For a second time this year, longtime New Haven lawyer and former State Rep. Morris Olmer appeared in court to answer charges that he ripped off a client in a real estate deal.
Olmer, age 82, of Bellevue Road, was arrested Thursday by inspectors from the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney on a first-degree larceny charge, according to Mark A. Dupuis, spokesman for the State of Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice.
Olmer was arrested in February on similar charges that he ripped off a different client.
The arrest marked a time of escalating trouble for the well-known New Havener, who once served on the Board of Aldermen.
Olmer was one of 15 men arrested by the feds in June as part of a bust on an alleged mortgage fraud scam. Olmer was accused of arranging real estate deals under the pretense of being a lawyer despite having turned in his legal license. He denied those allegations in a conversation with the Independent.
Olmer’s troubles stretch back to 2007, when his license to practice law was suspended and this Independent story was published. He resigned from the bar in 2008.
In the most recent incident that led to his arrest Thursday, Olmer was accused of misappropriating $20,583.20 from a real estate closing that was supposed to be disbursed to a client’s creditors, according to Dupuis. The allegations are “virtually identical” to the case for which he was arrested in February. In that case, Olmer was charged with embezzling $143,530.35 from a different client in connection with a separate real estate closing.
Olmer was arraigned Thursday in state Superior Court on Elm Street before Judge Roland D. Fasano. Both of his pending state criminal cases were continued until August 27.
Olmer could not be reached for comment for this story.
