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Convicted embezzler can’t afford attorney
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
Michael Marrara, the fired Niles employee who served a year in prison after admitting to embezzling $97,000 from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in 2015, told a judge Friday that he has no money to hire an attorney.
Marrara, 60, of Sayers Avenue, was in Niles Municipal Court for a pretrial hearing for receiving stolen property. He is accused of illegally pumping gas for his car from a city fuel pump. Marrara’s brother Matt, 53, a city meter reader, is alleged to have authorized the transaction and has pleaded not guilty to petty theft.
Niles meter readers were permitted to pump 15 gallons weekly into their cars, according to existing city policy.
The fueling incident occurred in late January, less than a month after Michael Marrara was released from prison and was witnessed by a city police officer, according to investigators.
When asked by acting Judge Phillip Arbie on Friday why he had no legal representation for his hearing, the elder Marrara said he could not afford to hire one. Judge Arbie instructed Marrara to contact the public defender’s office and reset his pre-trial hearing to April 24.
Marrara is under court order to repay the $97,000 to the church where he had worked as a maintenance supervisor. He admitted guilt to a charge of grand theft in which he made personal purchases on a church credit card.
His brother, also scheduled for a pretrial hearing Friday, arrived with his defense attorney, but no proceeding was conducted. After a meeting with the city prosecutor, his hearing was rescheduled to May 12.
The younger Marrara was fired by Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia, but got his job back after winning a union grievance he filed against the city, basing it on fuel policies under former Mayor Ralph Infante that he argued were never officially changed by the Scarnecchia administration.