Atheist activist accused of misrepresenting herself as a lawyer

- An Atheists of Florida activist was arrested Thursday for representing herself as an attorney, even though she doesn't have a license to practice, the Polk County State Attorney's Office said.

EllenBeth Wachs, who is the organization's legal affairs coordinator, was charged with misrepresenting herself as qualified to practice law, a third-degree felony, the state attorney's office said.

The affidavit states that Wachs, 47, of Lakeland was a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania but retired from the Pennsylvania Bar in 1997. She has never been a member of the Florida Bar, the affidavit states.

She's accused of writing letters to the city and at the end signing with "Esq.," a title a person uses to identify himself as an attorney. The letters, sent on Atheists of Florida letterhead, were written from June 16, 2010, through Feb. 14, 2011.

One letter accused the Polk County Sheriff's Office of favoring religious institutions over non-religious groups after the sheriff's office took down basketball hoops at the jails and donated them to area churches.

A second and third letter requested public documents showing how it was determined to donate the hoops to church groups and asking for information on the steps taken to transfer them.

Investigators also got a sworn statement from Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields, who said he met Wachs in March or April 2010. From their meeting, Fields thought Wachs was a practicing attorney, the affidavit states.

Fields met with Wachs because the organization had written a letter questioning why the city held a prayer before government meetings and calling the act discriminatory to non-Christians.

Chip Thullbery, a Polk County assistant state attorney and spokesman, said he wasn't aware that the group had another attorney.

"If they had a lawyer, she was it," Thullbery said.

The case began to develop when an assistant state attorney, working another case involving the Atheists of Florida, started to wonder what firm Wachs worked for.

"It went from there," Thullbery said. "I guess you could say it was a crime we stumbled across."

Wachs was released from jail Thursday after posting bail set at $1,000.

While she said she was in disbelief over the arrest, she wasn't completely surprised because she feared county officials would target her and her organization.

"I honestly knew immediately that this was pure retaliatory conduct," Wachs said. "This is simply to stop us."

"This is Polk County," she said. "This is a Christian theocracy. They don't want the boat rocked, and we have rocked the boat."

Wachs said she's a retired attorney and the organization is represented by legal counsel.

"This is despicable what's going on, absolutely despicable," Wachs said. "I'm going to fight it with everything that I have."