Ron Culmo
DERBY – A Derby resident who stole money from the Adriatic Marchegian Club on Hawthorne Avenue was sentenced to eight years in prison on Wednesday (Dec. 4). However, the sentence will be suspended after Ron Culmo serves 18 months behind bars.
Culmo will be on probation for five years once he is out of prison.
Culmo stole about $97,000 from the private club over five years, according to an arrest warrant. He was arrested in March 2022, when he was 69 years old.
Culmo stole money from the AM Club to fund a gambling habit and to cover costs from living above his means, according to a warrant from Derby police.
Culmo was a respected Derby resident. He served as director of the Derby Public Works Department in Mayor Tony Staffieri’s administration. He is also a former commissioner of the Derby Fire Department.
Culmo’s lawyer, Gregory Cerritelli said the court was presented with letters of support from friends, family, former elected officials, and firefighters.
“We’re disappointed, obviously. He had more than 50 years of community service to Derby,” Cerritelli said.
Culmo made monthly gambling trips to Connecticut casinos between 2015 and 2020, according to the police investigation. The trips lined up with transfers he made funneling AM Club bank funds into his private bank account, police said.
Culmo’s crimes started in 2015, shortly after the AM Club made Culmo secretary treasurer of the club. The warrant notes the longtime members of the club trusted Culmo, some having known him for 50 years.
The AM Club noticed something was wrong with their finances in June 2020, when club members were talking about making repairs to their building at 30 Hawthorne Ave.
According to the warrant, Jacques “Jocko” Veillette grew suspicious of Culmo after Culmo resisted taking money from the bank to make repairs. Veillette was president of the club at the time and has since passed away.
Veillette expected there to be $100,000 in the AM Club’s bank accounts. Veillette then checked the AM Club’s bank accounts — and saw they had just $4,000.
The AM Club brought in an accounting firm to look into what happened, and a police investigation kicked off in July 2020.
Click here for a previous Valley Indy story on the crime.
Culmo pleaded guilty to first-degree larceny under the Alford doctrine on Aug. 28, The Connecticut Post reported.
The plea means he doesn’t admit guilt, and may disagree with some of the facts presented, but acknowledges the state has enough evidence for a conviction.
The sentence was handed down by Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo.
Cerritelli said one of the challenges of the case was that the club’s bookkeeping was poor, making it unclear the precise amount of money taken. Cerritelli said Culmo had paid back some of the money after taking it, but specifics were not possible due to the bookkeeping.
Cerritelli said the judge also ordered Culmo to pay a “verifiable amount” of money back to the club. That dollar amount will be determined by the state Department of Probation.
