Disbarred attorney faces drug charges
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com August 31, 2012 4:58PM
Frank Weinert of Geneva, former attorney facing drug and assault charges.
Updated: October 3, 2012 6:16AM
A former attorney who had an office in Aurora will now need a lawyer of his own.
Frank X. Weinert III, 38, of the 1000 block of Meadows Road, Geneva, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and aggravated battery of a police officer after he was stopped by state police.
Weinert was also charged with no insurance, no seat belt, failure to reduce speed and improper lane use on the same date, police said.
Police would not say where the traffic stop took place.
Weinert is scheduled to be in Kane County Court on Wednesday.
In 2008, Weinert was disbarred after continually missing court dates and repeatedly failing to meet with clients, including an Aurora man facing murder charges in Kendall County.
The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission complaint against Weinert cited a 2004 Kendall County murder case.
In that case, Marcelino Alfaro of Aurora, then 19, was charged with driving 16-year-old Jorge Badillo out to a Kendall County cornfield, where two other men shot Badillo in a disagreement over drugs.
The two shooters still have not been charged.
Weinert and Kankakee attorney Brian Hiatt represented Alfaro.
At one point, Alfaro had worked out an agreement to plead guilty to obstruction of justice in exchange for testifying against the shooters.
However, Hiatt and Alfaro failed to show up for meetings with prosecutors, even when Alfaro was brought in from the jail to take a lie detector test.
After Alfaro was found guilty, neither Weinert nor Hiatt spoke to Alfaro before sentencing.
The IARDC complaint alleged that Weinert lied under oath about contacting Alfaro.
Weinert was disbarred in 2008, and Kendall County Judge William Weir fined Hiatt $500 for continual violations of court orders.
Although Weinert missed court appearances, Alfaro’s family said Weinert would call repeatedly about payments. Weinert told The Beacon-News he accepted cash payments but said he was “fairly certain” he recorded all the transactions.
Alfaro was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is scheduled to be paroled in 2029.
Weinert also was accused of unethical practices in eight other instances not relating to the Alfaro case.
State police would not release further information about Weinert’s traffic stop.
