Indictment: Naperville couple conned by fake attorney

Pamela Valois first turned to Michael Gardner for legal advice three years ago, when she was embroiled in a dispute with her landlord over adding a kitchen to her Naperville convenience store.

Gardner came recommended by an acquaintance, and Valois said she couldn't have been happier when he persuaded the landlord, under the threat of legal action, to approve the construction without going to court.

After that, she and her husband, who owns another business in Lisle, put Gardner on a $500 monthly retainer and, according to Valois, practically welcomed him into the family.

“I trusted him,” she said. “He was our attorney.”

Turns out, though, he wasn't, according to allegations in a DuPage County grand jury indictment handed up Thursday.

The felony complaint charges the 53-year-old Woodridge man with false impersonation of an attorney and theft by deception. He is accused of swindling thousands of dollars from the Valois family and one of their employees, 26-year-old Nancy Martinez of Naperville.

In a candid sit-down interview Thursday with the Daily Herald, Gardner, free on $5,000 bail, said he never represented himself as an attorney to the Valoises or Martinez. But he acknowledged that he knew they thought he was an attorney while he did nothing to set the record straight.

“This was a situation that got out of control,” he said. “Clearly, I'm just an average guy.”

Gardner described himself as a consultant who advises businesses across the suburbs and in Chicago. He said much of his work involves helping clients through negotiations, contracts and licensing, but he said he refers people to practicing attorneys when an issue is beyond his reach.

Gardner said he began taking on cases for the Valoises and Martinez believing he could resolve problems for them outside the courtroom. He admitted accepting payments for his work, as well as reimbursements for travel expenses out of state.

“I'm not going to deny the things I was doing,” he said. “I thought these things could get resolved.”

Eventually, he said, “I realized I had overstepped my boundaries. Things were beyond what I was capable of doing. I should have just up and said I was not an attorney, bottom line.”

Valois, 44, of Naperville, estimated she and her husband gave Gardner some $39,000 in checks and cash over a period of about three years. She said Gardner told her specifically that he was an attorney.

During that time, she said, he also shopped and dined in her store, River Hill Food Mart, for free several days a week and was often sent home with meals for his family.

Valois said Gardner advised her and her husband on numerous issues, including the routine legalities of running a business and more complex disputes over an advertising contract, a leaky roof and her husband's purchase of coin-operated laundry machines for his Lisle shopping plaza.

In each case, Valois said, Gardner repeatedly assured her, “I will take care of it.”

But Gardner was never licensed to practice law in Illinois, according to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which regulates the profession.

Gardner said his legal background was limited to less than a year in law school. He said he later went to work in the banking industry and owned two small manufacturing companies — all of which contributed to his understanding the nuances of operating a business.

It wasn't until October, when an arrest warrant was issued for Valois' failure to appear in court on a contract dispute that Gardner said had been resolved, that the alleged scheme began to unravel, Valois said.

Valois said she soon learned Gardner had not, in fact, been appearing in court on her behalf or even working on her case, as she believed.

The revelation was startling, Valois said, given that Gardner often spent hours discussing legal strategies with her. She said he usually wore business attire, saying he had just come from court.

“When he talks, you believe him,” she said. “When he speaks, he's very intelligent and it seems like he knows business law.”

Valois said she later assisted police by recording a conversation in which Gardner agreed to meet her in court for her next scheduled appearance.

“Of course, he never showed up,” she said. “I went alone.”

Martinez said she was victimized too, paying Gardner $4,000 to represent her husband in a Will County case.

She said Gardner always told her husband to go to court alone and report back. A judge eventually entered a ruling against her husband after Gardner's repeated absences, she said.

“(Gardner) said, ‘You know what? That's a hard case. You need to give me more money. You need to win the case,'” she recalled. “Every time he had the chance, he needed more money.”

Gardner faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, which also is punishable by probation. His next court date is March 28.

Valois said she hopes Gardner will be forced to pay restitution, and that attention to his case will keep others from falling prey.

“We weren't careful,” she conceded. “But it's not right to rip off somebody. I have three kids and a mortgage to pay.”

Gardner said he, too, wants to make amends.

“I've disappointed a lot of people,” he said. “I'm sorry I gave off this impression. I hope that at some point in time I can stand before them face-to-face, take my licks, extend my apologies and ask for forgiveness.”