Glendale Hts. man accused of shaking down neighbors to fix son's DUI case

An elderly Glendale Heights couple is out $13,000 and their neighbor is behind bars, accused of deceiving them with promises of fixing a court case involving their son.

Joseph LaPuma, 66, of the 1000 block of Michael Court, is charged with theft by deception and is being held in DuPage County jail on $100,000 bail, according to court records.

LaPuma, the ex-husband of a DuPage County deputy clerk, said he could expunge previous DUI convictions of Joseph Ricchetti, 41, of Elmhurst and influence a pending aggravated DUI charge so that Ricchetti would serve 90 days in a rehabilitation facility, a substantially less severe punishment than he was facing.

Ricchetti's parents, Michael and Karen Ricchetti, say they paid LaPuma more than $13,000 from their retirement savings between Nov. 16, 2015, and July 8.

Defense attorney Donald Ramsell said the Ricchettis "say that they are not the first to go through this with LaPuma, according to LaPuma's claims." Ramsell was hired to represent Joseph Ricchetti in the DUI case when the family realized they were being scammed.

"(LaPuma) even gave them the name of a mutual friend he claimed to have helped," Ramsell said.

LaPuma told the Ricchettis he had a connection through his ex-wife, whom he still lived with, to access the court documents, Ramsell said.

Dewey Hartman, chief deputy circuit court clerk, said Wednesday neither LaPuma nor his ex-wife were capable of following through with LaPuma's claims.

"The ex-wife does work for us, but she does not work in the criminal area of our office. She works in the civil division. As to him or her having access to any information that would provide (those services), the answer is no," Hartman said. "Certainly he would not have had any access to anything. Nor would she. Our systems are very secure with the users and transactions capabilities that the individuals have on various case types. None of those things (promised by LaPuma) would have been possible."

LaPuma served two years in prison, beginning in 1995, on a felony theft charge. He also has a jury trial scheduled for Oct. 12 on misdemeanor theft charges.

LaPuma is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Monday on the latest charges.