Former Planning Board Attorney Gets Probation and Community Service

Disbarred lawyer and former Parsippany Planning Board attorney John J. Montefusco Sr. was sentenced in state Superior Court in Morristown Friday to three years’ probation and 1,080 hours of community service for practicing law without a license, the Daily Record reported.

In August, 73-year-old Montefusco pled guilty to a single count of unauthorized practice of law, admitting that while disbarred he advised a former client charged with a drug offense and accepted $1,000 as a retainer, the article said, adding that the ex-lawyer must repay the $1,000.

Montefusco was disbarred in 2009 after a guilty plea the year before to mail fraud charges in U.S. District Court. This summer he was sentenced to one day in prison and two years of federal probation for accepting benefits over two decades from Parsippany developer Edward Mosberg. These acceptances reportedly occurred while Montefusco was serving as the Planning Board's lawyer.

His federal guilty plea involved an admission to giving assistance to Mosberg in return for benefits to himself and his family that include cut-rate purchase prices on homes. Family members in turn resold the properties for major profits.