NEW YORK (AP) -- A prominent New York City lawyer was released without bail Friday after being arrested on misdemeanor charges of groping two female attorneys in his office.
Richard Dienst, 67, was charged in Manhattan Criminal Court with two counts each of forcible touching, third-degree sex abuse and harassment. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted.
Assistant District Attorney Abigail Kweskin told the judge that a plea deal was in the works. Dienst's lawyer, Matt Freimuth, refused to talk to reporters as he left court.
Dienst has taught at Cardozo Law School, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.
One of his more famous recent cases was as the defense attorney for a detective who was booted out of the Police Department after he tested positive for marijuana. The detective claimed his wife had spiked his meatballs.
Dienst is accused of groping one woman on June 22, 2007, and the other on March 21 of this year in his 18th floor offices in the Woolworth Building on Lower Broadway. Prosecutors said the investigation began after the March incident.
A complaint filed in court said that in the 2007 incident, Dienst ``grabbed and stroked (the woman's) breast.'' When she tried to move away, he pulled her hand and upper body toward his crotch.
In the March 21 encounter, the complaint says, Dienst ``place his hand on (the woman's) breasts and stated to (her) in substance, 'I just want to see how great your (breasts) look. I just want to feel how great your (breasts) feel.'''
After lifting the woman's shirt, the complaint says, Dienst tried ``to place his mouth on (the woman's) breast.''
The complaint says the defendant then put his hand down the back of the woman's pants, put her hand on his penis and said to her ``in substance, 'Look what you did to an old man. You made man an old man's weekend.'''
Judge Dena Douglas scheduled Dienst's next court appearance for Aug. 5.
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