Disbarred woman pleads guilty in thefts

A former Baldwin resident who was disbarred in 2010 pleaded guilty in two separate cases to stealing from former legal clients who were elderly or disabled, the Nassau district attorney’s office said.

Janice Jessup, 68, pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Jerald Carter to one count of first-degree grand larceny for stealing more than $1.1 million from a mentally and physically disabled woman who she represented in an eminent domain action, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office. Jessup also pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny for stealing more than $85,000 from an 85-year-old former client from Roosevelt who she helped obtain a reverse mortgage on her property, the news release said.

Carter committed to sentencing Jessup to a maximum of 3 to 9 years in prison as well as restitution by civil judgment of $1,112,340 in the first-degree grand larceny case. In the second case, the sentence was set at 1 to 3 years, to run concurrently, and restitution by civil judgment of $84,068 in the second case. Jessup is to be sentenced on March 16, according to the statement.

“The defendant stole enormous sums of money from elderly and disabled clients to support her lifestyle, as well as to benefit her family, including using some of the ill-gotten gains to help her then-husband’s limousine company, and to partially pay for a vintage Corvette,” Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a statement. “Attorneys have an obligation to represent the best interests of their clients and that is especially true when dealing with senior citizens and those who are unable to make important decisions for themselves.”

Singas said Jessup, now of Charlotte, N.C., was retained in 2007 by the family of a mentally and physically disabled woman to represent her in a $1.2 million eminent domain action involving property that later became the Yes We Can Community Center in Westbury. Jessup received the funds by court order, but then spent it on unauthorized personal, business and other expenses that included direct payments to herself and members of her family, as well as payments to other law clients of hers.