Ex-law student convicted of forging 'not guilty' verdict slip accused of falsely claiming law degree
A former Suffolk Law School student who recently got out of jail after stealing a laptop from the institution—and putting a forged jury verdict form in his court file—is in trouble again, this time for allegedly misrepresenting that he has a law degree.
David Scher, 35, reportedly claimed to be an in-house patent attorney for a business in Abington, Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports.
After he pleaded guilty last April to charges of forgery, perjury, tampering with a court document and uttering a false document, Scher was released on parole Oct. 16, according to a statement from the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
Seven days later, Scher submitted a resume that falsely stated he had a JD to a recruiting agency, and lied about being a patent lawyer, the district attorney’s office says. Scher is still on parole, and the court held him in custody without bail at his arraignment Tuesday on the new charge of falsely claiming to hold a law degree, the Boston Herald reports.
Previously named as one of the top 30 realtors under the age of 30 by the National Association of Realtors, Scher’s was accused of stealing a Suffolk laptop in 2014, when he was a student there. After his larceny conviction, he received a 90-day suspended sentence.
After his conviction, Scher reportedly went to the Boston Municipal Court clerk’s office multiple times, pulled his file, and replaced the verdict slip with a forged document that stated that he was found not guilty. When charges of forging a verdict form became public, various real estate lawsuits involving Scher came to light.
According to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, Scher submitted copies of the forged document to the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, Suffolk University and the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers.
At the time there were proceedings to remove Scher’s broker’s license because he did not report his conviction to the board, according to the district attorney’s office. Various papers reported in 2016 that he also presented the forged document to Suffolk Law in a bid to get his law degree.
Corrects spelling of Scher in third paragraph at 3:08 p.m.
