Former court magistrate Theresa J. Seeberger has received a public reprimand from the Iowa Supreme Court’s Attorney Disciplinary Board for revealing the identity of a confidential informant, endangering their life. Seeberger has now surrendered her Iowa law license. The board found that she disclosed the informant’s name to a client, who then shared it with her boyfriend. This violation could have had severe consequences for the informant’s safety. The Des Moines Register reported
Former court magistrate Theresa J. Seeberger has received a public reprimand from the Iowa Supreme Court’s Attorney Disciplinary Board for jeopardizing the life of a confidential informant. Seeberger, an Iowa City attorney who previously served as a judicial magistrate in Cedar County, has surrendered her law license as a result of the reprimand.
According to the board, Seeberger was representing two clients in separate criminal cases involving methamphetamine possession and sales. After a prosecutor allowed Seeberger to listen to a recording of the alleged drug sales, one of her clients, A.H., informed her boyfriend, S.N., from jail that Seeberger had revealed the existence of the recording and disclosed the name of the confidential informant involved. A.H. claimed that Seeberger had made her promise not to share the information with anyone.
The recorded phone call was provided to a prosecutor, who filed a complaint with the Attorney Disciplinary Board. During the call, A.H. explicitly mentioned that Seeberger had revealed the informant’s name. The board concluded that Seeberger had put the life of the informant at risk because S.N. was not incarcerated and could have easily harassed or harmed the informant.
Seeberger argued that she had obtained permission from both clients to discuss their cases, but she denied intentionally identifying the informant in S.N.’s case. She claimed that she had described the distinctive aspects of the informant’s voice to A.H. as a cautionary measure. However, A.H. correctly named the informant, and instead of denying it, Seeberger responded ambiguously. Seeberger admitted that she had asked A.H. to keep the information confidential, but A.H. relayed it to S.N. regardless.
The board criticized Seeberger for disclosing enough information about the confidential informant for S.N. to identify them. They argued that Seeberger should have simply advised her client not to buy drugs from anyone instead of providing details that could lead to the informant’s identification. The board emphasized that disclosing the name of a confidential informant can have severe and dangerous consequences.
This is not the first time Seeberger has faced disciplinary action. In 2011, she was privately admonished for speaking to jurors who had found one of her clients guilty, and in 2015, she received a private admonishment for sending a Facebook message to an individual represented by legal counsel. Additionally, Seeberger served on Iowa City’s Community Police Review Board from July 2021 to January 2022.
In recent weeks, several other Iowa attorneys have also faced disciplinary action. Raymond Mansolillo, an attorney licensed in Iowa, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, had his Iowa license suspended for 60 days after allegedly collecting $351,057 in wage loss benefits he wasn’t entitled to receive. Adam Kehrwald, an Iowa attorney practicing in South Dakota, had his Iowa license suspended twice due to a disability and an alcohol relapse resulting in incarceration. Jay Rosenberg, an attorney licensed in Iowa and 13 other states, had his Iowa license revoked after being accused of providing legal services without a license in Virginia.
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