An Allegheny County judge froze assets of a Cranberry chiropractor and his wife this week while detectives investigate whether the couple drained a $1 million trust set up for two children left orphaned by a murder-suicide.
Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole ordered the assets and the trust frozen at the request of prosecutors, who are investigating trustees Daniel and Merily Pompa for theft, misapplication of entrusted property and conspiracy. No charges have been filed.
According to an affidavit filed by investigators, withdrawals by the Pompas have left the trust with as little as $80,000. Payments from the trust allowed the Pompas to buy a $250,000 condo at Seven Springs Mountain Resort and $230,000 in property in Cranberry, the affidavit states.
Daniel Pompa did not return phone calls Thursday and a family member at his Pine business -- Pompa Health Solutions -- said Pompa did not wish to speak with a reporter.
The Pompas gained guardianship of the boy and girl after their father, Leslie John Young, fatally shot their mother, Lisa Young, 40, and himself in December 2003. Leslie Young, 50, owned a landscaping company near Sarasota, Fla. According to a newspaper report, he shot his wife at their $400,000 home in Anna Maria, Fla. while the children were home. The children were 7 at the time, the news account said.
Mike Manko, a spokesman for the District Attorney's Office, declined to say whether the investigation would lead to criminal charges.
"Our role right now is to try to preserve the assets of that trust in order to make the trust financially whole," Manko said.
A Florida judge ordered all of the Youngs' assets placed in a trust for the children, to be maintained until they turn 30, the affidavit states. The Youngs were related to Merily Pompa, according to the relative at Pompa's office.
Starting in 2008, the Pompas got $15,000 per month from the trust for the children's care, the affidavit states. In December, they moved money to another account in their name to use as collateral for a mortgage on the Seven Springs condo, the affidavit states.
"... Distributions, including the over $500,000 spent on the Seven Springs Mountain Resort property, which have been requested by the (Pompas) from the trust may not be being used to the benefit of the (children)," the affidavit states.
Investigators began examining the trust when a confidential informant approached the District Attorney's Office with concerns about how the money was used. An attorney handling the trust for BPU Investment Management Inc., Downtown, could not be reached.
Other payments from the trust detailed in the court papers include:
--$1,700 deposit for a dining room chandelier for the condo
--$15,000 paid to Merily Pompa for flooring expenses for the condo
--$528 for a brass monkey toilet paper holder
--$4,380 to Guarding Protection Services to wire the condo for security
--$15,194 for floors in a second Seven Springs condo
--$7,982 for a Bose home theater system for the second Seven Springs condo.
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