A Duke Center man was convicted at trial Monday in McKean County Court on charges of pretending to be a lawyer and scamming people into hiring him for child custody cases.

Barry Lindsey, 63, represented himself at trial on charges of two counts of impersonating a licensed professional, and one count each of theft by deception and theft by unlawful taking, all first-degree misdemeanors; and unauthorized practice of law, a third-degree misdemeanor.

The jury convicted him on all counts, according to District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg Shaffer, who prosecuted the cases.

He will be sentenced on both cases in December. He is also scheduled to stand trial in December in a third case, where he alleged took money for painting a Port Allegany business, but never performed the work.

According to court records, in 2014, McKean County Detective Ryan Yingling met with two victims who told similar stories about Lindsey.

He had told both victims that he was an attorney in New York state and said he could file paperwork for them in McKean County Court in regards to child custody issues. One victim paid him a total of $1,270 for various costs like filing fees and paperwork that Lindsey claimed to have filed to stop the man’s children from relocating to Mississippi, according to court records.

The other victim paid him $1,750 for what Lindsey claimed were filing fees, service fees for the sheriff’s department, and travel fees for filing paperwork, according to court records.

Both victims had been given civil docket case numbers by Lindsey, but were not provided any paperwork. Both victims were told of hearing dates in their cases, but Lindsey didn’t show up, the court records read.

On July 11, 2014, Yingling received information from the state Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania saying Lindsey had never been a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, nor had he been permitted to practice law in the state. Lindsey had provided receipts for the funds paid to him for “legal services,” advertising himself as “Barry Daniel Lindsey Legal Services,” court records read.

Yingling checked New York state as well, and found no record that Lindsey is licensed to practice law there either.

In a third case filed against him, in August 2014, Lindsey entered into a contract as “The House Painter” to paint parts of the Hartle Tarbox Funeral Home in Port Allegany. Despite a $500 down payment, Lindsey never performed the work agreed to in the contract, court records allege.