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Stephon Gionfriddo, 68, the former mayor of Middletown, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison after admitting to embezzling more than $500,000 from his former employer and proceeding to steal approximately $400,000 from his brother to pay that back. He will also serve three years of supervised release.
Gionfriddo was hired as a paralegal by a law firm in Rocky Hill in August 2013. Beginning in December that year, Gionfriddo admitted to having the firm’s bookkeeper prepare checks to his creditors by misrepresenting the amount of money needed to pay clients. Gionfriddo also stole checks made payable to the firm and its clients and endorsed them to himself, which were used for personal expenses.
In total, Gionfriddo stole $543,372.21, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gionfriddo was confronted about the misappropriated money in September 2017, with him promising to repay the funds. The following month, Gionfriddo called the Thrift Savings Plan, impersonated his brother, a federal government employee, and took measures to withdraw nearly $200,000 from his brother’s account.
According to court documents, to conceal his deception, Gionfriddo reached out to the United States Postal Service and had mail suspended to his brother - who suffers from a medical condition - for an entire month. Gionfriddo also withdrew more than $200,000 from his brother’s bank and investment accounts.
In addition to his prison sentence and supervised release, Gionfriddo must also pay $446,111.67 in restitution to his victims.
Gionfriddo was arrested in June last year and he pleaded guilty to mail fraud and wire fraud in November. Gionfriddo remains released on bond and is scheduled to report to prison on April 1 to begin his sentence.
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