GUILDERLAND — Richard Sherwood, once a Guilderland town judge, stood before the bench of both a federal judge and then a county judge on Thursday to be sentenced for crimes to which he had pleaded guilty: stealing millions of dollars from elderly clients whose estates he managed.

Wearing a green and orange prison jumpsuit, he told federal judge Lawrence Kahn that he was “so ashamed, embarrassed, and angry at myself,” just before he was sentenced to 54 months, or 4½ years, to be followed by one year of supervised release.

Later that same day, in the state’s Supreme Court — the lowest rung in its three-tiered system — Sherwood was sentenced by Judge Peter Lynch to 3 to 9 years; the two sentences will run concurrently. 

Sherwood was in prison garb because he was already in federal custody. He had needed to turn himself in prior to the sentencing, his attorney William Dreyer of Dreyer Boyajian said, for it to be possible to have the sentences run concurrently.

In federal court, Sherwood received a sentence of 54 months for one count of conspiracy to launder money and 36 months on each of two counts of filing false income tax returns, for the years 2013 and 2015. The sentences on the three federal charges are to run concurrently, for a total of 54 months. Sherwood had faced a maximum of 20 years on the charge of conspiracy to launder money.

Sherwood, who hung his head throughout nearly the entire proceeding, had asked Kahn whether he should stand to give his statement. 

He told the judge, ”I just want to express my sincere remorse for the horrible thing I have done.” He added, “I sincerely apologize to anyone I have hurt or disappointed or embarrassed, including the bar and the judiciary, by what I have done.” 

Sherwood and Lagan’s elderly clients were Capital Region philanthropists Warren and Pauline Bruggeman, who had intended part of the assets for the lifelong care of her sisters, also elderly; remaining funds were to go to charity once all the family members had died. All four had eventually died, and none of them had any children. 

Restitution will be made to the intended charities, once it can be ascertained who was to get what. Assistant United States Attorney Michael Barnett told Kahn, at Lagan’s sentencing, that the pair of financial advisors had made such a mess of the books that investigators had not yet sorted everything out. 

Sherwood’s wife, Carole, was in the courtroom, but declined to comment after the sentencing.

Dreyer, Sherwood’s attorney, told the federal judge on Dec. 19 that Sherwood had admitted guilt right away when first approached by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in February 2018. The agents had visited both Sherwood and his co-conspirator Thomas Lagan at the same time and, while Sherwood was explaining to them how the trust had been set up as a fraud, Lagan was apparently telling them that the trust was legitimate and reflected their elderly client’s wishes for Lagan and Sherwood to have the money. 

Lagan then spent a year denying everything, Dreyer said, while Sherwood explained how the pair’s financial crimes had worked and helped the officers track the funds. 

The amount of restitution due, Kahn said, is the total amount Sherwood stole, $5,560,505. 

Assistant United States Attorney Michael Barnett told The Enterprise after the sentencing that Sherwood has at this point “satisfied a substantial amount of his restitution obligation.” 

Watching

The victims of Sherwood’s financial crimes are dead, but in the courtroom was a woman who said she had waited years to see justice done. Melinda Peck had appeared in Sherwood’s Guilderland courtroom in July 2016 to give a victim impact statement against her former boyfriend, William Beer, whom a jury had convicted of having assaulted her in April 2014 by punching her repeatedly in the head one night while he drove and she sat in the passenger seat. The assault charge was a misdemeanor, but Beer had opted for a jury trial. 

Sherwood gave Beer no jail time but only a $1,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. The District Attorney’s Office had asked for nine months in Albany County’s jail. “I felt like he was in a really high position, and he was looking at my life like I was nothing. He had more compassion for my assailant, a criminal, than he did for me,” Peck told The Enterprise in the federal courtroom Thursday morning. 

All the effort she had made for the two years it took her case to work its way through the system, including reliving the details in open court while Beer and a friend sat in the gallery and snickered, felt like it was for naught, she said. 

This time, she said at Sherwood’s sentencing, she got to see the justice system work. She felt peace, she said, adding, “”This is the end of a long, emotional road. Now I get to go home to my family.” She doesn’t take pleasure in his demise, she said, but she is relieved to see the justice system work, she said, “the way it is supposed to.” 

After the conclusion of the federal sentencing, Peck said she had spoken to Carole Sherwood, telling her, “I’m one of the people your husband hurt.” 

Peck said that she had had added, “Let him know I accept his apology.” 

The sentence

Earlier, on Dec. 11, Lagan was sentenced to 78 months, or 6-½ years, a sentence two years longer than given to Sherwood. 

Kahn said at Sherwood’s sentencing that he was taking into account many factors, including the pre-sentencing report, plea agreement, sentencing memorandum by counsel, and the sentencing guidelines. The sentencing guidelines advise a period of imprisonment of between 78 and 97 months. 

Kahn also considered, he said, the defendant’s overall conduct, lack of criminal history, and his long-standing prior work as “a respected attorney and as a judge.” Kahn took into account, he said, Sherwood’s immediate admission and his ongoing cooperation, his truthfulness throughout the investigation, his help in tracking the assets involved, and his demonstrated remorse. 

The judge noted that Sherwood had indicated during the investigation that he had stolen to “make up for lost income from sloppy billing practices in his law firm over the years.” Kahn noted that this was not an excuse, but said that Sherwood’s co-defendant, Lagan, had never offered any reason whatsoever for his actions. 

Khan said he was also factoring in the substantial loss, and Sherwood’s abuse of trust. 

“As a former judge, Mr. Sherwood knows more than most defendants that no one is above the law,” Kahn said. 

After announcing Sherwood’s sentence, Kahn told him, “I'm sure once this is behind you, you will have, hopefully, many years of a good life with your family again that still supports you.”

County court

Later that same day, in the state’s Supreme Court — the lowest rung in its three-tiered system — Sherwood was sentenced by Judge Peter Lynch. 

In Lynch’s court, the attorneys — Dreyer for Sherwood and Christopher Baynes of the Attorney General’s Office for the state — both asked the court to modify Sherwood’s sentence on a single charge of second-degree grand larceny to, instead of 3-½ to 10 years, 3 to 9 years. 

Dreyer told The Enterprise that Sherwood will have an opportunity to apply for parole after three years. 

Lynch addressed in court the possibility of applying for parole in three years, and noted that, if the application is made and then denied, Sherwood could not apply again for two years. That would mean, the judge said, that his sentence would be longer than the 4-½ years given by Kahn. The parties all agreed that, if that were to happen, they would return to Lynch’s court for a resentencing. 

The amount of restitution due in the state proceeding is $5,329,706. 

Kahn had clarified in his sentencing that restitution of either amount will count toward the other, so that Sherwood will not be paying twice. 

Dreyer had requested of Kahn that he recommend that Sherwood serve his time at the federal prison in Canaan, Pennsylvania — the same prison that Lagan had requested a week earlier because, Lagan’s attorney Kevin Luibrand said, it has an outstanding substance-abuse treatment program.

After the sentencing in county court, Dreyer told The Enterprise, “He doesn’t want to be in there with Mr. Lagan. He wants to be in that facility.” There was no indication, in either sentencing, that Sherwood has any substance abuse problems, as Lagan does. 

Rather, Sherwood’s attorney said, he made the request because the prison in Canaan is the federal prison with openings that is closest to the Capital Region.