June 13--Ambridge attorney Michael F. Yagercik brought marijuana and tobacco into the Allegheny County Jail for $500 per trip, and charged even more to bring contraband into a federal prison, police charged this week.
The jail's Acting Warden William Stickman said Tuesday that such accusations are rare, but added that it's hard to police attorneys.
"Here we have an attorney that's smuggling contraband into the facility. That's not a good sign," Mr. Stickman said.
"We afford them the respect due to their position, and this is what's happened," he said, adding that "there aren't many bad attorneys that would do this."
Mr. Yagercik, 32, is identified on state Supreme Court records as an attorney since 2006 and an employee of the Beaver County public defender's office who sometimes takes on private clients. Beaver County Public Defender Paul Steff could not be reached for comment and did not respond to an email seeking details of Mr. Yagercik's employment there. His receptionist said Mr. Yagercik is no longer an employee of the office.
Mr. Yagercik is charged with bringing in contraband, possessing marijuana, possessing the drug with intent to deliver and delivering it. According to a criminal complaint by Allegheny County Police Inspector Christopher Kearns, on May 15 Mr. Yagercik brought into the jail a sealed envelope containing loose tobacco, 21 grams of marijuana and rolling papers.
He entered the jail to meet Richard Jasek, a convicted drug dealer. Instead, he met with Jasek's cellmate, according to the affidavit, because Jasek "did not want to make it look obvious."
After giving the contraband to the inmate in a brief meeting in an attorney conference room on the jail's sixth floor, Mr. Yagercik left the jail, according to the affidavit. The unidentified cellmate was searched and the contraband was found, it said.
Police knew to search the inmate because they had been tipped off to Mr. Yagercik's activities, according to the affidavit. An informant claimed Mr. Yagercik was paid $500 to bring contraband into the jail and $1,000 to take it into the federal Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown when Jasek was there, it said.
Mr. Stickman said attorneys go through the jail's metal detectors and their briefcases are opened, but they are not required to open envelopes and corrections officers can't rifle through their papers.
"If there's envelopes and things like that, with the premise that there's legal work in there, we can't go through each page," he said.
Mr. Yagercik was charged, he said, due to "just good work by the intelligence gathering of the facility," adding that staff does a good job of keeping contraband out.
An accusation of an attorney carrying contraband is "so rare that I've never heard of it before," said Tom Loftus, spokesman for the Allegheny County Bar Association. "You're going to find that 99.9 percent of attorneys are ethical."
Mr. Yagercik is not a member of the bar associations of Allegheny or Beaver county. He could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Yagercik was charged in 2008 with simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person. A jury found him not guilty of the first two charges and could not reach unanimity on the third.
The Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court investigates attorneys, but typically only opens a probe after the lawyer is convicted of a crime. Attorneys can practice law while there are charges pending, but some opt not to, said Elaine Bixler, secretary of the board.
Post-conviction, the board can mete out punishment ranging from reprimand to disbarment.
Rich Lord: [email protected] or 412-263-1542.
Copyright 2012 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
