Alma R. Bonilla

A woman who held herself out as an immigration lawyer until Bowling Green police discovered she was not licensed to practice law pleaded guilty Monday to 21 criminal counts.

Alma Rosa Bonilla, 51, of Franklin, pleaded guilty in Warren Circuit Court to seven counts of theft by deception (more than $500 but less than $10,000), seven counts of deceptive business practices and seven counts of unauthorized practice of law.

Bonilla accepted a plea agreement that recommended a five-year probated sentence, and Warren Circuit Judge John Grise placed her on probation.

Bonilla came to the attention of law enforcement last year when someone contacted the Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office to report that a woman who did not have a law license was advertising herself as an attorney in Bowling Green.

Sgt. Michael Keffer of the Bowling Green Police Department was made aware of a flyer that advertised legal services offered by Alma Olmedo, and a subsequent investigation found that she was not licensed to practice law through the Kentucky Bar Association.

“She had been to law school, but she did not have a license to practice law,” Bonilla’s attorney, Alan Simpson, said in court Monday.

According to court records, an undercover city police officer met with Bonilla at her office on Russellville Road last year and told her he was seeking legal advice regarding a pending criminal case.

BGPD Sgt. Tyler Chamings stated in an affidavit for a search warrant that Bonilla informed the undercover officer that she did not practice criminal law but would assist him with immigration issues and would charge a $1,000 starting fee to represent him, followed by $3,500 to be paid in monthly installments.

Police later learned that the person known to the undercover officer as Alma Olmedo was also known as Alma Bonilla and had formerly practiced law in California.

The officer returned to her office on March 4, 2016, where she agreed to provide legal services, according to court records. She was arrested after taking $1,000 from the officer.

A Warren County grand jury indicted Bonilla in September.

According to online information from the State Bar of California, a woman named Alma Rosa Bonilla handled family law and personal injury cases in that state and was disciplined by the state bar in 2001 for writing three checks against insufficient funds in her client trust account.

She is listed by the California bar as “resigned” from practicing law there and may not practice in the state.

Warren County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Adam Turner said restitution amounting to about $1,000 for each of seven reported victims was in the process of being paid.