Vettori indicted, accused of theft from deceased client

November 16, 2018 at 12:08a.m.

By JUSTIN DENNIS

YOUNGSTOWN

A federal grand jury indicted suspended Mahoning County Judge Diane Vettori-Caraballo, who is accused of stealing at least $100,000 from her deceased client.

Vettori-Caraballo, along with her husband, retired Youngstown police officer Ismael Caraballo, 60, was also indicted for allegedly filing a false tax return, according to a release from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Justin E. Herdman.

The indictment, handed up Thursday, adds to Vettori-Caraballo’s counts of mail fraud, structuring cash deposits and making false statements to law enforcement.

Vettori-Caraballo, 50, of Canfield, accepted, then later rejected, a plea agreement to those prior charges earlier this year.

Investigators believe Vettori-Caraballo stole between $100,200 and $328,000 in cash from the home of Dolores Falgiani after Falgiani died in March 2016 then deposited the money intermittently and between several accounts, to avoid federal reporting requirements.

Vettori-Caraballo provided estate planning services to Falgiani’s brother, Robert Sampson, and helped him draft his will. In November 2015, Vettori-Caraballo applied to administer Sampson’s estate after his death, and claimed in the application Sampson died without a will. The Mahoning County Probate Court, unaware of Sampson’s will, days later appointed Falgiani, Sampson’s closest living relative, as administrator, according to the release.

Earlier in November 2015, Vettori-Caraballo also helped Falgiani prepare her will, which divided the majority of her estate among 16 family members. The remainder, including her two homes and all their contents, was to be split evenly between Angels for Animals in Beaver Township and Animal Charity Humane Society in Boardman, the release states.

Around that time, Falgiani stated she possessed several shoeboxes of cash in the home, estimated at between $100,200 and $328,000, investigators said. Boardman police who found Falgiani dead in her home in March 2016 also found a handwritten note in her checkbook stating she held a total of $512,070 in cash and bonds at her home and at her bank.

Vettori-Caraballo also filed to probate Falgiani’s estate that month. In May 2016, she reportedly found $20,000 in cash in the residence, and deposited it into the estate, the release states. She allegedly did that several more times over the next two years, “but failed to disclose the cash she had stolen,” the release states.

The indictment also charges Vettori-Caraballo with structuring 22 deposits of the stolen cash across five different banks over the course of four weeks, to skirt regulations requiring banks to report cash transactions of more than $10,000 to the IRS. She also allegedly lied to FBI agents about the theft and illegal deposits, according to the release.

Ismael Caraballo is charged with filing a false tax return as he filed jointly with Vettori-Caraballo, a Northern District court spokesperson said.

Diane Less, director of Angels for Animals, said Falgiani donated generously to Angels for Animals and intended that cash for the animal groups. She said Falgiani’s relatives also noted to her many of Falgiani’s jewelry pieces could not be found in the home after her death. She said she “was not shocked” when Vettori-Caraballo ended up in criminal court.

“[Falgiani] had all those interesting articles of clothing and furniture and art and we found no jewelry in that house at all,” Less said. “That money was supposed to go to Angels for Animals. ... It’s pretty sad when somebody wants to help animals and somebody steps in and steals it.”

Vettori-Caraballo told FBI agents she hadn’t “received a nickel” from the Falgiani’s estate and instead claimed the money came from her husband’s retirement account.

Vettori-Caraballo was elected judge of the Mahoning County Area Court in Sebring in 2002 and re-elected twice, according to the release. She was suspended from the seat in January, after criminal charges were filed. Voters elected Molly Johnson to fill her vacancy in last week’s general election.

The FBI and IRS investigated the case. Assistant U.S. attorneys Brian M. McDonough and Alex Abreu are set to prosecute the case.