Teh One Who Knocks
08-29-2013, 11:58 AM
By Tresa Baldas - Detroit Free Press
A sordid tale about a lawyer having sex with a teenage client has surfaced in federal court, where documents outline a classic grooming case involving a young prostitute who was manipulated by an older man she met through Backpage.com.
That man, court records show, is Royal Oak attorney Donald Guest, 43, who became one of the girl’s first prostitution customers in 2010 — she was 14 at the time — and carried on a sexual relationship with her for the next two years that involved cash, gifts and thousands of phone calls. According to court documents:
■ He paid her $100 for sex dates.
■ He paid for her to have her hair done.
■ For her 15th birthday, he took her shopping at the Northland Mall. For her 16th birthday, he gave her cash.
When she got into trouble with the law, Guest represented her in exchange for sex, sometimes threatening to stop representing her if she did not provide him with sex. And he called her nonstop, more than 1,300 times during one three-month period; another 1,724 times in 2012.
“The weight of the evidence of Guest’s dangerousness is overwhelming,” U.S. Magistrate Judge David Grand wrote Aug. 11, when he ordered Guest be locked up pending trial. “He has admitted to having a sexual relationship with the minor ... he engaged in that relationship over a lengthy period of time ... and engaged in manipulative, coercive and threatening behavior to maintain it.”
Grand also wrote that Guest is “unable to control his criminal behavior,” noting that within two weeks of being arrested on criminal sexual conduct charges last year, Guest started his sexual relationship back up with the girl — while she was still a minor.
When Grand ordered Guest be detained, the lawyer’s wife was in the courtroom supporting her husband, who has no criminal record. Grand acknowledged both factors but concluded that Guest still is a danger to society and cannot be trusted not to flee to avoid prosecution.
Guest, who was initially charged Aug. 2 in a criminal complaint, was charged in a criminal information today with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. A criminal information typically means that the case is coming to some type of conclusion, and that Guest could reach some type of deal with the government.
His court-appointed lawyer, Jonathan Epstein, was not readily available for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office does not comment on pending litigation.
According to court documents, Guest came to the attention of authorities last October, during an undercover operation targeting juvenile prostitutes. During one of the stings by the Southeast Michigan Crimes Against Children Task Force (SEMCAC), authorities recovered a girl identified as T.P. and interviewed her that same day.
The girl, records show, disclosed that her attorney, Guest, was one of her customers and that she told him her age after about four or five dates. She also told authorities that Guest gave her gifts and provided her with legal services over the years.
The government alleges that Guest used his position as a lawyer to manipulate the girl into giving him sex, and cited this text message exchange to bolster that argument.
Guest: “Were you still gonna see me?”
T.P.: “Y not”
Guest: “Idk I was just asking cause u said after we finished up in court you would.”
T.P.: “U got money right”
Guest: “I’m talkin about for helping you out. Remember? ... Just get the appeal form from your new lawyer. I knew you would go back on your word.”
Here, according to court documents, are some other ways that Guest operated to get sex from the girl. In July 2012, the girl was arrested in Georgia for providing false identification to the police. Upon return to Detroit, Guest drove her back to Georgia to pick up her belongings from an abandoned car. In exchange for the ride, she had sex with him in a Georgia hotel.
On the same day that authorities recovered T.P., they arrested Guest on state charges of criminal sexual conduct. After being read his rights, records show, Guest confessed his relationship with the girl, admitting he also had sex with the girl’s cousin, another minor prostitute.
According to court documents, Guest told authorities that he acted as an attorney for both girls, including one case involving a school fight. He also represented T.P. in a prostitution case in Warren and got her reduced charges. In that case, records show, T.P. gave police a fake name. Guest texted the girl about the case, writing: “And it’s not even under your real name so it don’t matter.”
According to the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, Guest was disbarred in 2004 over financial matters involving improper handling of judgments and not telling his clients that he had won judgments. He was reinstated in 2010.
A sordid tale about a lawyer having sex with a teenage client has surfaced in federal court, where documents outline a classic grooming case involving a young prostitute who was manipulated by an older man she met through Backpage.com.
That man, court records show, is Royal Oak attorney Donald Guest, 43, who became one of the girl’s first prostitution customers in 2010 — she was 14 at the time — and carried on a sexual relationship with her for the next two years that involved cash, gifts and thousands of phone calls. According to court documents:
■ He paid her $100 for sex dates.
■ He paid for her to have her hair done.
■ For her 15th birthday, he took her shopping at the Northland Mall. For her 16th birthday, he gave her cash.
When she got into trouble with the law, Guest represented her in exchange for sex, sometimes threatening to stop representing her if she did not provide him with sex. And he called her nonstop, more than 1,300 times during one three-month period; another 1,724 times in 2012.
“The weight of the evidence of Guest’s dangerousness is overwhelming,” U.S. Magistrate Judge David Grand wrote Aug. 11, when he ordered Guest be locked up pending trial. “He has admitted to having a sexual relationship with the minor ... he engaged in that relationship over a lengthy period of time ... and engaged in manipulative, coercive and threatening behavior to maintain it.”
Grand also wrote that Guest is “unable to control his criminal behavior,” noting that within two weeks of being arrested on criminal sexual conduct charges last year, Guest started his sexual relationship back up with the girl — while she was still a minor.
When Grand ordered Guest be detained, the lawyer’s wife was in the courtroom supporting her husband, who has no criminal record. Grand acknowledged both factors but concluded that Guest still is a danger to society and cannot be trusted not to flee to avoid prosecution.
Guest, who was initially charged Aug. 2 in a criminal complaint, was charged in a criminal information today with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. A criminal information typically means that the case is coming to some type of conclusion, and that Guest could reach some type of deal with the government.
His court-appointed lawyer, Jonathan Epstein, was not readily available for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office does not comment on pending litigation.
According to court documents, Guest came to the attention of authorities last October, during an undercover operation targeting juvenile prostitutes. During one of the stings by the Southeast Michigan Crimes Against Children Task Force (SEMCAC), authorities recovered a girl identified as T.P. and interviewed her that same day.
The girl, records show, disclosed that her attorney, Guest, was one of her customers and that she told him her age after about four or five dates. She also told authorities that Guest gave her gifts and provided her with legal services over the years.
The government alleges that Guest used his position as a lawyer to manipulate the girl into giving him sex, and cited this text message exchange to bolster that argument.
Guest: “Were you still gonna see me?”
T.P.: “Y not”
Guest: “Idk I was just asking cause u said after we finished up in court you would.”
T.P.: “U got money right”
Guest: “I’m talkin about for helping you out. Remember? ... Just get the appeal form from your new lawyer. I knew you would go back on your word.”
Here, according to court documents, are some other ways that Guest operated to get sex from the girl. In July 2012, the girl was arrested in Georgia for providing false identification to the police. Upon return to Detroit, Guest drove her back to Georgia to pick up her belongings from an abandoned car. In exchange for the ride, she had sex with him in a Georgia hotel.
On the same day that authorities recovered T.P., they arrested Guest on state charges of criminal sexual conduct. After being read his rights, records show, Guest confessed his relationship with the girl, admitting he also had sex with the girl’s cousin, another minor prostitute.
According to court documents, Guest told authorities that he acted as an attorney for both girls, including one case involving a school fight. He also represented T.P. in a prostitution case in Warren and got her reduced charges. In that case, records show, T.P. gave police a fake name. Guest texted the girl about the case, writing: “And it’s not even under your real name so it don’t matter.”
According to the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, Guest was disbarred in 2004 over financial matters involving improper handling of judgments and not telling his clients that he had won judgments. He was reinstated in 2010.