Who is “Person-1”? Obviously Ty Bird, ex leader of the Success Village board of directors who wired work to associates not performed and then received a cut at the expense of suffering residents.
News release from U.S. Attorney’s Office:
Two men pleaded guilty this week to offenses stemming from their participation in an embezzlement conspiracy involving Success Village Apartments, Inc., located in Bridgeport and Stratford.
The announcement was made by David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut; P.J. O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England; and Justin Page, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Success Village Apartments, Inc. (“SVA”) is a residential cooperative located in Bridgeport and Stratford. SVA comprises 96 separate buildings containing 924 residential units. CHARLES A. PITCHER served as the general manager of Success Village Apartments, Inc. (“SVA”) and also owned and controlled Real Estate Company of New England LLC and Pitcher Enterprises LLC. CARMINE GENTILE is a part owner of Umbrella Mechanical LLC (“Umbrella”), a New Jersey-registered company that provided commercial and residential plumbing, heating, and air conditioning services. In May 2022, Pitcher was appointed as the general manager of SVA for an annual fee of $250,000. In approximately June 2022, Umbrella began providing plumbing services to SVA, including work on the piping and boilers that provided heat and hot water to SVA residents.
Between approximately June 2022 and September 2024, Pitcher, Gentile, and others, including an individual identified as “Person-1” in the Criminal Information charging Pitcher, engaged in an embezzlement conspiracy through which vendors, including Umbrella, would submit fraudulent invoices and requests for payment to SVA, either for work that was not performed or at artificially inflated prices that overstated the amount of money owed by SVA. Pitcher and Person-1 agreed that, in exchange for the vendors’ receipt of work and payments from SVA, the vendors would divert between approximately 10 to 30 percent of the payments received from SVA to Pitcher and Person-1. Gentile and others prepared and caused to be prepared fraudulent invoices and requests for payment to SVA that were not the result of a competitive bidding process, contained objectively unreasonable markups for certain goods and services, contained charges for goods and services that were not rendered, contained amounts to be billed to SVA that were chosen by Pitcher and Person-1, and were otherwise fraudulently inflated, including by not accounting for the money that was remitted to Pitcher and Person-1.
In addition to the $250,000 Pitcher received annually from SVA, he also received purported “consulting fees” from SVA even though he provided no services to SVA in exchange for the fees. Pitcher typically provided a portion of these fees to Person-1.
Umbrella received approximately $2,631,769.71 in payments from SVA, more than $526,000 of which was diverted to Pitcher and Person-1. In total, Pitcher received more than $403,150 in diverted SVA funds, which were associated with over $3,664,000 in payments made by Umbrella and other vendors, and at least $232,479.35 in fraudulent “consulting fees.”
On September 14, 2026, Gentile, 37, of Freehold, New Jersey, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. As part of his plea agreement, Gentile has agreed to a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of at least $750,000 and agreed to pay restitution in the amount of at least $1,500,000. He is released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing.
On September 15, 2026, Pitcher, 58, of Trumbull, pleaded guilty before Judge Oliver to the same charge, and he has agreed to a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of at least $635,629.35 and agreed to pay restitution in the amount of at least $2,500,000. He is released on a $250,000 bond pending sentencing.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Riley.
According to the narrative above that is obviously not ending here, the abuse of authority likely began before spring 2022 when the most recent vote by co-op ownership interests per their existing by-laws was held. A dispute as to that vote initially, and subsequent communication by those in power and with certain authority was suspended unilaterally, and the failure of heating and plumbing systems became known to Health officials.
Investigations began. Stratford and Bridgeport had “responsibility” for a failed Co-op. Judge Radcliffe appointed attorney Barry Knott as a legal representative to restore order for home owners. He tracked down where fiscal trails led him two years ago. His research showed a need for others to track down the millions that had seemingly disappeared, while he administered good governance as he saw necessary and reported to the court.
Bridgeport had allowed a Fair Housing Commission to expire in plain sight for over twenty years. Finch and Ganim, as mayors, had appointment powers to such bodies as Fair Rent and Fair Housing. They did nothing to continue these and other municipal bodies to maintain authorized strength. Such administration left no PUBLIC body to act, to educate, or to perform oversight that self-governing bodies for Condominiums and Co-ops functioned for their residents with owner rights!! I have noted this lack for more than three years publicly on OIB, at City Council meetings, and in listening to owner/residents attacked by rapacious, greedy, and evil folks in the region attacking the basic notion and practice of self-governance by owners ignorant of the law affecting them.
Currently I am aware of a Condo owner summoned to court in two weeks by an area lawyer acting for a fellow owner resident to recover minor late fees from eight years past. Is self-governance at work? Or is it a shakedown attempt at intimidation where no communication by USPS or internet has happened for years. Already posting of legal fees and title expenses are being levied on the owner and his checks have been returned to him instead of posted as previously. What do you do? Hire an attorney. Or look to “housing administration” in the City where you pay taxes? Time will tell.
Specific to the actions of Federal courts who have been active, the charges made and accepted above in each case speak to a “forfeiture money judgement” in each case of$750,000 and$635,620 or more and then restitution amounts totaling $4 million or more.
This was fraud, carried out when self-governance failed. Perhaps the infection of “Bridgeport voters” by the sickness of ignore “politics” was rather a crisis in ignoring the self-interest in voting at each and every occasion open, in an informed way. And restoring public oversight to a daily or weekly concept in a variety of ways. And PERSON-1 will be another to be exposed for his participation in the abuse of his authority as an elected person, for his self-interested actions, and the many legal lines he crossed while engaged.
Attend a Casual Civics Conversation soon. Ask questions. Listen for answers. Look to the internet site:
yourbridgeportvote.com. Time will tell.