Idaho Gambling Addict Disbarred, Sent to Prison

Rick Bergesen will spend at least 3 years in prison, pay $153,000 to victims
Judge to ex-attorney: Gambling addiction, bipolar disorder ‘not an excuse’ for exploiting clients
By Katy Moeller


Before he was sentenced for felony grand theft Wednesday morning, former Boise defense attorney Rick Bergesen spoke tearfully about what he’d done.

“I’d like to say how very sorry I am to my victims. They didn’t deserve to be treated the way I treated them,” he said.

He apologized to his family and said he takes full responsibility for his actions.

“Ever since it became clear to me what I had done, I have felt extreme remorse and sadness,” he said.

Bergesen was sentenced to 10 years in prison, three fixed. He was given 182 days credit for time served. He will pay $153,753.48 in restitution to two former clients.

In November, the 47-year-old defense attorney was charged with felony grand theft and felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

Bergesen was the defense attorney for Joy L. Cassidy, a 75-year-old Boise woman who was accused of using condiments to damage library materials in a drop box at the Ada Community Library. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor malicious injury to property in January.

Prosecutors say Bergesen took advantage of Cassidy’s fear of going to prison, taking more than $150,000 from her for a case that most attorneys would have charged no more than a few thousand dollars to handle.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, Bergesen pleaded guilty to grand theft — he admitting taking a $1,100 retainer from a client after his license was suspended — and the other felony charge was dropped.

At Wednesday’s sentencing, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Medema praised the actions of a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for alerting the Idaho State Bar to irregularly large withdrawals by Cassidy. Medema said Cassidy wrote a $50,000 check, then a $102,000 check about a week later. He said that employee prevented Cassidy from losing all of her savings.

Bergesen’s attorney, Layne Davis, said the case was one of the most difficult he’d ever handled because of its complexity. He offered up an explanation for Bergesen’s “atrocious conduct against a couple of his clients.”

Bergesen is a pathological gambler, addicted to gambling his whole adult life, Davis said. The former attorney also suffers from bipolar disorder, which had been “untreated or mistreated,” Davis said.

Judge Richard Greenwood, accepted the plea agreement but said that when a member of the bar violates a client’s trust in the way Bergesen did, “it brings disrepute to the entire profession.”

He said Bergesen’s gambling and mental problems may explain his actions — but it is “certainly not an excuse for the conduct.”