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

Ex-Galveston Judge Posts Fake Escort Ads of Ex-Girlfriends

Former Galveston County Court-at-Law Judge Christopher Dupuy has gone from posting Joel Osteen aphorisms on his Facebook page to posting fake prostitution ads featuring two ex-girlfriends, authorities say.

Dupuy was arrested July 2 in Galveston and charged with online harassment. He remains in Galveston County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bond.

One of the women told a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy in December that she'd received calls and texts from people saying they saw her ad on backpage.com, according to investigator Scott Hardcastle's affidavit. She was able to find the ad, which claimed she charged $70 for 30 minutes.

The woman later told Hardcastle that she's known Dupuy for 20 years and that

they had dated approximately 6 years ago, before she married someone else. She recently employed Christopher Dupuy as her attorney in divorce proceedings which were finalized in November of 2014. During his representation of her, Christopher Dupuy stated to her that he wanted to be in a relationship with her. Complainant declined the Suspect. She stated that this angered Dupuy and that he began monitoring her personal Facebook page and making comments to her regarding other males that she communicated with on Facebook. He would also copy photos from her Facebook account and send them to her with derogatory remarks about the pictures.

Hardcastle found the fake ad, which alleged that the woman was "VERY FETISH FRIENDLY" and would "guarantee you full satisfaction." A caption for the ad read "Looking for a sexy nurse?"

After the Harris County District Attorney's Office subpoenaed backpage.com, Hardcastle was able to trace the ad to Dupuy, who created it under the name "Don Tequila," which is the Facebook persona of an outspoken Dupuy critic.

Another ad featured a woman who said she'd broken up with Dupuy around August 2014; the ad included photos of her breasts, which she had texted to Dupuy. The woman also told Hardcastle that Dupuy had been harassing her since the break-up.

Dupuy has been in trouble before. According to a Houston Chronicle story, "his arrest comes two years after Dupuy, then a sitting judge, was indicted on 11 criminal charges relating to his conduct in office, including making false statements. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended him soon after his indictment. He was arrested twice before Thursday, once after his indictment and again three months later for contempt of court."

And that's not all:  "Dupuy was elected in 2010 in a race against the judge handling his divorce case. Complaints about his judicial conduct soon began piling up, including telephone threats against an attorney and for refusing to recuse himself from a case in which he was linked socially to one of the female attorneys. Meanwhile, he was defending two malpractice lawsuits filed before he became a judge and was going through his second bankruptcy, which the State Commission on Judicial Conduct said was filed to delay the cases and get rid of the judgments against him."

The story states that Dupuy pleaded guilty in September 2013 to two misdemeanor charges of abuse of office and perjury. He received two years' deferred adjudication.

Boy, it's stuff like this that can really keep a guy off those "Top Texas Lawyers" lists. We're curious to see where this one goes, and we'll keep you posted.

Update: We just heard back from the "real" Don Tequila, who tells us via Facebook

I am flattered - and honored - to have played at least a small role in the former judge's current felony charges. Given the great lengths he appears to have gone to cover his tracks (using a VPN with international IP addresses), I am perplexed that he chose the name of a frequent online critic as his alias for the fraudulent backpage account. Of all the names in the world, I am not sure he could have picked a worse name, other than his own perhaps, to signal to authorities that he actually posted the revenge porn escort ads. Maybe it was an inept attempt to frame a vocal critic? Or maybe deep down he wanted to get caught

Full Article & Source:
Ex-Galveston Judge Posts Fake Escort Ads of Ex-Girlfriends

See Also:
Texas Judge Christopher Dupuy Indicted on 8 Criminal Charges

Former judge to be tried for conflict of interest

Willis Berry Jr.

A trial date has been set for a former city judge who is accused of using his judicial position and public money to help run his personal real-estate business.

Former Court of Common Pleas Judge Willis Berry Jr. goes to trial on April 13. He is charged with conflict of interest and theft of services. Last month Berry decided not to take a plea deal regarding the charges he faces. Berry was expected to formally accept the deal last month but defense attorney, Samuel C. Stretton, said Berry would not accept the plea offer because it might affect his ability to collect a pension. Stretton said he felt the charges against his client are unfair.

“This was all resolved in 2009 with a four-month suspension,” Stretton said. “It should have been brought five years ago. None of this is new so why, after five years, are they doing this? I could see this happening back in 2009 but now it just seems to me to be vindictive. There’s no excuse for that. All of this is because he had a real estate business when he was an attorney and he ran that out of his office. When he became a judge he just continued. He was suspended by the board and retired after that. So I’m just baffled by this.”

The criminal complaint asserts Berry used taxpayer money to pay his judicial secretary for her assistance in managing 16 properties, including rental units Berry owned in Philadelphia. According to Stretton, the plea offer included $50,000 in restitution and two years of probation in exchange for pleading to two counts of second-degree misdemeanor theft.

In June 2009, according to court papers, the Court of Judicial Discipline found Berry brought the judicial system into disrepute and committed the crime of diversion of services. The CJD suspended him for four months without pay.

Stretton said he intends to file motions to strike some of the charges against Berry on the issues related to the separation of powers doctrine. The court will also now need to consider whether the trial should take place in Philadelphia, or if the Philadelphia bench will need to recuse, Stretton said.

An investigation conducted by the state attorney general in July 2013 revealed Berry engaged in the diversion of judicial resources to his business from 1997 to 2007, according to the complaint in the case. Berry diverted roughly $110,880 over the 10-year period to the payment of his secretary, Carolyn Fleming, the state alleged in the complaint.

Berry allegedly directed Fleming to maintain files, correspond with tenants by phone and in-person at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, prepare and file legal documents including leases and eviction complaints, appear at landlord-tenant proceedings, advertise properties in newspapers, engage in bookkeeping, pay bills and make bank deposits — all on official time, according to the complaint.

The investigation by Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office was prompted by a 2007 Judicial Conduct Board review of Berry’s use of Philadelphia County employees for non-judicial activities, the complaint said.

During JCB interviews, Fleming confirmed she would spend 10-12 hours a week on work related to Berry’s properties, the complaint said. Additionally, Fleming was required to be present at landlord-tenant court for four to six hours per month, according to the complaint.

The current pending prosecution is not the first time Berry has come under review for misconduct.

Aside from the four-month suspension by the CJD in 2009, the state Supreme Court suspended Berry in April from the practice of law for one year and a day for defrauding a former law client in the settlement of her personal injury claim before becoming a judge.

Full Article & Source:
Former judge to be tried for conflict of interest

Ex-judge's lawyer questions corruption charges

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The lawyer for a retired Philadelphia judge who's charged with corruption says he's outraged by the state attorney general's decision to prosecute the case.

Samuel Stretton, the attorney for Willis Berry Jr., said Thursday his client will plead not guilty and questioned why the 72-year-old ex-judge is charged with one felony count each of theft and conflict of interest.

Stretton says the state Court of Judicial Discipline considered the ethical implications of the same allegations and suspended Berry from the bench for four months without pay in 2009.

State prosecutors said in announcing the charges Thursday that their independent investigation showed Berry illegally used his judicial secretary and other taxpayer resources in the daily operations of his business between 1997 and 2007.

Full Article & Source:
Ex-judge's lawyer questions corruption charges