A disbarred attorney who continued representing clients after losing his law license has been sentenced to probation after admitting to stealing more than $70,000 through deception.

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that David T. Schlendorf, 54, of Holladay, Utah, was sentenced on July 30 by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan to three years of probation after pleading guilty to five counts of theft by deception and one count of unauthorized practice of law.

In addition to probation, the court ordered Schlendorf to have no contact with any of his victims. Authorities said he has already paid full restitution totaling $70,755. Schlendorf entered his guilty pleas on April 27.

According to investigators, the case began after a Toms River resident hired Schlendorf in March 2025 to handle a legal matter, paying him approximately $10,000. Detectives determined that Schlendorf falsely represented himself as a licensed attorney despite having been disbarred in New Jersey in December 2022.

Schlendorf was arrested in Toms River on October 7, 2025, by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad and the Toms River Township Police Department Detective Bureau. He was lodged in the Ocean County Jail before being released under New Jersey’s bail reform law.

The investigation later uncovered five additional victims who hired Schlendorf between January 2023 and September 2025, collectively paying him about $60,000 for legal services he was not authorized to provide.

Prosecutor Billhimer credited Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Shanon Chant-Berry for prosecuting the case and commended members of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad and the Toms River Township Police Department Detective Bureau for their work throughout the investigation.