Cheryl Finley recalls her son's experience with recovery house living

Posted: Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Benjamin Finley and his mom Cheryl Finley

During his struggle with heroin addiction, Cheryl Finley believes her son was happiest when he was living among other men who were also struggling to overcome their drug demons.

Benjamin Finley first stayed at a Pottstown recovery house following 30 days of inpatient rehabilitation in January 2012, Finley said. The house was recommended by the drug treatment center, she said.

He liked the house, but after a month there, he couldn’t find a job and had no transportation, so he returned to his mom’s Bristol Township home.

He eventually he relapsed, and after another 30 days of inpatient rehab, Benjamin entered a Bensalem recovery house that included dinners and weekly group therapy sessions with a counselor. He shared a bedroom with two men for $155 a week.

One day, the house manager told her son he had to move into a basement bedroom to make room for a new person. Finley described the room as roughly the size of a large closet with a set of bunk beds and a dresser with a narrow path in between. After her son spoke to the home's owner, he agreed to fix up a larger basement room.

Benjamin was OK with that, she said, and he found a full-time job at a Bensalem manufacturing plant within biking distance.

“He loved it. It was the best time of this whole ordeal," Finley said. "The group of guys he was living with became very close and supportive. I think it was the happiest time for him in recent years."

That was until a bitter December night, when she said he was offered heroin at the recovery house -- and shot up.

Benjamin immediately regretted it and confessed to the owner, Finley said. They were all kicked out, but Benjamin was told he could return in three days if he passed a drug test. He did and the owner moved him into a different recovery house he owned.

His second chance lasted about a month.

On Jan. 11, 2013, Bensalem police found Benjamin dead of a heroin overdose in a motel not far from the recovery house. He was a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday.

Finley said she doesn’t blame the recovery house operator for what happened to her son. But she does wonder why no one oversees the condition of these houses and what goes on there.

“Are they there to pay the rent or are they really interested in these people’s well-being?” she said. “These are people’s lives at stake. You want to try to make it as successful as possible.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @JoCiavaglia

New Jersey's Nick's law named after a Bucks County man who died of an overdose

Posted: Thursday, April 21, 2016 

Alba Herrera 

In the shower that horrible morning, Alba Herrera recited a quiet prayer for her oldest son.

“Please God, help my son make the right decision. Please keep him on the right path.”

Nick Rohdes had gotten sober five times in four years. He had hit bottom so many times that Herrera had wondered if the 24-year-old would ever find his way back for good.

But this time, the Middletown woman was feeling more hopeful than she had in the past. Rohdes liked his new recovery house, where he was offered a position as manager. He also was doing well in his new job as a membership consultant at a gym.

The night before, he asked to spend the night at her apartment. The forecast called for snow, her place was closer to his work, and there was an early 12-step group meeting he could attend before he went to the gym. Herrera remembered thinking her little boy was behaving like a responsible adult.

As she prepared to leave for work the next day, Herrera noticed Nick wasn’t sleeping on the couch as usual. Then she saw a light near her work area across the living room.  

She found Rohdes seated behind her desk. His lips were blue, his skin was cold, his toes were stiff and curled. Later, she found a clear plastic bag nearby. It was stamped “Game Over.”

Finding her son dead of a heroin overdose wasn’t the only shock Herrera experienced on that February day two years ago. She soon learned that the day before, he had been kicked out of the Lambertville, New Jersey, recovery house where he was living. No one told her had been evicted for using drugs.

Later, she learned the recovery house program that had sounded so promising on its website -- with amenities like a gym, computers and assigned mentors for $650 a month -- was an unlicensed boarding home, according to the state of New Jersey.

Two years later, Herrera has more questions than answers about the weeks before her son’s death.

Why did her son’s name stop appearing on the house’s mandatory sign-in log two months before his death? Why was the wrong date listed on the house’s incident report detailing his eviction? Why did the house manager let her son drive when he knew he was high?

“He could have killed someone on the way (home). He could have killed himself,” she said.

After Rohdes' death, Hererra campaigned for a law that would require recovery houses to alert the next of kin when someone evicted for relapsing. New Jersey Gov. Chis Christie recently signed the legislation creating "Nick's law," which was named after Rohdes.

If she had been notified of the eviction, maybe she could have convinced her son to go back into rehab like she did before, Herrera said. She'll never know. And that's what bothers her the most.

“They’re taking advantage of the parents who are desperate,” Herrera said. “Maybe my son would have died of heroin, but not that night.”

State refers audit of Feasterville Firefighter Relief Association to District Attorney's Office

Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2016

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale

The Pennsylvania auditor general is seeking additional investigation of the Feasterville Volunteer Firemen’s Relief Association after a state audit found deficiencies in financial and administrative areas, including personal loans to members and unaccounted for investment money.

The auditor general withheld nearly $76,000 in state funding last year from the Lower Southampton association as a result of the state's most recent audit. The association “did not, in all significant respects, receive and spend state aid and collect relief funds in compliance with state laws, contracts, bylaws and administrative procedures,” according to the 2015 audit report.

The association is affiliated with the Feasterville Fire Company, but is a separate entity that receives state funding.

These key deficiencies were cited in the most recent audit of the relief fund, which covered Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2013, and was released in January 2015:

• The relief association gave seven personal loans to association members who are also volunteer firefighters, including a $2,000 loan that was forgiven “in lieu of a wedding gift.” Personal loans aren't an authorized use of relief association money, according to the state.

• The auditors were unable to independently confirm $145,838 reportedly invested through Fidelity Investments because Fidelity said the association hadn’t provided it with proper documentation.

• There was no paperwork documenting how some association money was spent. The audit said the association was informed about undocumented expenses in a prior audit but didn't establish adequate internal controls. The state audit also noted that the lack of supporting documents, such as invoices, made it impossible to determine if the money was spent in compliance with state law.

• While the association provided auditors with bank statements, it didn't produce copies of canceled or imaged checks, according to the report. Without those, auditors couldn't determine whether at least two association officers authorized the checks as required by state law, the audit stated.

• The relief association’s vice president, Brian Walter, was performing secretarial duties, which the audit stated was “inappropriate” since he's also the group's treasurer. The duties of secretary and treasurer must be “sufficiently segregated” as a “primary internal control to decrease or prevent the risk of errors and irregularities,” the audit noted.

• The association failed to provide meeting minutes addressing all the financial transactions that occurred during the audit period. The minutes that were provided showed business was conducted even without a quorum of members present as required by the group's bylaws, the report found. “Without detailed minutes of meetings and the required quorum, evidence that relief association business was presented before the membership for proper approval does not exist,” the report found. The lack of meeting minutes was also an issue in the 2006-07 and 2008-10 audits.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said it's unusual for his office to forward audit findings to prosecutors for further investigation. He said that happens with only about 10 of the roughly 5,000 audits his office completes annually.

“We know (DA staff members) have it and they are taking it seriously,” according to DePasquale, who said the association has told his office it is correcting the deficiencies. Once that is done, he said, the money will be released. 

Marc Furber, chief of the Bucks County District Attorney’s Arson and Economic Crimes division, declined to verify if an investigation is being done.

Calkins Media was unsuccessful in attempts to reach the relief association’s president, David Walter, who's also deputy chief of the Feasterville Fire Company, and his brother, Brian Walter, who is assistant fire chief and a relief association member. Phone calls were not returned. No one answered the door at their homes and they didn't respond to a reporter who left business cards at their homes. 

Feasterville Fire Company Chief Frank Walter, who's not a relief association officer, declined to comment about the audit. He is the father of Brian and David Walter.

Pennsylvania has about 1,900 firefighter relief associations. Their primary purpose is to support affiliated fire companies with funds for equipment and firefighting training, and help volunteer firefighters who need financial assistance as a result of their service.

The $75,848 state allocation withheld last year is the organization’s sole funding source, according to the state. Since 2006, the Feasterville relief association has received $774,590 in state funds — money that comes from a 2-percent tax on out-of-state businesses that sell casualty and fire insurance in Pennsylvania, auditor general spokeswoman Susan Woods said.

The state withheld $89,539 in 2010 after the relief association failed to correct deficiencies found in an earlier audit, according to Woods, who said the state released that money to the group in January 2011 after it was satisfied with the association’s compliance efforts.

Calkins Media reviewed three cycles of compliance audits for the Feasterville relief association, covering 2006 through 2013. All the reports found that the association failed to address deficiencies involving inadequate material internal controls, including undocumented expenses and inadequate meeting minutes. The audit findings were forwarded to relief association officers and the secretary of the Lower Southampton supervisors. The supervisors referred all questions about the audit to township solicitor Michael Savona.

In an email, Savona said the township became aware of the deficiencies after the audit was released in January 2015. Relief association representatives told township officials last spring they were cooperating with the state to resolve “any and all audit findings,” Savona said.

As of September, township officials learned the auditing issues weren't cleared up, according to Savona. He said the township ordered an audit of the Feasterville Fire Company because it receives local tax money. He said no irregularities were found in the audited accounts that receive tax funds.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @JoCiavaglia

Love and faith are key for Christina Santhouse 20 years after radical brain surgery

Posted: Sunday, February 14, 2016

Twenty years ago, 8-year-old Christina Santhouse woke up in a Maryland hospital and faced her first day with only half a brain.

Vince Paravecchia and wife Christina 

No one knew what the future would hold for the little girl -- only that she would now get the chance to have a future.

During those early weeks, her progress was one day at a time and one step at a time. Literally.

Would the seizures that pounded her body every 10 minutes stop for good? Would she ever be able to walk? Would she be able to dress herself?

Hopes and goals were added as her recovery progressed.

Would she be able to return to Immaculate Conception School in Bristol Township? Could she earn a high school diploma?

Milestones like going to college, having a career and marrying and becoming a mother were low on the family's wish list because the possibilities seemed so remote.

Two decades later, Christina holds bachelor's and master's degrees. She's a speech and language pathologist, working with kids who need extra encouragement to find their voices. And nearly 18 months ago, she added another milestone to the list -- one that came with a new last name.

Christina, who's now 28, married Vince Paravecchia, now 32, following a whirlwind romance that started when they met in a Bible study group.

On the surface, they are complete opposites. She's a blue-eyed blonde; he has dark eyes and brown hair. She's all about routine and structure; he's laid back and spontaneous. She's an only child. He has four siblings. She's usually an hour early for everything; he's consistently 20 minutes late.

But those differences are minor, the couple said. Their strong religious faith and sense of family are what play the biggest part in their love story.

“From the very moment I met Vince, I felt like it was divine intervention,” Christina said. “God led me to the Bible group. He led me to Vince, and he is continuing to lead our lives.”

Christina age 8

But first, she said, God had to save her life.

Scientists don’t know what causes Rasmussen’s encephalitis, the rare inflammatory disease that Christina had. It most frequently occurs in children under age 10, destroying the brain, causing severe seizures, loss of motor skills and speech, paralysis and eventually, death.

Within months after she was diagnosed, Christina experienced more than 100 violent seizures a day. Medications didn’t work. The seizures left her in a wheelchair as she grew weaker.

Christina the day before her brain surgery

There was one option, doctors said: perform an anatomic hemispherectomy, which was the removal of the diseased right half of Christina’s brain.

Lynne Santhouse, a single mom at the time, said she felt there was no choice. She would do anything to save her child.

The 14-hour surgery was performed Feb. 13, 1996, by then pediatric neurosurgeon — and current Republican presidential candidate — Dr. Ben Carson at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

The surgery is so risky it’s almost never performed today, said neurologist Dr. Christopher Skidmore, who's Christina's current doctor. Skidmore, a physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, said Christina is the first patient he has seen with an anatomic hemispherectomy.

While long-term medical studies have found the last-resort surgery is successful in stopping or reducing seizures, it does result in permanent changes.

Hemispherectomy patients experience at least partial paralysis. Christina's left arm is paralyzed, she has no peripheral vision in her left eye, and her left leg is partially paralyzed. Because the right side of the brain also controls skills such as problem-solving and communication, Christina experienced speech problems after the surgery.

Years of painful, frustrating physical therapy followed, to retrain her body, help her relearn everyday tasks and rebuild her life. Her family was beside her for every step, stumble and success.

Christina age 13

“I lived for the moment,” Christina's mother said. “When you go through something that tragic, you go day to day.”

Stepfather Albert Catarro, who Christina calls Pops, had dated Lynne for three years when Christina became sick, a situation he said cemented their father-daughter bond.

Saving Christina was the sole focus for him and Lynne and their large extended family, Albert said. They knew the surgery had high risks and unclear expectations, but anything beyond stopping the seizures was an extra blessing, he explained.

But the blessings never stopped. One by one, Christina hit her rehabilitation milestones -- and exceeded many of them.

She went back to school and took up bowling, which she excelled at. After graduating from high school with honors, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. For the last six years, she has worked for the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

“She did it on her own,” Lynne said. “I do believe if it wasn’t for her personality, she wouldn’t be where she is today.”

Watching Christina never give up is what Albert said inspired him to finish his doctoral degree. “I've learned more from her than I can put into words. I couldn’t be prouder,” he said.

Not long after buying a home in Lower Makefield nearly four years ago, Christina saw a notice in her church’s Sunday bulletin for a weekly young adult Bible study group. She was told that group was disbanding, but she was directed to a thriving group that met weekly at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Newtown Township.

Christina said she was looking to get more involved with the church and expand her circle of friends. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. Truth is, she wondered if there was a guy out there who loved God as much as she did.

Vince and Christina

Then Vince walked into her first meeting with the St. Andrew group.

Christina was immediately smitten by this man in the brown sweater. She spent the rest of that first meeting casually casting side glances and shy smiles his way.Vince noticed her, too. "I sure did," he said.

But for weeks after Christina joined the Bible study group, the two didn’t even exchange hellos.

Then, one day after she finished work at Lafayette Elementary School in Bristol Township, she walked past the gym. She peeked in and saw Vince, who runs an after-school program there in addition to working with troubled children in Morrisville. Too shy to say hello, Christina kept walking.

A few more weeks passed before they ran into each other in the school hall. This time, they exchanged hellos. Later that night, Christina messaged Vince on Facebook.

The next Monday, Vince encouraged her to join the rest of the Bible study group for a post-meeting powwow and the two ended up sitting next to each other.

Four months later, they went out together for the first time to a performance of “West Side Story” at William Tennent High School.

But this was no ordinary first date. Christina brought her parents, her grandmother, Mary Lou Tantum, and her uncle Joe’s family. After the play, they all had dinner together at a Warminster diner.

At the diner, Christina's grandmother said she realized Vince was someone special to Christina because of the attention he paid to the entire family as well as to her granddaughter. He even pulled the paper wrapper off Christina’s straw for her, Mary Lou recalled.

“He was that thoughtful," she said, adding that she thought at the time: "This is the real deal."

Christina and Vince on their Wedding Day

The rest of the courtship was sonic quick. Christina and Vince went from strangers, to friends, to dating, to engaged, and then married within 19 months.

The speed surprised her mom. “I didn’t think anyone else could take care of her. I didn’t think she could do it without me,” Lynne said.

It wasn’t until months of knowing each other that Vince learned Christina was missing half her brain. He said he had no clue there was anything physically different about her.

“I seriously never noticed. I think that’s because it doesn’t define her to me,” Vince said, adding that he's glad Christina is the one who told him everything about the surgery and her recovery.

“It enhanced our love story,” Vince added. “Throughout my life, I never felt totally complete. Now I do. I think that whole mantra 'your wife is your better half' is true.”

Every once in a while, he'll try to zip his jacket one-handed to get an idea what Christina goes through every day because of her paralysis.

“I usually give up after a couple seconds,” he said. “I don’t know how she does it, quite frankly. It’s crazy. I’ll never understand how she does that. I’ll never understand how she does half the stuff she does with one hand.”

Christina’s neurologist said she's not only healthy for an adult hemispherectomy patient, but for any woman her age.

“She is on the far end of the 'doing amazing' scale,” he said. “She is doing outstanding. If you were ever to trying to convince a family considering the surgery it would almost be unfair to show Christina, because she has done so well.”

What's next for Christina? She'd like to have a baby.

“We’ll see if God blesses us, but for now, we’re just incredibly happy with our life together,” Christina said.

Christina is devoted to St.Theresa

She and Vince said they're not worried about passing on Rasmussen’s encephalitis to the children they pray they’ll have together.

It’s an incredibly rare illness and it’s not hereditary. But if God gives them a child with special needs, so be it, the couple said.

“We’ll just love them unconditionally. Be their 'encourager' and support system until they can find their own wings, just like my mom did for me," Christina said.

“I feel the same way,” Vince added. “I don’t worry about that at all. We’ll deal.”

Twenty years after her surgery, Christina believes her illness was a blessing. She isn’t sure she'd be as compassionate and empathetic otherwise.

And while she doesn't know if people still think of her as the girl with half a brain, Christina believes what other people think isn't important. It's what she thinks about herself that matters.

“My life has surpassed all my wildest dreams. There are just blessings that are poured into my life and I would never trade my life for anything else,” she said. “I have an amazing life that is not defined by my brain.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @JoCiavaglia

Son of late sheriff deputy Tom French wants estate administrator appointed for probate process

Posted: Monday, February 22, 2016 5:00 pm

Thomas French Jr. (L)  Thomas French

The son of a retired Bucks County sheriff's deputy who is contesting his father's will wants the court to appoint a third party to oversee the estate after he said some of its assets have been sold.

Montgomery County attorney Karl Prior has filed a petition in Bucks County's Orphan's Court to appoint an administrator for the estate of Thomas J. French, formerly of Buckingham.

“This estate is a ship without a rudder right now," Prior said Friday. "There is no administrator. There is no executor. There is no one who has authority to act on (French’s) estate.”

Thomas J. French, 64, committed suicide in February 2015. He took his life two weeks after the Pennsylvania attorney general filed charges against him, his wife, Claire Risoldi, of Buckingham; her son and daughter-in-law, Carl A. and Sheila Risoldi, both of Buckingham; and her daughter, Carla V. Risoldi, of Solebury, for allegedly participating in a $20 million insurance fraud and related crimes involving fires at the family’s Buckingham estate, Clairemont. Claire Risoldi’s trial is scheduled for June, which will be followed by a second trial for the remaining defendants.

The dispute over French's will began after Claire Risoldi filed a petition with the Bucks County Orphan's Court asking it to accept what was identified as a photocopy of her late husband's will because she believes the will was destroyed in an October 2013 fire at their home.

Her petition states French gave her son photocopies of important documents, including his will. The photocopy, which Claire Risoldi submitted to the court, names her as his sole heir and executor and her son as the alternate executor. French's son, Thomas Jr., isn't mentioned in the will.

French Jr., the only child of Risoldi's late husband, filed a petition challenging the photocopied will, calling it "fraudulent and a forgery.”

An outside administrative court judge is assigned to hear the probate case after the Bucks County Orphan’s Court staff recused themselves, citing potential conflicts. Probate, the legal process to administer and distribute a dead person's estate under certain circumstances, has remained in a holding pattern following several court-approved continuances at Claire Risoldi's request. 

Calkins Media was unsuccessful in reaching attorneys for Claire Risoldi and Carl A. Risoldi for comment Friday on the petition for an outside administrator.

Carl A. Risoldi and the late Thomas French jointly own a Morrisville home that has been put up for sale. Prior's petition also states other assets have been sold, including vehicles owned by Thomas French. 

Under Pennsylvania law, only an executor has the authority to act on behalf of the estate of a deceased person, according to Lisa Gaier, an estate attorney with the Bucks County Bar Association’s Orphan’s Court section. An executor can be named in a will or, if a person dies without a will, a judge appoints one. Until the Orphan's Court accepts a will for probate, no one has the authority to sell estate assets, Gaier added. 

If estate assets are improperly sold or liquidated, the court could order that the fair-market value of the items be reimbursed to the estate for distribution, Gaier said.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @JoCiavaglia

Records: Risoldis, Morris failed to pay 2015 property taxes on homes

Posted: Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Clairemont

More than $51,000 in real estate taxes is owed on five properties that county records say are owned by -- or state officials say are associated with -- a prominent Bucks County family awaiting trial in a $20 million insurance fraud case.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office obtained temporary restraining orders last year under the civil asset forfeiture law for four properties that it believes are directly or indirectly owned by the Risoldi family. The state obtained the order since the properties could be sold for restitution if members of the Risoldi family are convicted in trials involving alleged fraud stemming from insurance claims related to fires at the family’s Buckingham estate, Clairemont.

The estate has been the setting for Republican fundraisers that brought matriarch Claire Risoldi and her adult children prominence in local political and social circles.

The restraining order legally prohibits the owners from selling, mortgaging or otherwise altering the properties, which the state estimates are collectively worth an estimated $3 million. The state estimates the potential restitution to insurer AIG could be more than $15 million, according to court documents.

4800 Bl Danielle Drice

The restraining order is against Clairemont and three properties on Danielle Drive in Buckingham. They include two owned by Karl Morris but occupied by Claire Risoldi and her son Carl A. Risoldi and his family, according to the attorney general's office. Morris isn't facing charges in the fraud case.

The attorney general's office alleges in court documents that Claire Risoldi gave Morris, a Lower Makefield resident who's a friend of Carl A. Risoldi, the money to buy two homes, in the 4800 and 4900 blocks of Danielle Drive. The documents don't specify why the state believes Risoldi had Morris use Claire Risoldi's money to buy the properties.

In court documents, the state attorney general alleges AIG paid more than $600,000 for additional living expenses to the Risoldis after they “falsely led them (AIG) to believe” that most of the money the insurer provided for living expenses was used to rent two homes for the Risoldis while Clairemont was under reconstruction following the most recent fire, in 2013.

The state has accused Claire Risoldi, 68, son Carl, 44, daughter Carla, 49, Carl’s wife, Sheila, 44, with falsifying and inflating the value of items lost or damaged in an Oct. 22, 2013, fire at the family's Clairemont estate. Claire Risoldi also is accused of engaging in fraud related to previous insurance claims and faces charges of witness intimidation and obstruction of justice in the fraud case.

4900 Bl Danielle Drive

Through their attorneys, the family has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the state’s fraud case. The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching attorneys representing the Risoldis to discuss the delinquent taxes.

Jake Griffin, the attorney representing Morris, declined comment. A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office declined comment on the properties' delinquent taxes.

County and court records show the following tax delinquencies on the four homes with restraining orders:

• Carl and Carla Risoldi owe $19,248.05 on Clairemont, in the 5700 block of Stony Hill Road.
• A total of $7,512.14 is owed on a house in the 4800 block of Danielle Drive that was purchased by Gemini Capital Limited Group LLC in September 2014. Settlement documents show Carl A. Risoldi bought the property, according to the AG’s office.
• Morris owes taxes of $8,753.02 on another home in the 4800 block of Danielle Drive.
• Morris owes taxes of $9,719.05 on a home in the 4900 block of Danielle Drive.

  

  4800 Bl Danielle Drive

The only one not covered by the AG's restraining order is a home in the 400 block of Prospect Street in Morrisville. Carl Risoldi owes $5,919.45 on that, which he co-owned with the late Thomas French, who was Claire Risoldi’s second husband.

AG spokesman Jeffery Johnson said his office’s interpretation of the seizure law is that the property owner remains responsible for taxes and maintenance on a seized property until the forfeiture process and appeals are exhausted.

Between 8,000 and 9,000 property owners a year -- about 10 percent of the county’s property owners -- fail to pay their property taxes on time each year, according Marguerite Genesio, director of the Bucks County Tax Claim Bureau. The bureau collects delinquent real estate taxes and eventually sells the properties of tax delinquents, with the proceeds going to county government.

In April, the bureau mails formal notification of property liens to delinquent owners, Genesio said. Owners have as long as 18 months to pay their delinquent taxes in full, plus interest and fees, she said. That means owners who failed to pay taxes in 2015 have until June 30, 2017, to pay, unless the owner continues to make timely payments based on an agreement with the county. If the taxes aren't fully paid or the owner doesn't comply with the agreement, the county initiates the tax lien sale process.

North  Prospect Ave. Morrisville

In the meantime, the government can take steps to preserve the property if the owner doesn’t maintain it and there is a “substantial probability” the government will prevail in a civil forfeiture action, according to University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Louis Rulli, director of clinical programs there. Those steps could include a contempt of court charge or appointing a custodian to preserve the property, he said.

“In short, the government is not powerless to act if the restraining order is simply not enough to protect and preserve the property that is subject to forfeiture,” Rulli said.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @JoCiavaglia

Judge declined to revoke Risoldi bail; revises decision on separate trials

Posted: Monday, February 8, 2016 

Claire Risoldi (C) Carla Risoldi (R)

A judge on Monday declined to revoke bail for a Buckingham socialite after she reportedly defied his directive and contacted a fourth potential witness in her upcoming $20 million fraud trial.

“Fortunately for her, I am a patient man,” Chester County Senior Judge Thomas Gavin said, before warning Claire Risoldi that any further contacting of witnesses “by any means” would result in a contempt of court charge. Gavin is overseeing the Risoldi trial after all Bucks County judges recused themselves due to possible conflicts of interest.

Last week, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office filed a motion seeking to revoke the $100,000 bail for the 68-year-old Buckingham woman, saying she once again contacted a potential prosecution witness, eight weeks after Gavin warned her to discontinue her “self-help practices.”

The decision was the second time that prosecutors sought to have Risoldi’s bail revoked for contacting a potential witness, court records show. Prosecutor Matt Connolly argued that after the third time, which resulted in witness intimidation charges for Risoldi, the judge had warned her attorney, Jack McMahon, to make sure his client understood she should discontinue contacting potential witnesses associated with the fraud case.

But she didn't, the attorney general alleged. On Jan. 26, just six days after the AG's Office sent McMahon a report documenting its contact with Sharon Greenberg, Risoldi called the woman, who is the sister of a late jewelry appraiser who purportedly completed "numerous" appraisals for Risoldi. The appraisals were then submitted to AIG for items Risoldi was adding to her insurance policy, the AG's Office said.

Greenberg told state investigators that Risoldi called and asked what she told the AG, claimed Risoldi had a close relationship with Greenberg's late brother, Steven, and apologized for “putting (Greenberg) through this,” referring to the questioning by the AG's Office, according to court documents.

Sharon Greenberg, who reported the contact to the AG the next day, told investigators she had spoken to Risoldi only three times over seven years.

“This was after you specifically warned her counsel” against contacting witnesses, Connolly told the judge.

But Gavin countered that while the contact may have violated the spirit of his directive — potentially placing Risoldi at risk of a contempt of court charge — he didn’t see how the call “crossed the line.” He also asked what role Greenberg would play for prosecutors in the fraud case.

Whether Greenberg is called as a star witness is irrelevant, Connolly countered, adding that the contact represented Risoldi’s continued attempt to manipulate witnesses in the case. He added that Greenberg found the call unsettling, especially since Risoldi called her at home.

“What other reason is she calling? You have to look into the context of the whole case,” Connolly added. “Why is she calling and talking about a relationship with her dead brother?”

But McMahon countered that his client’s call to Greenberg was not connected with his office getting the AG’s report and that he was out of town when the material arrived. He added that Greenberg has “nothing to do with this case” and if Risoldi’s contact was so egregious why wasn’t she charged with witness intimidation this time.

“What occurred with her was an innocent conversation,” McMahon added.

The state has accused Claire Risoldi, her son, Carl, 44; daughter, Carla, 49; Carl’s wife, Sheila, 44 with falsifying and inflating the value of items lost or damaged in an Oct. 22, 2013, fire at Clairemont, the family’s Buckingham estate. Claire Risoldi also is accused of engaging in fraud related to previous insurance claims starting in 1984 and separate charges of witness intimidation and obstruction of justice for allegedly attempting to persuade another jewelry appraiser to affirm he signed appraisals for her in 1983 that are evidence in the fraud case. The man, now retired, has testified that he never did appraisals for Claire Risoldi.

In a separate pre-trial motion Monday Gavin modified his earlier decision to separate the trials for Claire Risoldi and the other defendants based on the date of alleged criminal conduct. Instead, Gavin ordered that Claire Risoldi will be tried alone and first for all the charges against her, and the remaining defendants will be tried later.

The earlier decision meant that Claire Risoldi would have had two trials — one with her children in connection with alleged crimes related the 2013 fire at Clairemont and another trial for alleged criminal conduct between 1984 and 2013.

The Risoldi children and daughter-in-law had originally requested the judge separate their trial from Claire Risoldi's, arguing that being tried with a co-defendant “who is alleged to have engaged in insurance fraud for 29 years” would be prejudicial, according to court documents.

Since their arrests, the defendants have steadfastly denied wrongdoing through their attorneys.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @JoCiavaglia