Suspended lawyer gets probation in Social Security fraud

In the 1990s, Boston lawyer Robert C. Gerrard represented the winning side in a bitter family feud over control of the $1.5 billion Demoulas supermarket chain, declaring victory in a legal drama that has left three lawyers on the losing team accused of ethical violations and still fighting possible disbarment.

But yesterday, Gerrard, 68, now living in Newcastle, Maine, was being held accountable for his own misdeeds, which had no relation to the Demoulas case. A federal judge sentenced Gerrard to three years probation for stealing Social Security benefits.

For 16 years after his mother died in 1987, Gerrard continued to have her monthly Social Security checks deposited into his account, ultimately taking more than $116,000. The Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers suspended Gerrard's license to practice law in February after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and theft of government funds.

''I very much feel an apology is in order," said the white-haired Gerrard when invited to speak by US District Judge Rya Zobel just before he was sentenced. ''I'd like to apologize to my profession. I believe I served honorably for years."

Adding that he'd like to think his crime was an aberration, Gerrard said he wanted to apologize to his former colleagues ''and especially my wife for the pain I put her through."

Zobel ordered Gerrard to make restitution, giving him three years to repay the $116,000 debt to the government. He said he has $39,000 left of the money and agreed to turn that over immediately. He was also ordered to undergo random drug testing and participate in substance abuse and mental health programs, if required by probation officials.

While working at the Boston law firm of Davis Malm & D'Agostine, Gerrard served as lead attorney for the heirs of George A. Demoulas, who successfully argued during two trials in the 1990s that their uncle, Telemachus ''Mike" Demoulas, had cheated them out of millions of dollars. Then-Middlesex Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez ordered the transfer of assets that gave Gerrard's clients control of the supermarket chain.

Lawyers for Mike Demoulas had alleged that Lopez was biased and had dined with Gerrard while the trial was underway, but Gerrard and Lopez denied the allegations.

Fallout from the case has continued, however, as three lawyers for the losing side -- Kevin P. Curry, Gary P. Crossen, and Richard K. Donahue -- await a decision from the Board of Bar Overseers on whether they will be disciplined for their roles in an elaborate attempt to prove that Lopez was biased.

Last year, a hearing officer for the board found that the three lawyers used trickery, extortion, and intimidation to try to get information from Lopez's former law clerk Paul Walsh. They were accused of breaching ethical rules in 1997 by luring Walsh with a fake job offer and then allegedly threatening to damage his career if he didn't cooperate.

Crossen, Donahue, and Curry have denied the allegations and have urged the board not to take action against them. All three continue to practice law.

Lopez resigned from the bench in 2003.