ALBANY -- Former Guilderland Town Justice Richard Sherwood will never sit on the bench again.

Sherwood, 58, who is facing felony theft charges, "has agreed never to seek or accept judicial office at any time in the future" following his March 5 resignation, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct announced Wednesday.

Sherwood, who earned $52,449 a year as town justice, was arrested Feb. 23 on charges he and another lawyer, Thomas Lagan, schemed to swindle more than $4 million from the trust funds of three sisters they advised. One of the women was married to Walter Bruggeman, the late former head of Global Nuclear Energy at General Electric Co.

Sherwood, a lawyer since 1988 and former town attorney, has served as vice chairman of the Albany County Airport Authority. He was a former chairman of the Albany County Ethics Commission.

He had served as a town justice since January 2014.

"A judge is expected to respect and comply with the law. Public confidence in the courts is undermined whenever a judge is arrested for a crime," the commission's administrator, Robert Tembeckjian, said in a statement.

Sherwood faces charges of first-degree grand larceny, scheming to defraud and possession of stolen property.

"While the felony charges against Mr. Sherwood have not been adjudicated and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence, by resigning he spared the judiciary and the courts from the spectacle of a judge as criminal defendant," Tembeckjian said.

The commission, a watchdog panel for judges, accepted a stipulation signed by Sherwood, his lawyer, William Dreyer, and Tembeckjian. The commission closed its investigation.

The criminal case, prosecuted by the attorney general's office, remains pending in Albany County.

- By Robert Gavin, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.