Musti to face new charges in real estate deal

Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA)

Jun. 16--A man awaiting trial on charges he tried to swindle an elderly and infirm man's home out from under him is in new trouble after investigators said he drew up a phony document aimed at legitimizing his role in the near sale of the Scranton home.

Lackawanna County detectives and prosecutors learned of Christopher Musti's latest alleged scheme after he mailed the fraudulent contract to them under a fake name, according to a criminal complaint.

Musti, 44, 915 Hampton St., Apt. R, Scranton, is awaiting arraignment on charges of forgery, obstructing the administration of law or other governmental functions, hindering prosecution, unsworn falsification, tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy. Authorities on Monday were arranging his court appearance, Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell said.

Also facing charges is a longtime friend of Musti, Robert Helring, 47, of Clearwater, Florida, for his participation in making the false documents, authorities said. He is expected to face a judge.

The charges against the two were filed Wednesday.

Musti, a former Scranton school director, came under scrutiny about two years ago when he drafted two purchase and sale agreements that would see Neil Robbins' home at 830-832 Jefferson Ave. go from Robbins to Florida Gator Properties for $25,000 and then from the property management firm to Danny Daloya, a buyer from Long Island, New York, for $40,000, netting Musti a $15,000 profit.

However, Robbins was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease/dementia a month after the July 17, 2018, closing on the home, which authorities said left him vulnerable to financial exploitation. That vulnerability was on display when Mara Miller, who runs a house-cleaning company, found Robbins in July 2018 in a bare living room with no bed, no refrigerator and no idea where he was going. Musti, investigators said, auctioned off the elderly man's belongings for $12,500.

Detectives initially charged Musti in June 2019. Robbins still owns the home, according to county assessment records.

Between May 18 and May 22, Deputy District Attorney Cathy Tully, who is prosecuting Musti, and Detective Renee Castellani, who investigated the case, received envelopes purportedly from a man named "Brandon Verdetto" from "Project Justice." The mailings contained photographs of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and his quote: "We should never forget the Constitution wasn't written to restrain citizen's behavior. It was written to restrain the government's behavior," as well as letters alleging bias from the investigators and proclamations of Musti's innocence.

Also included was an "authorized agent agreement" in which Robbins allegedly authorized Musti to auction off Robbins' possessions and sell his home to a cash buyer for a $15,000 profit. It was signed electronically by Robbins, Musti and Helring, as a witness. The document had a date of May 15, 2018 -- which was before the sale.

A "sublease agreement" was included with the contract that would see Helring sublease out his Florida residence to Robbins.

The documents did not hold up when scrutinized, police said.

Helring's landlord told detectives that he had no authority to sublease the property. In an interview with detectives, Helring initially told police that his landlord had no problem with his subleasing to Robbins. When challenged on the point, Helring admitted that he could not sublease the property.

Surveillance footage from the post office where the envelopes were mailed revealed that it was actually Musti who mailed them.

Musti used the program Eversign to create the documents. The program kept a time-stamped data trail on how the documents were created, which investigators reviewed. The documents were created in six minutes on Oct. 14, 2019, not on May 15, 2018, as they suggest. The documents were all signed using the same Internet Protocol address in Pennsylvania, even though Helring said that he signed while in Florida. Detectives charged the signatures were forgeries and that Musti forged them.

Charges in his previous case -- theft by deception, securing the execution of documents by deception and acting as a real estate broker without a license -- remain pending for trial.

Attempts to reach Musti and Helring were unsuccessful.

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