Massachusetts Lawyer Gets 18 Month Suspended Sentence For Stealing Court File

Ilya Ablavsky, 33, has had his share of problems. As a student at Brandeis University, he was charged with making bomb threats after losing a primary race for mayor of Waltham. He also claims to suffer from bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders as well as high anxiety. He can now add a suspended 18 month sentence to his woes after pleading guilty to stealing a court file in a murder case in an attempt to prevent the prosecution of an acquaintance. He had only had his license for a few months and will now likely lose it in a remarkably short legal career.

Ablavsky stole the file for the case of Jose Cabrera, a Lynn man charged in a gang-related shooting in Lynn. Cabrera’s lawyer, Jeff Karp, received a call from Ablavsky who told him that he shredded the file to prevent the prosecution from proceeding to trial. He was wrong of course. Cabrera was later convicted of second-degree murder.

While Ablavsky did not represent Cabrera, he reportedly tried to represent Cabrera’s brother, Miguel Cabrera, 19, just hours before his own arrest by appearing at an arraignment (despite the brother having counsel). Cabrera’s father says that Ablavsky begged him to hire him to represent his son and promised to do so at a lower cost than his current lawyer.

Salem Superior Court Judge David Lowy gave Ablavsky 18 months in jail with all but 64 days suspended — as well as a two year probation sentence.

Notably, Ablavsky implicated an unknown person by telling the court that he did not shred the file but gave it to another person who destroyed it. There is no information on who that other person is.

The bar has, and should, consider mental illness as a mitigating factor but this record is replete with disbarring criteria. It seems clear that this is a troubled person who needs help, but he will have to find it as a non-lawyer.

Source: Salem News as first seen on ABA Journal