A Florida lawyer had sex with a client. Then came blackmail and a third suspension

Sex with a client led to blackmail of an Orlando attorney and another suspension by the state Supreme Court.

This latest turn in Anton Gammons’ career occurred last week, but is the denouement of Gammons’ personal and professional problems that have resulted in three suspensions from the Florida Bar since 2020.

Gammons’ first suspension came after he got stopped for speeding in Indian River County in June 2019. The cops who stopped him found “three small baggies” of cocaine, two grams of marijuana and a vape pen with THC. As detailed in his guilty plea in the Bar case, Gammons pleaded no contest to cocaine possession, misdemeanor marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia possession and got referred to the Veterans Court in Orange County.

Once Gammons completed the program in Veterans Court, designed to help those whose criminal activity grew from substance abuse or mental health problems with roots in their military service, the criminal charges were dropped. His professional discipline case remained, however, and he got a 30-day timeout that ran in July and August of 2020.

As part of his suspension, Gammons had to participate in a program with Florida Lawyers Assistance (FLA), which assists legal professionals with substance abuse problems. He signed a contract with FLA that stated he’d stay away from “all mood-altering substances” including food, drink or non-prescription medicine containing alcohol.

Gammons’ Aug. 24, 2021, random test came back positive for alcohol and he “admitted to drinking a couple of shots when his brother came into town,” the Bar’s contempt petition said. Gammons tested positive for cocaine in November 2021.

Violating the FLA contract and the conditions of his previous suspension counted as contempt of court and Gammons got suspended for 91 days in February 2022.

By then, he had other problems.

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Sex and extortion?

On Sept. 7, 2021, his most recent guilty plea for consent judgment says, Gammons began representing a woman in a Dependency Court matter. When he went back to her home one November 2021 night to collect payment for his services, Gammons said the woman “invited him to come back later in the day.”

When Gammons returned, his plea says, that’s when their sexual encounter happened.

Gammons “soon after” decided to withdraw from the case. He claimed the woman was “continuing to use drugs, harming her legal position and she was increasingly critical of his legal work on her behalf.”

When Gammons gave her a final invoice, his plea says, she “threatened to release a video she claimed to have made of their sexual encounter and demanded a full refund.”

She filed a Bar complaint. Gammons admitted everything to the Bar.

His six-month suspension began on Jan. 26.