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Judge gets Pellin case of forgery, theft
YOUNGSTOWN
The trial of Richard Pellin, a former owner of the ambulance company that bore his name, on nine counts of forgery and 10 counts of theft has ended.
The judge will render a verdict at a later date.
At the end of the two-day, nonjury trial Monday, Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said he would take the matter under advisement.
Prosecutors said authorities believe Richard Pellin, 38, of Stoltz Road, Diamond, and his mother, Vanessa Pellin, 56, of Akron-Canfield Road, Ellsworth, diverted $91,261 due Pellin EMS (emergency medical services) to a Pennsylvania bank account.
Last month, Judge Evans sentenced Vanessa Pellin to three years’ probation and 200 hours of community service after she pleaded guilty to a single count of theft, and he ordered her to make restitution of any stolen funds.
Prosecutors said Richard Pellin drew checks in the name of his brother, Patrick Pellin, and deposited them into his own account without his brother’s knowledge.
“Clearly, if he’s not the principal in the offenses of forgery and theft, he certainly is a complicitor,” Mark Hockensmith, an assistant county prosecutor, told Judge Evans during his closing argument Monday.
The EMS company was placed into receivership via court order over debts owed to Chase Bank.
Prosecutors said there were 26 pay stubs for Patrick Pellin, each for more than $1,000 in 2006, but only about $8,000 in earnings were shown on his W-2 form.
In November 2007, after some company employees began getting back pay, Patrick Pellin sent an email to the receiver complaining he hadn’t been paid for most of 2006, Hockensmith said.
“This business was in trouble. This business had its bank accounts seized by creditors. It had personal accounts of Ms. Pellin seized by creditors and the IRS,” Richard Pellin’s lawyer, Scott Cochran, told the judge Monday.
“There was a legitimate business reason for them to seek out a bank in Pennsylvania to try to be able to put their money into, so that they could make payroll and pay other business expenses,” Cochran said.
Richard Pellin opened that company account in July 2006, almost a month before the receiver was appointed, and Vanessa Pellin was the only one to deposit or withdraw money from it after the appointment of the receiver, Cochran added.
“There’s zero evidence that my client did anything after the receivership was appointed, anything that would constitute theft,” Cochran said.
Cochran said Richard and Vanessa Pellin worked full time for the ambulance company during the receivership, but they didn’t get paid for all of their services. Cochran also said Richard Pellin advanced money to the company for its operations and was owed that money.
Patrick Pellin went nearly 18 months, reportedly without receiving a paycheck, before sending the email, Cochran added.