Suspended attorney pleads not guilty, is arrested for faking documents

A suspended Missouri attorney pleaded not guilty on Feb. 17 to felony charges that he falsified court documents he presented to some of his clients and was arrested on bond.

Andrew Gavin Wynne was an attorney at a Kirkwood firm formerly known as Menees, Menees & Wynne until last August. He is charged with five counts of identity theft for presenting fake court orders, judgments and emails to some of his clients as if the documents were from judges on their cases.

“The fictitious documents that WYNNE provided to his clients were not authored or endorsed by any judge, and WYNNE knew that those documents were not authored or endorsed by any judge,” wrote U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming in the indictment.

Magistrate Judge Patricia L. Cohen of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Missouri held Wynne’s arraignment. The St. Louis Federal Public Defender’s Office, which represents Wynne, motioned for an extension of time to file pretrial motions to be approved by Magistrate Judge Stephen R. Welby.

The Feb. 9 indictment lists the initials of four circuit court judges that Wynne is charged with impersonating through falsified documents.

The grand jury also found probable cause that in the event of being convicted of the five counts, Wynne forfeits property from the proceeds that he earned from those cases.

The U.S. Attorney Office for the Eastern District of Missouri represents the United States and did not respond to a call requesting comment by press time.

Mohammed Ahmed of the St. Louis Federal Public Defenders Office represents Wynne. He did not respond to a call requesting comment.

Partner Hardy C. Menees, a partner at the firm now called Menees & Menees, declined to comment on the case.

The case is U.S. v. Wynne, 4:22-CR-00076.