New York Judge Convicted Of Lying About Assault With A Toilet Lid

In a truly bizarre case, a jury in New York found that former judge Roger Barto lied about being attacked outside his court in 2013. The police maintained that Barto faked the attack and then collected tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs. Judge Barto was also accused in a separate case of stealing from a cemetery.

Bart claimed that someone jumped him, strangled him, and then hit him over the head with a toilet tank lid. The picture from the police shows broken piece of a toilet lid at the scene.

Barto is not a lawyer but some jurisdictions still (unwisely) allow non-lawyers to be judges. He was suspended from the bench by the New York Court of Appeals after the allegations arose.

The county paid $41,477 in Barto’s medical bills. However, there were not wounds consistent with being choked or struck found by the hospital. He was only treated for unrelated medical issues such as gout and high blood pressure.

He was convicted of third-degree insurance fraud, defrauding the government and first-degree falsification of business records as well as a misdemeanor for third-degree falsely reporting an incident. There remain two unrelated counts alleging that Barto also stole gasoline while acting as village cemetery sexton.

Source: ABA Journal