Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence
“Former Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence’s sentencing hearing continues Monday in White Plains on how much money investors may have lost from a fraudulent bond scheme to build the baseball stadium and hide the town’s financial malaise.
One result of the continuing hearing is that the sentencing of former Ramapo assistant town attorney Aaron Troodler has been rescheduled for Jan. 2.
Troodler pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy in March and cooperated with prosecutors for a lesser sentence by testifying against St. Lawrence during his trial from April to mid-May. Troodler potentially faces two to four years in prison.
Judge Seibel also has told the attorneys that she would consider the fraud’s impact on Ramapo taxpayers and the state of the town’s financial health.
And some residents are pressing the taxpayer angle with a petition signed by more than 1,200 people to Seibel claiming how Ramapo taxpayers were defrauded.
The petition by the grassroot group’s Preserve Ramapo’s Michael Castelluccio goes into how voters rejected financing for the baseball stadium, only to see St. Lawrence circumvent the vote and push through $25 million in bonds payable over 26 years for the stadium’s construction.
“Don’t let St. Lawrence’s defense attorney get away with claiming this is a victim-less crime,” the petition states.
The petition draw launched Nov. 30 after Burke told the court that no victim has come forward to claim to have been economically harmed, Castelluccio said.
“The petition was our way to enable residents and taxpayers to come forward and explain the price they were paying for St. Lawrence’s crimes,” Castelluccio said. “And they did. More than a thousand of them are now part of the court record in this case.”
Read the complete Journal News story here.