Former Portsmouth attorney and one-time congressional hopeful Justin Nadeau is now indicted on 15 felony counts related to his alleged scheme to steal close to $300,000 from a mentally impaired client.
He’s just the latest New Hampshire Democrat to find himself in legal peril.
A grand jury convened in Rockingham County handed up 11 indictments for falsifying physical evidence, two indictments for financial exploitation of an impaired adult, and one count each for theft by deception and forgery.
The charges stem from information that came out during Nadeau’s ethics case before the state Professional Conduct Committee. Nadeau was ultimately disbarred after he was allegedly caught falsifying evidence during the PCC investigation.
“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.
Nadeau went before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him close to $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.
Before his fall from grace, Nadeau had political ambitions and ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2004 against then-Congressman Jeb Bradley (R).
Nadeau isn’t the only Seacoast Democrat in the dock. Former Stafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is facing trial for theft of county funds to pay for his affairs. The Democrat hoping to replace him, former North Hampton police chief Kathryn Mone, is facing questions about her handling of a wrongful arrest case during her last job, a case that cost North Hampton $150,000.
While Nadeau is at the beginning of his criminal prosecution, the legal struggles of former state Senate Democratic leader Jeff Woodburn of Coos County are coming to an end. Woodburn is expected to be sent to jail at his sentence imposition hearing on Wednesday in Grafton County. Woodburn was convicted of criminal mischief after he was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend in a domestic abuse case.
And then there are former state Reps. Andrew Bouldin and Stacie Laughton. A former Manchester representative, Bouldin changed his name to Andrew Kennedy and was seeking another term in the House in Lee, N.H. But he dropped out after NHJournal reported on an investigation into allegations of “grooming” — plying a teen with alcohol and making sexually suggestive comments, according to a police report.
Laughton is behind bars awaiting trial on a federal charge of sexual exploitation of children, and aiding and abetting. Laugton is a biological male who identifies as a female and allegedly committed the crimes with his girlfriend, who worked at a Massachusetts day care.
Nadeau is due in Rockingham County Superior Court on Oct. 23 for his arraignment.
