Ex-judge gets 5 years of probation in theft from elderly neighbor
Initially, authorities accused a California judge of using a durable power of attorney to steal an elderly neighbor’s life savings of $1.6 milion or more, charging him with dozens of felony counts.
However, former Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Seeman entered no-contest pleas in August to just two—perjury and elder abuse—and was sentenced Monday to five years of probation, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Deputy District Attorney Jason Sjoberg said after the hearing that an investigation showed Seeman stole only $5,648 from his neighbor, Anne Nutting, who died in 2010. He also mishandled a $250,000 loan, which he did not repay until after an investigation was begun by Berkeley police in 2010.
Now 59, he resigned from the bench in March and will not be able to practice law in California because of his felony convictions, the newspaper says.
