by

I thought this was an ironic follow-up to Monday’s blog. It involves a former official for the US Department of Homeland Security. She was just convicted in Boston of encouraging her illegal immigrant housekeeper to remain in the country.

She is Lorraine H., 52, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). She had been Boston’s port director for Customs and Border Protection. The guilty finding was apparently a shock to both the Defendant and her attorney.

According to news accounts, her only comment was, “I’m stunned” .

Her lawyer’s comment was “I’m sick”.

The case carries an important message that we do not discuss that often on the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog.
Continue reading

by

Has anyone else noticed that air travel has become a bit more tense in recent years? Gee, you go to Boston’s Logan International Airport and you would think it had been involved in a terrorist act sometime over the past ten years or something! In fact, sometimes you feel you should bring a lawyer along just in case..

Some people find that they need a lawyer as they leave the airport.

Today’s case in point is Paul P., 50 of Sanford, Maine (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). Last week, he ended Saint Patrick’s Day (Evacuation Day in Suffolk County) detained by the Massachusetts State Police at Logan.

The Defendant’s troubles began when he “accidently” lit a match on a flight bound for Logan that fateful night. This apparently occurred when he removed a book of them from his pocket during the flight.
Continue reading

by

A 41-year-old registered sex offender has been arrested on charges of Massachusetts indecent assault and battery on a mentally challenged person and rape. Peter J. Duart was jailed on Martha’s Vineyard.

He is a Level 2 sex offender. This means that Duart has been convicted of a sex crime that makes authorities think that he is in the mid level danger range when it comes to possibly offending again.

Massachusetts Sex Crimes
If you are charged with allegedly committing a sex crime in Massachusetts, know that prosecutors will likely aggressively pursue your case. Even if you did not commit the crime, there is a good chance that your reputation may be ruined and your relationships and professional life could suffer. This is why you should speak with a Boston sexual crimes lawyer as soon as possible.

You must get good legal representation. If you are convicted of the sex crime, you could end up in prison, be ordered to pay stiff fines, have to undergo counseling, and/or serve probation. You also will be permanently listed as a sexual offender on Massachusetts’ state registry. Anyone who goes to the registry will be able to access your name. If you have a prior conviction on your record, the charges against you and the sentence you may be ordered to serve can be enhanced.

Sex crime convictions that require that a person register as a Massachusetts sex offender:

• Aggravated rape • Indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 • Indecent assault and battery on a person age 14 or over • Indecent assault and battery on a mentally retarded person • Rape of a child under 6 with force • Rape • Rape and abuse of a child • Assault of a child with intent to commit rape • Assault with intent to commit rape • Kidnapping of a child • Drugging persons for sexual intercourse • Enticing a child under the age of 16 for the purposes of committing a crime • Living off or sharing earnings with a minor prostitute • Inducing a minor into prostitution • A second conviction for open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior (excludes a single or first adjudication as a delinquent juvenile prior to 8/1/92)
• Disseminating to a minor matter harmful to a minor • Incestuous marriage or intercourse • Unnatural or lascivious acts with a child under 16 • Posing or exhibiting a child in a state of nudity • Aggravated rape • Possession of child pornography
Registered sex offender nabbed on rape charge, Cape Cod Times, March 20, 2010
Information for Sex Offenders, Mass.gov

Related Web Resource:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board
Continue reading

by

Well, this week has not been particularly good on the streets of Massachusetts. At least three deaths in two days alone! Lots of fodder for lawyers.

“Well, of course not, Sam”, you tell me. It was raining to almost biblical proportions!”

Yes, well that ended on Monday. It’s been kind of sunny the rest of the week, which is when the deaths occurred.

For example, Bruce F., 46 of Salisbury (hereinafter, “Fatality #1”) was fatally injured when he was hit by a car after stepping into the right lane on Route 95 South in Newbury at about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
Continue reading

by

Here’s a twist on the old saying, “it’s like pulling teeth!” A former Massachusetts dentist will now need a criminal defense attorney to defend against charges of “clipping” teeth..

I am referring to Michael C., 51, a dentist formerly of Fall River, but now of Maryland (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). Boston’s Attorney General has indicted the Defendant for a number of fraudulent…and related…criminal acts.

In short, the Defendant is charged with allegedly using paper clips in dental work and then billing Medicaid for the stainless steel posts he should have used. The Defendant also stands indicted on a charge of submitting additional false claims to the Medicaid program using other dentists’ provider numbers and illegally prescribing prescription drugs.

The complainants of the charges are two-fold. One, of course, is the program that was billed. The other are the actual patients who allegedly received the “treatment”.
Continue reading

by

I live in the Boston area and, as I have mentioned from time to time, have kids. When I am not “fighting the good fight“, I try to spend some time with them. In this day and age, that will include some television. One of the shows we watch actually began when I was a kid…Scooby Doo.

Well, if your kids also watch the show, I suggest you hide today’s blog from them lest they lose all hope.

While on TV, Scooby is a hero, I have found a news story to shake the foundation of childhood fantasy.

Scooby has been arrested for heroin dealing.
Continue reading

by

“Sam….what gives? You tell us that the next day’s Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog is going to be an unhappy one and then you disappear for the rest of the week? You call this “daily“???”

I know, I know…sorry about that. Sometimes my responsibilities to my clients necessitate my irregular definition of the term “daily”. But, late as it may be…here is the tragic story to which I referred.

It is the tale of Geoffrey W., 31, an MIT staffer from Malden (hereinafter, the “Defendant”).

Last week, the Defendant was arrested in connection with the death of his 6-month-old son, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone. He stands charged with murder
Continue reading

by

A 33-year-old middle school teacher who says she had sex with a student has turned herself in to authorities. Amy Beck is charged with one count of oral copulation with a person under 16 and four counts of unlawful sex with a person under 16.

Beck, a David Starr Jordan Middle School teacher, says she and 14-year-old student were sexually involved with each other from March to September 2009. He was 15 when their alleged relationship concluded. The boy has confirmed that the sexual relationship happened.

The school teacher says that she decided to come forward because she had been feeling remorseful about what transpired. Beck is married and has children.

Continue reading

by

Yesterday, I had to go to a local Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Now, I am a lawyer. I have some idea of how some of these things should work. I am also somewhat knowledgeable about the system, bureaucracy and red tape, including how simple things can be made very unsimple. The result? I walked out about 2 hours later (the ticket I was handed said I would be seen in 8 minutes) and with my goal still not reached. Not only that, but this inconvenience resulted in the first time I saw the clerk perform what I took to beng the closest she ever came to a smile.

What can one do? Well, today I can take the small step of delivering a blog about the RMV!

Well, sort of.

I direct your attention to Framingham, where sits a Middlesex grand jury which has returned indictments recently against Mr. Ahmed S., 30, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). He had been arrested a month earlier due to an investigation which apparently revealed that he was falsifying drivers’ licenses, the AG’s office said.
Continue reading

by

Lest you think that Amy Bishop is the only person being haunted by Ghosts of Boston-Area Criminal Allegations Past, let me discuss with you the case of Bob O. (hereinafter, the “Target”). Suddenly, the Target needs a lawyer. A good one. An experienced one.

It was the summer of 1976. Sam A. (hereinafter, “Witness”) recalls he was strolling down the Boston streets when he ran into his friend, the Target. The Target was with a 14-year-old lad that we will call “Youth”.

“Gee”, thought Witness. “It sure is odd to find [Target] with a 14-year-old…” and then the thought of said oddity dissolved inside Witness’ head.

Thirty years went by. Witness and the Target became closer and closer, sharing a passion for sports. Over the years, the Target built up quite a reputation as a standout coach for the powerhouse basketball team at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, New York.

Well, it looks like the friendship has seen better days. You see, Witness is now cooperating with Boston prosecutors presenting evidence to a Suffolk grand jury that the Target repeatedly molested Youth all those years ago, while staying at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.
Continue reading

Contact Information
Cambridge, MA
Main Office
675 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617.206.1920Fax: 617.491.3299Toll Free: 800.481.6199
Boston, MA
1 State St
Suite 2
Boston, MA 02109
Phone: 617.547.1205Toll Free: 800.481.6199
Needham, MA
250 First Avenue 2nd Floo
Needham, MA 02494
Phone: 781.675.2329Toll Free: 800.481.6199

Some Select Cases are referred to other attorneys for principal responsibility

By publishing this information on this Website, the Boston, Massachusetts law firm of Altman & Altman LLP is not claiming to represent any clients or cases mentioned here. The content provided is designed to inform readers and is not intended as legal advice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2025, Altman & Altman LLP
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design