BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— A former Starke lawyer pleaded to eight felony counts and one misdemeanor related to crimes committed while she practiced law in Bradford County.
Brittany Marie Cooper, also known as Brittany Loper, pleaded no contest to one count of committing a scheme to defraud, seven counts of grand theft and one count of petit theft.
Under a plea agreement with the State Attorney’s Office, the 33-year-old was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years’ probation.
Circuit Judge James M. Colaw adjudicated Cooper guilty for the two misdemeanors and withheld adjudication for the felonies.
Cooper also agreed to pay $15,412 in restitution to seven victims over the term of her probation. However, she is eligible to terminate probation after five years if she pays the victims in full.
Took money, didn’t render services
According to court papers, Cooper failed to provide legal services to clients from which she had been paid.
According to one sworn complaint, a Lake City woman said she hired the defendant to help her become the administrator of her late husband’s affairs.
“(The victim) stated that Brittany took all the paperwork she had in reference to the case and charged (the victim) $600 as a retainer to begin working on the case,” wrote Bradford Sheriff’s Detective Michael Garmon in the complaint. “After two months, (the victim) still had heard nothing on the progress of her case, so she began to attempt to call Brittany.”
Garmon added that the victim could not reach Cooper by phone and visited the lawyer’s North Walnut Street office several times but found no one there. He wrote that as of Aug. 26, 2021, the victim still had not heard from Cooper.
In a second complaint, a Starke man said he hired Cooper on Aug. 16, 2020, for help with a divorce and child support case.
“Brittany charged him a total of $2,000 and accepted his case,” wrote Garmon in a sworn complaint.
The victim was later contacted by a legal assistant and asked to complete a financial affidavit.
“The victim completed the financial affidavit and then began attempting to contact Brittany’s office to turn it in,” wrote Garmon, who added that the victim eventually drove to Cooper’s office and delivered the affidavit to the attorney.
The victim added that after several unsuccessful attempts to contact the lawyer, he asked for a refund and filed a complaint with the Florida Bar.
Garmon wrote that in her response to the Florida Bar complaint, Cooper claimed she never received money from the victim, that the victim never complained to her about the case and that Cooper’s actions related to the divorce were delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and other personal issues.
“Also included in her response is an offer to refund (the victim) his money,” wrote Garmon. “However, to date, no refund has been issued.”
In a third complaint, a Hampton man said he sought legal advice from Cooper on Dec. 15, 2020, for which he wrote a check made out to Cooper for $3,000.
“The check was written as a retainer fee for services which were to be rendered by Brittany Cooper,” wrote Garmon.
After being unable to reach Cooper, the victim contacted the Bradford Sheriff’s office on Jan. 28, 2021.
“During this initial investigation,” wrote Garmon, “contact was made with Brittany who stated that her office had been hit hard by COVID-19, but that she would get in contact with (the victim) and update him on the status of the case.”
The victim said that after law enforcement contacted Cooper, he spoke on the phone with the attorney and received a text message from her. The victim added that Cooper twice rescheduled meetings with him.
The victim reported that he and Cooper finally agreed on a June 28, 2021, meeting at her office.
“(The victim) arrived at Brittany’s office on June 28,” wrote Garmon, “to find that the office had been closed, looked empty and was up for rent.”
‘Did she make mistakes? Yes.’
After the change-of-plea hearing, Cooper’s attorney Dan Sikes blamed an unmanageable caseload on Cooper’s failure to render legal services to paying clients. He added that the 33-year-old’s caseload stretched beyond her capacity after she took on her father’s cases who was himself arrested in 2020 for crimes related to his law practice.
“When John Cooper: her father got in trouble, his caseload ended up getting dropped on her lap,” Sikes said. “When you’re a small-town attorney, it’s already hard to keep up with your own workload. Brittany, all of the sudden, is put in a position where she is not only handling whatever caseload she already had, but her father’s caseload gets dropped on her.”
“Frankly if you ask my personal opinion, I would tell you I think that she collapsed under the weight of all the pressure that she had,” Sikes added.
During the hearing, Colaw asked if any victims wanted to address him regarding the plea.
Assistant State Attorney Lua Lepianka told Colaw two victims expressed interest in addressing the court, but they were not at the hearing. She added that all the victims agreed to the plea agreement she negotiated with Sikes. The assistant state attorney added that Ms. Cooper has already repaid some of the victims.
Sikes said after the hearing that had the case gone to trial, he could have potentially won, based on his assertion that Ms. Cooper’s actions were made without criminal intent. He added, however, that from the moment he took on the case, the State was threatening to send Ms. Cooper to prison for the rest of her life.
“Did she make mistakes?” Sikes said. “Yes. “This is a triable case, but when you have the State threatening that they’re going to send your client away to prison for the rest of her life, do you risk that?”
In March, Ms. Cooper pleaded guilty in Lake City to forging a judge’s signature and a notary’s signature on official court documents. For those cases she was sentenced to 90 days in jail, five years’ probation and was ordered to pay $6,000 in restitution.
Sikes, who also represented Mr. Cooper said the 62-year-old is completing the remainder of his 21-month prison sentence in a halfway house. He is scheduled to complete his prison term on Sept. 29 and will remain on probation for 10 years.
