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A local attorney and area school board member will not be getting his cell phone back from the Allen County courts.
On Wednesday, Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull denied a request from attorney John Bloom for the return of his cell phone, confiscated in late January.
Bloom’s cell phone issue is the latest of a few upsets since a ban against electronic devices took effect in the Allen County halls of justice just over a year ago.
Most days, the ban causes few disturbances in the Allen County Courthouse, the Bud Meeks Criminal Justice Center, Allen County Juvenile Justice Center and the Annex on Berry Street.
While ordinary citizens, including those who may come to the Courthouse regularly on business, are prohibited from carrying cell phones, mp3 players and other electronic devices into the buildings, attorneys and those who have court-approved ID badges can carry phones.
But Bloom never obtained the proper documents and so couldn’t bring his phone, a Razr, into the courthouse when he went for an afternoon hearing on Jan. 25. Instead of taking the phone back to his car, Bloom slipped the phone under the security desk and abandoned it when security officers told him it couldn’t remain there, according to court documents.
In his motion for the return of his cell phone, Bloom said the signs in the Courthouse, which say property unclaimed for 30 days may be destroyed, left a mechanism for him to seek the return of the phone.
Gull scheduled a hearing for earlier this month and Bloom, along with his two attorneys, argued he should be able to get his phone back, sparing its destruction along with other confiscated devices.
In her ruling Wednesday, Gull quoted from Bloom’s testimony during the hearing.
He said he found the court’s cell phone ban appropriate and wondered whether it was even necessary for attorneys to have their phones in the building, according to court documents.
Gull wrote that, should she give Bloom his phone back, it would be “patently unfair” to the others who had had their property confiscated and destroyed and would be unfair to attorneys who had already complied with the January 2007 court order banning phones, according to court documents.
She ordered the phone destroyed.
When reached for comment Thursday, Bloom said he was unaware of the court’s order and declined to comment because he said the matter was still being litigated.
rgreen@jg.net
