Immigration attorney Samuel Marsh has represented dozens of clients who want to stay in the United States legally.
However, Marsh is now under investigation after at least one client was deported to Mexico.
The Chehalis attorney has already been suspended from practicing law in Washington state and may also be disbarred.
Sources tell KIRO 7, Marsh may even be the subject of a federal investigation.
An American citizen who lives in Eastern Washington is one of at least a dozen people who have filed complaints with the Washington State Bar Association against Marsh.
She -- and others -- claim they gave Marsh as much as $7500 to file the legal papers necessary to stay in the U-S. The woman did not want to be identified, but told KIRO 7 in an interview from her family’s home that Marsh “didn’t do anything” for her father, who was then deported to Mexico.
She’s fearful for her family’s and her father’s safety She said her father hired Marsh to help with asylum in the US because he was being recruited by a criminal cartel. “They wanted my father to be a part of it, and he chooses not to,” she told KIRO 7. “If you don’t want to be a part of it, they just kill you.”
According to documents filed by the Washington State Bar Association's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, Marsh did not respond to the family's emails, did not submit documents to the court and only met with his client once --- moments before a hearing -- to withdraw as his lawyer.
Within days, the Eastern Washington woman's father "was deported to Mexico" according to documents obtained by KIRO 7, where he’s still in hiding.
“I don’t even want to go visit him because I’m scared,” she said.
More than thirty counts of alleged wrong-doing have been filed against Samuel Marsh with the Washington State Bar Association.
WSBA Chief Disciplinary Counsel Douglas Ende said “in each of the instances, after an Office of Disciplinary Counsel investigation, it was determined that the allegations were correct, had merit” so Marsh was suspended from practicing law in Washington state and now faces possible disbarment.
Ende told KIRO 7, there’s evidence Marsh willfully mislead his clients and knew the consequences.
“Where a lawyer fails to proceed and to represent an individual in an immigration matter appropriately, there can be very severe consequences for that individual,” Ende said, including deportation.
Many of the WSBA complaints filed against Marsh detail his clients' frustration over not being able to get in contact with him after giving Marsh money. Marsh "did not telephone" his clients, "did not write letters", "did not meet" with them, according to documents.
One client told investigators, after filing a complaint against Marsh, the lawyer threatened to contact federal agents "so that they could come and pick me up and I would be sent back to Mexico."
Another client complained Marsh sent text messages "with sexual content," "sent pictures of himself wearing only a towel,” and texted "Why don't we marry? It can help your immigration case."
The daughter of Marsh’s Eastern Washington client who was deported to Mexico said Marsh once told her “don’t ever call me in the middle of the night, and if you do, it’s because you’re coming over with a bottle of champagne.”
After digging through more than a thousand pages of complaints and WSBA investigative documents, KIRO 7 wanted to get Samuel Marsh's comments about the many allegations.
He was not easy to find.
The address of his Chehalis office is a mail-drop.
The Washington State Bar Association’s website lists his office in Las Vegas.
After weeks of searching, KIRO 7 finally tracked Marsh down by filing a public disclosure request that revealed the address where he was served with a legal summons --- at a home he's remodeling outside Chehalis.
The front door to Marsh’s house was wide open on the day a KIRO 7 crew visited, but he was not home. However, within a few minutes, Marsh drove up, denied his name was Samuel Marsh, and refused to comment on-camera.
Instead, he drove off and called police.
KIRO 7 filed a public disclosure request for a copy of that 911 call. In the recording, the caller identifies himself as Samuel Marsh.
The Eastern Washington woman whose father was deported to Mexico told KIRO 7 “justice for me would be him going to jail, and thinking everyday about what he did.”
An agent with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been in contact with KIRO 7, asking about Marsh and the WSBA complaints filed against him.
Meanwhile, the Washington State Bar Association would like to hear from anyone who has a complaint about a lawyer.
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Cox Media Group
