Arrest made in scam targeting elderly |
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February 06, 2004 – A former Torrington man is in the lock-up tonight after being arraigned for ripping off nearly one-million dollars from 18-elderly Connecticut residents. 38-year-old John Eseppi was extradited back to Connecticut from Texas on Thursday. He's charged with 27-counts including larceny and one violations of the corrupt organizations racketeering act. Chief State 's Attorney Christopher Morano says his office got the first complaint about the scam in October of 2000, that a senior citizen from Torrington had been tricked out of $35,000. Then the other 17-victims began to come to light. Eseppi was allegedly using the money for his personal use for restaurants, credit card payments, entertainment and ATM withdrawals. "It was an investment scam where you send money and you were promised a high return on your money," said John DeMattia, director of the Medicaid Fraud Unit. "Of course if everybody keeps investing and no one calls for the money back that's fine, but this is what's called a classic Ponzi scam, when soon when people start asking for their money. You take from one to pay the other and if you can't it collapses on itself." In this scam, some of the victims were left destitute and this isn't a case where the money is coming back. (WTNH)
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