Former Mahoning Judge to appear in federal court on fraud charge

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A former judge in Mahoning County is scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom for the first time since being indicted on several charges.

Diane Vettori-Caraballo was indicted earlier this month by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing at least $100,000 from a former client.

An arraignment in federal court was scheduled for Monday, November 26th.

Fifty-year-old Vettori-Caraballo faces one count of mail fraud, one count of structuring cash deposits, and one count of making false statements to law enforcement.

Federal prosecutors say Vettori-Caraballo stole between $100,200 and $328,000 in cash that was in the home of a client when that client died in March 2016.

The indictment alleges that Vettori-Caraballo provided estate planning services to Robert Sampson, including drafting his will. On Nov. 20, 2015, Vettori-Caraballo filed an application in Mahoning County Probate Court to administer Sampson's estate. The application stated Sampson died without a will.

Sampson died in 2015 and his closest living relative was his sister, Dolores Falgiani. The probate court, unaware of Sampson's will, appointed Falgiani as the administrator three days later, according to the indictment.

Vettori-Caraballo allegedly prepared a will for Falgiani on Nov. 3, 2015.

Federal court documents say that will made 16 specific bequests to relatives and friends and bequeathed the rest of the estate to Animal Charity Human Society of Boardman and the Angels for Animal Charity in Canfield.

Falgiani was found dead in her home on March 10, 2016, according to the indictment.

Vettori-Caraballo reportedly filed an application in Mahoning County Probate Court to probate Falgiani's estate on March 24, 2016. On May 2, prosecutors say she reported having found cash in the residence and depositing the $20,000 into the estate.

Vettori-Caraballo allegedly filed a notice of newly discovered assets with the court on several subsequent occasions in 2016 and 2017. Each time, she failed to disclose the cash she had stolen, according to the indictment.

The indictment also charged Vettori-Caraballo with structuring 22 deposits of the cash she stole into five different banks within four weeks to avoid regulations that require banks to report cash transactions over $10,000 to the IRS.  In addition, the information charges that Vettori-Caraballo lied to the FBI when she was confronted about the theft and the structuring of cash deposits.

Vettori-Caraballo and her husband Ismael Caraballo, 60, were also charged with one count of filing a false tax return.

Vettori-Caraballo, who was at one time expected to plead guilty in the case told 21 News earlier that she did not do the crimes she is accused of committing.

The Ohio Supreme Court later suspended her from hearing cases on the bench until the federal case is concluded.

Judge Dan Aaron Polster added another condition to Vettori-Caraballo's bond, forbidding her to undertake new legal cases in her private law practice. In addition, her financial transactions are reportedly being monitored.

Vettori-Caraballo was elected to the position of judge in Mahoning County Court #3 - Sebring Court in 2002. She was reelected in 2006 and 2012.

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Former Mahoning Judge to appear in federal court on fraud charge