CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A man who falsely presented himself as a successful lawyer, millionaire entrepreneur and candidate for Missouri lieutenant governor is now an inmate.

Dustin Mitchell, 31, has been sentenced in St. Louis County to four months behind bars.

He pleaded guilty to a theft charge relating to a $1,000 retainer fee he accepted in January while pretending to be a lawyer.

 

Mitchell also filed court documents in three other criminal cases. In one of them, while representing an Arnold man accused of attacking a hospital security guard, he persuaded a judge to reduce the man’s bail and release the man from jail.

Mitchell’s scheme imploded when he represented himself in a small claims suit and used a real lawyer’s Missouri Bar number.