Nicholas Bissell

American attorney found to have skimmed over $200,000 from a gas station that he partly owned, as well as an array of other charges, including Federal embezzlement, fraud and tax evasion, blackmail and forgery. He was indicted on 9/28/1995 and convicted of 30 counts on 5/31/1996. A 5' 9" 200 lb go-getter, Bissell had a massive ego and a prodigious appetite for attention. He loved sports and gambling and was willing to take a risk on his way to the good life. In 1937 he earned his law degree and in the following decade went from private practice to County Prosecutor . For nearly 15 years he built a reputation as a pugnacious, no-holds-barred prosecutor of drug dealers. He not only put them behind bars but aggressively sought to seize their cash and property. He married twice with three kids from his first marriage. He and his second wife, Barbara, owned a number of investments jointly. Pending sentencing, Bissell was put under house arrest. Leaving a suicide note, he disappeared on 11/18/1996. A reward was offered for his capture. As the Federal marshals closed in on him, he shot himself to death in a Laughlin, Nevada hotel room on 11/26/1996, 7:24 AM. Two years later, officials in Somerset County, NJ, have set aside a $1 million fund to cover fees, lawsuits and claims of wrongful prosecution that have arisen from Bissell's legal practice. Convictions and sentences that he had won have been overturned by appeals courts and illegal seizure of properties by Bissell has been reversed. Link to Wikipedia biography