RUMFORD — The state’s high court Thursday accepted the resignation of a Rumford lawyer charged with terrorizing in February.
Ronald Hoffman, 54, of Summer Street was on administrative leave for making bomb threats to two Wilton schools in 2012 when he was arrested for telling two people in Rumford District Court he was going to kill a family member, according to a police report.
Those people feared Hoffman “could actually commit” the crime because of his history, court records said.
The Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar in March considered Hoffman’s case and unanimously recommended to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that it accept his resignation from the Maine bar.
The high court issued its order Thursday, a day after it conducted a hearing on the matter.
Hoffman’s resignation will take effect May 19, according to the court’s order. If Hoffman wanted to practice law again in Maine, he would have to seek reinstatement to the Maine bar.
Hoffman pleaded guilty to the two 2012 bomb threats and received two consecutive sentences of 364 days, all suspended. He was placed on administrative release for one year for each charge on the condition that he not commit any additional criminal acts.
A motion to revoke the administrative release was filed following his February arrest. Administrative release is similar to probation, except he was monitored by a district attorney instead of a probation officer.
Hoffman pleaded not guilty to the charge of terrorizing in Rumford District Court with a trial date set for mid-April.
He was released to the supervision of a private monitoring agency with conditions, including no possession or use of alcohol or drugs, no possession of dangerous weapons, including firearms, submission to searches and testing, and no contact with the victim. He was placed on a curfew of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
In 2012, the attorney who represented Hoffman on the bomb threat charges said his client suffered from multiple, severe and chronic diseases and had been on 10 medications daily.
Along with diabetes, Hoffman suffers from an autoimmune disease, compulsive disorder and depression. The autoimmune disease can cause irrational behavior, his attorney, James Martemucci, said.
Hoffman was ordered by the court to pay $5,677.50 to RSU 9 in restitution as well as to the towns of Wilton, East Dixfield and Farmington’s public safety departments, plus court costs.
On March 29, 2012, he called Academy Hill School. When that line was busy, he called G.D. Cushing School, then called Academy Hill School again.
Both schools were evacuated and most students were taken to other RSU 9 schools in Farmington.
A secretary had left a phone off the hook, enabling the telephone company to trace the call. Police tracked the number to a phone bought at Walmart in Mexico a day earlier. Store surveillance cameras captured Hoffman buying the phone.
He had told police that phone didn’t work. He said he threw it away.
The Maine Overseers of the Bar suspended Hoffman in October, but suspended its own order, allowing Hoffman to continue to practice law while on probation.
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