Public Defender Accused of Taking Cocaine for Legal Fees
The public defender of a western Nebraska county was arrested last week after investigators say he admitted to accepting cocaine as payment for legal services.
Jon Worthman, an attorney in private practice in Alliance, was trading legal fees for cocaine, according to Western Nebraska Intelligence and Narcotics Group investigators, the Nebraska State Patrol said in a news release.
Law enforcement sold the 52-year-old attorney about an ounce of cocaine last Tuesday. An arrest affidavit says that after his arrest, Worthman admitted to sometimes accepting cocaine as payment for legal fees, the Associated Press reported last Thursday.
Worthman was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver. The Class ID felony is punishable by a mandatory minimum of three years imprisonment, with a maximum sentence of 50 years.
After being booked into the Scotts Bluff County Detention Center, Worthman was freed on a $15,000 bond.
Worthman is the elected public defender for Box Butte County in northwestern Nebraska. He didn’t return messages from The Daily Record and The Associated Press.
The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported
Attorney Maren Chaloupka will represent Worthman but declined to comment to The Daily Record. She told Scottsbluff Star-Herald last week that they will be “vigorously defending these charges.”
“There is more to the story than what has been reported so far,” Chaloupka told The Star-Herald.
The narcotics task force that arrested Worthman was assisted by the Nebraska State Patrol and Scottsbluff Police Department.
This report contains material from The Associated Press.
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