Former President and Treasurer of the New Sharon Fire Company Sentenced to 52 Months in Prison for Stealing More Than $500,000 from the Fire Company and Deptford Fire Department

CAMDEN, NJ—The former president and treasurer of the New Sharon Fire Company in Deptford Township, N.J., was sentenced today to 52 months in prison for stealing more than $500,000 from the New Sharon Fire Company and Deptford Fire Department, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Charles V. Mancini III, 46, of Wenonah, N.J., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to embezzling, stealing, and obtaining by fraud money belonging to the New Sharon Fire Company and Deptford Fire Department, departments of Deptford Township which receive federal funds. Judge Rodriguez also imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to the information to which Mancini pleaded guilty and statements made in court:

From January 2005 to February 2, 2010, Mancini was the president of the New Sharon Fire Company. From February 2007 to February 2, 2010, he was also the treasurer. The New Sharon Fire Company is a part of the Deptford Fire Department, which serves Deptford Township in Gloucester County, N.J.

In March 2006, Mancini applied for and obtained a $90,000 line of credit in the name of the New Sharon Fire Company without authorization, and from September 20, 2006, to November 21, 2008, he diverted the majority of the funds from the line of credit to his personal use.

When the New Sharon Fire Company received approximately $448,990 in insurance proceeds to repair damage from a December 8, 2008 fire, Mancini diverted the majority of the insurance proceeds to himself. He wrote checks to himself, other entities over which he had control or partial control, and other entities. To conceal the theft and embezzlement of the insurance proceeds, he provided the fire company members with a false bank statement which made it appear as though the insurance proceeds were on deposit with Penn Mutual Bank.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Rodriguez sentenced Mancini to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $505,099.79 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Resident Agency in Cherry Hill, N.J., under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos in Philadelphia, with developing the investigation.

The government is represented by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Stephen Stigall of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Defense counsel: Rocco C. Cipparone, Jr., Esq., Haddon Heights, N.J.