Attorney faces criminal charges over inmates' phone calls

YAKIMA -- A Yakima attorney was charged Tuesday over allegations that she gave a Yakima County jail inmate a cell phone and wrongly arranged for inmates to make calls that circumvented the jail's recording system.

Kimberly L. Grijalva, 41, an attorney in Washington since 1999, is accused of second-degree theft and third-degree introduction of contraband.

She was arrested week and released Friday after making a preliminary appearance in Superior Court and posting $5,000 bail.

Grijalva's actions deprived the county and a telephone service provider of at least $2,390 between April 21 and June 4, according to a report by the Yakima County Sheriff's Office that was filed to support the charges.

According to the investigation, Grijalva added her home phone number to a jail list of numbers that can't be recorded because of legal requirements regarding confidentiality between attorneys and their clients.

Once calls were placed to the home number, they could be transferred to a third number, which also wasn't covered by the recording
system, sheriff's officials said. Thousands of calls were made using this arrange-ment, investigators said.

By circumventing the jail's phone system, the inmates were able to make free phone calls.

Non-attorney calls typically cost inmates $2.90 per minute. Those calls can be recorded, primarily for security reasons.

Ed Campbell, the county's corrections director, said internal affairs investigators were conducting an unrelated investigation when they discovered Grijalva had made a significant number of calls to someone she was not representing. The matter was then turned over to the sheriff's office.

The contraband charge involves an allegation that she gave a cell phone to an inmate on Oct. 23. Inmates are prohibited from having cell phones.

The Washington State Bar would not start proceedings against Grijalva unless she was convicted.

A felony conviction, such as the theft charge, would result in an interim suspension while the state bar's disciplinary counsel reviews the allegations and seeks further action by the state Supreme Court, which has the authority to suspend or disbar an attorney.

A misdemeanor conviction would have to be deemed serious in order to prompt action by the state bar, spokeswoman Judy Berrrett said. That could include a fraud or theft allegation.

Etoy Alford, a Yakima attorney, was representing Grijalva, according to court records. He did not return a message left at his office Tuesday afternoon.

Grijalva handles a variety of cases in Yakima County, including criminal defense work.

* Mark Morey can be reached at 509-577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.