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Judge Didn't Disclose Trip Paid For By Stripper, Records Say

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By STEVE ANDREWS | News Channel 8

Published: July 9, 2008

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• Judge Investigated

  Thomas Stringer

  Christy Yamanaka

TAMPA - Judge Thomas E. Stringer Sr. went on a free trip to New York City last year and failed to list the getaway on gift disclosure forms, records show.

Stripper Christy Yamanaka, who Stringer says was his business partner, paid the $1,502 hotel bill and a $583 tab at a steakhouse.

Judges are required to disclose gifts over $100 to the state.

A representative of the judge said Wednesday that he and Stringer declined to comment.

Stringer, who sits on the 2nd District Court of Appeal, told News Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune in March that he went to New York in 2007 on a business trip and that Yamanaka paid the expenses.

Stringer said he was there to sign a lease on an apartment so Yamanaka would have a place to live. In a March 12 Tampa Tribune story, the judge said he and Yamanaka were business partners and that Yamanaka's money went into bank accounts he opened in his name because she had terrible credit.

Yamanaka said the judge helped her hide assets from creditors at a time when she had court judgments totaling about $315,000.

A judge using his bank accounts to help someone manage money raises ethical questions, said Pat Anderson, a former prosecutor with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, the agency that investigates judges.

"A judge cannot show disregard for the law and help somebody skirt around the edges," Anderson said. "That's offensive."

The commission is investigating Stringer. The judge had until June 30 to list the trip on state disclosure forms but did not, records show.

Tribune reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report.

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