Four alleged scammers accused of swiping $2 million in milk money earmarked for New York’s Catholic schoolkids pleaded not guilty yesterday and were released on bail.
Suspect Joseph DeRusso 59, of Florham Park, N.J., initially tried to whine his way out of putting up his house as collateral on a $500,000 bond, but Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley balked at the move.
“I think he’s a flight risk,” Pauley snapped at DeRusso’s lawyer, Alan Zegas, after Zegas insisted his client wouldn’t flee.
Pauley strongly hinted that DeRusso has already tried to hide his cut of the money that he and his cohorts allegedly swiped from the New York Archdiocese’s food-service program.
Pauley noted the suspect has a measly $3,500 in his bank account.
DeRusso and fellow suspects Michael O’Shaughnessy and Vincent Heintz and Heintz’s wife, Nanette Melera, face charges including mail fraud, tax fraud and evasion and conspiracy.
They are accused of concocting an elaborate scam in which they overcharged vendors and then pocketed the money either directly or after funneling it through shell companies.
Prosecutor Rebecca Meiklejohn called the alleged scheme “a very simple, straightforward financial fraud case.”
DeRusso remained stone-faced throughout the proceeding, as did O’Shaughnessy, of Queens.
But Heintz, the 63-year-old general manager of the archdiocese’s purchasing arm, through which the scam was allegedly run, seemed on the verge of tears as tensions appeared high between him and Melera, 62.
The couple, who live in Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, left an empty seat between them as they sat for the proceeding.
Afterward, an emotional Melera rushed to supporters, welled up in tears and whispered, “This really sucks.”
The judge is expected to set a trial date at the next hearing Feb. 24.