Hearing resumes Monday in New Hope fraud case

They said she unleashed profane rants on longtime friends.

Persuaded an artist to fabricate a six-figure invoice.

And made sure a "rat bastard" insurance adjuster she suspected had talked to state investigators knew that "snitches get stitches."

For years, Claire Risoldi has been known in Bucks County political circles as a gracious host of lavish fund-raisers for local Republicans.

But in a Doylestown courtroom last week, witnesses sketched a portrait of the 67-year-old that sharply contrasted with the image she cultivated while mingling with the county elite.

"She can be quite the character," testified Buckingham Police Lt. John Landis, a label Risoldi's lawyers did not dispute.

What wasn't as obvious during the first four days of her preliminary hearing on fraud, conspiracy, and witness intimidation charges was something else: a smoking gun to prove that Risoldi's boorish behavior, as investigators probed insurance claims from three fires at her home, was a crime.

Several witnesses indicated Risoldi cursed and yelled at them, but none said they thought her comments deserved to be reported to police or prosecutors.

The most concrete suggestion of fraud may have been in testimony from mural artist Russell Buckingham, who admitted he fabricated receipts for her after Risoldi asked him to claim a $50,000 job at her New Hope-area mansion was worth $800,000. But even that accounts for just a fraction of the total she and other family members are accused of bilking from insurers after three fires in five years at the estate dubbed Clairemont.

At the same time, there was little testimony implicating the other defendants - Risoldi's three children and two alleged coconspirators - even though the Attorney General's Office has charged them all with conspiring to rip off insurers for $20 million.

Defense attorneys cross-examined witnesses to reinforce their point that no one has ever concluded the fires were deliberate. If the fires weren't arson, they contend, how can prosecutors claim the entire reimbursement sum was ill-gotten?

Testimony resumes Monday, and District Judge C. Robert Roth will likely hear hours of arguments from lawyers on both sides before he decides whether there's sufficient evidence to carry the charges forward to a full trial.

The judge, of Quakertown, has not indicated whether he was leaning one way or the other. As the hearing dragged on - it was initially expected to be finished by Thursday - Roth took notes, reminding both sides to keep their questions focused.

At times, the proceeding has felt more like a trial than the typical preliminary. Nearly a dozen witnesses testified, and many faced lengthy cross-examination.

Even the setting - the old Common Pleas Court House in Doylestown - is atypical. Most hearings are held in small district justice courtrooms. Attorneys said the switch was made to accommodate the participants and evidence.

And the case has broad interest. County Commissioner Charles Martin, Sheriff Edward "Duke" Donnelly, and Matt Weintraub, the county's chief of prosecution, each spent a few minutes watching from the courtroom gallery last week. Risoldi has thrown fund-raisers for Martin and Donnelly.

Though her profane outbursts were a repeated feature of the testimony, the family matriarch spent most of last week sitting quietly in court beside her son, Carl, daughter-in-law, Sheila, and daughter, Carla, each of whom was also charged.

She took notes on a yellow legal pad, sometimes passing them to her lawyers, and occasionally waved at friends in the gallery. Neither she nor her codefendants are expected to testify.

Risoldi's attorney, Jud Aaron, said Thursday he thought the hearing had exposed holes in the allegations against his client. "I think the case is nowhere near as strong" as prosecutors contend, he said.

So far, prosecutors have declined to comment on their case.

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