Peeping Landlord Lawyer Hearing
The Maryland Daily Record has a report on a disciplinary hearing
A Montgomery County [Maryland] judge is hearing evidence in the disciplinary case against a Chevy Chase lawyer who pleaded guilty last year to secretly videotaping female tenants staying at his house.
Dennis A. Van Dusen was sentenced in July 2013 to five years’ probation and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine after pleading guilty to three counts of visual surveillance with prurient intent.
Bar Counsel for the Attorney Grievance Commission filed its petition for disciplinary action against Van Dusen in April, according to court records. Judge Anne K. Albright is presiding over the three-day hearing, which began Thursday.
There is no timetable for Albright to issue her findings. Once she does, Van Dusen and Bar Counsel will each be given a chance to file exceptions with Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, which will ultimately decide whether to disbar Van Dusen, suspend him, impose a lesser sanction or no sanction at all.
Van Dusen’s acts did not involve his law practice, but the Court of Appeals has found in other cases that criminal acts can violate the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct.
Van Dusen has multiple master’s degrees from Harvard University and graduated from the University of the District of Columbia’s law school in 2009, according to a transcript posted on his personal website. The Maryland Court of Appeals admitted Van Dusen to this state bar Oct. 5, 2012, despite receiving an unfavorable report from the Character Committee that covers Montgomery County.
The case is Attorney Grievance Commission v. Dennis Alan Van Dusen, 29833M.
Van Dusen was arrested in October 2012 after a tenant noticed a pinhole in the smoke detector directly above her bed, where a camera was discovered. A police search of Van Dusen’s computers and hard drives found sexually explicit images of many tenants, although police believe Van Dusen did not share the images online.
A day after police came to his house, Van Dusen sent the tenant a text message, according to the tenant’s complaint.
“I am willing to discuss settlement before you make a claim but not afterward,” the text said. “Best to communicate by email or txt.”
In February, a civil jury found Van Dusen liable for more than $1 million in damages in a lawsuit brought by the former tenant and her former boyfriend. That same month, another tenant was awarded more than $820,000 in her civil lawsuit against Van Dusen, according to court records.
Huffington Post noted the guilty plea in the criminal case.(Mike Frisch)