Attorney Gets 1 Year in Jail for Trespassing, Prowling

A Woodland Hills attorney who once served as a temporary judge has been sentenced to a one-year jail term and a drug treatment program for a series of incidents in which he ended up inside his neighbors’ homes or on their properties late at night, authorities said.

A Municipal Court jury convicted Marc Sean Harvey, 38, earlier this month of multiple misdemeanor counts of trespassing and prowling, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Upon his release from jail, Harvey must attend twice-a-week meetings of Narcotics Anonymous for a year, prosecutors said.

Van Nuys Municipal Judge Michael Mink also referred the case to the State Bar of California, which may revoke Harvey’s right to practice law.

The defense, arguing that Harvey has drug and psychological problems, asked for rehabilitation and counseling rather than jail.

The incidents occurred in late July and early August on Rosario Road and Mulholland Drive, near Harvey’s home, authorities said.

In one incident, Harvey awoke a couple when he set off their burglar alarm. They found him standing at the back of their house looking in their kitchen window.

A few days later, police received a call from another home about a prowler. Police arrested Harvey after finding a cocaine pipe in his possession.

In a third incident, an elderly woman woke up and found Harvey standing by her bed, prosecutors said. The woman called for her son, who confronted Harvey but allowed him to use the bathroom before escorting him out the front door, prosecutors said.