Ex-financial adviser jailed for bilking three people

Judge calls crime 'truly despicable'

A former Andover financial adviser who bilked three people of nearly $2 million and spent it on trips to Las Vegas, luxury cars, and $5,000-a-day visits to strip clubs was sentenced yesterday to more than seven years in prison by a judge who called his crime "truly despicable."

"The crime you committed was utterly unnecessary," US Chief District Judge Mark L. Wolf told John A. Baldo, who pleaded guilty in January to defrauding two brothers in their 80s and a 64-year-old Rockport woman.

"It was motivated exclusively by greed, and greed for the least valuable things," Wolf said.

The sentence of seven years and three months was nine months longer than federal prosecutors had recommended.

Wolf said he took into account that two of Baldo's victims - Albert K. Cohen, 89, of Storrs, Conn., and Harold Cohen, 86, of Peabody - were particularly vulnerable, as evidenced by statements that the frail men made to the court about the impact the crimes had on them.

Albert Cohen, - a Harvard-educated sociologist who taught a course on criminal behavior for about 25 years, mostly at the University of Connecticut - told the judge that he can still make ends meet, despite Baldo's theft of $1.6 million from him.

But, the retired professor said, he will no longer be able to leave money he had intended to bequeath to relatives and several favorite institutions, including Harvard, Indiana University, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Now, whatever money is left when he dies will go to his brother, who has grown daughters with serious medical problems.

"What I was led to do was tear up that will as null and void," Albert Cohen said, referring to the effect of Baldo's theft on his estate. "The money was simply not there."

Baldo, a burly 39-year-old man with a shaven head, apologized to his victims and his weeping relatives. They sat in two groups in the spectator's gallery in the courtroom.

"There's no explanation, no justification, nothing," he said. "I'm not going to ask them for their forgiveness, because I don't deserve it."

Baldo's lawyer, Glen P. Randall of Lowell, sought a lesser sentence of 60 months in prison. He said his client was sexually and physically abused as a child; had problems with gambling, alcohol, and drugs; and craved the attention that his stolen money brought.

Randall referred to a photograph shown in court of Baldo standing next to a young, attractive woman proudly displaying a brand-new wristwatch on her left arm.

Baldo bought her the $17,000 timepiece 20 minutes after meeting at a jewelry store, according to an FBI agent.

"He's buying watches for people he doesn't know," Randall said. "That's not a logical act."

But Assistant US Attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell said Baldo was a fast-talking con man who stole the savings of unsuspecting people with promises of investments and handsome returns. In addition to losing money, he said, they had lost a sense of security and the means to care for loved ones.

Baldo committed the crimes from November 2005 to December 2006 while presenting himself as a certified financial adviser and owner of an investment firm called Freedom Financial, according to prosecutors.

He is to report to prison on June 2.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.