Man Busted After $1 Million Spree Files $1 Million Tort
A Seattle man who went on a million-dollar spending spree in Sandpoint, only to be arrested for battery and committed for a mental evaluation, is now suing Bonner County.
Michael Lemberg, 51, filed a $1 million tort claim against the county and the Bonner County sheriff’s department this week.
He alleges Sheriff Chip Roos illegally released information about his mental condition, including that he suffered from manic depression in the past.
In the claim, Lemberg’s attorney, Mark Jones of Sandpoint, said releasing information about mental patients is a violation of Idaho’s confidentiality law.
Jones is a former Bonner County Sheriff’s deputy and is running against Roos in next year’s election.
Lemberg’s arrest and mental history was reported by several newspapers, including The Spokesman-Review, and several radio stations locally and in Seattle.
“The release and publication of this confidential information further caused greater depression and … mental suffering on the part of Michael Lemberg,” the claim said.
Reports of Lemberg’s problems in Sandpoint jeopardized pending business deals, prompted bank notes to be called in and hurt his standing at several banks that loaned him money, according to the claim.
Bonner County officials declined to comment on the complaint, saying it has been turned over to the county’s insurance company.
Lemberg arrived in Sandpoint last summer, but has since moved. While in town, he bought nearly $1 million worth of property in several weeks. He also doled out cash for land, cars, homes, art and spent hundreds of dollars on pizza for people he didn’t know.
The businessman, who reportedly made his money running a wholesale T-shirt business, showed up at the sheriff’s department one day and wanted Sandpoint Mayor Ron Chaney arrested.
Lemberg had stormed into Chaney’s office earlier in the day and started an argument. Chaney had officers remove him.
When deputies declined to arrest the mayor, Lemberg pulled out a wad of cash. He wanted to bail everyone out of jail and buy horses so officers could start a mounted patrol.
When Lemberg left the sheriff’s department he was arrested for driving erratically. He wrestled with officers and spat on them.
He was taken to Bonner General Hospital and later admitted as a mental patient to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene.
According to authorities, Lemberg checked himself out of a mental hospital in Seattle before arriving in Sandpoint. He was committed there for several alleged assaults and threatening to hire a hit man to kill another person.
Lemberg’s daughter in Washington, D.C. had been looking for him and didn’t know he was in Sandpoint until authorities here contacted her.
, DataTimes