Bazetta financial con man gets 2 years for stealing from elderly women

WARREN

Former Bazetta Township financial adviser Orlando A. Montoya, 37, convinced a 77-year-old Mineral Ridge woman to write him personal checks worth $48,250 that were supposed to be invested for her.

Instead, he used that money, and $35,000 he stole from a 93-year-old Austintown woman, to take a Bahamas cruise, visit Disney World, Epcot Center, eat out every night and take shopping trips to the Robinson Towne Center near Pittsburgh, Beachwood Mall near Cleveland and many other places.

On Wednesday, he received a two-year prison sentence in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for the thefts.

That is added to the one year he got on his Mahoning County case.

Before Judge W. Wyatt McKay pronounced sentencing, Montoya apologized, saying: “I hold myself accountable for my actions. It was poor judgment. I’m very sorry.”

Gabe Wildman, assistant county prosecutor, called Montoya, of Trapper’s Trail, a “con man” who “used his position as a trusted financial adviser” to convince his victims to write checks to him personally.

Read more about the case in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.