Attorney sent to jail for attempted child abuse.

David Anderson, at left, with his attorney, Gary Springstead, during a hearing last October.

LUDINGTON — A 63-year-old Lansing-area attorney was ordered today to serve six months up front of a one-year discretionary jail sentence in 51st Circuit Court Tuesday, March 1, after pleading no contest to second-degree child abuse, Jan. 7.

David James Anderson received credit for one day served in jail.

“I think it was a fair result when he was facing such serious charges,” said his attorney, Gary Springstead.

In a plea agreement, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) were dismissed at sentencing.

The charges stemmed from two separate incidents of sexual contact with a 12-year-old minor while at a hunting lodge in Sherman Township in November of 2014, according to a press release issued by Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola at the time of Anderson’s plea. “To provide a factual basis to support the no contest plea, Judge Susan K. Sniegowski read a portion of the report from the Michigan State Police, Cadillac Post, which indicated the nature of the physical abuse of the child,” the press release states.  

Anderson is no longer practicing law, said Springstead. “He resigned from the bar at the beginning of this case,” he said. “He is longer licensed to practice law in Michigan.”

Anderson specialized in business, real estate and estate planning law, Springstead said.