The former CEO of a continuing care retirement / life plan community in DuBois, PA, has been sentenced to up to five years in state prison for stealing thousands of dollars from the community.
Samuel Zaffuto, the former leader of Christ the King Manor, in May 2022 had been charged with 19 felonies and 17 misdemeanors, as McKnight’s previously reported. He ultimately pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking, a third-degree felony, and agreed to pay $70,694 in restitution to his former employer, according to media reports.
He was given a minimum sentence of nine months on Thursday.
Zaffuto had been the CCRC’s administrator and CEO for more than 15 years when his employment was terminated in July 2019 after “numerous issues of serious concern” were discovered, the local district attorney’s office reported. Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers previously told McKnight’s that, due to a five-year statute of limitations, the investigation only looked into theft alleged to have occurred from 2017 to the end of Zaffuto’s employment, although the DA said that “this behavior has been going on longer than that.”
“Though our forensic auditor concluded that CTKM suffered a financial loss in excess of $900,000, we suspect that the amount misappropriated by Mr. Zaffuto over many years exceeds that amount,” current Christ the King Manor CEO and Chief Administrator Paula Felton-Werner told the judge, according to GANTNews and other media outlets.
A 2022 news release from the district attorney’s office said that the former CEO was suspected of making various donations into a bogus charity account that he devised for personal use, including supporting a local fair and purchasing a truck.
Felton-Werner told the judge that news of the thefts had tarnished the CCRC’s reputation in the greater community, affecting donations and gifts.
