Fred "Scumbag" Parisi faked letter from priest

Prosecutor: Alleged 9/11 con man faked priest letter

A letter from a priest to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office last month heaped praise on a Jefferson man now under investigation for allegedly defrauding people who donated money to his 9/11 charity.

In the letter, "Archbishop" Stephen Petrovich called Fred Parisi a Sept. 11 hero who is being unfairly treated by Jefferson police and wrote that the police department needed to be investigated, not Parisi.

But Petrovich never wrote that letter, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said.

Petrovich said Parisi wrote the letter. And Petrovich added in an interview that he is a priest, but not an archbishop.

"He called me and told me he wrote it last month after he sent it," Petrovich said. "I told him he can't do that. That's not right."

Bianchi said the matter remains under investigation.

Parisi, 40, was arrested March 29 and remains at the Morris County jail in lieu of $250,000. He is charged with theft and failure to allow his business partner to access company money -- some $235,000.

Those charges are unrelated to Parisi's charity, the 9/11 Rescue Workers Foundation. But because of his arrest, his 9/11 fundraising activities are now being reviewed.

Although he claims he was a New York City police officer who rescued thousands from Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001, authorities said Parisi was a police recruit training miles away in Brooklyn on that day.

Petrovich, a 57-year-old retired Ukrainian Orthodox priest who lives in Ohio, met Parisi by phone three months ago when the priest was calling 9/11 groups to find volunteer mental health workers to assist a friend providing counseling to rescue workers who moved to Florida.

9/11 'HERO' CHARGED IN 40G SCAM

July 15, 2007 -- A self-proclaimed Ground Zero hero who says he and his golden retriever rescued victims from the World Trade Center rubble has been charged with fraud for allegedly ripping off $40,000 in federal relief funds.

Scott Shields could face up to 35 years in jail after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him and his sister last month for allegedly swiping rental-assistance money from FEMA and other agencies.

Shields showed up in the days after the attack, accompanied by Bear, his cancer-stricken canine, but the dog was too sick to do any real work, and the two were on hand only for "a couple of days," according to a former NYPD officer.

"There's something wrong with the guy," said Lt. Dan Denadio, who as head of the NYPD's K-9 unit spent nine months at Ground Zero. "I don't know how he got so far."

Shields claims he and Bear "made the only live finds" at the site.

"Nonsense," Denadio said.

After his brief stint on the pile, Shields, who had resided in Greenwich, Conn., moved into an apartment across from the site - a swanky $3,182-a-month pad on Rector Place - and got one check for $16,443.50 from FEMA to pay for it, records show.

Shields collected thousands in additional rental assistance, the indictment says.