Former orthodontist representing himself in $36M tax fraud case

Former New York orthodontist Glenn Richard Unger will be allowed to represent himself after all when his federal tax-fraud case goes to trial, possibly this summer.

While Dr. Unger did succeed in obtaining a federal judge’s permission to plead his own case, the court rejected a lengthy habeas corpus motion in which Dr. Unger disavowed the court’s jurisdiction and used numerous Biblical references to support his effort to seek release pending trial.

Dr. Unger, who maintained a practice in Potsdam during the 1980s and early 1990s, was indicted in December on allegations that he filed for more than $36 million in fraudulent income tax refunds from 2007 to 2011, none of which was ever paid. He was arrested Dec. 29 in Ogdensburg following a traffic stop not far from a home he was renting on Route 37 in Lisbon. He is believed to be 62, despite several conflicting birth dates provided to investigators.

Dr. Unger initially spurned counsel when arrested, but later accepted the services of a federal public defender. U.S. Magistrate Judge Randolph F. Treece entered a not guilty plea on Dr. Unger’s behalf at arraignment.

Dr. Unger’s trial had been set for March 4 in front of Senior Judge Thomas J. McAvoy. In a stipulation filed Jan. 31, Judge McAvoy granted a 120-day extension for the trial to begin, noting that the government “has provided the defendant with over 4,000 pages of discovery,” and that the additional time will allow federal public defender George E. Baird Jr. “to review the documents and go over them with his client.”

In an order signed March 28, Judge Treece granted Dr. Unger permission to proceed without counsel, with the public defender remaining in the limited capacity as standby counsel.

Efforts to reach Mr. Baird were unsuccessful.

Judge Treece last week spurned a 40-page document, mailed to the court by a notary public in Bucks County, Pa., in which Dr. Unger argued that the court has no jurisdiction over him. Dr. Unger wrote that he was seeking pretrial release through a habeas corpus decree to which he was entitled under the superior jurisdiction of “the sovereign immunities of the holy temple,” for which he offered a silver dollar coin as bond. The request was signed by “Glenn Richard Unger, private, unincorporated, for the Holy temple in Christ.”

Judge Treece said Dr. Unger admitted during a hearing that the correspondence was filed mistakenly, and directed that the entire mailing be sent back to Pennsylvania with a copy of the judge’s order.

Court records from a January hearing indicated Dr. Unger was being held in the Albany area, although federal officials have declined to confirm details about his detention.

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