In 2022 an Essex County Superior Court jury convicted John J. Donovan, Jr., of forgery and several other crimes connected with his attempt to gain control of his dead son’s estate.
According to court documents, John’s son died in April 2015. By 2016 John allegedly began drafting dozens of fraudulent legal documents that bore his deceased son’s signature.
John did not type these documents himself. Instead he foolishly dictated them to two of his low-ranking employees who were “fresh out of college.”
These unfortunate typists testified against John at trial. Both told jurors that John had an electronic image of his son’s signature on the office computer. According to their testimony, John dictated what each document should say and instructed them to add the fake signature wherever it was needed. One of the witnesses added that John often mimicked his son’s voice while dictating the documents.
The same witness testified that John also had computer files with images of notary signatures and stamps that were also superimposed on the forged paperwork.
Simple in its objective but complex in its execution, the scheme sought to grant the defendant broad powers over his son’s property while depriving the son’s widow and children of their interests in the property.
Appeals Court, 23-P-1010
Instead of taking the subtle approach of filing and recording these bogus documents slowly over the course of a month or two, John brazenly filed 24 fake documents all at once at the Essex County Registry of Deeds. This deluge of DIY legal paperwork was recorded on September 12, 2016.
It didn’t take long for the son’s attorney and the registry to notice the scam. By 2017 a grand jury indicted John and by 2022 he was convicted of forgery (seven counts), uttering, filing a false document with the registry of deeds, obtaining a signature by false pretenses, making a false statement under penalty of perjury, and attempting to commit larceny.
His lawyers appealed and today the Appeals Court affirmed the conviction.
The full text of the Appeals Court opinion is attached below.