Richard LaPilusa, a 31-year-old Akron attorney, has been suspended from practicing law after pleading guilty to a string of child sex crimes uncovered during an undercover police sting, and he is now asking an appeals court to release him from prison while his case is reviewed. A Cuyahoga County judge sentenced him to two years behind bars even though he had no previous criminal record. State bar officials moved against his law license within days of that sentence taking effect.
As first reported by Cleveland.com reporter Lucas Daprile, the case against LaPilusa traces back to September 2025, when police began investigating him after a mother reported that her daughter was having inappropriate online conversations with a man.
An Undercover Sting Targets the Akron Lawyer
The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested LaPilusa on Nov. 21, 2025, according to court records. An undercover officer had posed online as a 14-year-old girl that October, after investigators created a profile on a social media site, police said.
Prosecutors say LaPilusa sent hundreds of sexually graphic messages to the undercover officer over that one-month span, including explicit texts, photos and videos — one of which was taken at his own law office. Police separately said he received a picture of an actual minor in a state of nudity through Snapchat.
Seized Devices and a Guilty Plea
Court records show police seized multiple phones, laptops and thumb drives connected to the investigation the same day LaPilusa was arrested.
In June, LaPilusa pleaded guilty to disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, possessing or viewing a photo of a naked child, and possessing criminal tools. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2907.31, disseminating harmful matter to a juvenile is normally a first-degree misdemeanor, but the charge escalates to a felony carrying up to 18 months in prison when the material is obscene or the minor is under 13. The criminal tools charge, covering devices like phones and computers, can rise to a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison when investigators determine the devices were used to commit a felony, under Ohio Revised Code § 2923.24.
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Matia sentenced LaPilusa to two years in prison, to be followed by five years of probation, and ordered him to register as a Tier I sex offender. LaPilusa has no previous criminal record, and he's scheduled for release from prison on May 29, 2028.
Tier I Registration and an Appeal
Tier I sex offenders in Ohio must register their address in person with the local county sheriff and verify that registration once every 12 months for 15 years, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
LaPilusa has appealed his sentence to the Eighth District Court of Appeals, with his appellate attorney, Antoni Dalayanis, arguing that the punishment was overly harsh. LaPilusa has asked the court to overturn the prison sentence and release him while the appeal is pending, but the Eighth District has yet to rule on the motion.
The Eighth District Court of Appeals, based in Cleveland, is made up of 12 elected judges and holds exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases originating from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, according to Ballotpedia.
Law License Suspension in Question
According to Cleveland.com's report, the Ohio Supreme Court has suspended LaPilusa indefinitely from practicing law. Court filings reviewed by the Supreme Court of Ohio describe the action, taken last Wednesday, as an interim suspension under Rule V(18) of the Supreme Court Rules for the Government of the Bar of Ohio, automatically triggered by his felony conviction. Ohio disciplinary precedent — including the 2024 case Disciplinary Counsel v. Bell, according to FindLaw — suggests attorneys convicted of sexually motivated conduct involving minors typically face indefinite suspension without credit for time already served, meaning LaPilusa's interim suspension could extend well beyond his prison term.
Legal directory records show LaPilusa worked as a bankruptcy attorney at the Akron office of Amourgis & Associates and represented municipal entities in appellate court cases as recently as July 2025, according to Martindale.
The Task Force Behind the Case
The task force that arrested LaPilusa, the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, was established in 1999 under the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office with U.S. Justice Department funding, and it now coordinates more than 300 law enforcement agencies statewide investigating online child exploitation.
Digital forensic examiners affiliated with the task force analyzed 185.77 terabytes of data across 678 device examinations in a single year to support child exploitation cases, according to a City of Cleveland public safety report. Multi-agency initiatives involving federal and state authorities in Northern Ohio led to 47 child predator indictments in a single year, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
