Glendale Heights man sentenced for scamming neighbors
A Glendale Heights man has been sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to scam his elderly neighbors with promises of fixing a court case involving their son.
Joseph LaPuma, who will turn 67 Monday, of the 1000 block of Michael Court, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of theft by deception to deprive a senior citizen of more than $5,000.
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, 2016.
According to court documents, LaPuma also was ordered to repay the Ricchetti family in monthly installments.
Defense attorney Donald Ramsell was hired to represent Joseph Ricchetti in the DUI case when the family realized they were being scammed. He said Friday that the family was "very satisfied" with LaPuma's sentence.
"Mr. LaPuma is the type of individual who deserves to go to prison for taking advantage of a mother's weaknesses for the love of her son," Ramsell said. "Ironically, it's almost as if he is going to do the jail sentence that he was trying to guarantee that Mr. Ricchetti would not do."
LaPuma told the Ricchettis he had a connection through his ex-wife, whom he still lived with, to access the court documents.
Dewey Hartman, chief deputy circuit court clerk, said at the time of LaPuma's arrest that neither LaPuma nor LaPuma's 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 at the time.
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.
As for Joseph Ricchetti, he pleaded guilty in March to aggravated DUI and was sentenced to 90 days in DuPage County jail, 10 days in the Sheriff's Work Alternative Program and was ordered to wear an alcohol-sensing ankle monitor for two years.