Former Waterbury Resident Sentenced to 41 Months in Federal Prison for Multiple Fraud Schemes

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MARLENIN VITO, 45, formerly of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford to 41 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for multiple fraud schemes.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Vito was employed as Medicaid Coordinator at an assisted living facility ("Company A") located in Stamford. Vito's responsibilities included assisting the residents in applying for nursing home level Medicaid reimbursements, monitoring the residents' patient trust accounts, and ensuring compliance with Medicaid regulations. She was also responsible for keeping journal entries for the residents' trust accounts and to credit their accounts when funds were received, and for debiting patient accounts when payments were made on behalf of the residents or when cash was given to residents for incidental expenses.

Between approximately December 2019 and May 2021, Vito defrauded Company A and its residents by generating checks from Company A's system, forging a fellow employee's signature on the checks, negotiating the fraudulent checks purportedly to give the cash proceeds to certain residents, and keeping the cash for her own use. Vito then made false entries into Company A's accounting ledger by debiting the fraudulently obtained cash from the residents' respective trust accounts. Many of the residents were not healthy enough or mentally capable of tracking their own expenses or monitoring the balances of their own trust accounts.

In certain instances, Vito cancelled residents' supplemental health insurance coverage, but continued to deduct funds from the trust accounts and took the funds for herself. Also, when certain residents' trust accounts were credited with Economic Impact Payments (COVID-19 stimulus payments), Vito took the funds for herself and then debited the residents' accounts at a rate of approximately $60 a day until the stimulus funds were depleted.

During the scheme, Vito fraudulently negotiated approximately 500 checks, stealing approximately $310,820. When she was confronted by family members of certain residents, Vito created and provided to those family members false account statements that misrepresented the balances in the residents' trust accounts.

After she was terminated by Company A, Vito obtained employment as a bookkeeper and scheduler at an alarm company ("Company B") located in White Plains, New York. Vito stole from the company by making false representations about overtime for herself and her daughter, and by using company funds to order more than $10,000 worth of products to be delivered to her Waterbury residence. Company B was defrauded of approximately $23,558 through these schemes.

After she was terminated by Company B, Vito was employed as a bookkeeper at a law firm in Hartford ("Company C"). Vito took fraudulently generated checks drawn on Company C's bank account and issued as "Pay to the Order of 'Petty Cash, '" forged the signature of an authorized employee on the checks, cashed the checks, and kept the funds for herself. She then recorded the fraudulently negotiated checks in Company C's books and records as "Petty Cash." Vito stole approximately $27,179 from Company C.

Judge Oliver ordered Vito to pay full restitution.

On June 13, 2025, Vito pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Vito, who is released on a $25,000 bond and residing in the Bronx, New York, is required to report to prison on October 17.

Vito has pending state cases in New York, where it is alleged that she embezzled approximately $100,000 from a small business in Brewster, New York, and in Connecticut, where she is alleged to stolen from an employer in Ridgefield.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Stamford Police Department, Hartford Police Department, Ridgefield Police Department, and the Putnam County (N.Y.) Sheriff's Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael S. McGarry and Nathan J. Guevremont.