False Answers Draw Stayed Suspension

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered a fully-stayed six-month suspension for answers provided in an application for a physician-assistant license

In a December 2022 complaint, relator, disciplinary counsel, charged Taylor with a single count of professional misconduct based on his failure to give truthful answers to questions on an application he submitted to the State Medical Board of Ohio to obtain a physician-assistant license regarding his identity, whether he had had allegations made against him or investigations concerning him, and whether he had had lawsuits filed against him. The parties jointly submitted stipulations of fact and misconduct along with 67 stipulated exhibits.

Background

In April 2004, respondent testified as an expert witness on behalf of a defendant who was charged with knowingly possessing or attempting to possess computer images containing sexually explicit depictions of minors. United States v. Shreck, N.D. Oklahoma No. 03-CR-0043-CVE, 2006 WL 7067888 (May 23, 2006). In a motion for an evidentiary hearing in that matter, the defendant asserted that his expert witness, Taylor, would testify that “it is now impossible for any individual to know from a mere viewing of digital images on a computer whether or not those images portray actual children.” During his testimony in that case, Taylor presented innocent images of several children that he had obtained from the Internet and altered to depict the children engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adults. At the conclusion of that hearing, the court directed that the exhibits “be purged from [Taylor’s] hard drive” once they had been preserved for the court’s record. The parties have stipulated that Taylor deleted the images from his computer and that he then mailed the computer’s hard drive from Oklahoma to Ohio.

In May 2004, the Cleveland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) began investigating Taylor’s conduct related to the sexually explicit images he had created. The FBI obtained a search warrant for Taylor’s home and seized devices containing several electronic files. On April 5, 2007, Taylor executed a pretrial diversion agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office, under which the office agreed to forego criminal prosecution of Taylor for “knowingly possess[ing] a computer * * * that contained images of child pornography, * * * [which] was produced using materials that had been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce by any means including by computer,” namely, the exhibits he created and used solely in his capacity as a witness and/or defense attorney in Oklahoma and Ohio.

Two minors whose images were depicted sued Respondent

On remand, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the two minors and ordered Taylor to pay each of them the statutory-minimum damages of $150,000. The court later ordered Taylor to pay the minors $43,214.11 in attorney fees. In partial satisfaction of those judgments, the minors garnished a $70,000 payment Taylor was owed by the state of Ohio.

Respondent declared bankruptcy but the courts determined that the judgment could not be discharged.

In August 2011, relator informed Taylor that he was investigating Taylor’s conduct related to his pretrial diversion agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but it closed that investigation in October 2013 without filing a formal complaint against him.

Misconduct here

On April 8, 2019, under the name Jack Boland, Taylor electronically submitted an application to the State Medical Board of Ohio for a physicianassistant license. The medical board approved Taylor’s application and issued a physician-assistant license to him, effective June 12, 2019.

On his application, Taylor failed to answer or provided inaccurate responses to four questions. Taylor provided no response to the question, “Do you have other aliases?” He also answered, “No,” to the following questions: (1) “Have you ever been requested to appear before any board, bureau, department, agency, or other body, including those in Ohio, concerning allegations against you?”; (2) “Have you ever been notified of any investigation concerning you by any board, bureau, department, agency, or other body, including those in Ohio, with respect to a professional license, certificate, or registration?”; and (3) “Have you ever forfeited collateral, bail, or bond for breach or violation of any law, police regulation, or ordinance other than for a minor traffic violation; been summoned into court as a defendant or had any lawsuit * * * filed against you?”

Respondent

Taylor has stipulated that his answers to the foregoing questions on his initial application for a physician-assistant license were false in that he failed to disclose that he (1) had legally changed his name from “Dean Maynard Boland” to “Jack Boland” in 2016, (2) had been previously ordered to appear at the offices of the FBI to view evidence as part of a discovery dispute in the above-described civil action, (3) had been named as a defendant in that civil action, and (4) had been investigated by relator in 2011 for the conduct underlying his pretrial diversion agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

His post hac explanations regarding these responses were rejected.

At his disciplinary hearing, rather than unequivocally acknowledging that he provided false answers on his application, he blamed the medical board for using ambiguous language and punctuation in the application. The board rejected Taylor’s explanations, finding that the questions on the application were plainly stated and that Taylor’s answers were false.

Sanction

John Taylor is suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for six months with the suspension stayed in its entirety on the condition that he engage in no further misconduct. If Taylor fails to comply with the condition of the stay, the stay will be revoked and he will serve the full six-month suspension. Costs are taxed to Taylor.

(Mike Frisch)