Disbarred Red Bank Attorney Pleads Guilty to Real Estate Fraud, Embezzling

A former Red Bank-based attorney, disbarred in June of 2012, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of stealing real property from the estate of a deceased woman and embezzling money from former clients, according to a release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. 

Alexander Iler, 39, who formerly operated a law office on Broad Street, pleaded guilty to one count of second degree theft of immovable property and one count of second degree theft by deception before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, P.J.Cr., according to the release. 

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office revealed Iler, of Middletown, fraudulently assumed ownership of the property of a deceased Middletown woman when a deed bearing his forged signature of the “seller” was recorded at the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office revealed he committed real estate fraud by manufacturing the phony home sale and then loading the property up with debt to the tune of $1 million in multiple mortgages, according to a previous report.

At the time of the fraudulent transfer, the land was owned by the estate of a woman from whom Iler had been leasing the property. Though no sale of the property had actually taken place, the fraudulent document purported to reflect a transfer of the property to Iler for $575,000 in December of 2011.

Iler was disbarred in July of 2012, after being arrested and charged on Oct. 24, 2012, with second-degree theft for converting the ownership of the property to his own name. At the time, he was remanded to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in lieu of $250,000 bail, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Iler also pleaded guilty to four counts each of second and third degree charges of theft by failure to make required disposition of property received. These charges came about as a result of an additional investigation by the Prosecutor's Office which revealed Iler stole money belonging to his former clients in excess of $500,000.

Iler was arrested in connection with this second set of charges on July 30, 2013, and bail was set in the amount of $200,000 by Judge English.

Iler entered his guilty pleas pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state will recommend Iler be sentenced to an aggregate term of 12 years in New Jersey State Prison. The plea agreement also calls for Iler to consent to the entry of a civil judgment against him in the amount of $572,753.43.

Iler is scheduled to appear before Judge Vernoia for sentencing on Oct. 8.
The case is assigned to Assistant Prosecutor Andrew S. Fried of the Office’s Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Bureau.

Iler is represented by Dean Schneider, Esq., of Red Bank.