ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — An Alamogordo attorney has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after entering pleas to four crimes in connection with what a special prosecutor called a home invasion disguised as legal process.
Sixty-year-old Raymond Van Arnam was accused of kicking in the back door of his civil client's estranged husband's house, loading up and hauling away furniture, stealing legal paperwork from the husband's home and destroying his personal property along the way.
A news release issued by special prosecutor Matthew Chandler's office says Van Arnam entered pleas Tuesday to criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, knowingly removing, tampering with or destroying a 'no trespassing' sign and larceny.
Van Arnam was also ordered to pay restitution and a fine.
Van Arnam's attorney Todd Holmes says he believes his client could've done things better but he is human and made a mistake.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.