged in further misconduct. The Board of Conduct of the also recommended accepting the agreement. But the agreement was rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court and ordered back to the Professional Board of Conduct for further proceedings, “including consideration of a more severe sanction,” according to court documents. In a June fi ling, the Professional Board of Conduct wrote it had identifi ed several mitigating factors in Riggs’s favor: She had no prior disciplinary record, has been cooperative and is in good standing in the legal community. The board pointed to two previous cases with similar characteristics that each resulted in the same punishment proposed for Riggs. Riggs said the Professional Board of Conduct has again recommended the previously recommended punishment to the Ohio Supreme Court, which will ultimately decide the case. Riggs and Chandler remain together. He’s not using drugs, Riggs said. They wrote to each other while he was incarcerated as she strove to provide him with emotional support, and she picked him up on the day of his release.
Hello, Northern Kentucky. I want to hear from you Julia Fair Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
I’ve heard there’s a bit of a chili rivalry that I should know about. The billboards for Gold Star Chili and Skyline Chili caught my eye as I drove into Northern Kentucky, eager to learn about its communities. I learned, quickly, that Dixie Chili is the oldest remaining chain and was established in Newport. Nicholas Sarakatsannis opened Dixie Chili in Newport in 1929. Skyline Chili and Gold Star came decades later. But I want to know more about Northern Kentucky, aside from which restaurant has perfected the unique meals. Hello, Northern Kentucky, my name is Julia and I want to chat about your communities, your schools and your governments.
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By now you can probably tell that I’m new to the area. Let me tell you how I got here. I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, but for the past year I was living and working in Virginia. There, I worked for The News Leader in Staunton and covered local governments. I’m here by the way of a program called Report For America. It’s similar to Teach for America, but for journalism. It’s no secret that news outlet resources are not what they used to be. Many areas that used to have robust local coverage are news deserts leaving residents in the dark about where their tax dollars are going. The Cincinnati Enquirer joined the Report For America program and hired me as a watchdog government reporter focused on Northern Kentucky. I’ll be reporting on the counties of Boone, Julia Fair, Northern Kentucky watchdog reporter for The Enquirer, poses at Smale See REPORTER, Page 2A
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