St. Charles man charged with writing bogus checks for Campton Hills home, bilking clients
A 39-year-old man accused of writing bogus checks to buy a Campton Hills home and bilking two clients while acting as a financial planner recently was sentenced to six months in jail and 30 months probation.
As part of his guilty plea, Peter A. Mazzara, of the 4000 block of Pleasant Court, St. Charles, must pay $105,000 restitution after pleading guilty to felony forgery and wire fraud, according to court records.
Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler accepted the plea in which prosecutors dismissed other more severe charges such as theft of more than $50,000, a felony that carried a top prison term of 15 years.
Mazzara had several felony cases pending against him.
One, according to court records, accused Mazzara in November 2013 of writing three checks - one for a deposit, one for a month's mortgage and one for prorated property taxes - to buy a home in the 3N900 block of Ralph Waldo Emerson Lane in Campton Hills when he knew he didn't have enough money in his account. The house was not for sale.
In another case, Mazzara was arrested in October 2012 on charges he bilked a woman out of at least $100,000 and cheated a man out of more than $5,000 in June 2010 while acting as a financial planner, records show.
Messages left for Mazzara's defense attorney, Michael McMahon, were not returned.
Mazzara can have his jail sentence cut in half for good behavior.
He has credit for 60 days served in jail while the charges were pending, so he could be released from custody in about a month.
If he violates his probation, Mazzara could be resentenced to additional jail time or up to five years in prison.