Man, claiming to be attorney, bilked clients

A Ridgewood resident has been charged with unlawfully practicing law for the last two years and taking $7,000 in fees from a client whose son he allegedly represented in a deportation case — and who was ultimately deported.
“By allegedly portraying himself as a duly licensed attorney when he was not actually licensed or admitted to practice law, the only hope that the defendant could offer his client was false hope,”said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “In the end, the client lost her son and thousands of dollars in unwarranted legal fees. The case will be prosecuted vigorously and swiftly to ensure that the defendant never again has an opportunity to prey upon trusting individuals in need of proper and qualified legal representation.”
Robert DelCarpio, 63, of 783 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood, was arraigned on a two-count complaint charging him with third-degree grand larceny and practicing or appearing as an attorney-at-law without being admitted/registered.
DelCarpio, who faces up to four years in prison if convicted, was ordered held on $100,000 bond/$75,000 cash bail.
According to the criminal charges, Angela Forde, of Brooklyn, retained DelCarpio as an attorney to represent her son who was facing deportation to England. Forde had received the defendant’s name and telephone number from her son who was in immigration detention in Texas. It is alleged that DelCarpio agreed to appear as her son’s counsel and to represent his legal interests in connection with the appeal of a felony narcotics conviction in Brooklyn and in the pending federal deportation proceedings, which were predicated, in part, on the Brooklyn conviction.
It is further charged that, in setting forth a payment schedule to Forde in a letter captioned: Criminal Legal Research Inc., Post Conviction Relief and bearing the signature and title: Robert A. DelCarpio, Appellate Attorney, the defendant indicated that he would, among other services, prepare and file legal motions and appear in Brooklyn Supreme Court to have her son’s criminal conviction overturned. Between December 1, 2006, and May 31 of this year, Forde allegedly made payments in excess of $7,000 to the defendant.
According to court records, DelCarpio is not admitted to practice law in New York State and no appeals were filed by the defendant or by anyone on his behalf at anytime in connection with criminal case involving Forde’s son.
Brown asks that anyone who believes that he or she may have been a victim of the defendant’s alleged scheme to contact his Integrity Bureau at 718-286-6560.