Assemblyman Schroeder Will Fight Criminal Charges

The attorney for Assemblyman Robert Schroeder said he would fight the charges that the politician wrote bad checks worth millions of dollars to investors, he told a judge at a hearing in Somerset County Friday morning.

Prosecutors offered Schroeder a plea bargain earlier this year that would have required the assemblyman to serve a five-year sentence, repay $5 million to his alleged victims, and agree to never hold public office again.

The March deadline to accept that plea passed, and Schroeder appeared with his attorney at Somerset County Courthouse Friday poised to fight the charges.

If convicted on the criminal charges, Schroeder could face up to ten years in prison.

His attorney, John Whipple, told Judge Julie M. Marino that he planned a “substantial filing” of motions in the coming months.

“We are still acquiring defense documents,” he said, asking for a 60-day window to procure defense evidence and file paperwork.

Outside the hearing, Whipple would not elaborate to reporters on the details of his defense strategy, but indicated that search warrants executed at the time of Schroeder’s arrest would be a subject of his filings with the court.

“We will look to make sure probable cause was filed in search warrants executed last August,” Whipple said.

He said it was “too premature” to discuss the details of the motions, which he will have most of the summer to file with the court.

Schroeder is due back in Somerset Superior Court August 16.

Schroeder, a Washington Township resident who represents District 39 in the State Assembly, was arrested last August for allegedly writing bad checks to investors in his Hillsdale-based tent manufacturer, All Points International.

State authorities said Schroeder wrote at least 47 checks for loan payments to a dozen investors from accounts which had insufficient funds. Schroeder is also accused of stealing $1.8 million from people who believed they were investing in a North Dakota housing project.

Numerous civil complaints have also been filed against the assemblyman, and court records show judgments against him totaled more than $13 million since last year.

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