Global articles on espionage, spying, bugs, and other interesting topics.

Lawyer pleads not guilty to bugging car

OAKLAND — A divorce attorney pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that she hired a private investigator, who was a central character in Contra Costa County’s “dirty DUI” scandal, to illegally install listening devices inside the car of a client’s ex-husband.

Mary Nolan, 60, appeared in Oakland federal court, where she also pleaded innocent to four counts of tax evasion. She faces up to 15 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if convicted on all counts.

Nolan was first linked to disgraced private investigator Christopher Butler,50, in 2010, after two men told The Chronicle that she used their drunken driving arrests against them in divorce and custody battles. Both men have since filed civil lawsuits against Nolan alleging she orchestrated their arrests through Butler.

Butler pleaded guilty earlier this year to using attractive women to meet estranged husbands in bars and set them up for drunken driving arrests by police officers tied for him.

Butler, who is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon, admitted in court papers that Nolan referred clients to him. He also estimated that he bugged between 75 and 100 cars during his tenure as a private investigators.

Nolan was never charged in connection with the drunken driving scandal that snared Butler and others.

But prosecutors alleged in their separate case against Nolan that in at least one instance she hired Butler to bug the car of a client’s spouse so she could use the recorded information against him in divorce proceedings.

Nolan’s court appearance drew the attention of Phil Dominic, 55, of Oakland, who said Nolan represented his ex-girlfriend in a 2010 custody dispute over their son. His case is not the one forming the basis of the criminal case against Nolan.

Dominic said Nolan lied about him to family court judges and destroyed his relationship with the mother of his son, as well as his child.

“This is Christmas for me,” said Dominic, who heckled Nolan as she left the courthouse.

Dominic said he was organizing a group of men whose wives were represented by Nolan to discuss taking legal action against the attorney.

“I told her one day she’d get caught,” Dominic said. “I told her, ‘One day I’m going to see you on the other side.”

Outside court, Nolan’s attorney Jay Weill declined to comment.

Nolan is scheduled to appear in court next month for further proceedings.