Former state Rep. Adam Mack, 38, of Standish, waived indictment and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to equity-skimming, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas announced Oct. 11.

Mack served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1997-2000 and played a key role in defeating a proposal that would have created a Standish residents-only beach adjacent to his home on Sebago Lake in 2004.

According to Kacavas, Mack was an officer and principal owner of Chartwell Management Co., a Portland-based residential property management firm. Chartwell managed several multi-family residential properties, including Barron’s Hill I in Topsham. To purchase that property, the property’s owners had obtained mortgage loans subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Rural Development. In January 2007, Mack misapplied a total of $384,000 that Chartwell was holding for the regulatory agency as security for the mortgage loan. Mack used those funds to pay unrelated expenses incurred by other properties and entities in which he and his family had an interest, a practice known as equity-skimming.

Mack is facing a maximum sentence of five years and a fine of up to $250,000. He is expected to be sentenced within three months. Court documents reveal that the government recommends a sentence at the low end of the sentencing guideline range.

Mack’s prosecution arose from an investigation undertaken by the Office of Inspector General of the USDA. The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Morse from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire.

Mack’s lawyer, Tom Marjerison, of Portland-based Norman Hanson & Detroy, declined comment. Attempts to contact Mack by press time were unsuccessful.