A Failed Test Of Character

An attorney who was censured in New Jersey received the same sanction as reciprocal discipline in New York

On February 25, 2015, Arthur Alte IV, a TD Bank customer, cashed a check for $1,185.65 at the drive-up window of the Hazlet, New Jersey, branch of TD Bank. Mr. Alte became distracted while on his cell phone and left the drive-up window without retrieving from the transaction tube the bank envelope containing $1,185.65 in cash and his driver’s license. A few minutes later, Mr. Alte realized his error and returned to the bank, and saw the transaction tube still sitting in place with a white envelope inside. When he opened the envelope, he found his driver’s license and 65 cents. He immediately alerted bank personnel about the missing $1,185, and contacted local police.

The Hazlet police reviewed the bank’s surveillance video for the drive-up area, and observed the driver of a white BMW automobile, the very next automobile to move through that lane after Alte, taking cash out of the transaction tube, counting it, and returning the envelope containing Alte’s driver’s license and 65 cents. The driver of that vehicle then drove away without conducting a transaction.

Two weeks later, on March 10, 2015, police received information from TD Bank identifying the respondent as the driver of the white BMW. The respondent had not returned the cash to TD Bank. Once contacted by police, the respondent went to the police station, cooperated fully with police, and admitted having taken the $1,185 on February 25, 2015. The respondent explained that he “had a momentary lapse of reason,” made a bad decision, and took the money.

Sanction

The DRB, upon review, found that although the respondent claimed that he had “a  momentary lapse of reason” when deciding whether to keep or return the $1,185, which he knew belonged to another bank customer, he “failed that impromptu character test, deciding to keep the money.” Further, the respondent’s lapse continued for another two weeks, until he was finally identified by bank employees. In mitigation, the DRB noted that once the respondent was identified, he cooperated with police, self-reported his conduct to the OAE, completed the PTI program, and paid full restitution to the victim. Further, the respondent demonstrated remorse for his conduct, and had no prior discipline in 30 years at the New Jersey bar. The DRB concluded that a censure “adequately addresses [the] respondent’s single, apparently aberrant, act.”

(Mike Frisch)