MANALAPAN – A Monmouth County man has been arrested and charged with stealing over $175,000 from multiple victims who invested large sums of money with him, officials said.
Jeffrey Loretta, 60, of Manalapan was charged with one count of second-degree Theft, three counts of second-degree Misapplication of Entrusted Property, and seven counts of third-degree Misapplication of Entrusted Property.
Police said that between January 2020 and February 2021, the 10 alleged victims gave Loretta a combined total of more than half a million dollars at various times in exchange for promises that the money would be responsibly invested.
In addition, Loretta provided multiple victims with inaccurate and false gains figures, encouraging them to invest additional money.
Loretta had lost nearly $200,000 of the funds through bad investments and spent more than $175,000 of it on himself, police said. He would take out thousands of dollars at a time in ATM withdraws and make checks out to himself, payable in cash.
Loretta would face up to 10 years in state prison if convicted of a second-degree crime.
Charges are merely accusations until proven in a court of law.
