Richard D. Crites
A Springfield, Missouri, lawyer, who also serves as a reserve deputy sheriff, appears as a paying customer at the Ashley Madison extramarital-affairs Web site, according to publicly available documents.Richard D. Crites has a solo law practice and is a reserve deputy in the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office. Previously, Crites has served as a deputy in Christian and Stone counties.
Would it be possible for Crites to be more cozily aligned with the law-enforcement establishment? It doesn't look like it.
In 2007, Crites represented Jim C. Arnott, the current and hideously corrupt sheriff of Greene County, in a lawsuit against Cox Medical Center. The case is styled "31307AC3588 - JAMES C ARNOTT ET AL V LESTER E COX MEDICAL," and the file can be viewed at case.net. Arnott, of course, is the a-hole and criminal responsible for bogus "assault" charges being brought against my wife, Carol.
The state-court file reveals little about the nature of the Arnott case, other than it was removed to U.S. Court, Western District of Missouri. where the cause of action is listed as Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), an issue we've covered in multiple posts. (See here, here, and here.) The plaintiffs in the federal case are listed as James C. Arnott and Jennifer Arnott.
Based on information at Justia Dockets, it appears the Arnotts owed money to Cox Medical Center and filed the lawsuit claiming Cox took unlawful actions in an effort to collect the debt. We intend to conduct more research on the case, but for now, we have no record of how the case turned out.
The main point is that Richard D. Crites has his lips firmly planted on the fannies of law-enforcement types throughout southwest Missouri. How firmly are Crites' lips planted? In 2016, he was named Top Attorney of the Year for Law Enforcement. The "honor" is presented by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP). From a press release:
With over 48 years of professional experience in the legal field, Richard has certainly proven himself as an accomplished professional and expert, not only in the criminal justice system but in the areas of domestic relations, personal injury and medical malpractice. Richard first practiced law in Tucson, Arizona, from 1968 to 1978. He served as a Juvenile Court Referee for the Pima County, Arizona Juvenile Court from 1972 to 1976. In 1978, he moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he started the first "in house" legal department at Springfield Public Utilities which is the largest municipally owned electric, gas, water and bus utility in the United States. He opened up his first law office in Springfield, Missouri in 1979.
Richard is licensed to practice in the courts of Arizona, the Arizona U.S. Dist. Court, the 9th Cir. U.S. Court of Appeals, the Northern District of Texas U.S. District Court, the Western District of Missouri U.S., Dist. Court, the State of Missouri; and the 8th Cir. U.S. Dist. Court. He represents law enforcement officers throughout the United States who protect and serve the public, yet are the subjects of ridicule, slander, assaults and discrimination, and in his 48 years of practice of law, he has represented thousands of law enforcement officers from all over the United States of America in various matters related to their job performance, specializing in Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) investigation and representation and protection of the officers involved. He estimates that he has represented and assisted well over 100 officers who have had to use deadly force in the line of duty. To further his ability to represent officers in OIS situations, Richard attended the Los Angeles Police Department Force Investigation Division week long class of Officer Involved Shooting investigations, and he was Certified by the Force Science Institute of Mankato, Minn, on September 3, 2010, after completing the training of Force Science Institute. He became a Deputy Sheriff, having been a deputy sheriff in Pulaski County, Missouri, Stone County, Missouri, Christian County, Missouri and is currently a deputy sheriff in Lawrence County, Missouri. He is a Hostage Negotiator, Taser instructor, Law Enforcement Officer and a Certified Instructor for the Missouri Public Safety Officer Training Program. His legal expertise includes personal injury practice, domestic relations practice, trial practice, administrative law, law enforcement, criminal investigation, legal consulting, and public safety.
Ahh . . . the picture becomes clear. If a cop shoots and kills one of your loved ones -- perhaps with zero grounds for doing so -- Richard Crites is the type of guy who will do his best to ensure the officer never is held accountable. What a guy!
Crites apparently works on domestic-relations cases, but public records show he hasn't had much luck himself on the domestic front. He has procreated, according to the IAOTOP press release:
Richard believes his reward for hard labor are his four children: Kimberly Garrett, who is a Licensed Professional Counselor; Amy Lee Crites, Esq. who is a licensed attorney at law in Missouri; Det. Kevin John Crites, who is a Detective at the Christian County, Mo., Sheriff's Dept.; and J. Peter Crites, M.D., who is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon in Practice with Mercy Hospitals, Springfield, Mo. and his six grand children.
One of Crites' kids is an orthopedic surgeon? That might be helpful when Arnott's officers beat up someone and leave the victim with broken bones -- as they did with Carol. Crites, of course,will do his best to make sure the rogue officers get off.
Public records show Crites divorced Judith Jean Crites in 1978 and divorced Carrie Marie Crites in 2006 (divorce completed in 2010).
Crites' activities at Ashley Madison shine a curious light on the law-enforcement community, to which he is devoted to serve and protect.
We sought comment from Crites, but he has not responded to our queries.
Previously:
Article with links to 1-40 in Ashley Madison series
(41) David Armistead, director of enterprise sales, TekLinks, Birmingham (10/19/17)
(42) William House, VP and controller, HealthSouth, Birmingham (10/26/17)
(43) Olin B. Barnes III, VP, One Resource Group, Birmingham (11/1/17)
(44) T.J. Bunn Jr., ST Bunn Construction, Tuscaloosa (11/2/17)
(45) Todd Deffenbaugh, VP and controller, Express Oil Change, Birmingham (11/6/17)
