Poland man indicted in $99K securities scam pleaded guilty in similar case

YOUNGSTOWN — It's not the first time Nicholas J. Pupino has been accused of scamming an elderly woman out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Pupino, 82, of Poland, a state-licensed insurance agent, has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of unlawful securities practice, forgery and theft from a person in a protected class in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, which referred Pupino for local charges, Pupino solicited $99,000 from an elderly woman which he claimed would be invested with insurance firms — the dividends from which could pay for her nursing home or be passed on to her family, he said.

But instead of forwarding the monies to the insurance firms, he named himself as payee on the woman's signed checks and deposited the money into his own bank account, according to a release from the department.

According to Pupino's indictment handed up earlier this month by a Mahoning County grand jury, the scheme continued from December 2014 to June 2017 — about the same time Pupino was being prosecuted in a similar case in another state.

Florida court records show Pupino pleaded guilty in December 2016 to exploiting an elderly Florida woman with dementia out of more than $42,000.

Pupino, who lived in Estero, Fla. at the time, began acting as the woman's power of attorney in 2012, according to Pupino's warrant, filed by an Indian River County Sheriff's Office investigator.

When he signed off on the 83-year-old woman's admission to a Florida assisted living facility in 2013, and began paying living expenses on her behalf, her bank account balances totaled more than $80,000, according to the warrant.

But by 2015, the woman was evicted from the facility for nonpayment. In early 2016, her accounts showed only about $2,000 was left, according to the warrant. Bills for her medication were past-due.

Pupino, who had full access to the woman's bank accounts and credit cards, removed more than $42,000 from those accounts from November 2013 to April 2014 through self-paid checks and teller withdrawals, according to investigators.

"[The woman] had enough money saved to cover the gap between her income and living expenses for years if it had not been for Pupino completely depleting both of her … accounts," the Indian River County Sheriff's detective wrote.

Pupino reportedly told investigators he was a lifelong friend of the woman's family and claimed the woman owed him for a $35,000 loan he provided her in 2001 — money he "felt he needed to get paid back because she may die," the warrant reads.

The case never went to trial, as Pupino pleaded guilty in December 2016. He avoided jail, instead receiving a four-day probation sentence. He was also ordered to repay the stolen funds in full before sentencing, records show.

Pupino is currently free on a $15,000 personal recognizance bond in his Mahoning County case. No further court dates have been set.

Mike Yacovone, the assistant county prosecutor who presented Pupino's case to the grand jury, said it's unclear whether Pupino currently operates locally.

His license with the Ohio Department of Insurance, originally issued in 1992, remains active for individual accident and health, life and variable insurance, records show. The license was renewed in August 2012.

The license is addressed to the same Clingan Road address listed in Pupino's court record. Though the license indicates Pupino has been appointed to several major insurance providers, it doesn't list any individual appointments.

Click here to view Pupino's licensing information, along with a list of his active insurance company appointments, on the Ohio Department of Insurance website.

Before investing, the department's Division of Securities encourages potential investors to call the division's Investor Protection Hotline at 877-683-7841 to ask:

• Is the brokerage firm and salesperson licensed to sell securities in Ohio?
• Have any enforcement actions been taken against them?
• Has the security been properly registered with the Division of Securities?

This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 3:55 AM with the headline "Poland man indicted in $99K securities scam pleaded guilty in similar case."