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Mother, son face theft charges
Vanessa Pellin and Richard Pellin Jr. will be arraigned later this month.
YOUNGSTOWN — Members of a family once in the business of helping others now may be in trouble with the law for helping themselves to funds.
Richard M. Pellin Jr., 36, of Diamond, has been indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on nine counts of forgery, eight counts of theft and one count of aggravated theft.
His mother Vanessa Pellin, 54, of Ellsworth, also has been indicted on one count of aggravated theft.
The Pellins are the former owners and operators of Pellin Ambulance Service in the Mahoning Valley. Richard Pellin also is the fire chief in Milton Township.
According to Paul Gains, Mahoning County prosecutor, his office began looking into business dealings with the Pellins earlier this year at the request of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Krichbaum had been presiding over a civil case where J.P. Morgan Chase Bank asked the court to place the assets of Pellin Emergency Services and another company into receivership. S.S. & G. Financial Service Inc., of Solon, was appointed by the court to oversee the receivership during the spring of 2006.
In December 2007 the court learned that funds may have been diverted from the businesses.
Dawn Cantalamessa, an assistant county prosecutor, said authorities believe that both Pellins diverted money due the businesses to an account at a bank in Pennsylvania where they were the signators on the account. The total amount diverted exceeded $111,000.
Cantalamessa said Richard Pellin also had been drawing checks in the name of his brother and depositing those checks into his own account. His brother, she said, had no knowledge of the activity.
The theft and forgery charges carry a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $2,500 on each count.
The aggravated theft charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.
The mother and son will be arraigned later this month.