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A Lower Moyamensing man allegedly stole about $437,000 from two of his former employers where he oversaw payroll and distributed paychecks in a scheme dating back to 2001.
John R. Pignotti Jr., captain of the Hegman String Band, Second and Wharton streets, from 1986 to 2000, is believed to have created false names and clients and then cashed the checks issued to those fictitious people and companies at two businesses that oversaw security guard placement, according to court documents.
Between March 20, ’01 and Oct. 8 ’08 Pignotti worked as a security firm branch manager in Bala Cynwyd where he supposedly used past employees’ personal information such as names, addresses and social security numbers to make inflated payrolls, which he then sent to the company’s Lexington, N.Y. headquarters, according to court documents. He allegedly cashed the fraudulent checks and kept the funds that totaled about $111,000.
Upon relocating to a similar place of business in Philadelphia around Oct. 9, ’08, Pignotti is believed to have created fake names of security guards who worked for fake clients such as “H&B Towers” and “B&C Arcade” and, after sending the bogus sign-in sheets and payroll records to a Long Island, N.Y. agency, he allegedly cashed about $326,000 in faux checks through April 9, ’10, according to court documents. He is believed to have tried to conceal the scheme by sending invoices to post office boxes he created for each of the clients and made small payments by sending U.S. Postal Service money orders in the name of the allegedly made-up companies for outstanding invoices.
Pignotti, 50, of the 900 block of Daly Street, was charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and, if convicted, could face up to 22 years in prison. A conviction would result in a mandatory two-year jail sentence with three years of supervised release, a $500,000 fine and a $200 special assessment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Also in this week’s Police Report:
Seeking alleged home invader
Steak-out
Scammer deep in debt
Loathing the clothing
Lie detector
Sneak attack
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