Disbarred Attorney Who Stole From Ocean County Clients Sentenced

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A disbarred attorney and former member of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office has been sentenced to probation for continuing to practice law illegally and stealing more than $70,000 from clients he could not legally represent.

David T. Schlendorf, 54, who now lives in Holladay, Utah but had lived in Toms River, was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

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Schlendorf pleaded guilty on April 27 to five counts of theft by deception and one count of unauthorized practice of law before Ryan, who also ordered Schlendorf to have no contact with his victims, the prosecutor's office said.

Schlendorf had been ordered to pay restitution, and the prosecutor's office said he has paid the total due of $70,755.

Schlendorf was disbarred in New Jersey in December 2022, prosecutors have said. He also was disbarred in New York in 2024, where he admitted to the "knowing misappropriation of client funds" and acknowledged the allegation was true, according to the court record on the New York proceeding.

Schlendorf was an assistant prosecutor in the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office from 2000 to 2003 and an assistant prosecutor in the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office from 1997 to 1999, according to his LinkedIn account.

In spite of that, Schlendorf misrepresented himself as a licensed attorney, authorities said.

He was initially charged in October with one count of theft by deception and one count of unauthorized practice of law after authorities learned a Toms River resident hired Schlendorf in March 2025 to represent him in a legal matter, paying him about $10,000 for his services, the prosecutor's office said.

Schlendorf initially was arrested in October 2025 and taken to the Ocean County Jail but released under New Jersey Bail Reform rules.

The investigation turned up five more victims Schlendorf had illegally represented between January 2023 and September 2025, and they had paid about $60,000 total for his services. The additional charges were filed in March.