An infamous scammer, who went on lavish shopping sprees in Las Vegas and bought a Porsche Boxster, $350 sunglasses and Armani clothing using an elderly San Jose woman's savings, pleaded guilty Tuesday and will spend eight years in prison, prosecutors said.The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said, as part of the plea deal, confidence man Lawrence Maschino Jr. has agreed to give back $115,000 to the 86-year-old woman he bilked. He also was ordered to pay back the rest, $89,000, and will give most of the goods he bought with the woman's money to the family so they can sell them.
Maschino, 44, previously had served prison time after posing as a Harvard-educated heart surgeon and had shared a cell with the son of his latest victim. Using his charm, Maschino convinced the Almaden Valley woman he was her son's friend and that they needed a loan for a new business.
Along the way, he used her money to go on lavish shopping trips to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, bought iPads and computers, Louis Vuitton items, Swiss Army luggage, Prada sunglasses, Swarovski watches, a retro California briefcase, the Boxster and much more. But Maschino's banker noticed something was amiss, searched his name on Google, saw a previous Mercury News article on his prior crimes and contacted the district attorney's office.
Prosecutors had initially sought up to 10 years in prison but agreed to the plea deal in part because a trial would have put the victim through even more stress."Even though the victim lost money, compared to other cases I've seen, it was somewhat of a happy ending to the victim in that we recovered a big portion of the money back," deputy district attorney Cherie Bourlard said. "Of course it's no fun to figure out you've been duped by someone you thought was trying to help; the stress comes thereafter."
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Big Fish Con Man Gets 8 Years for Bilking San Jose Woman
3 comments:
A repeat offender? He obviously doesn't learn.
And now the San Jose woman will be most likely taken under guardianship and her entire Estate taken. The bankers get perks for watching for things like this. They say they have the elders best interests at heart this was all done to fill the county's bankroll with this poor woman's money.
Although I do not condone what happened to her or what this man did to her, sometimes a loving son or daughter is taken away from their Mom or Dad while caring for them and Mom said now go buy yourself something nice for taking care of me. Many cases out there of loving family being banned from seeing their loved ones for using some of the money for caring for them or taking a trip. Beware if you are taking care of an Elderly Mom or Dad, the Bank is watching you and even if Mom or Dad said you could use some of the money, even if you have a durable POA,the APS will not care, they will take your loved one from you, ban you from seeing them ever again with a restraining order and drain your loved ones assets with an unwanted Guardianship.
I agree repeat offender because the profit is worth the time. 8 years? out in ____ years with 'good behavior' or overcrowding? This tells you crime pays. 20 years would send a message with truth in sentencing laws being soft on crime soft on the criminals sends a weak ineffective message.
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