ALLMAN and MICHAEL FECHTER The Tampa Tribune .
TAMPA - A male judge wearing his mistress' lingerie in his chambers, office break-ins, inappropriate kisses and illegal politicking. .
The Hillsborough County Courthouse was rife with scandal from 1999 to 2002. The halls of justice resembled a fraternity house, and at times it seemed as if almost every big-name judge there was under scrutiny. .
Except one. .
Gregory P. Holder played the role of the larger-than-life marshal in the white hat, riding bravely into lawless Dodge City. A truth-telling crusader unafraid to speak out about corruption, regardless of the consequences. .
But even the good guys have bad days. .
Holder's came near the end of 1997. He was changing judicial assignments and moving his office, his wife was ill, and he faced a looming deadline for a research paper that would help him win a promotion to colonel in the Air Force Reserve. .
Although the paper was a simple assignment, the job of typing it would come to infuriate Holder's judicial assistant at the time, Lori Nasco. Holder pressed her hard amid the chaos to get it done, she remembered later. .
``I was so angry at him, I didn't want to look at him,'' Nasco said. .
The paper would come back to haunt Holder. .
The judge now stands accused of plagiarizing about half of it and is awaiting the equivalent of a trial before the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which polices Florida's judges. If the JQC finds that he cheated, Holder could be removed from the bench. .
Holder says he's the victim of an elaborate frame-up. He and his attorneys say someone stole his original research paper and forged a new one to make it look as though he had plagiarized. The motive: to discredit and disgrace him. .
Although there is no proof that it was stolen, Holder's original paper is indeed missing. The paper everyone is focused on is a photocopy. Fabricating it would have been easy, Holder's attorneys say. .
``The JQC doesn't have a single human being they can put under oath that can say this is the paper Holder submitted,'' said David Weinstein, Holder's former law partner, who is one of three lawyers representing him.
