Fraudster ruined family March 23, 2008

WHEN Romeo Pacifico began amassing lavish homes and fast cars, his dad Giulio suspected something was not quite right.

Bathing himself in luxury, Romeo bought a Ferrari, a BMW and about a dozen properties including prestigious homes at Medindie and Kent Town. It all seemed too good to be true and well beyond the means of a man who poured concrete for a living. And it was.

Romeo was living a lie, stealing the name of international rock'n'roll icon Bon Jovi lead guitarist Richie Sambora and stealing $25 million from banks and financiers over four years.

But, unlike the Bon Jovi hit song, there was no blaze of glory when Romeo eventually went down.

The only record the rock'n'roll conman would produce was South Australia's longest jail sentence for fraud.

On Tuesday, the 44-year-old father of one was sentenced in the District Court to 16 years' jail, with a 10-year non-parole period, for what Judge Wayne Chivell described as a "deliberate, complex and sustained course of deception".

His parents Caterina and Giulio this week spoke publicly for the first time about how their "soft-hearted" boy, described by his sister as a "smooth talker", became one of the state's worst financial villains. They also revealed Romeo had back-stabbed his own family to build his lavish empire.

The Sunday Mail can also reveal that the convicted fraudster, whose legal name remains Richard Sambora, plans to appeal against his sentence. He believes his punishment does not fit the crime, blaming the banks for lending him the money.

As his son comes to grips with the cold reality of what he has done, Giulio spoke of a loving, and "hard-working" boy, who hid his deceit from his family until it was too late.

Romeo explained away the apparent success of his concreting business and shut himself off from the family, Giulio said.

The shattered father recalled how Romeo attacked him when he began to question how his son had financed his property portfolio, which included the home he shared with wife, Mirella, at Newton.

"I've been telling him: `Romeo, how you do that? You build a house and you never sell, you buy property, you never rent it out'," the 73-year-old said from his Felixstow home, with wife Caterina and daughter Erica, surrounded by photos of his son.

"I said: `Where you gonna get the money from to pay it off?' and he said: `You're not gonna teach me what I should do'."

Mr Pacifico could not understand why his son would tear up and throw away letters from the bank.

Romeo's sister Erica, 38, lost the house that she had planned to pass on to her seven-year-old son, John. He had forged his sister's and brother-in-law's names on financial and property documents, resulting in a bank repossessing the property.

She recalled that on one visit to her brother's Newton home, a tradesman who was working on the property had congratulated Ms Pacifico and her sister-in-law on "winning the lottery".

It turned out the bogus lottery win was one tale Romeo had spun to some associates to explain his sudden wealth.

Pacifico was arrested and released on bail in December 2002 but it was six months later when Federal Police issued a warrant for his arrest that Ms Pacifico realised the extent of her brother's debts.

While Romeo is yet to express any remorse to the victims of his crime, Ms Pacifico said her family was extremely sorry for those affected by her brother's actions.

'She said the crimes brought shame to the family and believed Romeo's desire for money to cover his debts had become an addiction.

"I think it's like an addiction like smoking, or taking drugs, or going to the pokies," she said.

"You put $1 in, you get $20 back but then you've got to put that $20 in to get that $50 back.

"He didn't kill anyone, really he didn't hurt anyone.

"I lost my house, but in this world we've got to forgive, we've got to look that life's good and we're healthy.

"What's happened has happened, we can't kill ourselves for what he's done, we just have to move on; he tried to help himself and dug his own grave."

Ms Pacifico said her brother probably could have paid off his debts, but it obviously got beyond his capacity to pay.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Chivell said Pacifico's concrete pumping business – which by 1999 had 12 machines worth $14 million – had become "hopelessly overgeared" and so he began "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and used forged documentation to service repayments.

Between 1999 and 2002, he stole $25.5 million, on numerous occasions using his alias of Sambora to obtain false documents, including tax returns and bank statements.

More than $8 million remains unaccounted for. Speaking from Yatala Prison on Thursday night, Pacifico said he was appealing against the sentence, which he said was "over the top".

"That's not justice . . . I got more than a murderer and more than a pedophile," he said during a 10-minute phone call with the Sunday Mail. "I didn't kill anyone. I did wrong, but I was trying to pay back . . . from the day trouble started, I was trying to pay back the money."

The former accountant fleeced money from institutions including the National Australia Bank, Bendigo Bank, GE Finance and Capital Finance.

But he also blamed the banks for lending him the money and rejected Judge Chivell's comments that the losses incurred through his actions would be ultimately passed on to the community.

"I do blame the financial institutions," he said.

"In the papers they say there's $8 million missing, that money that's missing is fees, charges and interest that I was paying on the money."

As for stealing the Sambora name, he said it was suggested by a friend that he use a new identity to help erase his debts.

"It was a joke, a joke that went wrong," he said.

But Ms Pacifico, who visited her brother in prison on Friday, said that despite her brother's tough facade, he was a softie at heart.

"He won't even last five years in there (Yatala), I'm a little bit worried now, I think that's a long time for him to be locked up, he won't cope with that at all," she said.

"I know deep in his heart he is sorry for what he has done, it just went one step too far."