MERCER Man pleads guilty to theft, forgery

2Michael Klingensmith lost $900,000 betting on horse racing over a two-year period.
MERCER, Pa. -- A Sharon man accused of bilking 16 people out of $550,000 to cover his gambling debts has pleaded guilty to theft and forgery counts.
Attorney General Mike Fisher, whose office handled the investigation, said Michael W. Klingensmith, 35, of Pearl Street, entered his plea Monday before Judge Francis J. Fornelli of Mercer County Common Pleas Court.
Complaints about Klingensmith's activities first came to the attention of James Epstein, Mercer County district attorney, and he referred the case to the attorney general's office after determining that the victims lived in several different western Pennsylvania counties, Fisher said.
Ten of the victims were more than 60 years old, Fisher said, noting that Klingensmith used essentially the same scam on all of his victims.
Water systems
They hired him to install water filtration systems in their homes but, after installing the systems, Klingensmith would charge them for costly repairs and replacement parts.
He also persuaded the victims to loan or give him money for a hot tub business he was trying to start, Fisher said. In reality, Klingensmith was losing big betting on horse racing, Fisher said.
The investigation showed that Klingensmith won more than $300,000 at Ladbroke off-track betting facilities in western Pennsylvania in 1999 and 2000, but it also showed he lost nearly $900,000 during that same period, Fisher said.
Klingensmith pleaded guilty to 12 counts of theft by deception, seven counts of forgery, seven counts of deceptive business practices and two counts of securing the execution of documents by deception.
Fornelli sent a sentencing date of Sept. 6.