The sign in front of the Summer Avenue law firm says "Abogados," which in Spanish means "Lawyers."

The firm advertised that it would help Hispanic immigrants handle tasks such as criminal defense, immigration filings and traffic tickets. But now the office is closed, the phone numbers don't work, and the lawyers are gone.

Frustrated clients say the firm's staffers took their money and disappeared, leaving their cases unresolved.

Records show the firm was owned by Gerald Waggoner, a lawyer whose license was suspended in 2017 following allegations that he stole from a client. Efforts to reach Waggoner were unsuccessful.

Sarvia Morales, a 40-year-old from Mexico who until recently worked in cleaning services, paid the law firm $300 last year to help resolve driving-related charges. She says when she went to court, no attorney came to meet her.

"I don't think that it's right that they did that," Morales said in Spanish. "Because I sought them out so they would help me. And instead of helping, they didn't show up."

It's unclear how many people were affected. The exact timeline of the firm's closure is also unclear. But Oscar Rivera, co-owner of Los Picosos, a Mexican restaurant next door to the law firm, showed a reporter photos he'd taken of notices on the law firm's door in August.

Those notices listed a phone number and said the office would be closed, first for specific dates in August. Then the notices disappeared, and the office remained closed, he said in a Spanish-language interview.

In the months since, curious clients have been coming into the restaurant and asking what happened. Many of the clients are Hispanic, but some are African-American or white, he said.

"It's a fraud that they're doing to these people," Rivera said in December.

On Jan. 9., he said clients were still showing up every day.

ABOGADOS LAW FIRM SHUTDOWN:Abogados law firm shutdown: State board asks people affected to file refund claims

Taking advantage of newcomers

The story of the imploding law firm reflects the bigger story of how a large number of immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America began arriving in Memphis in the mid-1990s and continue to make their homes here.

It also reflects the story of how various companies try to take advantage of them.

A significant number of adult immigrants in Memphis either entered the country illegally or on visas that later expired.

The federal government historically did little to make these immigrants leave, putting them in a legal gray area. Unable to get Tennessee driver's licenses, many of these unauthorized immigrants drive anyway, and if they're pulled over by local police or get in car wrecks, they face traffic charges.

"There are a lot of people who are undocumented," said Rivera, the restaurant owner. He said the Abogados firm was charging high prices, and that when a law firm fails to settle clients' ticket cases, it puts the clients at greater risk of arrest.

Suspended lawyer played key role in business

The Abogados law firm stands in a shopping center directly across from Grahamwood Elementary School in the area sometimes called Graham Heights, Kingsbury or Berclair.

The signs on the glass front of the office don't mention any attorney's name. But records and interviews identify the owner of the firm as Waggoner, a longtime Memphis criminal defense attorney.

Licensed as an attorney since 1989, Waggoner is currently banned from practicing law following allegations he stole settlement money that was meant for a client.

The Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee ordered him to pay restitution of about $49,000 and suspended his law license for three years. A document cited his "multiple offenses," an earlier reprimand related to fees, and his submission of false evidence and statements to the professional board.

Waggoner's three-year suspension went into effect in August 2017. But according to records and interviews, the Abogados law firm continued to operate after Waggoner's suspension, until around August 2018, when it shut down.

Waggoner is still paying rent on the now-shuttered business on Summer Avenue, according to the company that manages the property.

"We have not had any issues with this tenant," Bill Bell with Bell Properties, Inc. wrote in an email on Jan. 15. "They are in good standing with us. My tenant contact has always been Gerald Waggoner."

The Abogados law firm at 3939 Summer Ave. appeared abandoned on recent visits, with a stack of yellowing Hispanic newspapers visible through the window.

The Waggoner Law Firm formerly operated another office in a converted house at 1433 Poplar Ave.

This office appeared long-abandoned when a reporter visited on Jan. 14. Assorted bags and old clothes lay on the front porch, as though someone had been sleeping there.

A sign on the door read "24 Hour Video Surveillance / Trespassers will be shot, then prosecuted."

Waggoner's girlfriend was involved in business both before and after his suspension

Clients say that staffers at the Abogados firm referred them to other lawyers who cooperated with the business.

Morales kept written notes of her interactions with the firm, including a piece of paper where one of the law firm staffers had written her name: Christy Walker.

A 2017 judgment document related to the suspension of Waggoner's law license also mentions Walker, spelling her first name as "Christi" and describing her as "(Waggoner's) girlfriend and most recent office manager."

Walker is not included in a database of lawyers maintained by the state board. A representative of the board, A. Russell Willis, says he does not believe she is an attorney.

Efforts to reach Walker were unsuccessful.

Clients say they paid, didn't get services

Morales also showed a reporter receipts for the $300 she paid last summer to help her handle a misdemeanor citation that charged her with speeding and with driving with license revoked, suspended or canceled.

She said that shortly after a court appearance last summer, she took handwritten notes to better remember what happened. "August 8, 2018 I had court at 9 in the morning," she wrote. "The lawyer didn't appear. We were waiting a long time in the court and then another American lady came."

Morales said an interpreter who happened to be at court helped her communicate with this woman, who wrote her name on Morales' paper as Christy Walker.

"And she was the one who gave us the news that she was going to substitute for the lawyer," Morales wrote in the notes. "And we asked her why the lawyer didn't come and she told us that he had an emergency court in Millington."

Walker referred Morales to another attorney associated with the firm. Because Morales doesn't speak good English, her boyfriend called that attorney for her.

Her boyfriend, Antonio Fredy Millan, 30, recalled the conversation.

"He told me that he didn't know anything about this case," he said in Spanish. "That they hadn't told him anything."

Lawyer formerly associated with the firm says he cut ties quickly

The lawyer said he remembers phone calls that correspond with the accounts of Morales and her boyfriend. He said Walker, the office manager, gave the family his phone number after he'd already cut ties with the law firm.

That lawyer said he didn't want his name published because he feared association with the troubled law firm would damage his reputation.

But the attorney says that he had only worked for the Abogados law firm — also known as Memphis Legal Group — for about two and a half weeks in late July and early August as a contract attorney.

He said he then asked the office manager, Walker, which lawyer was acting as the firm's managing law partner.

At that point, Walker said the firm didn't have anyone in that role, the lawyer said. Unsatisfied with the answer, the lawyer moved to end his association with the firm.

In an interview, he cited Tennessee Supreme Court rules that limit the ability of non-lawyers to own law firms.

The rules aim to protect the lawyer's independence of professional judgement.

The contract lawyer said he finished some cases that he'd started, then finally cut ties with the firm. And he said he wasn't paid for all the work he did.

He said "dozens and dozens" of clients may have been affected by the firm's shutdown, and that many of them paid fees that weren't refunded. The fee amounts were relatively small, he said, but he believes the sum total was substantial.

The lawyer said someone else has already filed a complaint with the state board of professional responsibility, and that he's spoken with an investigator from the organization.

Willis, the representative of the state board, said the organization can't comment on any investigations until they're final.

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'It's a fraud, isn't it?'

Morales said she never got a refund for the $300 she'd paid. When she went to the lawyers' office later, it was closed. Her family ended up paying another lawyer from another firm to conclude the case.

Another client, 75-year-old Eduardo Sanchez, said he'd paid $350 to help his daughter settle driving-related charges in Collierville.

At the Abogados law firm, he spoke with a woman. "Afterward, we found out that she wasn't even a lawyer," he said in Spanish. "That she transferred the cases to other lawyers."

Sanchez said that when he and his daughter went to court in September, there was no lawyer to meet them. They found another lawyer to help, but haven't received their money back from Abogados.

"At the end of the story, it's a fraud, isn't it?" he said.

No charges have been filed in the Abogados case, according to Larry Buser, a spokesman for the Shelby County District Attorney's office.

"We normally don’t comment on pending cases, but I can say that we have no active case against this lawyer or firm," he wrote in an email.

Similar allegations elsewhere in Tennessee

Elsewhere in Tennessee, another lawyer is facing criminal consequences following allegations of theft from multiple clients.

About 200 people brought claims against attorney Andy Allman, said Willis with the state professional board.

Active in Sumner County, near Nashville, Allman is accused of misusing funds entrusted to him, including $230,000 from the family of a teenager who had suffered brain damage during a football game.

The state board called Allman's behavior "a disgrace to the profession."

In October, the Tennessee Supreme Court ordered Allman jailed for 20 days on charges that he continued practicing law during a suspension.

Allman is now disbarred, and his been ordered to pay restitution to clients of about $1 million, Willis said.

Allman also faces criminal charges in Sumner and Davidson counties, the Hendersonville Standard reported.

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Investigative reporter Daniel Connolly welcomes tips and comments from the public. Reach him at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.