Judge charged with elder theft

Alameda County judge charged with elder theft


Henry K. Lee



Friday, June 15, 2012



Alameda County Judge Paul Seeman may have had good intentions when he offered to help the couple that lived across the street from him in Berkeley - an elderly pair with no family, no friends and a home made uninhabitable by years of hoarding.



But whatever his initial purpose, his actions turned criminal, authorities said Thursday after charging him with elder financial abuse and taking him into custody at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse where he presides in downtown Oakland.



After a two-year investigation, Berkeley police said Seeman, 57, stole thousands of dollars from his neighbor Anne Nutting after her husband died in 1999 at age 90, sold off her art and other possessions, tried to bar her from her own home, and used her garage to store his beloved 1957 Ford Thunderbird.



Seeman befriended Nutting after her husband suffered a fall in 1998, authorities said, and ended up embezzling thousands of dollars from her by 2010, when she died at the age of 97. The two lived on Santa Barbara Road, east of Arlington Avenue in the Berkeley hills.



The Alameda County district attorney charged Seeman with one count of elder theft and 11 counts of perjury, all felonies, as well as enhancements alleging that he stole at least $200,000. He was being held Thursday evening at a downtown Oakland jail in lieu of $525,000 bail.



"The alleged conduct of Judge Seeman is both disturbing and disappointing," said Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for her office. "His alleged conduct is in no way a reflection of the outstanding caliber of judicial officers serving Alameda County."



Superior Court officials declined to comment. A woman who answered the phone at Seeman's home hung up.



A neighbor, Eve Howard, expressed shock at the allegations, saying, "Paul is a great man, just a great guy, a great neighbor. On a scale of 1 to 10, would I ever have thought this, seen this, felt this could be the case? I'd give it absolutely zero."



She said acquaintances had described the judge as an altruistic person whom they believed was "extending a lot of help to a person who really appreciated it and needed it."



Differing opinions

Another neighbor, Anne Nesbet, agreed, saying, "Paul is a saint in this. I'm absolutely, 1,000 percent sure that Paul is on the side of the angels. He's the best man in the world."



Prosecutors disagree.



The case threatens the future of a veteran of the juvenile justice system who was appointed to the bench only three years ago. Among the defendants who came before him were four Occupy Cal protesters whom he ordered to stay away from UC Berkeley in March and, as a county court commissioner, two 16-year-old boys accused of taking part in the shooting death of a 15-year-old Alameda girl in a city park.



Court records released Thursday paint a picture of a neighbor who began trying to help Nutting and her husband and ended up allegedly preying on her, while having unrestricted access to her home.



In December 1998, Nutting's husband, Lee Nutting, fell inside his home. Anne Nutting called 911 for help, and after Berkeley firefighters arrived, they determined that the couple's home was "uninhabitable due to hoarding," Berkeley police wrote in a court document outlining the grounds for Seeman's arrest.



The Nuttings relocated to the Radisson Hotel at the Berkeley Marina. Seeman, who was then an attorney specializing in juvenile law, decided to help the couple even though he didn't know them well and had never been to their house, authorities said.



In January 1999, police said, Seeman obtained power-of-attorney for the couple after stating that he had found $1 million worth of stock certificates and uncashed dividend checks in their house.



After Lee Nutting died in December 1999, Seeman arranged the sale of two properties the couple owned in Santa Cruz, investigators said. They said Seeman handled Lee Nutting's estate in probate court but did not include the two Santa Cruz properties in the documents.



Millions in accounts

By August 2004, Seeman "had taken over almost all of the victim's financial affairs, putting his name on her bank accounts as joint tenant and on her investment accounts as TOD (transferee on death)," police wrote in the document. At the time, there was more than $2.2 million in the accounts, authorities said.



Seeman eventually sold off Anne Nutting's assets, including a Lionel train set and stamp and coin collections, authorities said.



In 2004, the same year he became a county court commissioner, Seeman persuaded her to loan him $250,000 - money that had been raised by auctioning part of her art collection. He executed a "simple promissory note," at 3 percent interest, to be paid monthly, investigators said. They said he made only eight payments.



Anne Nutting insisted on returning home in 2007 and sought the help of an attorney to remove Seeman from her affairs, authorities said. He refused to relinquish control, investigators said.



In 2010, a year after Seeman became a judge, the woman's attorney contacted police to report the suspected embezzlement. After police contacted him, Seeman repaid the $250,000 loan but refused to provide an accounting of his transactions, authorities said.



Prosecutors charged him with perjury for allegedly failing to disclose the loan on annual statements of economic interest that all judges must file. They said he also failed to report investments totaling more than $1.4 million in 40 local properties - investments made between 2003 and 2009.



Seeman, a graduate of UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, was named to the bench by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009. He had also previously served as a referee pro tem for the Juvenile Court and deputy counsel, all in Alameda County. He has also lectured in criminology and sociology of law at UC Santa Cruz, his alma mater.





Henry K. Lee is a San Fran- cisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee





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