Mr. Ibe’s Wild Ride
An attorney facing discipline for a criminal conviction has filed a consent to disbarment in the District of Columbia.
The York Daily Record had the story of the charges
An attorney licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia is being held at York County Prison on misdemeanor criminal charges and a Department of Homeland Security detainer.
Pennsylvania State Police reported Peter Chidi Ibe was pulled over by a trooper on southbound Interstate 83 near Exit 22 in Manchester Township around 1:30 a.m. on July 13, 2011.
Police allege that Ibe:
— was driving his Mercedes Benz on the wrong side of orange safety cones in a work zone;
— had several open containers of JOOS and malt beverage in the vehicle;
— was driving four underage females — ages 14, 14, 15 and 16 — who were intoxicated; and
— had a loaded .380-caliber handgun in the trunk that was reported stolen by the Erie Police Department.
Ibe, 42, whose court documents list a work address in Washington, D.C. and home addresses in Maryland and Pennsylvania, is representing himself.
He is charged with receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license, furnishing alcohol to minors and three counts of corruption of minors — all misdemeanors.
He also is charged with the summary offenses of obedience to traffic control devices and restrictions on alcoholic beverages.
Ibe posted $20,000 bail on July 21, 2011. The Department of Homeland Security then filed a detainer against him and he was placed in the ICE detainee section of York County Prison, according to court documents.
In December, District Attorney Tom Kearney rejected Ibe’s application for Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, a pre-trial diversionary program. Kearney said the firearm charge is a mandatory reason to exclude someone from the program.
Ibe is contesting the vehicle stop and his ICE detention. His pretrial conference, scheduled for last week, was rescheduled for July 17 before Judge Michael E. Bortner.
According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court attorney disciplinary board, Ibe was admitted to the bar in October 1999 and has never faced any disciplinary action.
He was convicted of one count of receiving stolen property and three counts of providing alcohol to minors.
The practical consequence of the consent is that the question whether these crimes involved moral turpitude on the facts need not be addressed.
Thus we leave to future litigation the issue whether dangerously driving with four intoxicated underage persons in the car offends the generally accepted moral code of mankind.
As someone once said, the answer to that question depends on the values one brings to the debate.
The D.C. Court of Appeals will review the report of its Board on Professional Responsibility recommending acceptance of the consent. (Mike Frisch)