Johnston judge charged in theft of dead Cranston man’s estate to appear in court

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Johnston judge charged for her alleged role in the theft of valuable sports cards and gun collections from an estate of a dead Cranston man is scheduled to be in court Wednesday.

Priscilla Facha DiMaio, a probate judge, was charged with one count of attempting to obtain money under false pretenses over $1,500 and one count of providing a false document to a public official.

DiMaio, 65, is one of five people accused of having a role in a theft at James Barbieri’s estate, Attorney General Peter Neronha said last week. Barbieri died without a will on April 26, 2021.

DiMaio is accused of lying on court documents, falsely claiming that she did some work for the estate.

Neronha said during Barbieri’s final days, Sylvia Santilli, one of Barbieri’s close friends, started taking items from his home without “lawful claim or authority.”

Santilli’s daughter, Jillian Chatelle, and her daughter’s boyfriend, Luke Baughman, did online searching on market rates for sports cards that were in Barbieri’s collection. They then allegedly took the sports cards from the estate the next day.

They’re accused of later selling part of the collection, searching for buyers, and taking the items to a storage unit to later sell.

Aside from the sports collection, James Connors, who owns Jim’s Firearm Repair and Sales in Johnston, is accused of receiving and later selling guns that were unlawfully removed from Barbieri’s estate.

Neronha said Connors knowingly submitted a false accounting and receipts of the guns sold and the approximate value. He allegedly sold multiple guns for more than the value of the firearms that he reported to the Cranston Probate Court.

Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. said Friday that DiMaio was put on leave and a final decision on her employment will be made after the outcome of the case.

Neronha said the collection of sports cards was estimated to have a value of more than $1 million. The firearms were approximately worth more than $100,000.