NH Judge Arrested On Falsifying Evidence, Records Charges

CONCORD, NH — A Nashua judge is facing numerous charges including two felonies after being accused of altering documents in family court related to a case with an attorney she should have recused herself from being involved with.

Julie A. Introcaso, 56, of Bedford was arrested Thursday on two felony counts of falsifying physical evidence as well as two counts of tampering with public records or information and a single count of unsworn falsification.

Back in October 2018, Introcaso became involved with a family court case concerning a parenting petition, Robin Partello v. David Campbell, in 9th Circuit Court in Nashua and during the process of the case, realized later that an attorney, Kathleen Sternenberg, with whom she was a close friend, was appointed to be the guardian ad litum in the case. Sternenberg, however, was on her recusal list.

At the time, since she admitted to not reading the documents over as well or clearly as she should have, Introcaso was working on the case and did not know Sternenberg was involved, according to testimony. Partello, according to court documents, wanted to pay Sternenberg via Apple Pay but the court, with orders signed by Introcaso, continued saying she had to pay by cash, check, or money order. The amount was $350.

Sternenberg later filed a second motion in 2019 asking the court to exceed the fee cap but Partello challenged the request.

In motions, Introcaso filed handwritten documents which were then filed by a clerk and later, when realizing the recusal issue, filed a motion to remove herself from the case in March 2019.

Read the full state of New Hampshire Judicial Conduct Committee report here.

About six months later, Partello filed a complaint against Introcaso for judicial misconduct including the conflict of interest charge, and that she ruled on several motions involving Sternenberg.

Introcaso took leave in October 2019 while a committee eyed Partello's complaint. Two months later, she returned to work.

Not long after returning, in January 2020, Introcaso met with three clerks and staffers, and reviewed with them the Apple Pay and Fee Cap orders which had been "completely obscured with whiteout correction tape," according to a report. She was accused of questioning the clerks and staffers about the whiteout which they denied doing.

At one point, according to testimony, Introcaso asked a clerk, "Did you do this to protect me?" The clerk said, "No, I didn't do that to protect you; I wouldn't do that."

A week later, Introcaso was accused of requesting the clerk sign an affidavit about when she brought the file to her and swapping out original documents with new ones but then reversed course. But the clerk realized, while making copies and signing her name to documents, that something was amiss.

"I'm thinking, something is not right here," she testified.

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The clerk then up and left and told the judge as she was exiting that she had nothing to worry about because since it was in her notice of decision and it was all spelled out.

During a hearing with the committee, Introcaso denied whiting out the order in March 2019 and said she did not open the file until January 2020. She did, however, admit to altering orders by stamping and initialing them due to being in a "signing pile." In a document to the committee, she admitted to the stress and anxiety caused to herself and the staff over the matter.

After investigating the incident, Introcaso was charged with falsifying evidence, accused of altering her handwritten orders about the Apple Pay and Fee Cap orders, two counts of tampering, for altering her two original handwritten orders by applying whiteout to them, and unsworn falsification, for denying changing the two court orders.

Introcaso will be arraigned at a future date, the state said.

Introcaso has been a judge since 2012 when she was nominated by then-Gov. John Lynch, a Hopkinton Democrat.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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