Johnston tax cheat indicted in federal fraud case
3:43 PM Fri, Mar 13, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE -- A federal grand jury has charged Rocco DeSimone, of Johnston, with conning an inventor and defrauding investors with fraudulent claims about marketing three inventions, It was announced today by U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente. DeSimone, who is about to complete a federal prison term for tax fraud, escaped from a minimum security facility in New Jersey in March 2008 after he learned that federal agents had executed a search warrant at his Johnston home. He surrendered in Rhode Island three days later. Corrente; Warren T. Bamford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office; and Susan Dukes, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service criminal investigation, announced a 10-count indictment charging DeSimone with mail fraud and money laundering. The indictment was returned on Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Providence. According to the indictment, DeSimone's scheme involved the marketing of three inventions. One inventor developed the "Disk Shield" in 2006 as a protective shield for compact discs and DVDs. In 2005, another inventor, a physician, patented the "Drink Stik," designed to allow individuals wearing protective gear to drink fluids without first having to remove the protective gear. In 2006, the physician-inventor developed the "Song Tube," designed as an improved version of a gastrointestinal medical tube. According to the indictment, DeSimone made false representations and pocketed millions of dollars.
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And just why is this individual NOT an Obama Administration appointee? Discrimination I say! If he was from Illinois he'd be Under-Secretary of something or other and he'd have a few more years to pay-up! Outrageous!
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Don -
Right! Where's the outrage? Shouldn't he be made Head of the Patent Office - for life?
Reminds me, when I was a kid. It was cold in Rhode Island. Yeah. I know. Shocking.
A relative fancied themselves a tycoon. They'd invest in 'big big biziness'. "Ooooh", they'd say, you should see the big big machine Mr. Schmagatz has at his big big bizziness I invested in!"
One quiet Sunday, when no one was around to save this person from themselves, they took me to see the 'big big bizziness'.
Down there, big red brick building onna river, fourth floor, middle of a high-ceiling room, like a big fat green toad sat a 'big big machine'.
Mr. Schmagatz hit the switch and lit up both the machine and my relative's eyes. "Oooohhhh", they said, 'Look! Look! Look! Oooohh, my gosh! Watch!"
I watched. Mr. Schmagatz threw raw metal down a hole. It made big big grinding noises. It shortly ejected a faucet from another hole!
"Ooohhhhh deee", said family tycoon, "whatta machine! Whattta machine! Raw metal to faucets! Now let's show Mr. Schmagatz how we appreciate his bizziness, right, Paul?"
Yeah. Right. I was a kid. What I know? This: don't talk back to elders - especially when shonks are scamming them. They handed Mr. Schmagatz a big big check. Then another. And another. In appreciation, Mr. Schmagatz handed me some metal filings. I thought I'd hit the jackpot. I had - in a Jungian sort of sense.
The best? As we're leaving, I look back. Mr. Schmagatz shuts off the machine, opens a hatch, and out pops the World's Tallest Midget - the machine's trade secret. Turns out, when they threw raw metal down the hole, the midget would wait a second, then grab faucets from a box in the machine and toss them out the other.
'Twas a simpler time, eh? No indictments, no scandals. Just relatives short of cash courtesy of midgets hiding in big big machines.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
14 March, 2009
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