Donna Marino, the con artist, with her former partner John.
One woman led her husband to believe she had Alzheimer’s and stole $ 600,000 from him over 20 years. Those affected indicated that during all that time her ex -husband was always in control of her finances, but she had no idea he was stealing from her.
Donna Marino Now he is 63 years old and within two decades he has devised a strategy to cheat his wife and keep thousands of dollars of money, pension checks, workers ’compensation and Social Security income.
To cover his tracks, he convinced the man, now 73, that he had Alzheimer’s, according to police reports. In a statement, Connecticut police estimated that Marino stole a total of $ 600,000 from his wife, who told investigators he believed the alleged thefts began in 1999.
Donna Marino is 63 years old and was discovered by her ex -husband’s son.
East Haven Police Department investigators took Marino, 63, into custody a month ago. He was charged with first degree larceny and third degree forgery. Marino was released with a promise to reappear before the request of Justice.
The police were first notified of the alleged fraud in March 2019. The son of the alleged victim and Marino’s stepdaughter reported his suspicion that his father was cheating on the woman, whom he married a decade ago. The daughter said she found credit card papers at her father’s house without it, and said Marino was forging documents to control the man’s finances.
John, the man his ex -partner cheated on.
Police then interviewed Marino’s wife, who told them her husband controlled the household’s finances and was unaware of the alleged thefts.
Later, the daughter contacted the police and said her father no longer wanted to file a case against Marino. But after she filed for divorce in January 2020, her daughter contacted police again in March, saying she wanted to reopen the investigation.
Detectives discovered that some of the husband’s pension checks were deposited into Marino’s mother’s bank account, according to police records obtained by The Post. When Marino was brought in for an interview in January 2021, he admitted that he had been signing and depositing his wife’s pension checks into her bank account for 13 years without her knowledge, records say. Investigators estimate Marino stole approximately $ 216,000 in pension funds.
The daughter of the scammed man, who complained.
Marino also told police he intercepted and “mishandled” nearly $ 28,000 in workers ’compensation payments paid to his wife in 2012. And he admitted he pawned eight of his silver coins in 2017 without he knows.
Marino said he used the funds to help his brother pay for rent, groceries and a car and to help his mother and adult son financially.. He said he was able to escape by telling his wife that he suffered from dementia.
“During Donna’s questioning, she told this investigator that she hid the fraudulent activities from her husband by convincing her that she had Alzheimer’s disease,” police wrote in the investigation documents. “Donna explained that when she wanted to enter the bank to make a transaction, she told him that the last time she entered she made a scene … Donna did it so that she would not discover the low balance in their bank accounts. “
John, the scammed man, is 73 years old.
Marino also told police that he forged documents to obtain a power of attorney for his wife. and he had a friend’s nanotary forms in February 2019, the records say. He used his power of attorney to file his wife’s tax, he said in an interview.
Due to Connecticut’s statute of limitations, police have been limited to investigating only allegations of fraud in the past five years. After conducting a search warrant on Marino’s mother’s bank account, detectives discovered 17 of her husband’s pension checks, valued at more than $ 23,000, were deposited into the account from September 2017 to February 2017. 2019. Closed bank account in September 2020.
Police records do not state how much of the estimated $ 600,000 has been allegedly stolen in the past five years.
The son of the alleged victim, Elena Marino, told WFSB that her father married Marino in 2009. He said he had a history of Alzheimer’s in the family, so he did not doubt his father’s wife’s version.
Her father moved to Florida after filing for divorce, she said, but years of alleged manipulation have left her in a vulnerable position.
“You just can’t believe the trauma,” Elena Marino told reporters. “Suffer”.
Source: Clarin