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Erin McHugh, 20, of Harrington Park, and former Norwood resident Brian Corriston reached their plea deals today after hours of negotiation and no fewer than four false starts in court.
A third defendant, Stephen Diebner, previously pleaded guilty and is in a drug treatment program after spending nearly a year behind bars.
Brian Corriston, Erin McHugh and their defense attorneys (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
Both defendants apologized for their crimes, with Corriston saying he didn’t intend to hurt the LoRusso family.
“I have known them since I was in high school,” he said. “I got caught up with the wrong people.”
McHugh said, simply: “I’m sorry for everything that happened.”
In an unusual move for a plea, Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi allowed LoRusso to speak.
“You damaged four good families for selfish and inconsiderate reasons,” said LoRusso, who has attended court dates in the case even when the defendants didn’t show up.
“You didn’t rob your dad’s golf clubs, or your mother’s German sports car,” he told McHugh, who used to date LoRusso’s son. “You came to our house, and it was a candy store.
“You and Steven Diebner thought you got away with the crime when you drove past our house two days later.”
Turning to the judge, LoRusso told her, “Erin can cook, she can sing. Brian was a standout athlete.
“You two still have time” to turn their lives around, he said.
DeAvila-Silebi credited LoRusso and his wife with making the agreement possible, saying, “Their hearts were in the right place, because they have kids too.”
LoRusso thanked her, as well as Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Natalie Candela for “listening when the whole system was against us, and being there with us from day one.
“This lady did some job,” LoRusso said. “We can’t thank her enough.”
LoRusso spent $100,000 of his own money having the case investigated by Richard “Bo” Dietl — the ex-NYPD detective, author and media star — after no arrests were made by local police despite what he insisted was more than enough evidence.
Dietl, whose private security agency takes on some of the most vexing crimes for corporations and individuals, brought the evidence to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, which quickly secured an indictment against the trio.
LoRusso, who operates his own environmental abatement business, went to police after he discovered two Cartiers, a Rolex, and two Breitlings missing on April 26 of last year.
Although the watches were valued are more than $100,000, LoRusso said he used the $79,000 total cost as the amount in the theft report. A cross, chain and bracelet worth were nearly $3,500 themselves were also taken, he said.
LoRusso had plenty of suspicions from the beginning, some of which later turned into what Dietl said is solid evidence (SEE: Old Tappan burglary victim gets help bringing charges from Bo Dietl).
“At one point we knew where all five of them were, but just couldn’t get our hands on them,” LoRusso told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
McHugh held up the scheduled pleas much of the day, weeping profusely each time she went breor the judge.
Defense attorney Carmine LoFaro requested another day, but DeAvila-Silebi said she couldn’t because today was the last day of the court calendar year.
“Any other day, and I would have given you weeks,” the judge said, urging the defense lawyers, family members and prosecutor to “go out in the hallway and come to terms.”
McHugh’s parents were in court and insisted LoRusso not seek civil damages against her — to which he agreed.
Corriston’s father, prominent defense attorney Kevin Corriston, was also in court and involved in the plea talks.
McHugh eventually admitted engineering the theft scheme with the help of Diebner, a local drug dealer, who, in turn, sold some of the watches to Corriston.
Corriston admitted in court that he bought the watches from Diebner, knowing that they were stolen, and then resold them.
Under the terms of their plea deal, McHugh and Corriston must split $54,000 in restitution representing $30,000 for a Cartier watch and $24,000 for a Rolex that were never recovered.
McHugh was admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention program for 36 months and agreed to pay her $27,000 share of restitution in the next two weeks. She is also in rehab in an outpatient program and has completed a residential treatment program in Long Branch, authorities said.
Corriston pleaded guilty to one count of receiving stolen property, a disorderly persons offense. He was sentenced to a year of probation, during which he must pay his share of the restitution.
DeAvila-Silebi said there is a possibility that Corriston’s probation can be transferred to Florida, where he now lives.
Defense attorney Sal Vargo said that is “a better environment for him, where he has a support system and is away from the bad associations he has in Bergen County.”
Both defendants have to complete drug “aftercare” programs and pass drug and alcohol tests throughout their probation and PTI programs.
LoRusso got two of the other watches back from a Paramus jeweler on Route 4. The fifth, a Breitling, remains in evidence with Rockland authorities.
“I’ve spent in excess of $160,000 bringing this to justice. Why? It’s simple,” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “It’s not like I have some kind of vendetta. I’m not going after someone for no reason. It’s criminality. They robbed my house.
“After all that, it’s good to see justice finally served.”
Michael LoRusso, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Natalie Candela, Brian Corriston, Erin McHugh and their defense attorneys (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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