MANCHESTER, NH – A disbarred attorney was sentenced to one year in the New Hampshire State Prison in connection with the theft of nearly $360,000 in clients’ funds, including money intended to benefit Honor Flight New England.
David Dunn, 64, of 33 Mill Pond Road, Durham, formerly of Manchester, entered guilty pleas Thursday in Hillsborough County Superior Court North to four counts of misapplication of property.
Judge David Anderson, after listening to Dunn’s supporters and those who were victims of the thefts, said that some prison time was warranted. He noted that a significant mitigating factor in the case was that Dunn repaid all the money. The thefts occurred over a five-year period and only came to light because Attorney Neil Nicholson, representing Honor Flight, inquired about the final accounting for the estate of Alphonse Pitcher. Pitcher had named Honor Flight as one of his beneficiaries.
Anderson sentenced Dunn to 5 to 10 years in state prison on each of the four counts, with four years suspended. The sentences are concurrent.
Senior Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Bryan J. Townsend II had asked Anderson to sentence him to 5 to 10 years, with 2 1/2 years suspended. He said within months of being censured in 2015 for altering an original client trust document, he began misusing clients’ funds.
Defense attorneys argued for probation.
Dunn addressed everyone in the courtroom, saying he was not making excuses, that he was responsible for his actions.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “What I did was wrong and I hurt people.”
According to the state’s sentencing memorandum, between March 16, 2016, to June 9, 2021, Dunn used clients’ estate and trust funds totaling $359,711.17. He unlawfully obtained $166,426 from the Barbara Tassie Revocable Trust; $162,846.55 from the Roger Martel Revocable Trust; and $30,438.62 from the Pitcher estate.
For violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, he was disbarred.
Dunn was admitted to practice law in New Hampshire in 1990 and opened his office at 14 Temple Court in Manchester.
In the spring of 2012, he underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. He experienced a variety of post-surgical complications, including right vocal cord paralysis, total right ear hearing loss, gait and balance difficulties and facial droop. He required outpatient speech therapy and other treatments to improve his condition. He was unable to practice full-time for the remainder of 2012. He returned to practice full-time in 2013.
That fall, he altered an original client trust document knowing that the alteration was legally unenforceable. In June 2015, the New Hampshire Professional Conduct Committee censured him for this conduct. The censure was for several reasons, including that the conduct occurred when Dunn was “extremely overloaded.” At the time, he said he was working seven days a week trying to build back his law practice.
He used the same exact excuse when he was disbarred for the misapplication of the $360,000, according to Townsend who said he should not be allowed to rely on that same excuse again. He said within months of being censored, Dunn began taking his clients’ funds.
One of the beneficiaries of the Pitcher estate was Honor Flight New England, which flies elder and terminally ill veterans, at no cost to themselves, to Washington, D.C., to visit and reflect at their memorial.
Joe Byron, founder and executive director of Honor Flight, spoke to Dunn at the hearing, telling him he stole money from the estate of a World War II veteran who went on an Honor Flight.
“He just wanted to do more, so that others could feel what they felt on that day, the day of admiration, the welcome home that he probably had never received,” he said.
Byron said that Dunn’s actions went beyond a financial crime.
“Just imagine if we were not able to transport those terminally ill veterans or any veteran because of what you did,” he said. “We are all here today because of the heroic actions of those who served so many years ago, those that lost their lives, and those that protect us today.”
He said Gerry Hebert, a World War II veteran, was on the first Honor Flight. After the flight, Biron said Hebert told him, “The only true moment in mankind is the mark you leave on the life of another. Unfortunately, the mark that you may leave is not the positive things that you may have done throughout your life. It will be marred by a decision that you made to deceive our Heroes of what they fought for and truly deserve.”
Dunn was trustee of the Tassie Revocable Trust/S.B. Special Needs Trust. After Barbara Tassie’s death, he was required to use the trust’s assets to provide for S.B., Tassie’s disabled daughter. S.B. had been friends with Dunn for many years and trusted him implicitly to handle her finances.
At the time of Tassie’s death, the Tassie trust had about $500,000 in assets, including several investment accounts and the Tassie home.
Because S.B. received Social Security Disability, she could not receive all the trust’s assets at that time. She explained to Dunn she would need about $2,000 a month.
Over the years, according to the prosecutor, Dunn would withdraw funds from the Tassie Trust investment accounts, including an Ameritrade account. After withdrawal, he would deposit the money into an account in the name of the Tassie Trust, held at Bank of New England. Dunn was the sole signatory on both accounts. Over the next several years, Dunn paid S.B. the $2,000 a month. He also wrote S.B. checks for certain things she needed, such as home repairs.
But in March 2016, Dunn began making consistent unauthorized withdrawals from the Tassie account. By June 30, 2017, he had withdrawn $166,426. Dunn used much of the money to pay law firm operating expenses, including payroll. Another significant portion of the funds were used to pay rent for Nicholas Statires, a friend of Dunn’s and former client. State investigators spoke with Greg Statires, Nicholas’ son. Greg Statires said his father lived at Villa Crest Nursing and Retirement Center in Manchester from 2011 until his death on Sept. 15, 2018.
Greg Statires was trustee of his father’s trust. He used money from rents obtained from an apartment building in the name of the trust to pay his father’s rent. At times, he would fall behind. When he did, Dunn agreed to make payments. Greg Statires agreed to reimburse Dunn once he sold the apartment building.
Beginning in March 2016, Dunn began making consistent unauthorized withdrawals from the Tassie Trust account. By June 30, 2017, he had withdrawn $166,426.
Greg Statires told investigators that over the years, Dunn paid about $200,000 of his father’s care at Villa Crest. In April 2018, Greg sold the apartment building and reimbursed Dunn $200,449. Despite receiving sufficient money to cover the funds he stole from the Tassie Trust, prosecutors say Dunn did not reimburse the trust at that time.
Dunn continued to pay S.B. her monthly check which had increased to $2,400 a month by June 2017. Due to Dunn stealing the $166,426 by then only $1,434.72 remained in the Tassie Trust.
As a result, beginning Sept. 29, 2017, Dunn began transferring funds monthly from the law firm’s operating account to the Tassie Trust account to cover the allotment.
Dunn continued that for the next several years. Between Sept. 29, 2017, and March 29, 2021, Dunn “reimbursed” the Tassie Trust account $71,750, less than half what he stole.
In March 2020, S.B. looked into refinancing her house and told the banker she had a trust. The bank asked for financial documentation for the trust. In the months that followed, S.B. asked Dunn repeatedly for the information and gave him the fax number for the bank to send the documentation. Finally, in the fall of 2020, she texted him asking if she needed to get another lawyer.
He called immediately, told her she was “fine” financially and she had more than $100,000 in her trust account. At the time, however, records showed there was only $3,218.16 in both the Tassie and S.B. trust accounts; hers had $134.95.
Dunn apologized for not getting back to her before but said he had been “severely depressed” and “barely able to function.”
Dunn never faxed the information to the bank.
Victim/Witness Advocate Amy Van Auken read a letter S.B. wrote to the court.
“Learning he stole money from me was horrifying, but learning that it wasn’t just once, but systematically every two weeks for months and months was devastating,” she wrote. “Even now when I think about it, I feel physically sick. “
Dunn also was trustee for the Roger J. Martel Revocable Trust. Between June 1, 2016, and June 9, 2021, Dunn transferred $162,846.50 from the trust into his law firm’s operating account without authorization.
Between Jan. 30, 2019, and June 9, 2021, Dunn reimbursed the Martel trust what he had taken.