Ex-Agent Charged In $300K Fraud From Elderly Woman

March 29--A Manalapan man was charged with stealing more than $300,000 in life savings from a 90-year-old family friend, leaving the woman on public assistance, the New Jersey Attorney General's office said Monday.

Robert Berlin, 46, liquidated the Toms River woman's $195,000 in annuity funds and sold nearly $111,000 worth of stocks, pocking the money for himself, according to an indictment.

"If these allegations are true, Robert Berlin mercilessly victimized an elderly woman who trusted him with her life savings," Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy said in a statement.

Berlin was charged with two counts of unlawful taking, two counts of theft by deception, theft by failure to make required dispensation of property received, passing bad checks and fraudulent use of credit cards.

A representative for Berlin couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Berlin is a former insurance salesman whose license was revoked in 2008 for defrauding clients. After he lost his license, he opened Retro Fitness Gym in Wallington, Bergen County, but he continued to manage the assets of the woman, whom he had sold annuities years before, prosecutors said.

Berlin liquidated the woman's assets over a four-year period, according to the indictment.

He also was indicted for allegedly using the woman's bank card for at least $7,000 in personal purchases, including airline tickets, pet care, gymnastic classes and after-school activities for his children.

The indictment also charged him with stealing $50,000 from another Toms River couple that loaned him the money for renovations to his health club. Berlin never intended to use the money for gym improvements and never repaid the loan with interest as he promised, according to the state.

Michael L. Diamond; 732-643-4038; mdiamond@gannettnj.com

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