west haven

Prison sentence of former State Rep. Michael DiMassa is postponed

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A judge ruled that former State Representative and West Haven staffer Michael DiMassa will not have to start his federal prison sentence until September.

DiMassa, who was supposed to start his prison sentence on July 31 for the theft of COVID relief funds, will now report to prison on Sept. 7 so that he can travel to Texas in the event that his wife suffers a medical emergency related to her pregnancy or upon going into labor, according to a ruling made on July 7.

According to court officials, DiMassa can travel there for the purpose of returning the infant to Connecticut.

He will spend more than two years behind bars and then will have five years of supervised release.

DiMassa will also have to complete 100 hours of community service along with being ordered to pay back nearly $866,000.

This stems from the theft of COVID relief funds that led to three embezzlement schemes totaling $1.2 million.

DiMassa's wife Lauren began her six month sentence back in May. She previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with her husband to steal the COVID-19 relief funds from the City of West Haven.

She will have five years of supervised release with the first six months on home confinement. She was also ordered to pay back more than $147,000.

John Bernardo, who was a housing specialist in West Haven's Office of Community Development Administration, formed a company with DiMassa and fraudulently billed the city for services that were not performed, according to federal prosecutors.

He is currently serving a 13 month sentence and was ordered to pay back nearly $59,000.

According to evidence presented in trial, John Trasacco also conspired with DiMassa by submitting fraudulent invoices to the City of West Haven from two companies - L&H Company and JIL Sanitation Services.

Trasacco received over $431,000 for fraudulent services. He is serving eight years followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He also was ordered to pay back approximately $144,000.

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