A Herkimer County town court judge has resigned amid allegations that he mishandled court funds and had driven for more than eight years without a valid driver's license, a state disciplinary panel said on Monday.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct announced that Manheim Town Court Justice Douglas E. Gardner had resigned his office effective Feb. 22, after the commission charged him in a formal complaint late last year with failing to deposit fines and other court-collected funds.

The eight charges against Gardner included allegations that the former justice of the Stratford Town Court had not maintained receipts for funds he received in 64 cases and failed to report the dispositions of 40 traffic tickets to the Department of Motor Vehicles as required by law. In total, the alleged misconduct led to a deficiency of nearly $1,300, the SCJC said.

The final count of the Dec. 9 complaint alleged that "on various occasions" between 2011 and last June, Gardner had operated a car without a valid license, while he was serving as a town court justice.

Gardner, who is not an attorney, admitted to the charges and agreed never again to seek or accept a judicial position, the SCJC said.

"Failing to deposit court-collected funds and running up a deficiency of almost $1,300 is serious judicial misconduct," Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said in a statement. "Flouting the law by driving for more than eight years without a valid license, while presiding in town courts that hear traffic offenses, is indefensible and undermines public confidence in the judiciary."

Gardner represented himself in the proceedings and could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

Gardner served as a justice of the Stratford Town Court in Fulton County from January 2011 to October 2018. His four-year term on the Manheim Town Court was set to expire in December 2022.

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