BOSTON, December 12, 2017— A real estate broker convicted in April of forging the verdict slip documenting an earlier larceny conviction was arraigned today on new charges of falsely claiming to hold a law degree, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DAVID SCHER (D.O.B. 11/22/82), formerly of Brighton and currently residing in Newton, was arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court on a charge of falsely claiming to hold a degree.  Judge Sally Kelly did not impose monetary bail in Scher’s newest case, but he will remain in custody for violating his parole on his April conviction on offenses related to the forgery of a verdict slip returned by jurors in Scher’s 2014 trial for an earlier theft.

A Boston Municipal Court jury in 2014 found Scher guilty of larceny for stealing a laptop computer from Suffolk University Law School, where he was a student at the time of the offense.  Scher did not graduate from the school after the theft and was not awarded a juris doctorate.

Following his conviction, Scher returned to the Boston Municipal Court clerk’s office on multiple occasions to access the public file on his criminal case in order to remove the authentic verdict slip showing a jury’s finding of “guilty” and replace it with a forged slip that falsely showed a “not guilty” verdict.  This falsified court document was subsequently presented to the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, and Suffolk University.  The forged slip was also submitted under the pains and penalties of perjury to the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons during administrative proceedings to revoke Scher’s broker’s license for his failure to report his conviction to the board.

Scher was arraigned in connection with those offenses in 2016 and ultimately pleaded guilty in April 2017 to charges of forgery, tampering with a court document, two counts of perjury, and three counts of uttering a false document. He was released on parole from the Suffolk County House of Correction on Oct. 16, prosecutors said.

Days later, on Oct. 23, Scher allegedly submitted a resume to a Boston recruitment agency in which he falsely claimed to hold a juris doctorate from Suffolk University Law School – a violation of Chapter 266, Section 89, of the Massachusetts General Laws.  He also made false statements that he was currently employed as a patent attorney at an Abington employer. 

After receiving the resume, the company contacted the Suffolk DA’s Special Investigations Unit, which had investigated Scher’s forgery and perjury offenses, prosecutors said.  As a result of the new allegations, Scher was arrested for violating his probation on Nov. 21 and has remained in custody since that time.

Scher is represented by Douglas Brooks.  He returns to court Feb. 23.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.