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Accused Embezzler Well Known In Ridgewood

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood blog previously reported that a Charles Gallo, 34, of Hawthorne, was charged  in connection with his role in embezzling approximately $2.9 million from an elderly couple.

Mr. Gallo it seems has a long history with the Village of Ridgewood . It seems Mr. Gallo was  listed as the IT dept head of the Ridgewood Library? in 2017, the Library started a program to “assist” senior citizens who were unfamiliar with computer technology.

Library Director Lorri Steinbacher and Ridgewood Village Manager Keith Kazmark issued a joint statement following publication of this story on Saturday, Jan. 13:

“The Ridgewood Public Library and the Village of Ridgewood have cooperated with all aspects of the US Attorney’s investigation in this matter. We will continue to provide any assistance or information that is requested by investigators. Due to the sensitive nature of this situation and also it being a pending personnel matter, we have no further comment.”

A reader commented ,”

I guess if Ridgewood was not outed by good research by a local Bergen County media outlet, the taxpayers might not ever heard more about this incident. It took a week for the town to erase Gallo’s name from the Library’s website.
Don’t know who the victims are, if they reside in Ridgewood or not but one has to assume the Library’s program ( highlighted in the press in 2017) of assisting senior citizens who were not skilled in understanding the ins and outs of the internet, mobile phones and on line banking might be a contributing factor since Gallo’s personal relationship with the victims began in 2018.

Gallo, which from public records indicate that his family has rented an apt in Ridgewood since 1997. went to RHS, Ramapo College and worked for 20 years at the Library earning 75k in 2022.

Too bad the victims fell for this con from a otherwise neatly dressed and tech savvy guy. I wonder why the Library and town administration were not more forthcoming until they were outed. I understand protecting the identity of the victims but what is so “sensitive” that the town has no comment on this matter.”

A Ridgewood Resident said, ” Great example of why the Village of Ridgewood needs to implement proper vetting and hiring practices. Astonishing how the VOR allowed the Historic Consultant (with a criminal record) to create and produce a second set hiring documents after the first failed.”

 

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25 thoughts on “Accused Embezzler Well Known In Ridgewood

  1. The Village’s failure to issue an official “warning” notice to patrons of the library via e-mail and website posting borders on being criminal in and of itself.

    How many other victims are out there? What steps should those who Mr. Gallo assisted take to protect themselves? Who can those who have concerns contact? These questions and more remain unanswered.

    Ms. Steinbacher and Mr. Kazmark should both be fired for their respective failure to act appropriately in this matter.

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    1. Yes, I am a library patron and was not notified. If I didn’t hear about this, I would know nothing. How shocking and shameful.

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  2. If Gallo touched a device you currently own, change your passwords NOW!

  3. How could this guy’s social media accounts legitimately report that he’s worked at the library for 20 years when he’s only 34 years old? RED FLAG!

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    1. He might have started as a teenage intern, went to college and then returned as a full time employee

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      1. Possible and still a shitty person for scamming those who put his trust in him.

  4. The Library should be offering free counseling sessions and computer security advice to people Charles assisted. It’s disgraceful that the Village Manager and Library Director seem to be washing their respective hands of the situation.

    1. You never learn.

      Why would you want assistance on computer security from an organization who has proven it is unable to properly vet people to provide counseling sessions on computer security in the past?

      What have they changed in their vetting, hiring and monitoring processes to make you want to trust them now?

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      1. A REAL VET would have done a better job with my cat than the VOR does with their “vetting.”

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    2. will the head of Library and Keith, the village manager be the new teflon dons. See no evil, therefore it doesn’t exist.

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  5. Ridgewood did little vetting of the shady consultant and even when it came out that he owed hundreds of thousands in pay to people who worked for him, even when most of the assignments he claimed to work on were either fully fictitious, partially fictitious (as in never being associated with them, or not completing them and being asked to leave those projects) his resume and credentials still said he completed them. residents did their own “due diligence” to no avail and the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Siobahn Whinograd (his informant and personal chauffer/tour guide) and Evan Weitz, all said that he was an expert using tax payer dollars to pay this individual who we really don’t know or trust. So if any of us are relying on good judgement or as RH referred to as the “gold standard” and behavior that is exemplary, then we are sorely lacking as a village that has elected anyone with any scruples. I don’t know how these people can sleep at night knowing they are driving this village into doom and with a mayor who only cares about the central business district. No one did anything substantial when the village worked stole almost 800K from the meters, people should have been fired then but covered it up. Wake up people.

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    1. Anyone who thinks this mayor and council are setting the “Gold Standard” then we can assuredly say, Gold ait’t worth shit. Platinum is the new bar. Hear this Paulie, try living up to this, without your cronies…probably not possible but heck you always have a free gyro waiting for you and friends you have helped along the way like Gail Price and Richard Brooks with your bigtime mortgage loan. Just like the Sopranos, it is good to have those who owe you and not the other way around.

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      1. “Anyone who thinks this mayor and council are setting the “Gold Standard””

        Yes, but the gold standard for WHAT?

  6. I seriously hope this joker is going away for a very long time to the lockup. He will probably scam his way through the prison system too with his tech savvy ways, but he is a disgrace and should have to pay back what he stole and do penance for his crimes of which I am sure some have not been disclosed. I hope Ridgewood village manager is working with the library to do a deep dive into all of this guy’s activities to uncover whether other elderly folks were also scammed. Some might not even be aware that the seemingly nice helper was bilking people out of their hard earned dollars for his personal gain. I also don’t understand how the IRS or banking system did not pick this up given that he stole millions.

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    1. Nope.
      Just ask Quarter Boy about consequences for crimes committed against Ridgewood and its residents…

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      1. It has to start somewhere………………..

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  7. Caution to those who worked on personal computers while using the Library wifi account

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  8. Every day there is news about Ridgewood that is NOT positive! I always thought Ridgewood elites were corrupt!

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    1. Ridgewood USED to be a great place to live and a premier, desirable town.

      But that was AT LEAST 2 decades ago.

      We’re like a plane that has lost power…. we can glide along for a while without any ill effects, but disaster is inevitable.

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    2. Pffffft. Corruption, as you call it, is a privilege of being elite. Do you think they maintain power for themselves and their issue by singing hymns and playing harps all day?

      1. Is that meant to inspire us. I would think that we need to hold them to amuch higher standard as their responsibility as an elected official is to advocate for all of their constituents, not just the special interests as are clearly stated. So sorry, if you cannot muster it, then much like the Mayor, who is completely not seeing the big picture, along with the Deputy Mayor, and the two other seat fillers, aka council lackeys, Whino and Weitz, both who are a waste of space and have basically done nothing to bring any value to our village, they all need to seriously hit the highway. It is really sad to put this beautiful village in their hands as we are already headed for disaster. How can they be okay with the legacy they leave behind. It is shameful and a mockery on what could be a really great place to live.

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  9. The wasn’t a hacking or IT thing…the couple hired him to help with their banking, bills, administrative stuff, etc and GAVE him all their logins and passwords for bank accounts, ATMs, credit card accounts, etc.

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  10. Mr. Gallo constantly had packages, small and large delivered to the library in care of himself. One has to wonder if those packages were for the library or for himself. And who paid for these items? He once told me that he was in charge of ordering toner for the printer….maybe he was ordering toner…one for the library and one for him? Did he use the library account? There is a “log” of all incoming packages at the reference desk…..from the post office, UPS, Amazon, etc…Has anyone investigated these deliveries? How about Mr. Gallo’s house….is there an abundance of scotch tape, books, copy paper, hand sanitizer, etc…..????

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  11. Y’all suck. Get a life.

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