SAN ANTONIO - A San Antonio attorney promised to take care of traffic tickets, but former clients say she just took their money. As News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister uncovered, most clients say they didn't know they had been ripped off until a warrant for their arrests showed up in the mail.
Local attorney Diana Minella sent letters to thousands of people who got traffic tickets promising to settle their case for a fee.
She's accused of taking their money and not taking care of their tickets.
San Antonio's municipal court overflowed Tuesday with hundreds of people who thought their traffic citations were being handled by their attorney.
"You're here today probably because you received a notice from me," said Hon. John Bull, the presiding court judge at Municipal Court.
One of those in court was Janie Churbie. She drove up from the valley with a warrant out for her arrest.
"Well, I got a letter that I got a warrant and that I was supposed to show up in court today and that's why I'm here," said Churbie.
Churbie paid attorney Diana Minella $200, plus the amount of her fines, to take care of her case. But the lawyer never did that.
Now, Janie is out of that money and still has to pay the fines and court costs to clear her driving record.
"She basically screwed me over. She said she was going to come to court and she didn't," said Churbie.
The doors were locked at Minella's office on the northwest side when News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister stopped by to talk to her.
A notice from the landlord says the locks were changed for unpaid rent.
On the doors are notes from angry clients. One says "ticket was not paid".
"I paid her $452 so she could take care of all of this and all I had to do was my defensive driving test." Zeke Ramirez paid Minella to clear his record. Minella only made a partial payment of $5. Zeke did not know that.
Ramirez showed us court documents which show he still must pay $170. But the letter Minella gave him does not show the $170 balance. It appears the amount was whited out.
"That's deceptive and malicious. I mean that's just stealing from people," said Ramirez.
Back in court, lawyers from the San Antonio Bar Association volunteered to help the angry motorists. With even more still unaware their tickets are still hanging over their heads.
"What we had set for today was in the neighborhood of 700 to 1,000 cases," said Judge Bull. "We anticipate there is a larger volume out there of people that maybe don't know."
The state bar has set a hearing for Friday to try and suspend Minella's law license. But a source familiar with the cases says Minella may surrender her license before then.
We've also learned she has filed for bankruptcy. That means her clients will have a hard time getting their money back.
News 4 WOAI tried to reach Minella, but we did not get a response.
