filed under Local Yokels | Sports
State Cops Nab Baseball Con-Man
12:56AM ON
03/13/2008
BY
Ari Savitzky
America’s favorite past-time (no, not $1000/hr prostitutes) has taken yet another hit recently, this time in Rhode Island’s heartland, Cumberland. An alleged swindler had allegedly bilked 11 Northern RI families out of some $35,000 after he claimed to be a former minor league players with connections to the Baltimore Orioles.
Heartbreaking aspect number one: this dude secured loans from local parents to help him start the “Field of Dreams Baseball Academy,” a scheme at which one must gasp for its cruel exploitation of a heartwarming story about lost youth and the great game to steal from hardworking Cumberlanders. Heartbreaking aspect number two: He has been doing this all across the country.
There is no joy in Mudville, or the Blackstone Valley in this case, for this dude.
Projo Sez:
Claiming to be a former minor-league baseball player with ties to the Baltimore Orioles, a Cumberland man persuaded parents in the Northern Rhode Island area to cut him checks to start a baseball team and academy that would get their teenage sons ready for college-level play and give them exposure to major-league scouts, the police say.
But when the team couldn’t find a league to play in and the academy never materialized, one of the parents went to the state police. Now Jack A. Ranallo, 52, of 39 Peacedale Rd., is facing 13 counts of obtaining money under false pretenses and two counts of providing false documents to public officials.
State police Lt. Brian K. Casilli, of the financial crimes unit, says that Ranallo, who has no affiliation with the Orioles or their minor-league teams, has faced similar charges before.
He was arrested and charged with 12 counts of theft of more than $300 by Maryland State Police in September 1999 for posing as a former baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks, said Casilli, who said he did not know the outcome of that case.
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2 Comments on “ State Cops Nab Baseball Con-Man ”
March 13th, 2008 at 9:10AM
Jim Rizzo Says:
Not sure what the 26 time World Champion New York Yankees have to do with this story… there are a lot of Yankee fans in RI…
[Reply]
March 13th, 2008 at 9:27AM
Ari Savitzky Says:
Including myself. just thought it was funny.
[Reply]