- Lehigh County authorities are pursing RICO and tax-evasion charges against an Allentown man they say stole $1.2 million from clients
- Louis Belletieri, 42, was the owner and only employee of Legacy Title, the Lehigh County District Attorney said
- Charges filed Friday against Belletieri allege he pocketed money that was meant to pay off loans and liens on properties
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown man is facing a dozen felony racketeering-related charges after police allege he stole more than $1 million from people whose properties he sold.
Louis Belletieri, 42, turned himself in to authorities Friday and was charged with three counts of violating the state’s “corrupt organizations” statute, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said.
Belletieri also was charged with six counts of failing to make required disposition of funds and three counts of receiving stolen property, according to Martin.
The Corrupt Organizations Act is commonly referred to as Pennsylvania’s RICO, or racketeer-influenced and corrupt organizations, law.
Belletieri was arraigned Friday and taken to the Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail, according to court records.
Belletieri was owner and the only employee of Legacy Title, which operated out of an office complex at 2030 W. Tilghman St.
Theft of $1.26 million alleged
Authorities allege Belletieri diverted almost a half-million dollars from a home sale Legacy Title he oversaw earlier this year into his own accounts.
He was obligated to use that money to satisfy loans and liens on the property, Martin said.
Belletieri also is accused of keeping more than $394,000 from a home sale instead of paying off that property’s mortgage and taking almost $370,000 from a deceased woman’s estate after overseeing the sale of her house.
Authorities allege Belletieri stole more than $1.26 million from those three real estate sales.
“Legacy Title is no longer in operation,” according to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, which is asking anyone who worked with Belletieri or the company to contact it at 610-782-3100.
Belletieri is the son of the late Louis Belletieri, who owned Louie’s Restaurant on 31st Street in Allentown.
The elder Belletieri pleaded guilty in 2020 after he was charged with more than two dozen counts of tax evasion, court records show.
