Anne Bortner had been thinking about retiring. She was going to tap into the $180,000 she had invested with an accountant in Collegeville, a pillar of the Montgomery County community who everyone seemed to know and trust.
Bortner, 65, who lives in South Jersey and works with people who’ve suffered traumatic brain injuries, had given the money to Joseph Pezzano about five years ago after her mother died. Her twin sister did the same.
“It’s a lot of money to us,” Bortner said. “That’s what our parents left us.”
Last Christmas Day, Pezzano died at the age of 73.
Nearly five months later, no one can tell Bortner where her money is. Same for her sister, Karen, who works at Rite Aid. And their brother, Leonard, a retired PECO employee who had rolled his pension into Pezzano’s investment plan.
Dozens of investors have found themselves in the same situation, seeking to recover…
