CLARK, NJ — A former Clark resident drained a juvenile relative’s inheritance fund for his own personal gain as a trustee has been indicted by a Union County grand jury, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and Clark police announced.
Anthony DiRobbio, 60, of Silver Springs, Fla., is charged with misapplication of entrusted property, a second-degree crime.
DiRobbio is accused of spending most of the large inheritance over a little more than two years, the UCPO said in a Jan. 23 release.
A joint investigation involving the UCPO’s Special Prosecutions Unit and Clark police, initiated in October 2018, revealed that DiRobbio’s sister, a Woodbridge resident, died in June 2015 at the age of 72, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Rosenthal, who is prosecuting the case.
Her will left her entire estate in equal shares to her two grandsons: one adult and one juvenile.
The will also established a trust for the juvenile’s share of the estate and named DiRobbio as trustee, with all of the funds to be released to the juvenile when he turned 25. The juvenile’s share of the estate amounted to over $85,000, the UCPO said.
But from the creation of the trust’s bank account in June 2016 through mid-November 2018, less than $10,000 was paid out for the benefit of the juvenile. Meanwhile, DiRobbio made cash withdrawals from the account amounting to more than $75,000, none of which went to the juvenile. These funds disappeared and have not been recovered.
Convictions on second-degree criminal charges are commonly punishable by prison terms of five to 10 years in state prison.