Former judge Paul Seeman, 59, of Berkeley was today sentenced to five years of probation for mishandling a $250,000 loan from a 97-year-old Berkeley neighbor and stealing $5,648 from her.
The accusations were less serious than those initially leveled by prosecutors, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported on the sentencing.
Seeman, who resigned his post as an Alameda County Superior Court judge in March, was arrested in June 2012 accused of stealing as much as $1.6 million from his neighbor, Anne Nutting, 97, after her husband, Lee, died in 1999 at age 90. Seeman entered no contest pleas in August to elder abuse and perjury, both felonies.
At today’s hearing, Judge Richard Couzens ordered Seeman not to live with, or act as a caregiver for, an elder or dependent adult other than family members, or act as a fiduciary for anyone.
Authorities concluded that Nutting, who died in 2010, loaned Seeman $250,000, which he did not repay until Berkeley police began investigating him in 2010.
Seeman, a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, was named to the bench by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009. He can no longer practice law in California as a result of his conviction.
Related:
Judge arrested in elder theft of Berkeley neighbors (06.15.13)
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