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Letter to the editor

Judge reinstates $5-million bail, tongue-lashes attorney

By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 29, 2007

CLEARWATER - A judge reinstated bail of $5-million apiece for John and Cheryl Wehlau on Friday after a statewide prosecutor argued that the former title company owners are a flight risk and that millions of dollars they misappropriated remain missing.

Circuit Judge Robert J. Morris also gave a tongue-lashing to Steve Bartlett, a Holiday attorney who said he had been hired by a friend of the Wehlaus and who last week persuaded another judge to reduce their bail to $100,000.

Upon learning that Bartlett intended to withdraw after the bail hearing and provide no more representation in the criminal case, the judge accused the attorney of "subterfuge" and said Bartlett had put the court "in an untenable situation." The rules require that a lawyer represent his client for the entire case or not at all, the judge said.

The Wehlaus, founders of Gulf Coast Title Closings and Escrow Services in Palm Harbor, were arrested at their rented home in Pasco County on Sept. 13 and charged with 25 felonies apiece: theft from an escrow account, grand theft and money laundering.

Investigators say the couple stole $7.9-million from real estate escrow accounts in their care and used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of a $1.32-million country club home, a condo for their oldest daughter, luxury cars and fine jewelry.

After the Wehlaus, both 41, were transferred from jail in Pasco to Pinellas last weekend, Bartlett got a judge to reduce the couple's bail to $100,000, arguing that they had numerous community ties, no criminal record and were charged with nonviolent crimes.

But on Friday, Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Mark A. Campbell asked that the original bail be restored. Campbell said the Wehlaus still pose a danger to the community. He pointed to their use of their special needs daughter, Victoria Lynne Wehlau, now 21, to commit fraud last year in the purchase of a $280,000 Hudson home and her obtaining a pair of mortgages totaling $279,900.

"Victoria Wehlau is autistic and is not capable of entering into a real estate contract or supporting $280,000 in mortgages," Campbell said.

Campbell also presented an affidavit from a detective with the Florida Department of Financial Services saying that last weekend he observed Wehlau family members and friends operating 26 stalls at a Gunn Highway flea market where they were selling "jewelry, Rolex watches and other items of value," all believed to have been purchased with stolen money.

Bartlett countered that the high bail the state wanted created a hardship for the family, especially the Wehlau children.

But upon hearing that Bartlett did not intend to represent the Wehlaus in the future, the judge said public defenders would handle the task and ordered Bartlett to come back in a week and say whether he was "in the case or not." The judge said he would reconsider the bail question.

Reach Jeff Testerman at 813 226-3422 or testerman@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 28, 2007, 21:46:18]