Fla. judge's career finished over ties to stripper

updated 3:28 p.m. ET April 23, 2009

TAMPA, Fla. - Thomas E. Stringer spent more than three decades quietly building his legal career in Florida, working his way up from an assistant state attorney to appeals court judge in the Tampa Bay area. In 2007, he was inducted into his law school's hall of fame.

Then last spring, the well-respected, married judge suddenly found his face splashed beside that of a troubled exotic dancer in a kimono.

She went on TV to claim they'd been romantically involved, and that he helped her hide money from creditors, even putting a rent-controlled New York City apartment under his name for her.

Newspaper columns were written. Jokes were made. Stringer's 35-year legal career was tarnished.

"It is axiomatic that 'Judge' and 'Stripper' showing up in a headline is never a good thing, especially if you happen to be the 'Judge,'" then Tampa Tribune columnist Daniel Ruth wrote after the story broke.

Criminal charges possible
Criminal charges are possible, though the FBI declined to comment. The state agency that oversees judges dropped misconduct charges after Stringer, who stepped down in February and draws monthly retirement benefits of $8,069, agreed never to be a judge again.

To his friends and the legal community, the speed of Stringer's fall was shocking. Many are reserving judgment, while others feel their trust in him was misplaced.

Delano Stewart, a Tampa attorney who calls himself a former friend of Stringer, said Stringer's conduct "disrespects all of what I have worked for all of my life."

"I am so deeply angry with him," Stewart said.

Stringer, who has said he had a friendship and business relationship with stripper Christy Yamanaka, declined to comment for this story. His attorney did not return repeated messages left at his office.

Yamanaka also declined to comment.

Stringer, 64, graduated from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport in the 1970s. He was the first black graduate from his law school. He became an assistant state attorney and later a circuit judge in Tampa's Hillsborough County. There, in the family law division, he built a reputation as a judge who insisted that all sides be heard.

"I can tell you, the family lawyers idolized Tom Stringer," said Chief Judge Stevan T. Northcutt of Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal.

In 1999, Stringer was appointed to that court, where judges make $153,140 a year.

Fast forward to March 2008. Yamanaka, 48, showed up on a local TV station, dressed in a yellow kimono with burnt orange flowers, her long, dark hair flowing.

Went public when in debt
She said she met the judge at an Italian restaurant in 1995, when she was a stripper in Tampa. Five years later, she was deep in debt and turned to him for advice. Later, she said she went public after Stringer refused to repay money he owed her.

Yamanaka had tried to file for bankruptcy in Nevada in 2000 and court documents show she owed American Express more than $78,000, racked up from stays at expensive hotels in Las Vegas and airline tickets. She owed Bank of America another $236,000. She listed her occupation as housewife and said she had just $450 in assets — family pictures, clothes and a wedding ring — and no income. The bankruptcy court denied her request, meaning she would have to repay the debts.

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