sentencing - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T05:39:03Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/sentencingAlong the Coast: Judge cuts in half disgraced addiction doctor's 20-year sentencehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-judge-cuts-in-half-disgraced-opioid-doctor-s-20-y2023-12-08T21:52:33.000Z2023-12-08T21:52:33.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12311375497,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12311375497,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12311375497?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="330" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Jamie Daniels with his mother, Lisa Daniels-Goldman. She and Jamie’s father, Ken Daniels, created the Jamie Daniels Foundation to help young adults struggling with substance abuse. Jamie, 23, died in a Boynton Beach sober home. <strong>Photo provided by Jamie Daniels Foundation</strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>By Pat Beall and Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>Jamie Daniels made it just 228 days in Palm Beach County’s fraud-ravaged addiction treatment system before <a href="https://jamiedanielsfoundation.org/jamies-story/">overdosing</a> in a local sober home seven years ago this month.</p>
<p>A college graduate and aspiring lawyer, Daniels landed in the heart of a $746 million scheme built on exploiting drug users and bilking insurance companies.</p>
<p>Delray Beach osteopath Michael Ligotti was a key player and profiteer who pocketed millions from it, prosecutors <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23779219-ligotti-probable-cause-affidavit-7302020">said</a>. When he was sentenced to two decades behind bars in January, a Department of Justice press release heralded his arrest and conviction as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-doctor-sentenced-substance-abuse-treatment-fraud-scheme">the largest addiction fraud</a> case ever brought by the DOJ.</p>
<p>Ligotti, though, was not locked up. Instead, he remained free as he worked with prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting other fraudsters. And his testimony that led to convictions in two key cases resulted in a federal judge chopping Ligotti's sentence in half, to 10 years, with the possibility of getting out of prison in 8 1/2 years.</p>
<p>"It is only right," U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II said of reducing the prison time on Dec. 8. "Even the 10-year sentence is a significant sentence in this space."</p>
<p>Ruiz, Department of Justice lawyer Jim Hayes and defense attorney Jose Quinon agreed that Ligotti is a changed man since January.</p>
<p>"In retrospect I'm appalled at how I behaved. I put money before patients," Ligotti told the judge.</p>
<p>Jamie’s mother, Lisa Daniels-Goldman, attended the hearing in the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. federal courthouse in Miami via Zoom and pleaded with Ruiz "to please not make Jamie a victim again."</p>
<p>Debbie Howland, whose daughter Ava died in a West Palm Beach sober home in 2018, also spoke via Zoom.</p>
<p>"I got a life sentence of pain, grief and endless tears," she said.</p>
<p><strong>One test, millions of dollars</strong></p>
<p>It would be hard to overstate the scope and toll of the addiction treatment fraud sweeping through Palm Beach County by 2013.</p>
<p>The county was an international for-profit treatment destination. Posters plugging addiction help in Palm Beach County greeted arriving passengers at Orlando International Airport. High-wealth drug users could access concierge care in beachfront homes with gourmet meals.</p>
<p>Estimates pegged the industry at $1 billion, making it one of Palm Beach County’s largest industries.</p>
<p>And it was rife with abuse.</p>
<p>A urine test that will detect drugs is cheap. It can be bought for as little as $25 at local drugstores.</p>
<p>By contrast, a single, sophisticated “confirmatory” urine test could reap thousands of dollars from a patient’s insurance company.</p>
<p>People in sober homes and treatment centers were needlessly tested multiple times a week, generating staggering insurance payouts. In one case reported by <em>The Palm Beach Post</em> in 2015, nine months of urine testing totaled $304,318. In another instance, the parents of a young woman who overdosed in a sober home after four weeks received urine test bills topping $30,000.</p>
<p>But insurance paid only if a doctor would green-light the expensive test as medically necessary.</p>
<p>As medical director for dozens of facilities, Ligotti obliged, said prosecutors. In addition to ordering millions of dollars in needless tests, they said he prescribed addictive drugs to patients from his Whole Health clinic in Delray Beach. That included <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23779220-ligotti-indictment-2020#document/p20/a2241617">benzodiazepines, a drug</a> lethally mixed with opioids by people who are addicted.</p>
<p>The scheme reached into the pocketbooks of employees at Amtrak, Bank of America and the state of New Jersey who sought treatment and found fraud, an attorney for Aetna Insurance testified at Ligotti’s sentencing hearing. Aetna and organizations using Aetna paid $24 million to providers in the scheme, he said, but worse was the continuing fallout once it was exposed: It created distrust of addiction treatment by people who might need it the most. </p>
<p>Even after a federal subpoena issued in 2016 put Ligotti on notice that he was under investigation, he continued ordering tests, an FBI agent <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23988830-ligotti-transcript-1052020#document/p44/a2388700">testified</a>.</p>
<p>He was indicted in 2020 on 12 counts of health care fraud and money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.</p>
<p>He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count in 2022. Other charges were dropped.</p>
<h4><strong>Fallout beyond fraud</strong></h4>
<p>Like many other physicians arrested in local treatment fraud crackdowns, Ligotti was never charged with the overdose or death of a person seeking help for addiction.</p>
<p>But the fallout from urine testing schemes extended far beyond financial fraud.</p>
<p>That’s because unscrupulous local sober home owners and addiction treatment operators didn’t need people seeking treatment to stay drug-free.</p>
<p>They needed people with a drug use diagnosis, insurance and a supply of urine, not a commitment to sobriety. As a result, some sober homes advertised as safe and drug-free turned a blind eye to drug use. People hoping for help wound up overdosing.</p>
<p>Jamie Daniels was among them.</p>
<p>The Michigan State University graduate clerked at a law firm and was studying for his law school entrance exam. </p>
<p>But he had struggled to stay sober since at least college, where his family believed he had easy access to opioids.</p>
<p>In July 2016, Jamie, 23, did what thousands of others had done and flew to Palm Beach County for treatment.</p>
<p>On Dec. 7, he overdosed here.</p>
<p>Then came a wave of insurance bill records totaling tens of thousands of dollars for urine screens and blood tests, including those ordered by Ligotti for Jamie when he was in Michigan, not Florida.</p>
<p>“It's one thing to have an addiction and not being able to overcome it because the addiction overtakes you,” Jamie’s father, longtime Detroit Red Wings play-by-play broadcaster Ken Daniels told ESPN. “But then when bad people get involved and they contribute to it, it makes you sick.”</p>
<p>ESPN produced a <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/23053946/how-detroit-red-wings-ken-daniels-voice-hockeytown-lost-son-drugs-insurance-fraud-espn">documentary</a> on the testing fraud and Jamie’s death. When the production crew showed up at Ligotti’s Delray office, he denied ordering the tests. His identity had been stolen, he told reporters: “I’m the victim.”</p>
<h4><strong>Paying a price</strong></h4>
<p>It’s not clear how many other schemes Ligotti has helped prosecutors identify and take to trial. However, records show he offered evidence in one Central Florida case involving rural hospitals and high-priced bogus drug testing that led to multiple convictions. And the judge in that case found that Ligotti had information on people not yet arrested in “a large number of healthcare facilities across the country.”</p>
<p>“I want them all to have to pay a price for what they did,” explained Daniels-Goldman of her reluctant acceptance of Ligotti’s freedom while he helped put two others behind bars.</p>
<p>But other aspects rankled Daniels-Goldman and others. It was late May before Ligotti finally surrendered his <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24182916-ligotti-license-aug-board-final-order">license to practice</a> medicine and another three months before the state’s Board of Osteopathic Medicine formally accepted the relinquishment. In June, his expected prison entry date was <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23935186-ligotti-extended-surrender-date">pushed back</a> to December in part because he was providing testimony in the Central Florida case. In July, he received court <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23935185-ligotti-universale-studios-permission-to-travel">permission</a> to take his family to an upscale resort hotel at Universal Studios.</p>
<p>Ligotti surrendered to the U.S. Marshals Service on Dec. 1. Defense attorney Quinon asked Judge Ruiz to recommend that Ligotti be sent to a prison close to home and not to the Atlanta Penitentiary. </p>
<p>"He's done everything (that prosecutors asked) and he's done it from the heart," Quinon said.</p></div>Along the Coast: Feds seek to slash prison time for disgraced addiction doctorhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-feds-seek-to-slash-prison-time-for-disgraced-addi2023-12-07T20:31:14.000Z2023-12-07T20:31:14.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12310840488,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12310840488,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12310840488?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="330" /></a>Jamie Daniels with his mother, Lisa Daniels-Goldman. She and Jamie’s father, Ken Daniels, created the Jamie Daniels Foundation to help young adults struggling with substance abuse. Jamie, 23, died in a Boynton Beach sober home. <strong>Photo provided by Jamie Daniels Foundation</strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>By Pat Beall</strong></p>
<p>Jamie Daniels made it just 228 days in Palm Beach County’s fraud-ravaged addiction treatment system before <a href="https://jamiedanielsfoundation.org/jamies-story/">overdosing</a> in a local sober home seven years ago this month.</p>
<p>A college graduate and aspiring lawyer, Daniels landed in the heart of a $746 million scheme built on exploiting drug users and bilking insurance companies.</p>
<p>Delray Beach osteopath Michael Ligotti was a key player and profiteer who pocketed millions from it, prosecutors <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23779219-ligotti-probable-cause-affidavit-7302020">said</a>. When he was sentenced to two decades behind bars in January, a Department of Justice press release heralded his arrest and conviction as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-doctor-sentenced-substance-abuse-treatment-fraud-scheme">the largest addiction fraud</a> case ever brought by the DOJ.</p>
<p>Ligotti, though, was not locked up. Instead, he remained free as he worked with prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting other fraudsters. And while he was booked into prison last week, prosecutors are now asking a Miami federal judge on Dec. 8 to shave eight years off his sentence. </p>
<p>Jamie’s mother, Lisa Daniels-Goldman, was in the courtroom when the original 20-year penalty was handed down. She knew his cooperation would delay his entering prison and hasten his exit. </p>
<p>Daniels-Goldman said prosecutors assured her that even with a sentence reduction, Ligotti would never serve less than 10 or 11 years. “I want to make sure it’s no less than that,” she said. She can’t travel to the hearing Friday in Miami. But she intends to make a victim’s statement on her son’s behalf.</p>
<p>“He doesn’t deserve a quiet entrance to prison,” she said of Ligotti. “He doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.”</p>
<p><strong>One test, millions of dollars</strong></p>
<p>It would be hard to overstate the scope and toll of the addiction treatment fraud sweeping through Palm Beach County by 2013.</p>
<p>The county was an international for-profit treatment destination. Posters plugging addiction help in Palm Beach County greeted arriving passengers at Orlando International Airport. High-wealth drug users could access concierge care in beachfront homes with gourmet meals.</p>
<p>Estimates pegged the industry at $1 billion, making it one of Palm Beach County’s largest industries.</p>
<p>And it was rife with abuse.</p>
<p>A urine test that will detect drugs is cheap. It can be bought for as little as $25 at local drugstores.</p>
<p>By contrast, a single, sophisticated “confirmatory” urine test could reap thousands of dollars from a patient’s insurance company.</p>
<p>People in sober homes and treatment centers were needlessly tested multiple times a week, generating staggering insurance payouts. In one case reported by <em>The Palm Beach Post</em> in 2015, nine months of urine testing totaled $304,318. In another instance, the parents of a young woman who overdosed in a sober home after four weeks received urine test bills topping $30,000.</p>
<p>But insurance paid only if a doctor would green-light the expensive test as medically necessary.</p>
<p>As medical director for dozens of facilities, Ligotti obliged, said prosecutors. In addition to ordering millions of dollars in needless tests, they said he prescribed addictive drugs to patients from his Whole Health clinic in Delray Beach. That included <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23779220-ligotti-indictment-2020#document/p20/a2241617">benzodiazepines, a drug</a> lethally mixed with opioids by people who are addicted.</p>
<p>The scheme reached into the pocketbooks of employees at Amtrak, Bank of America and the state of New Jersey who sought treatment and found fraud, an attorney for Aetna Insurance testified at Ligotti’s sentencing hearing. Aetna and organizations using Aetna paid $24 million to providers in the scheme, he said, but worse was the continuing fallout once it was exposed: It created distrust of addiction treatment by people who might need it the most. </p>
<p>Even after a federal subpoena issued in 2016 put Ligotti on notice that he was under investigation, he continued ordering tests, an FBI agent <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23988830-ligotti-transcript-1052020#document/p44/a2388700">testified</a>.</p>
<p>He was indicted in 2020 on 12 counts of health care fraud and money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.</p>
<p>He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count in 2022. Other charges were dropped.</p>
<h4><strong>Fallout beyond fraud</strong></h4>
<p>Like many other physicians arrested in local treatment fraud crackdowns, Ligotti was never charged with the overdose or death of a person seeking help for addiction.</p>
<p>But the fallout from urine testing schemes extended far beyond financial fraud.</p>
<p>That’s because unscrupulous local sober home owners and addiction treatment operators didn’t need people seeking treatment to stay drug-free.</p>
<p>They needed people with a drug use diagnosis, insurance and a supply of urine, not a commitment to sobriety. As a result, some sober homes advertised as safe and drug-free turned a blind eye to drug use. People hoping for help wound up overdosing.</p>
<p>Jamie Daniels was among them.</p>
<p>The Michigan State University graduate clerked at a law firm and was studying for his law school entrance exam. </p>
<p>But he had struggled to stay sober since at least college, where his family believed he had easy access to opioids.</p>
<p>In July 2016, Jamie, 23, did what thousands of others had done and flew to Palm Beach County for treatment.</p>
<p>On Dec. 7, he overdosed here.</p>
<p>Then came a wave of insurance bill records totaling tens of thousands of dollars for urine screens and blood tests, including those ordered by Ligotti for Jamie when he was in Michigan, not Florida.</p>
<p>“It's one thing to have an addiction and not being able to overcome it because the addiction overtakes you,” Jamie’s father, longtime Detroit Red Wings play-by-play broadcaster Ken Daniels told ESPN. “But then when bad people get involved and they contribute to it, it makes you sick.”</p>
<p>ESPN produced a <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/23053946/how-detroit-red-wings-ken-daniels-voice-hockeytown-lost-son-drugs-insurance-fraud-espn">documentary</a> on the testing fraud and Jamie’s death. When the production crew showed up at Ligotti’s Delray office, he denied ordering the tests. His identity had been stolen, he told reporters: “I’m the victim.”</p>
<h4><strong>Paying a price</strong></h4>
<p>It’s not clear how many other schemes Ligotti has helped prosecutors identify and take to trial. However, records show he offered evidence in one Central Florida case involving rural hospitals and high-priced bogus drug testing that led to multiple convictions. And the judge in that case found that Ligotti had information on people not yet arrested in “a large number of healthcare facilities across the country.”</p>
<p>“I want them all to have to pay a price for what they did,” explained Daniels-Goldman of her reluctant acceptance of Ligotti’s freedom while he helped put others behind bars.</p>
<p>But other aspects rankled Daniels-Goldman and others. It was late May before Ligotti finally surrendered his <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24182916-ligotti-license-aug-board-final-order">license to practice</a> medicine and another three months before the state’s Board of Osteopathic Medicine formally accepted the relinquishment. In June, his expected prison entry date was <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23935186-ligotti-extended-surrender-date">pushed back</a> to December in part because he was providing testimony in the Central Florida case. In July, he received court <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23935185-ligotti-universale-studios-permission-to-travel">permission</a> to take his family to an upscale resort hotel at Universal Studios.</p>
<p>Ligotti entered prison Dec. 1. Citing his cooperation, prosecutors the same day <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24182917-ligotti-request-for-reduction">asked </a>a federal court judge in Miami to consider cutting Ligotti’s sentence from 20 years to 12, a 40% reduction. Ligotti’s attorney is seeking a larger reduction.</p>
<p>Neither his attorney nor prosecutors responded to requests for comment.</p></div>Highland Beach: Ex-financial adviser sent to prison over theft from slain widowhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/highland-beach-ex-financial-adviser-sent-to-prison-over-theft-fro2023-03-29T14:20:26.000Z2023-03-29T14:20:26.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}11007355897,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11007355897,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="11007355897?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></strong><em>David Del Rio was handcuffed and remanded into custody after pleading guilty to 36 felony counts and getting a 15-year sentence.</em><br /><strong><em>Photos by Jim Rassol/The Coastal Star</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong></p>
<p>Maureen Forte can find comfort in knowing that the man accused of bilking her aunt and uncle out of $3 million is finally behind bars, but she is hoping that the case that lingered for more than four years will serve as a cautionary tale for other vulnerable seniors.<br /> Early last month, 39-year-old David Del Rio pleaded guilty to 36 felony counts in connection with the theft of millions of dollars from widow Elizabeth “Betty” Cabral and her late husband, William. <br /> As part of the plea agreement, Del Rio was sentenced to 15 years in state prison, followed by 15 years of probation. He also agreed to turn over to the Cabrals’ estate two properties he owned fully or in part at Lehigh Acres in Lee County.<br /> “Our family has some relief because he’s going to jail,” Forte, the Cabrals’ niece, said after speaking to Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Gillen during the March 2 hearing. “But it’s never going to be enough because nothing is going to undo what’s been done.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}11007356680,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11007356680,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="11007356680?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><em>Maureen Forte, niece of Betty Cabral, said ‘our family has some relief’ with the sentencing of Del Rio. ‘But it’s never going to be enough.’ The Cabral homicide case dating to 2018 remains unsolved.</em></p>
<p>In addition to accepting the prison sentence and agreeing to the property transfer, Del Rio agreed that he understands a homicide investigation into the death of Betty Cabral remains open and that he receives no “promises of leniency, nor immunities” as a result of the plea.<br /> Cabral was found in her Highland Beach apartment with her throat cut almost five years ago. There have been no arrests made in that case. Her husband died about a year earlier.<br /> Prosecutors said the investigation into Cabral’s death is continuing. <br /> “You understand that this deal, as sweet as it is, has nothing to do with the homicide involving Elizabeth Cabral?” the judge asked Del Rio.<br /> In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop more than 35 felony charges and to give the Cabrals’ former financial adviser credit for 116 days of time he served in the Palm Beach County Jail. He was under house arrest following his release from jail on bond. <br /> Under terms of the deal, Del Rio pleaded guilty to several counts each of exploiting an elderly person, money laundering, organized scheme to defraud, fraudulent use of personal identification information and grand theft from a person 65 or older. <br /> Defense attorney Michael Salnick said that had Del Rio gone to trial — which had been scheduled for early this month — and been convicted of the 36 counts, the lowest possible sentence he could have received under state sentencing guidelines would have been 71 years. <br /> Like Forte and even Del Rio, Salnick expressed relief that the case, which lingered during the pandemic years, has come to a conclusion. <br /> “I am happy that we were able to resolve this case for Mr. Del Rio,” he said.<br /> In brief comments to the court, Del Rio appeared remorseful, saying he unfortunately couldn’t take back his actions. He apologized, expressing gratitude to the judge for accepting the deal. <br /> “I feel it’s time to move on,” he said. <br /> In addition to Forte, another of Betty Cabral’s relatives, niece Teresa Regan, told how she kept asking her aunt to come back to live in her home state of Massachusetts but that she always wanted to stay in Florida. <br /> Regan said that the last time she spoke to her aunt, Cabral told her that she wanted to come back home but that Del Rio told her she couldn’t afford to go. <br /> “I hate him for that,” Regan said. “That just goes to show what kind of person he is.” <br /> Forte, during comments in court, told the judge a little about her aunt and uncle and how they enjoyed living in Florida, where they made friends.<br /> “I just wanted to give the judge an idea of who they were,” she said after the hearing. “They were a lovely couple. This was their dream and then they came upon this opportunistic vulture who ingratiated himself to them and took advantage of them.” <br /> Forte said she appreciated the efforts of Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts and sheriff’s office detectives, and was grateful to have a chance to let the judge know that allegations from Del Rio that she and her relatives didn’t care about her aunt were untrue. <br /> “I wanted the judge to know how reprehensible the false story he was telling was,” she said. <br /> <br /><strong>Need for caution</strong><br /> Forte, who flew down from Massachusetts for the hearing, said she hopes this case will alert other seniors to the need to be cautious while entrusting others with money.<br /> To help older Floridians avoid becoming victims of financial fraud, the state Department of Elder Affairs created a tip sheet that includes a warning for seniors not to sign anything they don’t understand. <br /> Other tips include:<br /> • Check your bank statements regularly for unauthorized withdrawals.<br /> • Don’t sign blank checks allowing others to fill in the amounts.<br /> • Request assistance from your bank, which may be able to help you control access to your account. </p></div>Highland Beach: Financial adviser for murder victim sentenced to 15 yearshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/highland-beach-financial-advisor-for-murder-victim-sentenced-to-12023-03-02T19:19:01.000Z2023-03-02T19:19:01.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="yiv0184861431MsoNormal yiv0184861431ContentPasted0" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria;text-align:center;" align="left"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10978938287,RESIZE_1200x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10978938287,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10978938287?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a>David Del Rio is taken into custody following his plea deal on March 2. The former financial adviser to murdered widow Betty Cabral was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation. <strong>Jim Rassol/The Coastal Star </strong></em></p>
<p class="yiv0184861431MsoNormal yiv0184861431ContentPasted0" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria;text-align:left;" align="left"><strong> </strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">It’s been more than four years since the former financial adviser accused of bilking Maureen Forte’s aunt and uncle out of almost $3 million was arrested, and only now can she and her family find comfort in knowing he’ll be spending time in prison.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">On March 2, 39-year-old David Del Rio pleaded guilty to 36 felony counts in connection with the theft of millions of dollars from 85-year-old widow Elizabeth “Betty” Cabral and her late husband, William, 88, who died a year earlier.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">As part of the plea agreement, Del Rio was sentenced to 15 years in state prison followed by 15 years of probation. He also agreed to turn over two properties he owned or was part owner of in Lehigh Acres near Fort Myers to Cabral’s estate.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“Our family has some relief because he’s going to jail,” said Forte, in comments she made after speaking to Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffery Gillen during the hearing. “But it’s never going to be enough, because nothing is going to undo what’s been done.”</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In addition to accepting the prison sentence and agreeing to the property transfer, Del Rio agreed that he understands a homicide investigation into the death of Betty Cabral remains open and that he receives no “promises of leniency, nor immunities” as a result of the plea.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Betty Cabral was found in her Highland Beach apartment with her throat cut almost five years ago. There have been no arrests made in that case.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“You understand that this deal, as sweet as it is, has nothing to do with the homicide involving Elizabeth Cabral?,” the judge asked.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop more than 35 felony charges and to give Cabral’s former financial adviser credit for 116 days of time he served in the Palm Beach County Jail. He was under house arrest following his release from jail on bond.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Under terms of the deal, Del Rio pleaded guilty to several counts each of exploiting an elderly person, money laundering, organized scheme to defraud, fraudulent use of personal identification information and grand theft from a person 65 or older.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Defense attorney Michael Salnick said that had Del Rio gone to trial — which had been scheduled for early this month — and been convicted of the 36 counts he pleaded guilty to, the shortest possible sentence he could have received under state sentencing guidelines would have been 71 years.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Like Forte and even Del Rio, Salnick expressed relief that the case, which lingered during the COVID years, has come to a conclusion.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“I am happy that we were able to resolve this case for Mr. Del Rio,” he said.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In brief comments to the court, Del Rio appeared remorseful, saying he unfortunately couldn’t take back his actions, and apologized, expressing gratitude to the judge for accepting the deal.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“I feel it’s time to move on,” he said.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In addition to Forte, another of Betty Cabral’s relatives, niece Theresa Regan told the judge via Zoom how she kept asking her aunt to come back to live in her home state of Massachusetts, but that she always wanted to stay in Florida.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Regan said that the last time she spoke to her aunt, Cabral told her that she wanted to come back home but that Del Rio told her she couldn’t afford to go.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“I hate him for that,” Regan said. “That just goes to show what kind of person he is.”</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Forte, during comments in court, told the judge a little about her aunt and uncle and how they enjoyed living in Florida, where they made friends.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“I just wanted to give the judge an idea of who they were,” she said after the hearing. “They were a lovely couple. This was their dream and then they came upon this opportunistic vulture who ingratiated himself to them and took advantage of them.”</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Forte said she was appreciative of the efforts of Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts and Sheriff's Office detectives. She was also grateful to have a chance to let the judge know that allegations from Del Rio that she and her relatives didn’t care about her aunt were untrue.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“I wanted the judge to know how reprehensible the false story he was telling was,” she said.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10978939683,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10978939683,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10978939683?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em>Maureen Forte, niece of Betty Cabral, returns to her seat after giving a statement from the family during the David Del Rio plea hearing at the Palm Beach County </em><em>Courthouse. <strong>Jim Rassol/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p></div>Ocean Ridge: $675 payment ends Lucibella felony sagahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-675-payment-ends-lucibella-felony-saga2019-02-27T19:30:00.000Z2019-02-27T19:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960855692,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960855692,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960855692?profile=original" /></a><em>Former Police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel (l-r), Richard Lucibella and his girlfriend, Barbara Ceuleers, and his attorneys, Heidi Perlet and Marc Shiner, leave the courthouse after Lucibella’s sentencing hearing. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Related Story: Current and former mayors, neighbors urged <a href="https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-current-and-former-mayors-neighbors-urged-judicial-le" target="_blank">judicial leniency</a> for Lucibella</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>Onetime Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella walked out of the Palm Beach County Courthouse after his trial with his bank account $675 lighter and with a dark cloud over his head gone.<br /> The felony case against the Ocean Ridge resident, which lingered in the criminal justice system for 27 months, resolved itself Feb. 21 in comparatively short order:<br /> • Prosecutors called five witnesses to testify; defense attorneys also called five.<br /> • The jury, seated Jan. 28, a Monday, spent barely five hours — including lunch the following Friday — in reaching its verdict: not guilty of felony battery on a law enforcement officer or resisting arrest with violence, but guilty of misdemeanor battery.<br /> • In a 10-minute sentencing hearing Feb. 21, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss upheld the verdict and ordered Lucibella to pay $675 in court fees and ordered no jail time.<br /> “I am going to adjudicate you guilty of the misdemeanor battery. I’m going to impose standard fines and court costs,” Weiss said as the crowded courtroom erupted in applause.<br /> Contacted days after the sentencing, Lucibella declined to say what he might do next and suggested asking The Palm Beach Post.<br /> “I’ve learned that you guys [at The Coastal Star] have a story line that you stick to and the facts sometimes just get in the way. Until that changes, no comment,” he said.<br /> At the sentencing, defense attorney Marc Shiner told the judge the “sticking point” of the case “has always been [possibly] paying out the money” to arresting Officer Nubia Plesnik, who is suing Lucibella in civil court, alleging he battered her during the Oct. 22, 2016, arrest.<br /> “My client under no way, shape or form is ever going to pay her any money. That’s why we actually had the trial, to be honest with the court,” Shiner told Weiss. <br /> The felony charges stemmed from a confrontation in Lucibella’s beachfront backyard. Police went to his home after getting calls to 911 about “shots fired.” Officers confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the patio.<br /> An ensuing scuffle left Lucibella, then 63, handcuffed on the ground with fractured ribs and a cut over his eye. Plesnik and Officer Richard Ermeri both complained of aches and pain afterward and went to an urgent care clinic.<br /> Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt and Chief Assistant State Attorney Craig Williams called to the witness stand Ocean Ridge resident Sherri Feinstein and David Castello, who was in town visiting his mother, to have them describe the gunfire they heard.<br /> Ermeri, Plesnik and since-retired Sgt. William Hallahan, who also responded that night, told jurors how, in Ermeri’s words, Lucibella was “vulgar, argumentative, aggressive and belligerent” as they investigated. “He was definitely putting up a fight,” Ermeri said.<br /> Ermeri testified that Lucibella poked him in the chest, “a forceful poke — like that,” he said, thumping his police body armor with a finger three or four times.<br /> Shiner and co-defense counsel Heidi Perlet pointed out inconsistencies in the officers’ testimony, such as when Ermeri said the backyard gate was approximately 20 feet from Lucibella’s patio while in a pretrial deposition he said 45 feet.<br /> Witnesses for the defense were Barbara Ceuleers, Lucibella’s longtime girlfriend; Ocean Ridge Mayor Steve Coz, who said Lucibella was not intoxicated about an hour before the altercation; a doctor who treated Ermeri that night; friend and then-Police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, who was on the patio with Lucibella during the incident; and Lucibella himself.<br /> Ceuleers and Lucibella both painted the officers as the aggressors.<br /> “I was screaming at them to get off him, they were killing him,” Ceuleers testified.<br /> Lucibella said before he was taken to the ground, he persisted in trying to get an alcoholic drink to regain some control over the escalating situation.<br /> “In hindsight I think it was world-class stupid,” he testified.<br /> Lucibella also said Ermeri taunted him after he’d been handcuffed, flexing his neck from side to side like a prizefighter in the ring.<br /> Current and former Ocean Ridge mayors sent Weiss glowing letters of support on Lucibella’s behalf.<br /> “I do not know if you are aware that after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Mr. Lucibella personally flew desperately needed supplies to the ravaged citizens of the island at his own cost,” Coz wrote. “Do not punish Mr. Lucibella further for what can only be described as a night of blunders, not crimes.”<br /> Former Mayors Jim Bonfiglio, Geoff Pugh and Ken Kaleel also wrote the judge, urging her to be lenient, as did former Town Clerk Karen Hancsak, close Ocean Ridge neighbors, and bankers and doctors who know Lucibella from his work in the health care industry.<br /> Prosecutor Grundt told Weiss that Lucibella “has never been in trouble before” and that probation would serve no purpose.<br /> Lucibella and Shiner both said they were happy with the jury’s findings Feb. 1. <br /> “I’m pleased with the verdict, very pleased,” Lucibella said. Shiner said Lucibella’s suing the town over his arrest has “been an option since day one.”<br /> The misdemeanor battery could have resulted in up to a year in jail with a $1,000 fine. Each felony charge carried a potential sentence of five years in prison.<br /> Originally Lucibella was also charged with firing a weapon while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. But prosecutors dropped that count on the trial’s first day, undercutting Lucibella’s planned defense that he was never given a blood-alcohol or firearms test.<br /> Not having a felony conviction on his record allows Lucibella to get back his license for a federal firearms dealership and a concealed weapons permit; it also lets him run for public office again, Shiner said.</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Lucibella avoids jail timehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-lucibella-avoids-jail-time2019-02-21T16:30:00.000Z2019-02-21T16:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="margin:0in 0in .0001pt;background:#FFFFFF;text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960848478,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960848478,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960848478?profile=original" /></a><em>Former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella is all smiles as he leaves the courtroom with his attorneys Heidi Perlet and Marc Shiner after being adjudicated guilty of misdemeanor battery. During sentencing, Circuit Judge Dahlia Weiss ruled that Lucibella must pay only standard court costs of $675. <strong>Tim Stepien/Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:#FFFFFF;"></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:#FFFFFF;"></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">By Steve Plunkett</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Buoyed by glowing letters of reference from current and former Ocean Ridge mayors, onetime Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella will spend no time </span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">behind bars for a 2016 backyard altercation with town police.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Circuit Judge Dahlia Weiss sentenced Lucibella, 65, on Feb. 21 after a jury found him guilty of misdemeanor battery on Police Officer Richard Ermeri but not guilty of two felonies, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">“I am going to adjudicate you guilty of the misdemeanor battery. I'm going to impose standard fines and court costs,” Weiss said.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">That translated into $575 in court costs and a $100 prosecution fee. Lucibella paid before leaving the courthouse.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Mayor Steve Coz and former Mayors Jim Bonfiglio, Geoff Pugh and Ken Kaleel all wrote the judge urging her to be lenient.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">“I do not know if you are aware that after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Mr. Lucibella personally flew desperately needed supplies to the ravaged citizens of the island at his own cost,” Coz wrote. “Do not punish Mr. Lucibella further for what can only be described as a night of blunders, not crimes.”</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Kaleel said in his letter of support, “Simply put, Rich is a wonderful, kind and good hearted person. He is deserving of your mercy.”</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Former Town Clerk Karen Hancsak, close Ocean Ridge neighbors, bankers and doctors who know Lucibella from his work in the health care industry also wrote the judge.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Defense attorney Marc Shiner, who had said earlier his client “will keep fighting to clear his name,” filed a motion seeking a new trial, saying Ermeri “was unlawfully on Lucibella’s property and was giving him unlawful orders.” He had argued that position several times earlier in the five-day trial.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Weiss did not rule on the request.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt said Lucibella "has never been in trouble before" and that probation would serve no purpose.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Lucibella and Shiner both said they were “very pleased” with the Feb. 1 verdict.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">“The jury spoke loudly, loud and clear, that he did not commit a felony,” Shiner said.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Though simple battery can be punished by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, typically an offender is sentenced to a diversion program and put on probation, Shiner had said. Each felony charge carried a potential sentence of five years in prison.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Not having a felony conviction on his record allows Lucibella to get his license back for a federal firearms dealership and a concealed weapons permit and also lets him run for public office again, Shiner said.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Lucibella had told the judge he did not want jurors to be able to convict him of a lesser charge, but prosecutors asked that conviction of simple battery be an option. The six jurors, all men, spent about four hours deliberating.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">The charges stemmed from a confrontation in Lucibella’s beachfront backyard on Oct. 22, 2016. Town police went to his home after getting calls to 911 about “shots fired.” Officers confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the patio.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">An ensuing scuffle left Lucibella handcuffed on the ground with fractured ribs and a cut over his eye. Ermeri and Officer Nubia Plesnik both complained of aches and pain afterward and went to an urgent care clinic.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:14.85pt;background:#FFFFFF;word-spacing:0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue';">Ermeri testified that Lucibella poked him in the chest during the investigation, “a forceful poke — like that,” he said, thumping his police body armor with a finger three or four times.</span></p>
<p></p></div>Manalapan: Ponzi schemer gets 50-year sentencehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-ponzi-schemer-gets2010-04-29T17:24:29.000Z2010-04-29T17:24:29.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">By Mary Kate Leming</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Former part-time Manalapan resident Tom Petters was sentenced to 50 years in prison by
a federal court in Minneapolis in early April. The sentence mandates that the least time he could spend
behind bars, with credit for good behavior, would be 41 years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Petters was convicted in December of masterminding a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme. He was
found guilty on 20 criminal counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud and money
laundering.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">According to the government, Petters attracted massive investments from hedge funds and
other institutions, ostensibly to buy consumer electronic goods and resell them
to national big-box stores like Walmart and Costco. But there was actually
little or no merchandise and the operation consisted mostly of faking documents
and keeping the cash.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Petters spoke in court during the sentencing and apologized to family, friends and
co-workers, “I truly grieve for the victims. Every day I am filled with pain
and anguish for what has happened.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">After the sentencing, U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones told the media, “Tom Petters is a
fraud, and now he will pay a huge price for his self-enrichment and his
deceit.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">On April 13, Petters’ attorney filed a formal notice of appeal for both the
conviction and sentence. He also
asked that Petters be declared destitute since his personal and corporate
assets have been under the control of a court-appointed receiver for the past
18 months.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Last July, a court-appointed receiver sold Petters’ Manalapan home for $9.5 million
as part of efforts to recoup funds for investors.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:11pt;">Information from the</span></i> <span style="font-size:11pt;">Minneapolis
Star Tribune <i>contributed to this report.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p></div>