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Regional Briefs
Bar suspends license after complaints
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Published: June 14, 2008
The N.C. State Bar has suspended a Winston-Salem lawyer's license after finding that she accepted money from two clients but never did the work promised.
The bar found that Shonna Renee Alexander missed several court appearances for one client, which led sheriff's deputies to arrest him for failure to appear. Alexander also told the bar that she had finished a motion for the client to get his driver's license back and was ready to file it, then ducked follow-up phone calls from the bar and didn't file the motion. The client paid her $1,200. He said this week that she has yet to refund his money.
The bar held a hearing on Alexander's case in March and issued its order in April.
Alexander did not respond to messages this week.
To get her law license back, Alexander has to pay back two clients who complained about her and comply with various other conditions, including having a psychiatric examination.
Alexander, who now works as a nurse, can apply to have the suspension lifted after a year
Prosecutors drop charges accusing man of touching child
Prosecutors dropped a charge Wednesday against a Winston-Salem man who was accused of taking indecent liberties with a child.
Lonnie Lee Nesmith Jr., 47, of Rosemary Drive had been accused of touching a child at a cookout. He was arrested on May 23. A woman at the cookout thought that she saw him touch a child, and then confronted him about it, Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith said.
Keith said that another witness called prosecutors after reading about the arrest. The witness had a better view of the incident and no connection to Nesmith or the child, Keith said. The witness told prosecutors that Nesmith never touched the child.
Assault charges against ex-Forsyth teacher dismissed
A judge in Craven County dismissed misdemeanor charges Wednesday against a former Forsyth County teacher who was accused of assaulting two students.
An attorney for Phillip Samuel Beeson asked a judge in Craven District Court to dismiss the cases against Beeson after one girl's mother and the other girl's father testified that neither family wanted to talk to police or press criminal charges against Beeson, the New Bern Sun Journal reported.
Both parents testified that they did not think that their children were criminally assaulted, the newspaper reported. One said that his daughter told him that Beeson only picked lint off her chest. Another said that Beeson plucked a piece of hair off her daughter's chest.
Beeson was arrested April 28 on the two misdemeanor assault charges.
Beeson taught social studies and coached the girls basketball team in New Bern. He was put on administrative leave in February.
In Forsyth County, Beeson resigned from his position as a teacher and assistant football coach at East Forsyth High School after an incident was reported in November 1998 that involved six teachers at the school. Beeson was suspended indefinitely without pay when the allegations surfaced.
One of the teachers, Douglas Shields, was accused of videotaping himself having sex with two female students and showing the tapes to others. In 2001, Shields pleaded guilty to one count of disseminating obscene materials and one count of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
School officials said at the time that Beeson knew about Shields' conduct and failed to report it.
No criminal charges were filed against Beeson.
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