James Tinley, New Haven Register

A former city lawyer has been arrested in the theft of more than $143,000 while handling the refinancing of a client’s home mortgage in 2007.

Morris I. Olmer, 81, of Belleveue Road, was arraigned at Superior Court on a single count of first-degree larceny.

He is accused of pocketing $143,530.35 instead of paying off the original lender when a Hamden client refinanced a mortgage, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Olmer’s client was then on the verge of foreclosure when the mortgage was paid off by the Client Security Fund. All practicing lawyers pay into the state fund to aid victims of attorney misconduct.

Olmer, a former city alderman who had practiced law for more than 50 years, had his law license suspended for six months in February 2007 in an unrelated mortgage scheme. He resigned as a member of the Connecticut bar in July 2008, according to state judicial records.

Olmer is accused of swindling his client in January 2007.

Bank records show Olmer cashed checks from the misappropriated money for personal expenses, to run his law office and even to give his secretary a $5,000 car loan. She paid back $2,325, according to the arrest document.

The criminal charge came when two complaints were filed with the Statewide Grievance Committee by the owner of the Hamden home and another client. Those complaints were forwarded to the office of the chief state’s attorney for prosecution.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/02/27/news/new_haven/a1_–_bad_lawyer_0227.txt