The St. Louis Family Court Lawyer Now In Federal Prison
Why was it so easy to forge the signature of St. Louis judges?
On or about February 9, 2022, Andrew Gavin Wynne, a St. Louis County family court attorney, was charged with five counts of 18 U.S. Code § 1028, Identity Theft, for forging the signatures of multiple Missouri state circuit judges. Wynne presented documents to his clients purportedly having been signed by multiple judges in the St. Louis judicial circuits. In reality, he was presenting to his clients fraudulent documents. No judge had ordered what was on the documents. The signatures were forged.
Mr. Wynne was arrested, arraigned, and released on bond. He then violated the terms of his pre-trial release. He consumed narcotics and was in places prohibited to him.
On or about March 2, 2023, a Change of Plea hearing was held at the Federal Courthouse in St. Louis. Mr. Wynne pleaded guilty to all five felony counts. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge stated that given his pre-trial behavior, there was no substantial evidence that suggested he was safe to remain in the community, and that he would be remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals immediately.
On or about June 12, 2023, Andrew Gavin Wynne was sentenced to 31 months in Federal prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $351,059.24.
Further examination of this case inspires a lot of interesting questions. One of the forgery counts appears to pertain to a family court judgment that was 18 years old around a real estate property issue. Judgments cease to be enforceable after 10 years unless revived. What was going on there, exactly?
But the real question is why a young attorney, seemingly without too many social connections, ever dared forge a judicial document, much less with a judge’s forged signature. It begs the question: Did someone tell him this was acceptable? Was this common practice?
Because, as usual, the locals didn’t seem to find it too scandalous.
One of Wynne’s victim judges thought it was no big deal
The Federal indictment of Andrew Gavin Wynne mentions the victim circuit judges by initials only:
Count I - R.M.
Count II - B.H.
Count III - B.H.
Count IV - V.L.
Count V - L.B.
Prior to Wynne’s sentencing, there were only two victim impact letters filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. One of his victims, presumably a judge, is strangely unmoved by a junior attorney stealing their identity to pervert the judicial process and cause havoc in the community.
Take this letter from victim “B.H.,” which is likely either Judge Bruce Hilton of St. Louis County or Judge Bryan Hettenbach of St. Louis City.
NO IMPACT. That seems awfully passive, doesn’t it? Some junior lawyer forges judicial orders with your name on them, and you don’t think it has any impact on the community? Or you personally as an elected judge, serving millions of citizens?
It’s striking lately that when court personnel commit Federal felonies and are subsequently prosecuted and imprisoned, the Missouri judiciary and bar associations are so very unmoved. In my last article, I highlighted the case of Scott Burow, the former president of the Missouri Juvenile Officers Association who was convicted of child sex trafficking.
The news barely picked it up and the professional organizations said nothing. Certainly no reforms are suggested.
Now, there’s a family court attorney in Federal penitentiary for years, he casually forged the signatures of multiple judges to make documents appear legitimate, and even the victim judges state on the record that this had no impact.
Well, here’s a bit of foreshadowing: Forging judicial documents in Missouri is not exactly a rare thing, which is what the court personnel are subconsciously and passively broadcasting. The technologies employed by the state government make the falsification and alteration and destruction of court evidence exceedingly easy. Almost as if by design. But whose?
And wouldn’t a judicial system where evidence disappears without a trace be very attractive to organized crime?