Former lawyer gets prison time for trading representation for sexual acts and materials
Former lawyer Corey Kolcharno, 49, was sentenced Jan. 11 in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Image from Shutterstock.
A Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer who once worked as a prosecutor has been sentenced to four to 23 months in prison for providing legal services in exchange for sexual acts and materials.
Former lawyer Corey Kolcharno, 49, was sentenced Jan. 11 in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, according to the Associated Press, Law360 and a Jan. 12 press release. He will have to serve two years of probation after his release from prison.
Kolcharno formerly worked as an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County from 2005 to 2011. He pleaded guilty in October to four felony counts of promoting prostitution. The plea deal required him to give up his law license.
Kolcharno used his position as a lawyer to solicit sexual acts and materials from three clients and one client’s sister between 2018 and 2022, according to the press release by Democratic Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry.
Kolcharno allegedly asked the women for nude photos and used underwear, according to Law360 and a previous story by the Tri-County Independent. His cellphone contained hundreds of sexually explicit images of clients, according to a criminal complaint cited by Law360.
He was also accused of paying some of the women $500 or reducing their legal bills by the same amount in exchange for sex.
Kolcharno was temporarily suspended from law practice in an August 2022 order.
“The defendant’s behavior in these cases was despicable,” Henry said in the press release. “He preyed on clients and their relatives who had fallen on hard times and exploited their vulnerabilities for his own gratification.”
