HONESDALE, PA -- Joseph Cordaro, 60, of Honesdale was arrested and charged with crimes related to his alleged illegal attempt to claim Cordaro's Restaurant as his own.

On April 24, Wayne County detectives received a complaint that Joseph Cordaro wrongly took advantage of his mother, Charlmaine Cordaro, who is a care-dependent person. She owns Cordaro's Restaurant in Honesdale, including its real estate and liquor license. The restaurant first opened in 1954. Charlmaine's husband of 64 years, Philip J. Cordaro, died in 2018.

Joseph Cordaro was charged with Financial Exploitation of an Older Adult or Care Dependent Person, a first-degree felony; and Securing Execution of Documents by Deception, a misdemeanor. The police criminal complaint requesting an arrest warrant says, "Charlmaine's business, Cordaro's Restaurant, has been interfered with and delays with the contract will be caused resulting in a monetary loss to Charlmaine in an amount up to but not limited to the $50,000 deposit received under the contract, in addition to $500,000, plus or minus, in expected profits under the contract."

On June 24,  the Honorable Magistrate District Judge Kay Bates found sufficient evidence to proceed with charges. Joseph Cordaro’s next court appearance will be on October 3. 

Joseph Cordaro allegedly "defrauded, unduly coerced, and deceived the victim into signing documents in an attempt to transfer ownership of the business to the Defendant," according to Wayne County District Attorney A.G. Howell. "However, beginning in May 2019, the victim’s mental capacity began to decline to the point where the victim is now diagnosed with cognitive impairment resulting from vascular dementia due to multiple cerebrovascular accidents, confusion, poor judgment making decisions, poor short- and long-term memory, and is not capable of making decisions in the victim’s own best interest."

In the early months of this year, the DA said, "the defendant continuously nagged, harassed, hounded,
and in the victim’s own words the defendant 'drove the victim nuts,' in his unsuccessful attempts to have the victim sign documents to transfer ownership of the business. The defendant promised to pay the victim, but the defendant stressed he preferred the victim 'give' him the property. The defendant never paid any money to the victim for the property."

Then, around April 12, Charlmaine went into a nursing home for a planned respite for about seven to 10 days while her caregiver and power of attorney traveled out of state, according to the DA. During this time, Joseph visited her multiple times while her caregiver and power of attorney were out of town. "It is believed that during each visit, the Defendant brought with him various legal documents and asked the victim to sign these documents to revoke the current power of attorney, to appoint the Defendant as power of attorney, a codicil to transfer ownership of the business, and a deed to transfer ownership of the property to the Defendant," said Howell.

Charlmaine subsequently recorded the deed. Joseph brought in an outside notary and coerced Charlmaine into signing documents relinquishing ownership of her property, despite being informed of her lack of mental capacity to fully understand, and despite nursing home staff refusing to witness and notarize the documents.

Joseph Cordaro’s actions deprived the victim of her property and business and opened her up to potential lawsuits, Howell said.

“My office will continue to fight and protect the elderly who are unfairly, unjustly, and wrongly taken advantage of," he said. "We need to care for our elderly population, not cheat them out of their property and assets."