Man admits bilking dozens of $1.9M

Wednesday, July 8, 1998

By CHRISTOPHER MUMMA
Staff Writer

George Saigh lost $65,000, a good bite from his nest egg. He's 65 now and says he had to postpone his retirement because of the bogus investment schemes of R. Steven Stackpole.

Still, Saigh figures his lot isn't so bad, considering the small fortunes others lost to Stackpole, the onetime head of a River Edge investment firm, who admitted in a Hackensack courtroom this week to swindling 25 investors out of huge chunks of their life savings.

Authorities alleged that Stackpole, of Cliffside Park, and his former business partner, Douglas J. D'Arpino, cheated investors out of $1.9 million.

"Fortunately I can keep working, but there are a lot of people who can't," said Saigh, a Bergen County employee and a volunteer firefighter in New Milford. "He hit up widows, people in wheelchairs. People had to hock their houses."

Stackpole, 59, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of theft by deception for his role in the scam. He could go to prison for three to five years when he is sentenced by Superior Court Judge John A. Conte on Sept. 25, authorities said.

Stackpole contended that D'Arpino -- a fugitive from justice -- was primarily responsible for the swindles.

Prosecutors agreed, saying the 51-year-old D'Arpino hatched the scheme. But they said Stackpole was far from innocent.

The scam involved selling investors on the growth prospects of wishing wells, which D'Arpino allegedly claimed would generate a 12 percent return each year. Prosecutors said D'Arpino persuaded Stackpole in 1989 to funnel him the retirement and investment accounts he was handling in his River Edge insurance office.

But instead of placing the wells in malls and other establishments, as promised, D'Arpino took the money, an indictment returned against him in March 1997 alleges.

Stackpole profited as well, skimming a 20 percent "fee" from each financial transfer into D'Arpino's accounts, prosecutors said.

Of the $1.9 million total, they said, about $500,000 went to D'Arpino, and $900,000 to Stackpole. The remaining $500,000 was returned to investors as "dividends" on their original investment, prosecutors said.

The scheme began to unravel in 1994, when Saigh and other investors got suspicious. They alerted authorities after Stackpole told a number of them that he couldn't pay, and the Attorney General's Office began to investigate.

Victims included groups of firefighters from New Milford and Jersey City, as well as the New Jersey and New York Volunteer Fireman's Association, Saigh said. All told, the firefighters lost more than $400,000 in the venture, he said.

"It was just a word of mouth thing with the firefighters," Saigh said, describing how Stackpole became associated with them. "You kind of rely on your friends for advice."

Stackpole owned Stackpole Designs Agency Inc. on Kinderkamack Road, described as a financial service and pension and insurance business. D'Arpino was the director of two financial services companies, Sterling Management Group Inc. and Whitney Carrington Ltd.

After the charges emerged, Stackpole filed for bankruptcy and promised to make restitution, Saigh said. But Stackpole reneged on the promise, he said.

Defense attorney Gerald Krovatin said Tuesday that Stackpole still plans to repay the money, but that the amount he is responsible for has not been agreed upon.

"We're hopeful he will be able to make restitution," said Krovatin, adding that his client was also victimized by D'Arpino in the scam. Stackpole has agreed to testify against his former partner if D'Arpino is brought to justice.