Pennsylvania fugitives Victor Santarelli and wife arrested by St Pete police
Two Pennsylvania convicts were found and arrested in St Petersburg, Florida.
Victor Santarelli
Victor and Tamara Santarelli were arrested late last week, according to press update from St Pete police.
The couple had been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the estate of a deceased aunt, as well as mail and wire fraud.
Deputies assigned to the U.S. Marshals Task Force, pursuing a tip on an “America’s Most Wanted” case unrelated to the Santarellis, followed a lead to the motel, where they made contact with Victor Santarelli. He told them he had no identification and provided multiple dates of birth, deputies said.
Investigators asked him to provide fingerprints and have a photograph taken to be run through the Sheriff’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System and Facial Recognition System, and he agreed. There were no matches in Florida, but when the information was run through the national database his identity and the convictions were revealed.
The two were transported to the Pinellas County Jail.
The Santarelli’s schemed to defraud Joanne Striminsky, Victor’s aunt, by changing beneficiaries on multiple insurance contracts to themselves between May 2006 and August 2007, according to Pennsylvania officials.
The Santarelli’s gained control of Striminsky by assuming Power of Attorney and Executor status under a will that they drafted. After they assumed control, they had the 82-year-old victim, who suffered from dementia, involuntarily committed to a psychiatric unit of a hospital. After that, they used their Power of Attorney status to take her assets, including her house.
Striminsky died Jan. 4, 2007, midway through the Santarellis’ scheme and they had her body buried in an unmarked grave, according to court officials.
