Friends said Richard Schubach had a 'heart of gold.' Authorities said he shook down a woman for sex
To his friends, colleagues and neighbors, Richard Schubach was a kind, mild-mannered man with a "heart of gold." A devoted dad who coached his kids in soccer and baseball. A conscientious attorney who ably served clients across the legal spectrum, from divorce cases and real estate closings to criminal defense.
Then there's the Richard Schubach described by the state Supreme Court's disciplinary review board: a man who deceived an ex-girlfriend and stole her money while acting as her attorney in the 1990s. A "callous" lawyer who so badly botched a case through willful neglect in 2003 that his client lost custody of his children and nearly faced a warrant for his arrest. Both cases resulted in 90-day suspensions.
Richard P.Schubach (Somerset County Prosecutor's Office)
The contrasting images of Schubach collided with tragic consequences late last month, when the 58-year-old attorney was charged with criminal sexual contact following a sting operation mounted by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.
Schubach, accused of pressuring female clients for sexual favors in exchange for reduced fees, fondled an undercover detective, lifted her skirt and exposed her breast in an encounter captured by audio and video surveillance, court documents show. The prosecutor's office made the allegations public on Feb. 1.
The next morning, Schubach committed suicide in the parking lot of his Raritan Borough office by shooting himself in the chest.
Today, those who knew him say they continue to struggle with both his death and the illicit acts he allegedly carried out.
"We're all reeling over what happened," said Jeralyn Lawrence, president of the Somerset County Bar Association. "I don't think anyone would have ever seen this coming. It was completely out of character from what I know of him."
State Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman, who has known Schubach for 26 years and who has referred dozens of clients to him, called his friend a good attorney who made a handful of mistakes earlier in his career.
Bateman, a lawyer, said he was as shocked as anyone by the criminal charges, and he called Schubach out of concern the evening of Feb. 1, a Sunday, to check on him.
"That night, I was trying to sleep and I didn't have a good feeling about things. I was worried about the repercussions and Rich," Bateman said. "I found out the next morning he killed himself. I can't tell you how heartbroken I am.
"I just think he felt so much guilt. He thought about his wife and children and felt the best way out was to take his life," the senator added. "It's a shame. His death isn't just a shock to the legal community, it's a shock to central New Jersey. He's going to be missed."
Several attorneys and Schubach's widow questioned why the prosecutor's office released so much detail about the alleged incident, saying it amounted to an unnecessary public shaming for a relatively low-level crime.
Schubach was charged with three counts of criminal sexual contact, a fourth-degree offense that carries the presumption of non-incarceration. He was released on $2,500 bail.
"For a low-level offense like that, people are usually just sent a summons in the mail," said defense attorney Katharine Errickson, who first met Schubach in 1997 when she was a prosecutor in Hunterdon County. "In all my years of practice, I've never seen details released to the media in a case like this."
In a brief interview at Schubach's home in Stockton, his wife, Diane, said she was enraged at both the prosecutor's office and the media over how the case was handled.
"I don't think it's fair," Diane Schubach, the chief financial officer for Branchburg Township, said last week, tears in her eyes. "He was tried and convicted in the press before he had a chance to defend himself. He would've never received a fair trial with the disgusting details that were released by the prosecutor's office to the media."
The couple's two children stood in the background as their mother spoke. Friends said the children have been devastated by their father's loss.
"He was a great, kind and devoted father who would do anything for his kids," Diane Schubach said. "He told them he would die for them."
In a statement issued in response to the criticism by Diane Schubach and her husband's friends in the legal community, Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said the state's sex-offense statutes require specific details in affidavits for probable cause -- documents that are presented to a judge as the foundation of criminal charges.
"Accordingly," Soriano said, "any affidavit of probable cause filed with a complaint in this type of matter needs to be blunt and is a matter of public record.
"Moreover, our investigation was initiated as a result of the allegations of multiple victims," Soriano added. "There was a pattern of alleged conduct that needed to be communicated very clearly to the community so as to adequately determine whether there were other victims. Thus, a press release was issued which utilized facts set forth in the affidavit of probable cause to describe the conduct and requested any additional victims to come forward and contact our office."
'Heart of gold'
William Jennings says he couldn't have asked for a better neighbor.
Jennings, who lives about a quarter-mile from the Schubach home in Stockton, a rural community bordering the Delaware River, said he saw Richard Schubach frequently as the attorney walked his two dogs, Banjo and Stewie.
"He had a heart of gold," Jennings said. "He was a good neighbor and a great guy, very dedicated to his family. We would sometimes walk our dogs together. He would always stop and chat. He was always with his son. He was very involved with him."
Jennings said he was stunned when he learned of the criminal charges against his friend.
"It's a complete 180 from what I knew about him," he said.
That sentiment was expressed repeatedly by those who regularly crossed paths with Schubach, a solo practitioner for most of his career. A 1975 graduate of Delbarton High School, Schubach earned an undergraduate degree from Franklin and Marshall University in Lancaster, Pa., before receiving his law degree from the Syracuse University School of Law in 1982, according to his obituary.
He picked up clients wherever he could, handling divorce, alimony and custody cases, drunken driving prosecutions, domestic violence charges, the occasional felony charge and real estate transactions.
"He was always going a million miles an hour," said Lawrence, the president of the county bar association.
Yet Lawrence never witnessed anything but above-board behavior from Schubach.
"He was mild-mannered, kind and professional," she said. "He had a fun sense of humor."
Lawrence said she was aware Schubach had been disciplined in the past, but she said she didn't know specifics of the incidents, and she found him to be a competent attorney in her own dealings with him.
"I think my colleagues approach it more from a humanitarian point of view," she said. "You feel bad for everyone involved."
Errickson, the defense lawyer who was friends with Schubach, said the attorney should not be judged by his final days.
"Rich was a good man," Errickson said. "I don't want his whole life defined by the last two days of his life. The impact he had on his family and friends was so much more than that."
Mark Mueller may be reached at mmueller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkJMueller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The Curtis Specialty Papers Superfund site (file photo)
