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Sentencing in Florida real estate scam to continue Friday
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An all-day sentencing hearing in Florida for a former Monroeville man convicted of fleecing affluent Pittsburghers in a series of real estate scams has ended for the day and will continue Friday in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers.
The sentencing hearing for Alfredo Sararo, an ex-Allegheny County probation officer living in Naples, began this morning at 9 and will resume Friday at 9 before U.S. District Judge John Steele.
Mr. Sararo was convicted this summer of ripping off 13 Pittsburgh-area investors during the real estate boom on Florida???s Gulf Coast in the mid-2000s. Prosecutors said he used his close friendship with a retired Allegheny County Common Pleas judge, Robert Horgos, to lure friends of Mr. Horgos into the bogus real estate deals.
FBI and IRS agents from Pittsburgh, who had been investigating the purchases since 2007, said Mr. Sararo prepared fake deeds, forged signatures and falsified sales agreements and loan documents in stealing from investors. He also embezzled money from Mr. Horgos???s bank account.
Mr. Horgos testified under a grant of immunity at Mr. Sararo???s trial this summer.
Mr. Sararo faces a possible 27 years in federal prison.
First Published January 3, 2013 5:37 pm
