The former chair of the Morristown Housing Authority, who got probation in 2023 after allegedly stealing from that agency, was back in court Monday — this time, pleading guilty to trespassing in a Denville home where she was employed as a dog walker.
Maureen Denman, 63, admitted taking a walk upstairs to the master bedroom after walking the dog, and looking through drawers because she was curious “to snoop.” She did not take anything during the May 14 incident, she testified before Superior Court Judge Robert Hanna in Morristown.
Denman could have faced up to 10 years in state prison and $150,000 in fines if convicted of second-degree burglary, as initially charged.
But that was downgraded to criminal trespass, a fourth-degree offense with maximums of 18 months and $10,000. Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Bridget Carr said she will request one year of probation for Denman at sentencing next month.
It was unclear whether Denman’s plea will trigger prosecution in the 2023 case. A condition of that probation was to avoid any law-breaking for three years.
In that case, Denman faced theft and credit card fraud charges after ringing up nearly $25,000 in personal expenditures — lottery tickets for a gambling addiction, she said — on a housing authority card.
At the time she was making $125,000 as the sole employee of a housing authority nonprofit spinoff, a job she engineered for herself while serving as unpaid chair of the MHA.
Convictions of those third-degree felonies could have meant a decade in prison. Instead, Denman in December 2023 was given three years’ probation under Pretrial Intervention (PTI), a program for first-time offenders that can wipe the slate clean if they commit no other offenses. Conditions for Denman included treatment for gambling addiction — and restitution to the housing authority.
Judge Hanna said Denman’s successful completion of her 2023 PTI was a condition of Monday’s trespassing plea deal.
PTI dismissal may occur when Denman’s final restitution check for $2,000, paid last week, clears, the judge said. Carr declined to comment after Monday’s hearing, saying only that the PTI matter was a separate case.
Approximately $14,000 of Denman’s restitution was paid with money she said the MHA owed her after she resigned from the fledgling Morristown Community Development Corp., according to her lawyer, Morris County Assistant Public Defender Caroline Kelble.
When Denman is sentenced for the trespassing charge, Kelble said, she will ask Hanna to scrap probation and simply mandate Denman pay about $155 in fines to funds for crime victims and police training.
The conviction carries another price, Hanna reminded Denman, who was composed throughout the 26-minute hearing.
“You will have a criminal record,” the judge said.
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There is more to the story of her being the only employee of the housing authority spin off and the subsequent theft from that org by her. I don’t know if you can OPERA police complaints against someone, but a little digging there ….
Penny, thank you for your comments in support of Maureen Denman. I agree that “The world would benefit from an increase in kindness and decrease in judgment.”
Repeatedly citing an offense—one that was admitted to and is being handled by the courts adds little to a meaningful public discussion.
Many families—including my own—have members who have committed infractions over the years and have handled them appropriately. These incidents, once addressed, are not a measure of a person’s character or contributions; people are measured by their actions, integrity, and service over time.
Continuing to spotlight this issue distracts from the larger issues that truly matter to our community.
Her husband, David Denman, pled guilty in 2008 to using a credit card to steal $45,000 from the postal workers union where he was an officer. She made it a family business.
To commit your 1st crime at 61 years old does not a career criminal make. Many older adults become addicted to gambling. Idk why she decided to go into someone’s bedroom and “snoop” but she didn’t break in, she didn’t take anything and she has done restitution for her 1st crime. Would it be wrong to have some empathy for this woman? Everyone knows about her mishaps and it’s got to be humiliating for her. It’s a new year. The world would benefit from an increase in kindness and decrease in judgment.
Why isn’t this woman in jail? Too soft on white collar crime. She’s a grifter.