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By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@leader.net
Tuesday, March 04, 2003 Page: 3A
SCRANTON – Two months after she buried her 51-year-old husband in 1996,
Patricia Sempko said she followed his dying wish and contacted their
longtime financial adviser, Robert Tommassello.
“After my husband got sick he said if anything happened to him, call Bob.
Bob would take care of all the financial problems and he’d secure my future,”
Sempko said.
But a year later, Sempko learned Tommassello was really taking care of
himself, stealing at least $78,500, and perhaps as much as $218,000, she
entrusted to him, according to federal prosecutors.
The theft was part of an elaborate scheme that netted Tommassello, a
securities broker based in Hazleton, up to $1.5 million from 10 investors over
a several-year period, authorities say.
Sempko, of Kulpmont, was among three victims who’s testimony Monday
persuaded U.S. District Judge Thomas Vanaskie to sentence Tommassello to 37
months in federal prison – the maximum sentence allowed under the sentencing
guidelines.
Tommassello, 64, of Mountain Top, pleaded guilty in February 2002 to one
count each of tax evasion and mail fraud in connection with the scheme – a
scheme prosecutors said targeted vulnerable widows such as Sempko.
Tommassello has agreed he owes $922,218 in restitution. A dispute exists
over an additional $614,883 U.S. Attorney John Gurganus said is owed. A
separate hearing will be held within 90 days to determine the final
restitution figure.
Tommassello’s attorney, William Ruzzo, had asked for a more lenient
sentence, citing Tommassello’s involvement in various community activities and
multiple health problems he suffers.
Vanaskie was unpersuaded, saying Tommassello’s community work “paled in
comparison” to the damage he did to his victims.
Mildred Fleetwood, 58, of Bloomsburg, said she lost about $839,000, leaving
her so destitute today that she can’t pay utility bills and can barely feed
herself and her husband.
“I’ve been living a life of hell,” she told Vanaskie. “I feel
dehumanized. I was a person with a good income, a good life. Now I have to do
things like ask my physician to give me samples of my prescription. I can’t
afford to buy it.”
Dora Jean Dunn, 63, of Berwick, says she lost about $211,000. She told of a
meeting with Tommassello several months before her husband died from cancer in
1999. Tommassello convinced her husband, who she said “was skin over bone,”
to make an additional investment with him by closing several other accounts.
“That’s the kind of man he (Tommassello was). It did not matter my husband
was in such a terrible state and suffering so much,” she said.
In brief comments to Vanaskie, Tommassello apologized and vowed to sell all
his assets, including his home, to repay his victims.
“I’m sorry for the pain and anguish I caused,” Tommassello told Vanaskie.
“I wish I could write a check today to take care of everybody.”
Tommassello was ordered to turn himself in on March 17. His prison sentence
will be followed by three years of supervised release.