WEST CHESTER — A Chester County businessman with a long history of white collar convictions for theft and fraud was denied in his attempt to win release from jail while he awaits trial on “very serious financial allegations.”
Common Pleas Judge Alita Rovito on Monday denied Peter Edward Aleszczyk’s request to be allowed to leave Chester County Prison on his own recognizance, citing his past convictions for — among other things — being a fugitive from justice.
“You have a whole host of stuff,” Rovitio told Aleszczyk as he stood before her in the business suit that he was wearing when he was arrested last month by investigators from the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department (WEGO) on multiple counts. The crimes involve his handling the financial accounts of a neighbor who had allowed him to live with him while he sorted through some personal issues.
Rovito accepted the recommendation of a representative of the Chester County Bail Agency, Brendan Lynch, that Aleszczyk’s bail remain at the 10 percent of $250,000 that was set by Magisterial District Judge Martin Goch when he was arraigned. Aleszczyk was returned to Chester County Prison, where he has been incarcerated since June 13.
“These are very serious financial allegations,” Lynch told the judge. “We believe he is a significant safety risk, even if he is not violent.”
Assistant District Attorney Kaitlyn Michalek, who handled the bail motion on behalf of Deputy District Attorney William J. Judge Jr., told Rovito her office opposed the motion.
Aleszczyk, 58, of Westtown contended in a motion he filed himself that he should be given nominal bail because he was accused of non-violent crimes, but was being housed in the same wing of the prison as those accused of assault and attempted murder. He said he had seen fights at the prison and feared for his safety.
Aleszczyk — who spent time in federal prison in 2010 for defrauding a New Jersey company of more than $500,000 in an employment scheme — said he had surrendered to the police when told to do so by his former attorney, Alexander Silow of West Chester. “I have always appeared, and will continue to do so,” he said.
Even though Aleszczyk contended he owns property in Westtown, he said he could not live there because of an unidentified dispute with his children who live at the house, but would stay with a friend in Downingtown if released.
According to an arrest affidavit filed by WEGO Detective Jason Diamond and Officer Joshua Cumens, the scheme that authorities allege began in late November 2021 when Aleszczyk moved into the house of a friend and neighbor and began a systematic looting of his finances even while he was in the hospital. The thefts continued after the man had died, up to the point of Aleszczyk trying to sign the deed to the man’s home over to himself two months after his death.
According to the arrest warrant, the victim, Stephen Lewis, died on Feb. 1, 2022, after having been hospitalized for a cardiac condition. He died in a nursing home in West Goshen.
The case came to light when Lewis’s brother and ex-wife contacted WEGO police in April 2022 about what they alleged was suspicious activity involving Aleszczyk’s interactions with them regarding Lewis.
For example, in March 2022 — weeks after his death — Aleszczyk provided William Lewis with text messages indicating that his brother was alive and well and “doing better,” according to the affidavit. “He did not mentioned that he had already passed,” stated the warrant.
The pair later learned that Aleszczyk had had Lewis’ body cremated without telling them of what he had done, even though William Lewis was his brother’s executor.
In addition, Aleszczyk showed a neighbor who had asked to visit Lewis a screen shot of a text message conversation he said he had with Lewis about whether he wanted to see the neighbor. “I do not want anyone to see me,” the message red. “You’re OK. No one else.”
Investigators learned that Aleszczyk, when he moved into Lewis’s home, had convinced the older man to sign over to him power of attorney. As soon as he did, Aleszczyk began to transfer funds from Lewis’ accounts into his own, and to use that money to travel to various resorts and make personal purchases, the affidavit states.
He also used credit cards in Lewis’ name to make thousands of dollars in purchases, and took out a home equity loan for $11,000 on the property that Lewis owned. Finally, he allegedly forged the signature of a notary on a transfer of the deed to Lewis’ house and maintained that the elder man had signed it over to him. He then backtracked and offered to buy the home from William Lewis for $525,000.
In all, the amount of money that Aleszczyk is alleged to have stolen totals more than $207,000, according to Michalek.
“Stephen Lewis worked his whole life in order to be financially stable with retirement and to live a long successful life,” the affidavit states. “Peter Aleszczyk, who Stephen Lewis allowed to live in his single family home when he needed a place to stay, immediately began his financial exploitation of (Lewis) when he was in medical need.”
In 2010, former U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner sentenced Aleszczyk to 51 months in prison on charges of mail and wire fraud and ordered him to repay $560,000 in restitution to a New Jersey employment firm. Joyner called the defendant a “con man” and noted that he had seven past convictions for financial crimes.
Aleszczyk had contracted with the employment firm to find work for temporary employees, a task for which the company paid him more than $500,000. But the employees were never placed and Aleszczyk simply pocked the money.
In a letter to the court Aleszczyk apologized.
“My experiences over the last year have provided the wake-up call that will ensure my actions will not be repeated in any way,” he wrote.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
