Lacey, NJ man pleads guilty to heinously stealing from girlfriend suffering serious medical issues
The Lacey Township man who forged his then girlfriends signature to steal money from her bank accounts while she was suffering from medical issues, has now pleaded guilty to Theft.
The details from this case and guilty plea from the Lacey resident were announced by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
In 2019, the then girlfriend of Ross Miserendino, 56, of Lacey Township was battling some medical issues significant enough where she couldn't manage her finances for a temporary period while she was ill, according to an investigation by Lacey Police and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
Ross Miserendino then hatched a plan to steal from her under the guise of helping pay her bills for her which meant gaining access to her bank account information and checks.
Between 2019 and 2020 though, he signed her name without her authorizing it on 146 separate checks amounting to $171,000, according to Prosecutor Billhimer, and most of them were written out to a friend of his, 43-year-old Enrique Roldan of Jackson.
The other checks Miserendino doled out were written to himself and then he and Roldan would share the fruits of their theft.
In addition to writing checks from his girlfriends bank account, Miserendino also stole $11,000 worth of her personal property from her Lacey home and opened up an American Express credit card in her name without her permission and then made $34,000 worth of purchases on it.
Both men were arrested in June of 2021, processed, and then released on a summons to appear in Ocean County Superior Court, with charges pending against Roldan.
As a result of Miserendino's guilty plea, Prosecutor Billhimer said that when he is sentenced, he'll be facing five years in state prison, and, he will also be required to pay $217,300 in restitution to the victim.
Prosecutor Billhimer also said that Ocean County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Heisler and Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Kelly have handled the case on behalf of the State.
