Local man tied to state's $6.5 million scam
Published on February 24th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The Town of Stoneham received yet another black eye when one of its residents was named in one of the biggest embezzlement scandals to hit the state in its history.
Constitution Road resident John Trischitta was arrested at his home last Friday after being named in an investigation by state police.
Trischitta, a 20-year employee of the state treasurer's office, is alleged to have released checks totaling over $6.5 to his longtime friend, Martin Robbins, on November 6 of last year. According to prosecutors, Trischitta used his position as a supervisor in the department to release the two large checks from the state's Unclaimed Check Fund.
Trischitta, 47, has been charged with one count of bribery stemming from his alleged deal with Robbins to obtain one third of the $6.5 million. In addition, he is said to have accepted a $50,000 bribe from his friend in recent months. He has pleaded innocent to the charge.
Robbins, 51, faces charges of larceny, forgery and passing bad checks.
According to one fellow Constitution Road resident who asked to remain anonymous, Trischitta and his wife, Diane, have been good neighbors.
"He kind of keeps to himself," he told the Independent, "but it's a really nice family. From what I do know, he seems very nice.
"I was shocked to hear about it."
According to state police, they were tipped of the illegal transaction when Robbins, a New Hampshire resident, attempted to withdraw millions from a checking account he had established months prior.
Trischitta has worked at the treasurer's office since 1979 where he started as a teller. Through the years, he is said to have established himself in the department and gained the trust of former State Treasurer Joe Malone. He was promoted to the position of supervisor in 1990 and was making slightly over $50,000 per year at the time of his arrest.
Current State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien has attributed the scam to her Malone's lack of management and has ordered a probe of the department which will be led by state Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci.
The Boston media has reported that Trischitta generously donated funds to Malone's past campaigns for office.
"Today's event painfully and clearly reveals that there were not sufficient oversight and control mechanisms in place over the Commonwealth's Unclaimed Check Fund, and that a lack of management almost resulted in the theft of $6.5 million," O'Brien said in a press release.
Malone responded to these claims by telling an AP News writer, "They're going to see this was a case of human weakness, it's not a case of lack of controls. I can only think he (Trischitta) must have gotten himself in some sort of desperate situation."
Judith Lindahl, a private attorney hired to defend Trischitta, told the Independent that this is, in some respects, a volatile and political case.
"This is a very political case," she said. "There's some pretty high stakes involved in this."
Lindahl said that Stoneham and state police searched her client's home on Thursday evening after a search warrant was issued. Sources close to the case have said that a computer and various papers were seized from the property.
In order to establish himself as a claimant, Robbins is said to have posed as a representative from Cambridge Economic Development Investment Corporation, a company which went out of business 13 years ago, and applied for the funds, claiming to have fraudulent power of attorney privileges.
At the arraignment hearing on Friday, prosecutors explained that Trischitta had accepted $1,000 and $2,000 checks from Robbins between January of 1998 and February of this year.
According to Attorney General Thomas Reilly, more charges could be imposed on the suspects. In July, the Unclaimed Check Fund is said to have contained $42 million. Today, it stands at $13 million.
Reilly told the Boston Herald that procedures which were meant to protect monies in the Unclaimed Check Fund were relaxed last July and allowed for this recent development.
"There were no real checks, there were no balances, there were no controls to speak of," he told the newspaper.
Lindahl said that media encampments in the Constitution Road area have been a source of ire for the Trischitta family and neighbors in recent days.
"Mr. Trischitta is appalled that the neighborhood is under siege by the media and is staying elsewhere to minimize the impact on his family and on his neighborhood," she said.
A grand jury is now in control of Trischitta's case and will decide if an indictment for a superior court case is in need. The case has been continued to March 25 to announce the jury's decision.
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