Man Who Stole $100K From Freehold Couple Gets 7-Year Prison Sentence

A Staten Island man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for stealing more than $187,000 from two couples, including one from Freehold, over a 33-month period, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said.

Mario Coniglione, 51, of the Tottenville section of Staten Island, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. on two counts of second-degree theft and was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $187,562.40 to the two victims.

At his guilty plea in December, Coniglione admitted he took payments from the couple totaling more than $100,000 paid to him while purporting to act as a “broker,” deceiving the couple into believing he had renegotiated the terms of their residential mortgage with their lender. Coniglione collected regular monthly payments from the couple, who believed the payments were being made toward their residential mortgage, and kept the payments for himself rather than forwarding the payments to the victim’s lender.

Coniglione also admitted he stole more than $78,000 in mortgage payments from a Jackson Township couple in a similar scheme.