Former DA Denied Reinstatement
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has denied reinstatement to a former Chief Deputy District Attorney for Bucks County convicted of offenses involving minors.
The attorney had served in the DA’s office from 2002 to 2008.
The misconduct involved his work as a Youth Fellowship Group Leader for the First United Methodist Church. He provided alcohol and marijuana to three minors entrusted to his care.
His attorney/DA status had caused parents to trust him with their children.
He took them to a Meatloaf concert, an REO Speedwagon/ Styx/ Def Leppard concert and an Eagles concert.
He admitted a sexual attraction for one of the three victims. They engaged in consensual (but underage) sex in the summer of 2008.
His crimes came to light when he was arrested “partially clothed” with the victim “engaged in sexual activity” in September 2008.
Disbarment was imposed in 2012 retroactive to 2009.
ABC Action News reported on his sentence.
Disgraced former chief deputy attorney Anthony Cappuccio was on his way to the Bucks County prison Monday evening. It’s a dramatic reversal of the house arrest sentence he received last month, when he plead guilty to having sex with an underaged teenage boy and supplying him and two other teens with alcohol.
He also admitted to smoking marijuana with the teens, whom he’d met as a youth group leader at church.
A judge ruled Monday that Cappuccio will now serve 6 to 23 months behind bars.
The judge said the decision has nothing to do with the public outcry that Cappuccio received special treatment because he was a courthouse insider.
Cappuccio’s in-laws were outraged with he received only 3 to 23 months of house arrest last month. Judge C. Theodore Fritsch’s reversal of the sentence Monday pleased the family of Cappuccio’s wife, who is now divorcing him. She says he manipulated her and their 2 young children.
“He didn’t tell her the truth the whole time. None of us knew, and we didn’t support him. It’s just a miracle today, it’s a miracle that Judge Fritsch did this,” said brother-in-law Andrea D’Alessio.
“I think this was a just sentence, finally,” said Silvana Palm, Capuccio’s sister-in-law. “He was walking on the street. Where did he have the right to do that? He preys on teenage boys. Please.”
Among the arguments was a letter from Cappuccio’s wife that state deputy attorney general Marc Costanzo gave the judge. It outlined how she had been trying to get Cappuccio to change his behavior for a long time.
“Once you read it, you understood how long this had been going on, and how many people were trying to get him to control this propensity that he had,” Costanzo said.
“It’s still not a sentence that’s at the upper end. It’s not at the aggravated range, and it’s not a state prison sentence, and those things we’re thankful for. It easily could have been a state prison case,” said Louis Busico, Cappuccio’s lawyer.
He had demonstrated “transformational changes” but the Disciplinary Board concluded that the “magnitude” of the misconduct is “so great” as to warrant denial of the petition. (Mike Frisch)