TWO MEN PLEAD GUILTY IN SUCCESS VILLAGE APARTMENTS EMBEZZLEMENT CONSPIRACY INVOLVING MILLIONS IN VENDOR PAYMENTS

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Two men have pleaded guilty in federal court for their roles in an embezzlement conspiracy involving Success Village Apartments, a large residential cooperative spanning Bridgeport and Stratford, where prosecutors say fraudulent invoices, inflated vendor charges, diverted payments, and sham consulting fees were used to siphon money from the property.

Charles A. Pitcher, 58, of Trumbull, and Carmine Gentile, 37, of Freehold, New Jersey, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The offense carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Success Village Apartments Inc. consists of 96 buildings containing 924 residential units. Pitcher served as the cooperative’s general manager and also owned and controlled Real Estate Company of New England LLC and Pitcher Enterprises LLC. Gentile is a part owner of Umbrella Mechanical LLC, a New Jersey company that provided plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning services.

Pitcher was appointed general manager of Success Village in May 2022 for an annual fee of $250,000. Approximately one month later, Umbrella Mechanical began performing work at the cooperative, including services involving piping and boilers used to provide heat and hot water to residents.

According to court documents and statements made during the plea proceedings, the embezzlement conspiracy operated from approximately June 2022 through September 2024.

Federal prosecutors said Pitcher, Gentile, and others, including an individual identified in charging documents as “Person-1,” participated in a system in which vendors submitted fraudulent invoices and payment requests to Success Village. Some of the charges were for work that was never performed, while others contained artificially inflated pricing that overstated what the cooperative actually owed.

Pitcher and Person-1 agreed that vendors receiving work and payments from Success Village would divert approximately 10 to 30 percent of those payments back to them.

Gentile and others prepared or caused the preparation of invoices that prosecutors said bypassed a competitive bidding process, contained unreasonable markups, included charges for goods or services that were never provided, and reflected payment amounts selected by Pitcher and Person-1. The invoices were also inflated in ways that concealed money later diverted back to the scheme’s participants.

The financial relationship involving Umbrella Mechanical became one of the largest components of the case.

Umbrella received approximately $2,631,769.71 in payments from Success Village. More than $526,000 of those funds was diverted to Pitcher and Person-1, according to federal prosecutors.

Pitcher ultimately received more than $403,150 in diverted Success Village funds connected to more than $3,664,000 in payments made by Umbrella and other vendors.

The conspiracy also involved payments characterized as consulting fees.

Federal prosecutors said Pitcher received at least $232,479.35 in purported consulting fees from Success Village even though he did not perform services in exchange for those payments. Pitcher typically provided a portion of those funds to Person-1.

The case therefore involved two separate mechanisms for removing money from the cooperative: inflated or fraudulent vendor payments followed by diversion of part of the proceeds, and consulting payments that prosecutors said had no legitimate underlying service.

Gentile waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford on September 14.

As part of his plea agreement, Gentile agreed to a forfeiture money judgment of at least $750,000 and restitution of at least $1.5 million. He remains released on a $100,000 bond while awaiting sentencing.

Pitcher pleaded guilty before Judge Oliver on September 15 to the same wire fraud conspiracy charge.

His plea agreement requires a forfeiture money judgment of at least $635,629.35 and restitution of at least $2.5 million. Pitcher remains released on a $250,000 bond pending sentencing.

The forfeiture and restitution obligations serve different purposes.

Forfeiture targets proceeds or property connected to criminal activity and requires defendants to surrender assets or equivalent value to the government. Restitution is intended to compensate victims for losses attributable to the offense. In this case, both defendants agreed to substantial financial judgments in addition to facing possible imprisonment.

The guilty pleas remove any allegation-stage distinction regarding their participation in the charged conspiracy. Both Pitcher and Gentile have admitted criminal responsibility in federal court. Their final sentences have not yet been imposed.

The investigation remains active.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan, FBI New Haven Special Agent in Charge P.J. O’Brien, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Thomas Demeo, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Acting Inspector in Charge Justin Page.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Riley is prosecuting the case.

The scale of Success Village gives the case direct significance for a large residential community. The cooperative contains 924 units across 96 buildings, and Umbrella’s work included piping and boilers used to provide heat and hot water to residents.

The admitted conspiracy operated during a period in which millions of dollars flowed through vendors doing work for the property. Prosecutors established that substantial portions of those payments were inflated, unsupported, or diverted back to participants in the scheme.

The financial totals underscore the scale of the conduct: more than $2.6 million paid to Umbrella Mechanical, more than $526,000 diverted from those payments, more than $403,000 received by Pitcher from diverted vendor funds, more than $232,000 in fraudulent consulting fees, and more than $3.6 million in vendor payments associated with the diversion scheme.

Gentile has agreed to at least $1.5 million in restitution. Pitcher has agreed to at least $2.5 million.

Both now await sentencing before Judge Oliver, while the federal investigation into the broader Success Village embezzlement conspiracy continues.

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