Former Central Falls municipal court judge barred from practicing law amid investigation

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WLNE) — The former Central Falls Municipal Court judge who resigned in January has been barred from practicing law.

On Oct. 6, the Rhode Island Supreme Court filed an emergency petition for the immediate temporary suspension of Judge Joseph Molina Flynn’s law license.

Flynn resigned in January after the FBI, Providence police, Homeland Security agents, and the Internal Revenue Service searched his office on Dorrance Street in January during an investigation into alleged financial crimes.

According to court documents, a Petition for Discipline was filed against Flynn in May involving 12 former clients that alleged he “took legal fees from clients, performed little or no services, neglected client files, misappropriated client funds, [and] co-mingled client funds.”

Additionally, the Supreme Court’s petition alleged that Flynn was still practicing law and accepting clients’ funds for services that “will likely not be able to be completed by him” due to the investigation.