Florida Legal Loose Cannons: Randy “Rocket” Shochet and Doreen Turner Inkeles
Disgraced Shyster Lawyer Duo Plots Comeback in Levy County
NOTE: This piece was first published on FLGulfNews.com.
By Rick LaRivière with Richard Luthmann
A once-respected attorney and a fraud-tainted former dentist are courting infamy in rural Florida. The pair – Randy “Rocket” Shochet and Doreen Turner Inkeles – have a sordid track record of lies, fraud, and ethical breaches.
Now, they’ve resurfaced as a team in Levy County, hitching themselves to YouTube personality Jeremy Hales and raising the alarm in legal circles.
Critics say the two predatory lawyers are wreaking havoc with sham lawsuits and eyeing political power in their new turf.
Florida Legal Loose Cannons: Randy Shochet’s Sordid Past of Fraud, Perjury, and Bar Deception
Randy Shochet’s journey from dentist to attorney is a tale of deceit. In the 1990s, he was caught billing insurance for phantom dental work and lying under oath to conceal it. He admitted to “committing insurance fraud and perjury,” leading Missouri to suspend his dental license.
Instead of reforming, Shochet tried to become a lawyer, only to be denied admission in Arkansas for lacking “good moral character.” Regulators found he gave false, misleading, or incomplete answers on bar applications, showing a pattern of dishonesty.
Shochet somehow slipped into The Florida Bar, but his unethical conduct persisted.
In 2017, Heritage Insurance accused him of using a company “mole” to steal confidential claims data. He then “used the stolen information to extort money” from the insurer.
A Florida judge likewise blasted Shochet for abusing the court: he made “various sworn representations… that appear to be blatantly false.” This prompted the judge to alert the Bar.
Shochet also faces allegations of soliciting clients by using a public adjuster to poach cases from other lawyers. It was a brazen scheme to “pilfer” competitors’ clients for profit.
With such a record of scams and lies, Shochet’s law license rests on borrowed time in the minds of many.
Florida Legal Loose Cannons: Doreen Inkeles’s Ambition, Violations, and a Fall from Grace
Doreen Turner Inkeles built a career as a family law attorney in South Florida. But her ambitions led to ethical stumbles.
In 2016, she ran for a Broward County judgeship—and broke election laws in the process.
Her campaign, managed by a political fixer, sent fundraising emails directly to government email addresses, including those of courthouse judges. She illegally solicited donations up to $1,000. This blatant violation of Florida Statute 106.15(4) – a first-degree misdemeanor – was exposed in local media.
Her reputation was tarnished.
Inkeles lost that judicial race and the scandal cemented her image as a lawyer willing to cut corners for power.
After the defeat, Inkeles left God’s Waiting Room, heading to Central Florida to begin anew.
She quietly linked up with Shochet. The Florida Bar now lists her at Shochet Law Group’s Trenton, FL office – a stone’s throw from Levy County. Within six months, she was again looking to run for a judgeship.
Once touted for her “25 years of experience” in family law, she has traded respectability for infamy by partnering with Shochet. Florida Bar records even show Inkeles serving on a Bar committee focused on ethics and professionalism, a bitter irony given her own campaign misconduct.
Colleagues privately whisper that Inkeles’s craving for a judgeship hasn’t faded. She is using Levy’s smaller stage as a second chance to climb the ladder.
“I sure hope the Hodunks don’t go for a carpetbagger,” said one Florida local.
But her willingness to flout rules and team up with a known bad actor suggests she’s more interested in power than principle.
Florida Legal Loose Cannons: Lawfare in Levy County and Defending Jeremy Hales by Attack
The Shochet-Inkeles duo’s latest venture is representing Jeremy Hales, a YouTube influencer specializing in “storage auctions” who has become a local pariah. Hales relocated from Ohio to quiet Levy County – only to ignite a firestorm with neighbors.
In retaliation against Hales, the court documents claim Otter Creek locals put up crude yard signs shouting, “Jeremy Hales Raped my Daughter!” and “NO OHIO Rapists in Levy County – Stop Jeremy Hales,” smearing the internet personality.
Rather than cool tensions, Shochet and Inkeles threw gasoline on the fire. In addition to the “neighbors” lawsuit, they filed a second sweeping federal proceeding on Hales’s behalf, dragging a dozen media defendants to court over alleged defamation and conspiracy styled as “deceptive trade practices.”
Richard Luthmann, who writes for this outlet, is a named defendant. He has yet to be served with papers in the case, although Hales claimed to his audience that he had been.
Luthmann says he can’t wait to be served with legal process so he can show the world how Hales teamed up with an apparent child pornographer.
“Danesh Noshirvan is a commercial pornographer with an OnlyFans page where he didn’t get 18 U.S.C. 2257 model releases. That statute protects against child pornography production. How Hales, Shochet, and Ikeles are his co-signers escapes me. They are all disgraceful people,” Luthmann said.
Legal experts are perplexed why Hales’ court drama continues to be entertained. Expert handwriting evidence shows Shochet and Inkeles’s client, Hales, may have written and placed the signs himself. Moreover, Hales’ case against the media defendants is a legal fantasy under the Eleventh Circuit precedent.
In Bongino v. The Daily Beast, the court dismissed Dan Bongino’s claims, holding that media plaintiffs must overcome a high constitutional bar in defamation cases, including proving actual malice. The court rejected Bongino’s attempt to repackage defamation as statutory and tort claims. The First Amendment does not permit end-runs around defamation standards by creatively labeling speech-based injuries as something else.
Observers say the case is less about justice and more about silencing critics. In a formal Bar grievance, one attorney notes Shochet has been “filing frivolous, meritless claims as part of a campaign to harass perceived enemies” of Hales. Shochet has effectively “weaponized the court system in what appears to be lawfare, not legitimate advocacy.”
The lawsuit’s scattershot accusations and aggressive tactics “appear designed more to intimidate and harass than to seek legitimate relief,” according to the complaint filed with The Florida Bar.
Shochet even tried to disqualify a judge who didn’t favor Hales, an extraordinary step that drew eye-rolls from legal peers.
Inkeles, for her part, was one of the drafters of the hare-brained Hales lawsuits and has been spotted alongside Shochet in legal (and romantic) circles. The pair press on with Hales’s case, showing no qualms about the scorched-earth approach against disabled litigants on fixed incomes.
Florida Legal Loose Cannons: Predators of the Swamp Bar Eye a Power Play
With their reputations in tatters elsewhere, Shochet and Inkeles seem determined to reinvent themselves in Levy County. They have set up shop in this rural community and attached themselves to Hales’s high-profile feud, perhaps hoping victory will catapult them to local prominence.
But, their methods have raised red flags.
Filed grievances urge the Florida Bar to investigate Shochet’s shady admission and “consider whether disbarment or other appropriate sanctions are warranted.”
Longtime attorneys are aghast that the “disingenuous” lawyer who can’t “accept responsibility for his actions” is now rampaging through Florida’s courts.
Levy County residents and the legal community alike are watching warily. The Shochet-Inkeles duo has been dubbed “legal predators” – attorneys who prey on loopholes, vulnerable clients, and even the judicial system itself to serve their agenda.
Their sordid saga serves as a cautionary tale of unchecked ambition and ethical rot.
As they angle for influence in Levy County – maybe a judgeship for Inkeles or simply the swagger of being big fish in a small pond – many hope the law will finally catch up to them. Florida’s legal system may yet slam the door on this disgraced duo before they can do any more damage.