Excerpts: Former ‘business guru’ given public defender
- As of last Wednesday, John Donovan Sr. of Hamilton, charged with trying to swindle nearly $5 million from his late son’s widow and children by filing forged documents with the Registry of Deeds in 2016, is being represented by an attorney from the Committee for Public Counsel Services.
- Donovan Sr., 76, was indicted in 2017 on a total of 13 counts, including forgery, attempted felony larceny and witness intimidation. Prosecutors allege that Donovan Sr. used forged, back-dated documents, including quitclaim deeds, will codicils and other records, which were filed at the Essex South Registry of Deeds, in an attempt to divert the proceeds from the sale of more than 300 acres of land to the Trust for Public Lands in 2016.
- Donovan Sr. was previously convicted of filing a false police report after unsuccessfully attempting to frame his other son, banker James “Jim” Donovan, by shooting himself outside his Cambridge office and blaming it on “hitmen” sent by his son, in 2005.
Source: Salem News