A disbarred Brooklyn lawyer wanted for allegedly swindling about $1.5 million from clients was busted after running from cops who pulled him over upstate for having an expired inspection sticker, state police said Thursday.
Robert C. Fontanelli, 48, of Clinton Corners in Dutchess County became “nervous and impatient” after troopers stopped him about noon on Tuesday on the Taconic Parkway in East Fishkill – and then suddenly bolted toward nearby Route 52, they said.
The state cops chased him down and learned during a routine warrant check that Fontanelli was wanted by the NYPD for allegedly stealing the $1.5 million from a pair of clients who had sold properties in Brooklyn but never got their money.
In December 2012, the lawyer received just more than $1 million from the sale of a building at 798 St. John’s Place in Crown Heights and put it in an escrow account.
But checks he wrote to the seller bounced, and the seller never got the proceeds from the sale, court records state.
In July 2012, he represented a woman who sold a building at 1729 East 32nd St. in Marine Park for $495,000. Checks he wrote to her bounced as well, the records state.
Fontanelli was disbarred in State Supreme Court last October, and warrants were issued for his arrest on one count of first-degree grand larceny and another of second-degree grand larceny, both felonies.
He was also charged with resisting arrest and obstruction for running away from the troopers, state police said.
The suspect, who formerly had a law office on Court Street in Brooklyn, was held at the Dutchess County Jail and then turned over to the NYPD on Wednesday. He remained in custody Thursday morning at the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn.
Public records indicate that Fontanelli had a myriad of legal woes, including civil judgments for unpaid debts, and federal liens and state warrants for unpaid taxes.