Musti to stand trial for charges in real estate deal involving elderly man

Oct. 24--A man accused of stealing thousands of dollars from an elderly and infirm man will stand trial on charges he swindled him, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Christopher Musti, 43, appeared in Lackawanna County Central Court for a preliminary hearing on charges of theft by deception, securing the execution of documents by deception and for acting as a real estate broker without a license.

After 1 1/2 hours of testimony from two witnesses, Magisterial District Judge Laura Turlip found that county prosecutors presented enough evidence to send Musti to trial.

County detectives charged Musti in June with acting as an unlicensed broker in trying to sell Neil Robbins' home nearly a year earlier. Robbins was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease/dementia about a month after the July 17, 2018, closing on his home, which authorities said left him susceptible to financial exploitation.

Robbins still owns the home. On Nov. 30, Judge Vito Geroulo issued a decree prohibiting the transfer without the court's approval.

Musti's attorney, Mark Hinrich, argued Robbins' competency was not tested at the time of the closing and he could have easily made the choice to sell his home with Musti's help without a whiff of criminality.

Mara Miller, who runs a house cleaning company, testified that Musti hired her to clean Robbins' home, 830-832 Jefferson Ave., so Musti could prepare it for sale.

On July 9, 2018, Miller noticed four people packing Robbins' belongings into boxes. Robbins was not there.

"I asked them where Neil was," Miller testified. "They said, 'Neil who?' "

On July 10, 2018, she found Robbins sitting in his living room with only a chair, a television on a stand and a dog. He had no bed, no refrigerator and no clue where he was going.

Miller managed to get Robbins some food and contacted authorities.

"But, for the good graces of some Good Samaritans," Robbins was able to eat, Deputy District Attorney Cathy Tully said.

Detective Renee Castellani, assigned to investigate, testified Musti put his belongings up for auction for at least $12,500.

Castellani learned that Musti, a former Scranton school director who recently moved to Tampa, Florida, tried to facilitate the sale from Robbins to a buyer from Long Island, Danny Daloya.

By June 20, 2018, Musti created two purchase and sale agreements to transfer the property. First, the property would go from Robbins to Musti's real estate management company, Florida Gator Properties LLC, for $25,000. The next agreement transferred the property from the management firm to Daloya for $40,000, netting Musti a $15,000 profit.

However, Musti did not gain title before selling to Daloya at a higher price, which Castellani called a "jumped title" that indicated Musti acted as an unlicensed broker.

Musti took $7,500 from Daloya, half his consulting fee.

The real estate deal closed July 17, 2018, at the office of attorney John Pesota, who was contacted by Musti and who Musti's former attorney, Ernest Preate Jr., told investigators attended to Robbins' interests. Pesota, who is also a magistrate judge, was involved in previous real estate transactions of Musti's several years ago, according to online county records.

Musti is free on $50,000 unsecured bail. He will next appear in court Dec. 6.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144; @jkohutTT on Twitter

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