TOMS RIVER – A former Ocean County attorney who continued accepting clients after he was disbarred was sentenced to three years of probation after paying $70,755 in restitution to six people who believed he was still licensed to practice law.
David T. Schlendorf, 54, now of Holladay, Utah, pleaded guilty April 27 to five counts of theft by deception and one count of unauthorized practice of law. Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan imposed the sentence July 31 in Ocean County Superior Court.
Although Ryan accepted the probationary sentence negotiated as part of Schlendorf’s plea agreement, he delivered a harsh assessment of the former attorney’s conduct.
“This is a deliberate, organized criminal scheme,” Ryan said. “There’s no way to justify this.”
Schlendorf once served as an assistant prosecutor, maintained a private law practice and was well known in the community. In a letter submitted before sentencing, he cited his years of coaching youth sports and donating to local athletic organizations.
Ryan said those connections also brought Schlendorf into contact with people who needed legal services and allowed him to capitalize on their trust.
“This is not a case where the defendant didn’t know his license was suspended or denies receiving some kind of notice,” Ryan said. “He was disbarred by consent because he was going to be disbarred and therefore didn’t challenge it.”
Schlendorf consented to disbarment in New Jersey in December 2022 after acknowledging that he knowingly misappropriated client funds and could not successfully defend himself against the allegations at a disciplinary hearing.
Despite his disbarment, Schlendorf continued presenting himself as an attorney between January 2023 and September 2025, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation began after a Toms River resident reported hiring Schlendorf in March 2025 and paying him approximately $10,000 for representation in a legal matter.
Schlendorf was arrested Oct. 7, 2025, by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad and the Toms River Township Police Department. He spent two days in the Ocean County Jail before being released under New Jersey’s bail reform procedures.
After the initial charges became public, five additional people came forward and said they had paid him approximately $60,000 for legal representation, Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Shanon Chant-Berry told the court.
Chant-Berry described Schlendorf’s conduct as “extremely brazen.” She said he used letterhead identifying himself as a certified criminal trial attorney and gave one victim what appeared to be a civil complaint bearing his former attorney identification number, making it appear that the document had been filed with the court.
When another victim questioned whether he had been disbarred, Schlendorf claimed he had merely failed to pay his annual bar association dues, Chant-Berry said.
The six victims and the New Jersey Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection received a combined $70,755 before sentencing. The fund reimburses clients who lose money because of dishonest conduct by attorneys and is supported by registration fees paid by New Jersey lawyers and judges.
Ryan said full restitution before sentencing was highly unusual.
“It’s a rare day when that happens, particularly to the tune of $70,000-plus,” Ryan said.
He called the amount “razor close” to the threshold for a second-degree offense and described the thefts as being at the high end of third-degree crimes.
Judge Says Supervision Remains Necessary
Defense attorney Carmine Villani asked Ryan to consider Schlendorf’s cooperation with police, acceptance of responsibility and payment of restitution. He said Schlendorf turned over his briefcase and documents when investigators approached him and later made the victims financially whole.
Villani called the sentencing “a sad day” for someone who had been a well-known attorney in the area. Schlendorf has since moved to Utah, where he works as a regional sales manager.
Schlendorf apologized to the court.
“I hope that the fact that I made full restitution even before the plea date, and that money’s been distributed for over two and a half months already, is indicative of how badly and how awful I felt about the whole situation and wanted to resolve it as quickly as possible,” Schlendorf said. “Besides that, Judge, there’s nothing I can really say. I’m very sorry to be standing in your courtroom and taking up the court’s time with this, and I don’t think you’ll ever see me again.”
Ryan gave substantial weight to the restitution but rejected the defense argument that Schlendorf’s character and attitude made him unlikely to commit another offense. The judge cited the organized nature of the scheme and two prior retail theft convictions in Utah.
“Once one justifies in his own mind the ability to steal, whether that be the retail thefts or to take money from clients that he was not entitled to take, it’s a slippery slope,” Ryan said. “People who commit thefts justify in their own mind that they’re entitled to it.”
Ryan also said the sentence needed to deter suspended, disbarred or otherwise ineligible attorneys from practicing law.
The judge acknowledged that the noncustodial sentence could draw criticism. He explained that the plea agreement called for probation and that he could not impose incarceration without rejecting the agreement and allowing Schlendorf to withdraw his guilty pleas.
Ryan said supervision was necessary not only to stop Schlendorf from acting as an attorney, but also because of his broader ability to persuade people to give him money.
“A period of probationary supervision is necessary because the defendant, with all due respect, is a con artist, and he needs to be supervised to prevent that from happening to other people,” Ryan said.
The judge said that risk was not limited to Schlendorf acting as an attorney. It could also arise through his work as a sales manager or another position in which he might persuade people to give him money to which he was not entitled.
Ryan sentenced Schlendorf to concurrent three-year probationary terms on all six counts, with credit for two days in jail. Schlendorf must maintain employment as directed by probation, provide a DNA sample and have no contact with the victims.
Because Schlendorf lives in Utah, he was directed to report to Ocean County probation to begin the process of transferring his supervision out of state.
