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| Richard W. Bell's law office is at the Valleydale Courtyard near Birmingham. |
A suburban Birmingham attorney, with 44 years of experience in several areas of law, is a paying customer of the Ashley Madison (AM) extramarital-affair Web site, records show.
Richard W. "Dick" Bell, who has an office at 4956 Valleydale Road in north Shelby County, is known primarily for divorce and family law. He also has worked in product liability, probate inheritance, and medical malpractice.
What kind of lawyer is Bell. A man named Trey Horton posted a less-than-glowing review:
Trey Horton
8 months ago
Went in, Very old guy.... I told him about some tax things I would like to take care of. Paid him $500 - he said he was going to the IRS to pull my transcripts (that can be pulled online) the next day so when I met him next I asked to see them. Since he said he spent all day down there getting them and used the $500 I paid him.. . He could not produce them. Never saw them. I asked him what I needed to do, he offered no sort of plan, no sort of advice. Said let's offer them xyz and see what they say.... Give me a break. I can do that myself... Never went back. hate being lied to. Lost $500 beware...
Was Bell too tied up with Ashley Madison to tend to Mr. Horton's legal needs properly? Records made public from last summer's hack of the AM Web site suggest the answer might be yes.
Public records indicate Bell has been married multiple times--at least twice, to Nancy V. Bell and Cynthia A. Bell. A Pamela Bell was associated with him in the 1970s.
Records show that during much of the 1980s, Bell had significant tax issues with both the IRS and Alabama Department of Revenue
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| Cindy Bell (From democracy.com) |
This is from Cindy Bell's political biography:
Hard work. Trust. Honesty. Those are the values Cindy learned from her mother, who learned them from her father and mother. Those are the values Cindy will bring to Montgomery.
Today, Cindy and her husband, Richard, live those values. She is a mother of three children, Elliott, Erin, and Mandy, a grandmother of seven grandchildren, and the owner of an English bulldog named Winston. Cindy and her husband are active members in their church, where she sings every Sunday in the choir. Cindy’s family and community inspire her desire to serve Alabamians in the State Senate
Erin Bell Welborn, is an attorney with the Columbiana firm of J. Welborn and Associates. She and her mother, Cindy Bell, sound like first-class folks. Not so sure the same can be said for Richard W. Bell, given his interest in Ashley Madison and the cheating it promotes.
We twice contacted Richard W. Bell via e-mail seeking comment for this post. He did not respond. His Web site, richardwbelllaw.com, no longer is functioning. It apparently disappeared not long after we first contacted him about this story.
Previously:
(1) Edgar C. Gentle III--attorney at Gentle Turner Sexton and Harbison, Birmingham, AL (3/8/16)
(2) Stewart Springer--attorney, solo practice in Birmingham, AL. (3/9/16)
26 comments:
just curious as to why you're no longer putting the Ashley Madison gory details in your posts any more Mr. Shuler. Last fall we were getting sexual preferences and the whole 9 yards from your blog.
Unearthing that material requires a "deep dive" into a massive data file, and that requires a lot of time. We hope to include that information in follow ups, but the emphasis right now is on the backgrounds of customers on the list.
Dick Bell's wife is a fine individual, although maybe a little out of touch. Too bad she's married to a schlump.
Roger, again: Provide some documentary evidence of your claim here. Either you are drawing on the legit stolen data or you hare being misled. Might be better to clear this up before this goes to court.
K:
This has been cleared up for weeks, K, if you have been following the blog. I've reported that I have the legit data and I planned to report on it, which I'm doing. The documentary evidence is in the form of a massive file that even professional tech experts (which I am not) struggle to deal with it. I can't reproduce that here. At one point, one or two Web sites ran the entire Alabama list (I believe with no context, analysis, or reporting), but I'm not sure those links are still out there. You might try a Google search or a check on the Way Back Machine (Internet Archive) to see if you can find it.
Reporting on this subject is a major journalistic and technical undertaking. The posts of recent days are the results of probably six months of research on my part, with assistance from technical people who I consider both knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Back when I was in Nam,we came to an area that appeared to be mined.Called for a minesweeper.Big 6'6" dude wearing ear plugs and size 16 boots showsup. Where you from Marine? Replies " I am an attorney from Shelby County ,Alabama."
Roger, can you then really confirm that you are currently in possession of the stolen Ashley Madison data files?
If you are, I'm thinking you know that in doing so you are in violation of state and US federal law, including being a party to intellectual property theft. We would all like to know how you came into possession of the data! And so would the people about to sue you!
This man isn't even practicing law. Why does it matter what he did?
Mr. Bell appears as a licensed attorney with the Alabama State Bar, with an office address of
4000 Eagle Point Corporate Dr
Birmingham, AL 35242-1900
The public record indicates he is practicing law.
K:
You either aren't very bright or you are playing a con game. If you just haven't done your research, I would suggest you start here:
https://consumerist.com/2015/08/25/why-the-stolen-ashley-madison-data-is-legally-fair-game-for-the-internet/
At the moment, your comments indicate you have no clue what you are talking about.
Roger, you're avoiding the questions. Just answer them.
1, Are you in possession of the stolen Ashley Madison data?
2, If you are, how did you get your hands on it?
Why include the gory details, Roger? I can never unlearn the fact that Rob Campbell likes to eat pussy, or that Artur David is shapely toned. I really did not need to know that. Why is that a part of the story that is worth publishing to a broad audience?
When are we getting some from our shared home state, Missouri?
Soon . . . very soon.
K: I invited you to contact me in a comment at the Stewart Springer post and gave you my contact information. I would be glad to answer your questions in that fashion, face to face (voice to voice?).
If you aren't willing to speak to me personally, that's your problem, not mine. It also leaves your credibility at a chilly sub-zero.
You have the Ashley bots in a lather, LS. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them has a stroke.
It's hysterical because you've lit their pants on fire, and the flames are licking at their nuts--and they don't like it. Hah, hah!
It's so obvious that the people who are threatening and harassing you are people with a dog in the fight--i.e., they are on the AM list. Who do they think they are fooling?
K does ask some fun questions.
For the record, K. one ought to remember LS. is a journalist and journalists do not reveal their sources. Many of them in the U.S.A. have gone to jail to protect their sources. Why you keep demanding information, which most journalists would not reveal is beyond me. You are entertaining though.
By the way are you voting for Trump? Just couldn't resist asking,///////////
"one ought to remember LS. is a journalist and journalists do not reveal their sources."
I thought yes to this initially but then wouldn't part of a civil case be LS having to prove that the people he is reporting about are actually in the Ashley data? Am I wrong on this?
I don't think Roger will say he's dealing with stolen data, since this would violate state law. He will keep mum about it and I'm fine with that. He's got nothing to lose.
Your denseness never ceases to amaze, @1:19. I've stated umpteen times that I'm reporting on data that was hacked from Ashley Madison--has have hundreds of news outlets, domestically and internationally. The law long has held that reporting on such information is lawful. The key case is Bartnicki v. Vopper, U.S. Supreme Court, 2001:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2171346211086974391&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr
Not sure if you are capable of grasping simple, declarative sentences, but you might give it a try on the Bartnicki case. Perhaps you are aware that SCOTUS rulings trump any state law that you think you might know (but probably don't), so we're not talking here about a violation of state law, or any other kind of law.
LS Why don't you expose some non-lawyers? Police officers, business people, doctors and so on? Other abusers of power. Fuck them in the ass. There must be dozens!
Oh, I will. I just happen to have several lawyers first in line, but reports are coming on folks in other "high level" professions. And yes, there are dozens.
Dick Bell has always been a real good lawyer and has represented me and my family members for many years since the late 70's. I have had several small businesses over the years and he's done wills, divorces, appeals, incorporations everything for our whole family and businesses. He has always taken very good care of us and anyone we sent to him. When my husband lost his job back in the late 80's he kept working for us even though we couldn't pay him. I've seen his kids from time to time around his office when they were growing up. He's a good dad to his kids. He has always made time for them and always had their stuff hanging in his office. he's always talking about what they are doing or how they are and his grandkids too. I met with him at his office about two or three years ago and he had his youngest grandbaby, just a few months old, in the office with him while his daughter had to run do something. he was holding that baby in one arm and typing with the other. We never agreed politically because he was always a democrat but I respected him for never trying to hide that about himself like so many people and politicians in Shelby county have done. I think he would have been a real good judge because he's real fairminded but he would have never been elected because he's a very out there democrat in Shelby county which just don't work. I say all of that to say we all make mistakes and it is awful that this information was made public but that's between him and his wife. I appreciate your reporting because I got burned by Swatek many years ago myself but I often find myself feeling sorry for the people you hurt and embarrass like his wife and children. I could understand it better if his wife had contacted you angry or upset and maybe she did but to name his kids and call even more attention to this very embarrassing situation is too much. Just my thoughts and personal knowledge about Mr. Bell.
Don't search for Ashley Madison users. Instead sit down with your partner and explain to them that you are tempted to search it. Talk about why. Share with them the feelings and temptations you have had yourself. Talk about your relationship, and talk about yourself and your needs. Then hug, cry, watch a funny movie, go do something new together. Whatever you do, decide right here and right now to re-dedicate yourselves to nurturing your relationship, acknowledging your humanity, and being faithful to each other.
Memo to comment on 12/15 --
I was not able to post your comment because it was over the line in terms of strong content. Your contentions might be true, but I can't verify them, so I could not approve for verification. You are welcome to contact me at (205) 381-5673 if you would like to provide more details and discuss further.
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