Howell man sentenced
to 90 days in loan scam
BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer
HOWELL — A township resident who was indicted on multiple counts of bank loan fraud has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for third degree theft and ordered to pay restitution of $76,000, according to Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Nicholas Ruggiero.
The sentence was imposed on Jan. 9 by state Superior Court Judge Deborah Venezia, sitting in New Brunswick.
Philip Smolinski, 35, was also placed on five years probation during which time he must pay $250 per week to pay off the balance of a fraudulently obtained $80,000 bank loan, Ruggiero said. Smolinski will serve his three-month sentence in the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick.
Smolinski was convicted of illegally obtaining the loan from the First Bank of Central Jersey in North Brunswick, Ruggiero said.
The assistant prosecutor said the chain of events began in early 2001 when Smolinski submitted various documents to the First Bank of Central Jersey to secure an $80,000 Small Business Administration loan. Included with those documents were a personal financial statement and a commitment letter believed at the time to have been signed by Smolinski’s then 80-year-old great-uncle, Roman Smolinski, Atlantic Highlands, as the guarantor of the loan.
According to investigators, on April 5, 2001, Philip Smolinski brought a person to the loan closing who was posing as his great-uncle. That person is still being sought by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, Ruggiero said. On that date, Philip Smolinski received a check for $80,000, the assistant prosecutor said.
The fraud surfaced several months later after Smolinski defaulted on the loan and First Bank placed a lien and was in the process of foreclosing on Roman Smolinski’s property, Ruggiero said. Roman Smolinski contacted authorities and claimed he had never guaranteed the loan.
This development led to an investigation conducted by investigators Daniel Delbagno and Michael Taylor of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigation Section, in cooperation with a senior officer from First Bank.
The investigators were able to determine that the real Roman Smolinski did not attend the loan closing or sign the documents, Ruggiero said.
When Delbagno and Taylor went to Philip Smolinski’s home in Howell to execute an arrest warrant he told the investigators he was somebody else, Ruggiero said.
Smolinski eventually surrendered to Middlesex County authorities on Nov. 18, 2002 and was charged with second degree conspiracy, second degree theft by deception, third degree uttering a forged instrument and third degree hindering apprehension.
According to Gina Gumusayak of Hazlet, who is Roman Smolinski’s niece, Philip Smolinski operated a deli in the Belford section of Middletown at the time of the crime.
"This was very traumatic for our family, especially for my uncle," Gumusayak said. "The sentencing was a victory on my uncle’s behalf [because] Philip was given some jail time, which was not anticipated, although I think his jail sentence should have been longer. I think the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office did an excellent job in this case. This was yet another scam on our senior citizens and I think the public should know about it."