PROVIDENCE � Less than a week after getting the OK to resume practicing law, a former Rhode Island Bar Association president�s legal career is once again in limbo following accusations that he forged his...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. � Less than a week after getting the OK to resume practicing law, a former Rhode Island Bar Association president�s legal career is once again in limbo following accusations that he forged his estranged wife�s name on insurance documents.

The state Supreme Court on June 11 agreed to allow Richard A. Pacia to practice law, pending his passing a legal ethics exam. In 2009, Pacia voluntarily resigned the association presidency and gave up his law license in the face of complaints that he had mismanaged client money.

But the high court�s approval was put on hold June 17 after state police charged him with forgery for allegedly signing his estranged wife�s name to an application for car insurance.

Pacia, 62, of 50 Power Rd., Pawtucket, is going through a divorce. A Family Court order requires him to maintain automobile insurance for his wife and two teenage sons, according to state police Lt. Col. Michael J. Winquist.

His estranged wife, Alexandria Pacia, discovered the policy had been changed when two Allstate insurance cards arrived in the mail. The new policy provided less coverage than the family had under the previous carrier, Winquist said. She filed a complaint with state police June 11.

Richard Pacia turned himself in to state police six days later. He explained to officers that an Allstate employee told him that he needed his wife�s signature but that there was a court order barring the couple from talking. He said he had signed her name to the document because he didn�t want their insurance to lapse, Winquist said.

State Supreme Court Chief Disciplinary Counsel David D. Curtin recommended that Pacia�s reinstatement be put on hold, but emphasized that he maintains a presumption of innocence.

�However, on a reinstatement application it was his burden to convince the court by clear and convincing evidence that he had the moral fitness to resume the practice of law. This conduct brings that fitness into question,� Curtin wrote to the high court.

Pacia has faced multiple lawsuits alleging malpractice and negligence. Three lawsuits brought by former clients and a lender have since been dismissed in Superior Court after settlements were reached with his malpractice insurer, Liberty Insurance Underwriters Inc., Curtin said.

In two cases, lenders said they extended a total of $955,000 in loans based on misrepresentations by Pacia that a property was zoned for seven condominiums when in fact only five units could be built, court records show.

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In another, an elderly Jamestown couple � longtime former clients � lent Pacia money that he failed to pay back.

Ronnie C. Ramos told the court that he hired Pacia to help him purchase two properties. Ramos alleged that Pacia, or someone working for him, conducted a title search on only one parcel. Ramos learned that the other property had been previously sold at a tax sale and that an entity was claiming ownership that was not the entity Ramos had purchased the property from, court records show.

In 2010, Pacia was forced into bankruptcy by the two lenders who had extended the $955,000 in loans. In that action, about $1.2 million in claims from dozens of creditors were allowed, court records show. His debts included more than $83,639 to the Internal Revenue Service, $22,000-plus to the state Division of Taxation, and $4,290 to the Town of North Providence. His family members were seeking more than $30,000. Of those claims, he paid $42,330.

The state Supreme Court agreed to reinstate Pacia�s law license after hearing from him at conference May 28. It found he met the requirements to resume his practice, but they specified that he be monitored for two years by Anthony J. Gianfrancesco.

The court noted he had been a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association for 30 years and had no prior disciplinary history. He had voluntarily removed himself from practice for five years, a term that is longer than any discipline he would have received if formal charges had been filed, the court said. He garnered 20 letters of support from lawyers describing him as an altruistic, hardworking person of integrity.

The court noted that Curtin�s investigation into misconduct allegations against Pacia revealed �substantial discrepancies� in his client account that resulted in shortfalls in payments to clients and others. That shortfall, the court said, was not the result of intentional misappropriation by Pacia.

�Rather, the investigation revealed serious mismanagement and a lack of oversight of his accounts that bordered on recklessness,� the court wrote.

In recommending that Pacia�s law license be returned, Curtin attributed the mismanagement of the client account to a bookkeeper with a lengthy criminal history that included theft and embezzlement. Pacia didn�t do a background check before delegating oversight of the account to the bookkeeper, Curtin wrote.

A review of the account did, however, show that Pacia had improperly spent money from that account for personal use, Curtin said.

At Curtin�s recommendation, the high court concluded that private letters of reprimand were a sufficient sanction to impose, the court said.

Pacia received the bar association�s Pro Bono Publico award in 1994 for volunteer service and its continuing service award in 2003. Neither Pacia nor his lawyer, Anthony M. Traini, returned a phone call seeking comment. His bankruptcy lawyer, Peter Berman, declined comment.