Picture Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Day by day Beast/Getty and Sarasota County Sheriff's Workplace
It was too good to be true, with a Florida twist.
After agreeing to purchase a 2022 Mercedes-Benz S-Class at a Sarasota dealership final month, police say, a person who known as himself Robert Banagino instructed the supervisor serving to him signal for the luxurious automotive retailing for over $132,000 that he had an uncommon downside.
The self-styled New York businessman stated he had traveled to Florida as a part of his hurricane reduction enterprise within the wake of the devastation wrought by Ian, and determined to buy two properties in the identical variety of days, based on a Sarasota Sheriff’s Workplace police report. At first, he sought a 26,560-square-foot industrial warehouse for a bit over $17 million, earlier than expressing curiosity in proudly owning a $5.2 million seven-bedroom mansion about half-hour south.
However he wasn’t executed but.
Banagino instructed the gross sales supervisor of the Mercedes-Benz dealership on Oct. 28 that he wanted to spend extra—particularly, to donate a few of his $127 million internet price for tax functions. He went so far as to indicate an image of his loaded checking account stability to show his wealth, based on the report.
Nearly instantly, the supervisor supplied a tantalizing answer: donate the cash to ESPN legend Dick Vitale’s most cancers basis.
“They known as me and instructed me of his intention [of] making this massive donation and requested if he may deliver him over to my home to introduce me to him,” Vitale instructed The Day by day Beast. “Shortly after assembly him, he verbally dedicated to a $3 million donation for pediatric most cancers analysis.”
The assembly was quick, Vitale recalled, punctuated by the customer asking for a signed basketball for his “daughter Jenna” who he stated was on a basketball scholarship at Florida State College. However when the sportscaster supplied to take an image with the mega-donor, he swiftly declined.
Vitale didn't increase an eyebrow when the elusive backer most well-liked to not doc the numerous win for the Jimmy V Basis for Most cancers Analysis—as a result of he stored bragging about his wealth.
“He stored saying that his corporations had been doing so effectively and that he needed to offer again to charities,” Vitale stated in regards to the rendezvous at his house.
Whereas Vitale was “initially ecstatic” about such a hefty donation, authorities say the native realtor working with Banagino had grown suspicious upon realizing he had but to indicate an ID regardless of a number of makes an attempt.
After a couple of web searches, the realtor started to marvel if Robert Banagino even existed.
In truth, the supposed titan in search of $23 million price of properties and vehicles in Sarasota was Robert Schnepf—a person beforehand described in media reviews as a con artist who was at the moment on probation for grand theft.
Whereas it isn't instantly clear if Schnepf even had the cash for these lavish purchases and donations, police say that during the last 15 years, the 48-year-old has swindled a slew of individuals and companies in Florida and New York underneath a collection of disguises. They vary from an FDNY Emergency Medical Companies lieutenant to a military conflict veteran to a plumber. Whereas the alleged scams and aliases range, Schnepf’s motivation all the time appears to be the identical: attempt to gobble up cash or items earlier than disappearing.
Schnepf’s legal historical past dates again to at the very least 2009, and consists of arrests within the two states on an array of fees, together with housebreaking, assault, legal impersonation, cast devices, and theft. Interviews and courtroom paperwork illustrate how he was capable of slip via the cracks for years—evading severe punishment and enraging these unlucky sufficient to cross paths with him.
And whereas Schnepf isn't straight charged over the pledge to Vitale, his try to dupe a celeb could symbolize the tip of an extended and unbelievable highway to infamy.
“This man is a rock star of a rip-off artist. He's very charismatic and good and makes you're feeling like you'll be able to belief him,” Laura Maslin Osenni, a 63-year-old Florida resident who was the sufferer of a theft scheme for which Schnepf was convicted 2019, instructed The Day by day Beast.
Sarasota County Sheriff's Workplace
The Sarasota Sheriff’s Workplace has charged Schnepf with a single felony of scheming to defraud greater than $50,000 in reference to the alleged rip-off involving the property and automotive offers, and he's now being held on a $100,000 bond. Schnepf pleaded not responsible to the cost and has requested a jury trial.
If convicted of this newest felony cost, Schnepf faces as much as 30 years in jail. His public defender, Geoffrey Proffitt, declined The Day by day Beast’s request for remark. Schnepf’s household didn't reply to a request for remark.
Standing 6 ft 6 inches tall, and weighing greater than 250 kilos, Schnepf doesn’t precisely slide underneath the radar.
A local of Forest Hills, Queens, Schnepf made fairly a reputation for himself in New York, based on native information reviews—although that identify and his occupation appeared to range relying on who he was with.
Courtroom paperwork recommend he first made it onto legislation enforcement radar round April 2009, when he was charged with housebreaking in St. Lucie County, Florida. A warrant obtained by The Day by day Beast states that Schnepf broke into a girl’s home “with the intent to commit an offense.”
Nonetheless, Schnepf was quickly again within the Empire State—the place he allegedly used a number of faux identities to rip-off girls out of cash. Amongst his hottest alleged grifts, based on a transcript of a 911 name to Southampton Village Police Division, was pretending to be “a 10-year Particular Forces veteran to elicit meals, lodging, and work within the space.” (It isn't clear if he was ever arrested or charged in reference to that scheme.)
In different components of city, based on a 2010 article by the New York Submit, Schnepf would faux to be a enterprise mogul with ties from everybody from Rihanna to Heineken.
Throughout an October 2009 speech, Schnepf reportedly promised $3.5 million to fund a facility for a Staten Island home violence shelter. At one other charity occasion, Schnepf was caught on digicam donating $50,000—earlier than claiming that he was in a film with Jessica Alba. (The Day by day Beast couldn't discover any file of the donation or movie look.)
“If you look again on it, you're feeling like an fool,” Lengthy Island resident Kim Cuneo instructed the Submit over a decade in the past. “He’s only a clean talker. He’s superb at what he does.”
Swirling rumors about Schnepf’s antics ultimately caught the attention of native New York reporter Howard Thompson, who was recognized for a TV bit meant to assist residents clear up conflicts. The present, “Assist Me Howard,” hinged on confronting people who had ill-gotten features—and sometimes included dramatic shock moments that may elicit wild confessions.
“Hey Gang, Belief me, nobody needs to search out Robert Schnepf… greater than I do!” Thompson wrote on Fb on Dec. 16, 2009.
Schnepf was arrested simply days later in Southampton on the excellent Florida housebreaking warrant. He was ultimately extradited, although it isn't clear what occurred to the case.
Upon his launch, it appeared like Schnepf is likely to be laying low. Finally, nonetheless, he was as soon as once more on the radar of his outdated foe—PIX 11’s Howard Thompson—after the reporter caught wind of his allegedly bilking New Jersey resident Marcus Matos.
In line with Matos, Schnepf promised to renovate his house to the tune of $34,000. As a substitute, Matos instructed Thompson in a “Assist Me Howard” phase, Schnepf and his crew merely tore up his Dover house and vanished after a neighborhood inspector shut down the development web site for not having the correct permits.
“Sick to my abdomen, actually,” Matos stated within the phase. “I imply we principally gave him just about all the pieces.”
Within the dramatic phase, Thomas caught up with Schnepf after what he described as years of “taking part in catch me if you happen to can.” Exterior of a two-family Staten Island house, Thompson is seen strolling as much as the towering hulk simply as he's exiting his automotive. Sporting a chin strap beard and baseball cap, Schnepf insists that he didn't rip anybody off.
“I wanna make certain this will get straightened out as quickly as potential,” Schnepf stated. “I don’t have that cash.”
Matos didn't reply to questions in regards to the allegations, however instructed The Day by day Beast that figuring out Schnepf was “free to roam and capable of proceed along with his deceitful methods is sickening.” It isn't clear if he was ever charged in reference to Matos’ allegations. The Dover Police Division didn't reply to a request for remark.
Whereas Schnepf’s very public profile on native tv garnered on-line buzz, it appeared to die down by the point Religion Gamali met him as she was promoting her house.
The 54-year-old Brooklyn native stated that when she was related to Schnepf by her realtor to assist clear out her home in 2019, he launched himself as Robert Hart. She wanted all the assistance she may get, she stated, as a result of she had been recognized with most cancers that very same yr.
Whereas Gamali declined to speak intimately about her relationship with the person she would later be taught was Schnepf, she did inform The Day by day Beast that she started relationship him that yr—across the identical time she launched him to a buddy she met on the fitness center, Laura Maslin Osenni.
Laura Maslin Osenni
“He was good and immediately stated we had been household,” Osenni instructed The Day by day Beast, including that she additionally knew Schnepf as “Robert Hart.”
So when Osenni and her then-husband started to make plans to maneuver to Florida, she was delighted to be taught Gamali was planning the identical southern migration. To make issues much more fortuitous, she discovered that Schnepf was a “grasp plumber” who would possibly be capable to assist them with their new house.
Osenni didn’t assume twice when Schnepf instructed her she wanted a brand new AC unit. She stated she wrote checks in Might 2019 totaling $25,000 for the unit and extra plumbing work to be accomplished over the subsequent month. Later, she stated, she would be taught that her husband gave Schnepf an extra mortgage of $30,000.
“At first, I believed it was an important deal for all of the work he stated needed to be executed. He additionally stated that the AC unit would solely be $5,000, as a result of he bought an important deal,” Osenni stated. “My husband on the time and I believed he was doing us a favor—so we went for it. We had no cause to not imagine him.”
However by June 2019, Osenni stated, Schnepf had stopped answering her calls and had not executed any of the work he proposed. She stated her former husband, Peter Osenni, additionally tried to contact Schnepf a number of occasions—however acquired radio silence.
“He began coming to the home much less and fewer. Then he stopped answering all telephone calls,” Osenni stated. “We actually wanted that cash [we loaned], you understand?”
Lastly, two months after handing over 1000's of dollars, Osenni and her husband filed a report with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Workplace. In an August 2019 police report obtained by The Day by day Beast, police say the Osennis gave Schnepf cash for the home tasks—and famous that Schnepf additionally offered them with a enterprise card figuring out himself “as Rob Hart, grasp plumber, of Hart’s Plumbing Inc.”
“It was found [Schnepf] used an Alias on his enterprise card and isn't licensed within the state of Florida underneath both identify,” the report states. “The deal with offered for the enterprise is a submit workplace field and the telephone goes unanswered.”
Circuit Courtroom, Sarasota County Florida
Schnepf was initially arrested on a second-degree grand-theft felony cost and a misdemeanor cost of appearing as a contractor with out a license for “knowingly get hold of[ing] $5,000 of the sufferer’s cash with the intent to completely deprive the sufferer of his funds.”
Courtroom paperwork present Schnepf was launched on bail for $1,500 earlier than ultimately pleading no contest on the 2 fees. He was sentenced to probation for 18 months in July 2022 and required to pay $12,000 in restitution, in increments of $666 a month, beginning this previous August.
Osenni stated that as of this previous week, she had but to see a cent of that cash.
For Gamali’s half, she stated she was thunderstruck by Schnepf’s illicit exercise—and threw Schnepf out in 2019, when she bought suspicious and “cops had been coming to the home.”
“I used to be going via chemo on the time,” she stated. “I'm nonetheless sick over what he did to Laura, however I had no clue in any respect till it was too late. All I'd say is he's a disgusting human being and I can’t perceive why he [was] nonetheless strolling across the avenue in spite of everything he has executed.”
Osenni’s opinion of him is, likewise, lower than forgiving.
“That is all he is aware of the best way to do. That is all merely a job to him,” she added.
After he was via with a girl going via most cancers therapy and her buddy, Schnepf made his method again north. This time, based on the Hearth Division of New York, he even had a fancy dress.
In July 2020, Schnepf was arrested after allegedly impersonating an FDNY Emergency Medical Companies Lieutenant to swindle Staten Island residents and enterprise house owners because the pandemic surged throughout New York.
Full with a light-weight blue FDNY uniform that had the identify “Lt. Hart” embroidered on the precise chest, authorities allege that Schnepf flashed a faux badge as he approached people and instructed them they had been in violation of a metropolis code. Then, Schnepf would allegedly both demand cash to repair the fictional downside—or ask for cash to look the opposite method.
“It's a full abuse of public belief for somebody to impersonate a public servant,” Hearth Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro stated in a press release on the time. He added that their “companions within the prosecutor’s workplace and legislation enforcement alike won't tolerate any scenario the place somebody is in the neighborhood falsely representing themselves for private achieve.”
In line with a 2020 New York Day by day Information article, Schnepf additionally allegedly gassed up his automotive and took gadgets from a number of Staten Island institutions with out paying—falsely telling staff that he left his pockets on the FDNY station and would return to pay them again.
Authorities ultimately caught as much as Schnepf on June 19, 2020, after hearth marshals noticed him sporting the uniform and “appearing suspiciously inside a public park in Queens,” based on a press launch. He was charged with petit larceny, legal impersonation of a public servant, and possession of a cast instrument.
The case, prosecuted by the Richmond County District Legal professional’s workplace, continues to be pending. A district lawyer spokesperson instructed The Day by day Beast that a Schnepf “courtroom date was in August 2021, the place a bench warrant was ordered because of [him] failing to look.”
“How do you impersonate a New York Metropolis... EMS employee and nonetheless are capable of get out on the streets?” Gamali questioned in an interview.
None of that messy previous appeared to matter when Schnepf reached out to a neighborhood realtor final month because the mysteriously rich businessman in want of some property.
The latest Florida arrest report states that on Oct. 26, the realtor texted a person she believed was Robert Banagino after receiving an inquiry for her providers.
Regardless of being unable to search out anybody by that identify in her realtor database—or on-line—the realtor met Schnepf on the Parrot Restaurant in Sarasota. On the assembly, Schnepf defined that “he was from New York and had traveled to Florida as a part of his enterprise” for Hurricane Ian reduction after the storm had ravaged the realm, based on the arrest report.
“Whereas in Florida, he (Banagino) determined he needed to buy a selected property,” the report states, noting that the 23,450 square-foot plot was initially listed for $18 million.
After he met with the house owners of the property about 12 minutes from the airport, the worth was lowered to $17.5 million. As soon as that deal was accomplished, Schnepf instantly requested to purchase a second property—this time a Mediterranean-style lakefront mansion simply steps from Myakka River State Park.
A itemizing for the house says the three.5-acre lot boasts a movie show, sport room, and separate visitor home.
The newest Sarasota arrest report states that whereas the relator was making ready the paperwork to bid on the house, Schnepf expressed curiosity in shopping for a Rolls-Royce. That prompted her to disclose that “her father was the Gross sales Supervisor of the Mercedes-Benz dealership.”
On the dealership, Schnepf agreed to purchase a luxurious automotive, notably signing the buying possibility underneath his alias “Robert Banagino”—however signing and relationship the doc along with his authorized identify, based on the arrest report. The costly buy quickly parlayed into the dealership supervisor arranging the assembly with Vitale in order that Schnepf may donate cash “for tax functions.”
“I'm well-known for elevating cash for pediatric most cancers analysis via the V Basis,” as Vitale instructed The Day by day Beast.
“My annual Dick Vitale Gala has raised $55 million to this point, so naturally I used to be initially ecstatic after I was instructed that he needed to donate $3 million,” he added.
Quickly after Schnepf’s pledge, based on the arrest report, the realtor “felt uneasy” about his identification and commenced to do a little analysis. Rapidly, she found particulars of his previous—and alerted the authorities. It didn’t take lengthy for Vitale to take to Twitter to specific his disgust.
“He's a infamous con man who has been arrested quite a few occasions throughout from NYC to Florida,” Vitale tweeted on Oct. 29. “I believed that we had $3 million for teenagers vs most cancers. I'm sick to assume in my home he was hugging my spouse & I & so comfortable.”
Whereas Vitale was left “devastated [and] heartbroken]” over Schnepf’s alleged scheme, at the very least considered one of his former victims was expressing reduction he could lastly have hit the tip of the highway.
Even when it took method too lengthy for a reckoning.
“It’s wild to assume that now that Dick Vitale is concerned, he could lastly go to jail,” Osenni stated with fun.
“He deserves to go to jail. Robert is such a chunk of shit.”