When the federal grand jury Wednesday indicted West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Allen Loughry, the judge became the latest jurist to find himself facing criminal or ethics charges. Loughry, 47, faces 22 charges, including fraud and witness tampering, amid allegations he defrauded the West Virginia government for years, then lied to FBI agents about it. "That's not your typical judge," said Jan L. Jacobowitz, lecturer and director of the University of Miami School of Law's professional responsibility and ethics program. Judges who make headlines for alleged misbehavior are outliers. But the fact that Loughry was arrested, Jacobowitz said, demonstrates that no one is above the law and that the judicial system is working. "It's never good for the public confidence in the judiciary for judges to be engaged in misconduct," Jacobowitz said. "On the other hand, the fact that judges are reprimanded for misconduct serves to enhance the public's confidence that there is a process by which you may report a judge, and a judge may be reprimanded or suspended or even removed from the bench." Charles Gardner Geyh, a professor of law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law agreed. "If you have too few judges who are subject to discipline, then you could argue that the system isn't working and that you'd need to try harder to hunt down judges who are bad apples," Geyh said. "On the other hand, if you have too many it implies that you've got a system in trouble." As a former trial attorney and a recently appointed ethics commissioner on the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, Jacobowitz is a self-confessed "professional responsibility nerd." She suggested few other public officials are held accountable the way judges are, and that even the mere appearance of impropriety could be enough to jeopardize a jurist's seat. "That's a very tough standard," Jacobowitz said. "We have imposed that upon our judges because they are the ultimate arbiters and gateways to maintain the rule of law in our society." And now, in an era where social media plays a pivotal role in news sharing, it's difficult to gauge whether there's been a recent spike in judges being reprimanded, or whether Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have simply provided platforms that make it easier for people to learn of judge misconduct. "I think there's always been judges that err. I don't know if there's more of that now or if we're just more aware of it," Jacobowitz said. Here's a look at some judges who found themselves in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons so far this year: Justice Allen Loughry of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia was arrested by the FBI and faces criminal fraud and witness tampering charges. Suffolk County Judge Robert Cicale was arrested in Long Island, New York, and charged with repeatedly stealing the underwear of a 23-year-old woman. When arrested, Cicale told the police he'd previously taken panties from the house, and had re-entered in search of more, according to a report in the New York Daily News. "The panties I had on me are from the other times I went into the house," Cicale said. Also in New York, Duanesburg Town Court Judge Deanna Siegel agreed to resign and never again hold judicial office after a decision Wednesday by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct over her failure to report and remit more than $100,000 in court funds to the state Comptroller's Office, according to the New York Law Journal. In Texas, 148th District Court Judge Guy Williams, was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and resisting arrest, in the aftermath of a car accident on Padre Island. Williams was charged with two second-degree felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. This came after a previous incident months earlier, when he was arrested for allegedly pointing a gun at a couple. Williams was later acquitted of those charges. In Michigan, Livingston County Judge Theresa Brennan was removed from her post over an alleged affair with Sean Furlong of the Michigan State Police, lead investigator in a murder trial over which she presided. Former Lee County Judge Jay B. Rosman, of Florida, was one of six men who found themselves embroiled in a prostitution sting. Rosman resigned in February, when he was charged with soliciting a prostitute and resisting arrest in Naples, Florida.   Related Stories: West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Charged with Fraud, False Statements, and Witness Tampering Fort Myers Judge Quits After Getting Caught in Prostitution Sting Miami-Dade Judge Resigns Amid Probe in Wake of Spouse's Arrest Schenectady-Area Judge Agrees to Step Down in Case Over Reporting Court Funds   Read the formal statement of charges against Loughry: