Disbarred Calgary lawyer forged court documents, keeping client from child, judge hears in guilty plea
CBC
A Calgary lawyer who falsified court documents and repeatedly lied to a client, causing the man to miss out on parenting time with his youngest child, pleaded guilty to forgery on Thursday.
Ronverg Mendoza was also disbarred last year following a law society disciplinary hearing.
His victim, Gord Weston, was in court for Mendoza’s plea. After court, Weston said Mendoza’s actions prolonged an already difficult family court process and caused him to miss out on time with his daughter.
He said it took two years to get the situation resolved after Mendoza’s fraud.
“As anyone who’s a parent knows, you have very short time with your children when they’re younger, and it’s precious, and you can’t get it back,” Weston said.
Details of Mendoza’s crimes come from an agreed statement of facts read aloud by prosecutor Megan Rosborough.
Justice Ryan Anderson heard that starting in 2021, Mendoza, who became a lawyer in 2020, represented Weston in a family law matter where Weston sought parenting time with his youngest daughter.
The court ordered Mendoza to schedule a trial and draft an order for the upcoming hearing.
In October 2021, Mendoza received trial dates from the courthouse “but took no steps to schedule the trial,” according to the agreed statement of facts.
Weston repeatedly asked Mendoza to confirm trial dates.
On June 22, 2022, Mendoza forwarded Weston an email that he’d forged.
The correspondence appeared to be from the courthouse scheduling email address and indicated that a virtual video hearing was scheduled for Aug. 10, 2022 at 9 a.m.
The lawyer and his client then spent time drafting an affidavit “to be used as evidence in the fictitious upcoming court hearing.”
After Weston swore the affidavit, Mendoza forged a clerk's stamp which indicated it had been filed and then provided a copy to his client.
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