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Former city worker pleads not guilty larceny, forgery
Posted on 07/22/2010
By TOM EVANS Times Staff Writer STAMFORD -- The former city employee accused of embezzling more than $16,000 from city accounts, who later allegedly pocketed money intended as mortgage payments in an arrangement with a family friend, pleaded not guilty to all charges at her arraignment on Thursday in Stamford Superior Court. Wendy Greco, 41, of 55 Plymouth Road, is facing first-degree larceny charges and second-degree forgery charges -- both felonies -- after her Feb. 23 arrest for allegedly embezzling $16,353.98 from a city checking and debit account over an 18-month period that ended with the discovery of the missing money in January. According to Sgt. Peter diSpagna of the Stamford Police Department's Property Crimes Unit, Greco was arrested May 10 and charged with first-degree larceny, a charge that stems from an investigation into a complaint made by a family friend. In the most-recent case, diSpagna said Greco entered into a mortgage agreement with Rose Scrofani-Guitton and Peter Scrofani, then allegedly failed to make those mortgage payments and took the money for other use. On Thursday, Judge Gary White accepted attorney Barry A. Butler's request to waive the reading of the charges, as well as the not guilty plea, a request for jury election, and Greco's next appearance is scheduled for Sept. 2 in Courtroom 4A, where more serious cases are adjudicated. According to the first arrest warrant executed on Feb. 23, the unauthorized expenditures were discovered by Ronald Miller, president of the Connecticut Association of Housing Code Enforcement Officials Inc. The CAHCEO falls under the direction of the director of health and human services. Both Miller and Greco, who was the treasurer for the CAHCEO since 2008, worked for the city's health department. Miller is a health inspector, while Greco was an office support specialist. According to Nicholas Adamucci, attorney for Scrofani and Scrofani-Guitton, his clients "relied on Wendy Greco's promise to forward the mortgage payments to the mortgage company." "Without permission from my clients, Wendy Greco has withheld the funds," Adamucci wrote in a letter dated March 25. "In total, Wendy Greco has unlawfully retained approximately $80,875. At this time my clients respectfully request that you criminally charge Wendy Greco for her criminal behavior." Scrofani-Guitton said she was shocked at how this longtime friendship with Wendy Greco and her husband, Dan, went so horribly wrong. She said her husband, Rene Guitton Sr., died when a brain aneurysm burst a day before he, his son Peter, and Dan Greco were going to the closing for the house at 55 Plymouth Road on April 12, 2006. "Dan and Wendy were friends with my husband for years, and my kids spoke of (Dan) as uncle," Scrofani-Guitton said. "Peter's income -- my husband's $90,000 salary went with him -- was not enough to support the $700,000 mortgage, so (the Grecos) came in name only. Dan and Wendy only got accepted for an (electronic fund transfer) type of mortgage. We trusted our $2,750 payment each month to Dan and Wendy. It made sense to have the mortgage taken from their account." Scrofani-Guitton said as of November 2007, there were no more mortgage payments being made on the property. "Wendy had mail deferred to a private mail box, and calls to her cell phone went unanswered," Scrofani-Guitton said. "I know we'll never see (Peter's) $80,000 (down payment). If (Wendy) keeps playing the victim, playing the drug addiction card, saying she's a mother, she probably won't do a day of time. She'll get justice when she meets her maker." Greco has repeatedly refused to comment.
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