Wheaton attorney who spied on neighbor has license suspended

A former Wheaton attorney convicted in 2006 of spying on a female colleague has had his license suspended for another two years after admitting to spying on a neighbor in his apartment complex.

An official at the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission said it's unlikely Jerald Mangan will ever practice law again. The state supreme court would have to approve his reinstatement.

The commission announced the suspension late last month. It comes nearly two years after the 50-year-old Mangan was sentenced to probation following his guilty plea to felony eavesdropping and misdemeanor unauthorized videotaping charges.

The commission's decision details Mangan's admission to his probation officer that he took pictures of a woman who lived in his apartment complex and "used the images for sexual gratification." He also admitted to viewing online pornography several times during the past two years.

The commission's report also notes that Mangan has paid all court-ordered restitution and fines, complied with probation officer meetings and has attended counseling.

However, a recent psychiatric evaluation at the behest of the commission revealed Mangan is still suffering from many of the disorders that led to his original arrest, the report states.

"Due to the respondent's long and extensive history of (these) disorders … he is at significant risk to violate the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct and is not appropriate to practice law," Dr. Stafford C. Henry told the commission.

Henry also reported Mangan is a long-term candidate for mental health treatment and it was "unlikely his sexual disorder symptoms would be in remission at any point in the near future."

The commission's report does not indicate why the office has not sought to disbar Mangan.

Mangan was initially charged with rigging a wireless camera in the woman's restroom at his law firm's office to his office computer. Authorities also discovered thousands of images of women Mangan had secretly recorded at the office and in the parking lot without their knowledge. The incidents occurred in late 2004 and early 2005.