St. Joseph County judge faces discipline, accused of using client money for court projects

SOUTH BEND — A state commission has filed disciplinary charges against a St. Joseph County Probate Court judge and asks the Indiana Supreme Court to punish him for allegedly funneling money from a client's trust fund to the St. Joseph County Probate Court without disclosing it.

"After Cichowicz was elected judge, he violated judicial canons that require judges to respect the law, avoid impropriety, promote public confidence in the judiciary, and avoid abusing the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interests of another," the commission wrote in its findings.

Attorneys for Cichowicz and Russell Cartwright — the client in question — say, however, that the recent filings are a case of "no good deed going unpunished" and that Cichowicz has always acted in Cartwright's interests and with his approval. The attorneys maintain the financial maneuverings were all legal, but were made anonymous on purpose to avoid bringing public attention to the funding available to Cichowicz.

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Donald Lundberg, an attorney representing Cichowitz, did not answer questions from a reporter Tuesday but provided a written statement responding to the allegations.

"Judge Jason Cichowicz successfully and legally obtained private funds to improve his court at no cost to the taxpayer and at no personal benefit to himself," the statement says. "The commission’s own statement of charges correctly asserts that Judge Cichowicz’s interest was in making improvements that would be beneficial to the important work of the St. Joseph Probate Court and the families and children it serves."

Cichowicz is the county's elected probate court judge and has held the office since 2019. The St. Joseph County Probate Court mostly deals with family law and juvenile proceedings and houses the county's Juvenile Justice Center.

The charges against Cichowicz now go before the Indiana Supreme Court, which will decide what, if any, punishment is warranted. Though there are no criminal charges against Cichowicz, he could be potentially be suspended or barred form holding judicial office in Indiana.

A member of Cichowicz's staff said the judge was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

'Particularly susceptible to undue influence'

The allegations outlined by the state commission date back to 2015, when Cichowicz was a practicing attorney in South Bend, handling mostly juvenile delinquency cases. The documents say Cichowicz became close with Cartwright after representing Cartwright in divorce proceedings. Court documents show Cartwright has a trust estimated to be worth over $6 million.

Cartwright — who is over 80 years old and lives in an assisted living facility per court documents — eventually named Cichowicz as his trustee and beneficiary and then as a joint holder on his checking account, all while Cichowicz was still representing Cartwright as an attorney, which was a violation of Indiana's rules on attorney conduct, the commission found.

Though the report from the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications does not address the motivations for Cartwright naming Cichowicz as his trustee and beneficiary, that set of actions did lead to Bank of America filing a separate civil lawsuit against Cartwright and Cichowicz in 2021.

That suit sought to block Cartwright from transferring funds to Cichowicz and implied there was elder abuse. However, Cartwright's attorneys argued in court documents that he fully understood what he was doing and that he had come to see Cichowicz "much like a son."

Mike Misch, an attorney who represents Cartwright and his nonprofits, reiterated Tuesday that the implication Cichowicz was taking advantage of Cartwright is false.

"Mr. Cartwright has always held Judge Cichowicz in the highest regard and regards him as a family member," Misch said in a written statement. "Mr. Cartwright has always maintained that all actions taken by Cichowicz on behalf of Mr. Cartwright were of his own choosing and also in the best interest of our community and the children and families served by the JJC."

Cartwright and Bank of America settled their lawsuit in November, however, a previous instance when Cichowicz represented Cartwright gives rise to questions about Cartwright's competency. In 2015, Cartwright sued an individual saying the man had wrongly taken ownership of a car, which Cartwright had paid for.

The man claimed Cartwright legally gifted him the vehicle, but in court filings, Cichowicz argued Cartwright could not have done so because he didn't have the mental capacity to enter into contracts. To support his claim, Cichowicz submitted two affidavits from doctors who had treated Cartwright in which they say he has bipolar disorder and was hospitalized multiple times in 2014 because of psychiatric issues.

"It is my belief, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that Mr. Cartwright would have been easily manipulated and was particularly susceptible to undue influence during the time period from August 2014 through the end of December 2014," both affidavits say.

According to the charges brought by the commission, Cartwright granted Cichowicz power of attorney in October 2014 and named him a co-trustee over his nonprofit organization in February 2015.

Misch did not respond to questions about Cartwright's mental state by The Tribune's deadline and Lundberg declined to comment, though in their written statements the attorneys emphasized Cartwright has not once complained to the judicial commission regarding his arrangements with Cichowicz.

Anonymous donations

As a judge, Cichowicz continued to violate the state's ethical policies, the commission alleges, by making purchases for the probate court with the client's assets that he now controlled.

When he was newly elected in early 2019, Cichowicz pushed to build a new courtroom and took a little over $80,000 from his client's nonprofit foundation to pay for the renovation without disclosing the source of the funding to county lawmakers, the documents say.

Then in 2019 and 2020, Cichowicz paid nearly $25,000 to R & K Ceramic Tile LLC for repair work to breakrooms in the center. The commission's report states that the owner of R & K Ceramic Tile is Kenneth Cichowicz — the father of Jason Cichowicz.

Similarly in 2020, the report says, Cichowicz paid an automobile company owned by his father around $51,000 for three cars to be used by JJC-affiliated staff.

In all three cases, the commission report says that Cichowicz took funds from the Cartwright nonprofit foundation, which he is the sole trustee, and transferred them to Misch's law firm. Misch's firm, in turn, gave the money to the Friends of the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center — a separate nonprofit that works to provide funding to various programs within the JJC. In addition to representing Cartwright, Misch sits on the board of the Friends of the JJC.

Responding to the charges brought by the commission, Misch said the point of the roundabout money transfers was to keep Cichowicz's involvement anonymous so it wouldn't become common knowledge among JJC staff members that their boss was donating money for facility upgrades.

Cichowicz "didn’t want to be known for doing this," Misch said. "All he cared about was making sure that the kids and families affected by the JJC could get their court cases done faster, more efficiently, instead of these cases being hung up unnecessarily just because they didn’t have the judicial officer or court space to deal with it."

Misch said the money given to the JJC through the Friends of the JJC nonprofit is not subject to approval by county lawmakers and that it was all done legally.

In total, Cichowicz faces seven counts of violating attorney or judicial conduct policies, including his failure to note his ownership stake in various companies on his financial disclosure forms. He now has 20 days in which to respond to the allegations or to work out a disciplinary settlement.

A statement provide by Cichowicz's attorney indicates the judge is prepared to argue his case in front of a panel of three independent judges appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joseph County probate judge accused of improper financial dealings