Dennis SanSeverino is in jail. Trish Rynn, from whom he scammed more than $350,000, put him there. How did she do it? Legwork and persistence.
Lovefraud initially posted this case on our True Lovefraud Stories page in February 2008. The headline is, First he flashes wads of cash, then he steals her home and inheritance. That pretty much sums up what happened to Trish Rynn.
Unfortunately, Lovefraud has heard from plenty of people with similar experiences. They fell in love with the sociopath, trusted him or her, and lost everything. The difference with this case, however, is that Trish Rynn fought back. She reported him to New Jersey law enforcement authorities and actually got him prosecuted. When the case went to trial, SanSeverino pleaded guilty to taking $275,000 from Trish, his former fiancé. He was put on probation and ordered to pay restitution of $2,000 per month. He complied, sort of, for awhile, and then stopped paying—violating the terms of his probation.
Violation of probation
At that point, the authorities probably would have done nothing to force him to pay. That’s when Trish really went into action. She kept calling the guy’s probation officer. She hounded the prosecutor. She wanted the guy to pay—or go to jail.
SanSeverino was ordered to appear for a violation of probation hearing in early February 2008. Trish took off of work to be there, but the case was postponed. This happened multiple times over the next seven months—the case was scheduled, Trish arranged to be there, and the hearing never happened. Finally, the hearing actually took place on September 26, 2008—almost a year ago. SanSeverino didn’t show up and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The guy was a fugitive.
Legal authorities were not exactly energetic in pursuing SanSeverino. But in April 2009, he was pulled over in Pennsylvania on a traffic violation, gave a fake name, and was arrested for falsifying his identity.
About the same time, coincidentally, Trish heard from a woman who met SanSeverino at a casino in Delaware. This prompted Trish to call the New Jersey sheriff’s department handling the case. The officers checked their computers and discovered, to their surprise, that SanSeverino was in custody in Pennsylvania. So after he served his time there, he was sent back to New Jersey. His long-delayed violation of parole hearing took place on July 2, 2009.
Sentenced to prison
SanSeverino tried to talk his way out of going to jail. He acted remorseful. He said he was going to “live in darkness” until he paid Trish back. He needed Trish to forgive him. The judge, Susan F. Maven, didn’t buy the act and sentenced SanSeverino to five years in prison.
Maybe, if the people of New Jersey are lucky, SanSeverino will serve at least half of his sentence. Because the only real benefit of him being in prison is that it may make it difficult for the guy to find new victims.
For Trish, the damage has already been done. In the victim impact statement that she read in court, Trish said,
“I am 47 years old now and I am dead broke. I am still paying attorney fees from all of this and it is almost three years later. I am a single mother. I worked as a massage therapist for the past 20 years of my life and truthfully, I am physically ready to retire from my work because I am hurting and I have injuries to my shoulder and nerve damage. But I cannot retire because of what this man did to me.”
Trish also said she was angry because her daughter’s life has been sidetracked as well. With her inheritance, Trish could have sent her daughter to college. SanSeverino took the money, and her daughter dropped out.
Moral victory
I don’t know if any victim of a sociopath ever wins a satisfying victory. I beat my ex-husband, James Montgomery, in court. The judge found him guilty of fraud and awarded me all the money he took from me—$227,000—plus $1 million in punitive damages. I was never able to collect my judgment and ended up declaring bankruptcy anyway.
Still, I think it is valuable to pursue justice. Sometimes our efforts get the con artists off the street, at least for a little while, so that maybe someone else is saved. Sometimes the predators end up with a record, which, if a future victim is smart enough to investigate, also may prevent the sociopath from pulling another scam.
But mostly we need the moral victory. We did not roll over. We fought. And even if we did not recover the money or property that were taken from us, we can feel justly proud for recovering our self-esteem.
Donna & Henry,
A belated thank you for your very kind and helpful posts to me last week re: the desire for a new relationship. I found them to be very helpful and thoughtful. Henry, I saw a butterfly magnet at the store the other day and bought it to hang on my filing cabinet at work where it can remind me of your kind and inspiring words.
My kids have been sick for the last several days so my apologies for not acknowledging my appreciation sooner. It figures that I would get two such thoughtful comments here and was away from this site in the days following.
Thank you so much to both of you for reaching out to me when I was having a “moment” of self doubt. My apologies to anyone else who posted and I missed your replies…
Hecate’s Path 🙂
Sarasims said:
“…a narcissist, sociopath, antisocial! They all start to fade into one!”
No truer words can be spoken… they do indeed fade in to one disordered abusive person.
Kudos to Trish Rynn for fighting her battle… I admire her tenacity. I think part of my stunted healing at times is due to the fact that as much as I wanted to make my ex-S pay, I backed off because his vengeful nature and need to win were “wildcard” factors that I had to take into account for the safety of my children and myself. I hate feeling like my hands are tied when it comes down to justice!
About a year ago, I wrote about my concern for the 22 year old college student, who comes from money, that my ex S had started dating. I felt helpless to help her and knew my biggest priority had to be me and the child I shared with this man, making “no contact” a non-option. Still, sitting back and watching this girl be exploited wasn’t something I could live with.
So, I refused to meet her, against his wishes, so I wasn’t used in the exploit is some vicarious way. I figured if she met me and I didn’t say anything about what this man is capable of, I was a party to his illusion that we split on good terms. If I did say something, she’d think I was the nut job!
After listening carefully to a few of his statements about her, the majority about how well off her family is, I caught wind about the kind of business she worked for part-time and what college she attended. (I only ever got a first name for her) I did a little research and found only two businesses like that in the area of the college. I took a guess and wrote an email, anonymously, letting the proprietor know what kind of man this young woman was dating. It was short, to the point, and led to an Internet trail with substantiating evidence if one were to choose to pursue its legitimacy.
And then I let go” I did end up meeting her, about six months later, as it became important to my son. I kept a healthy distance and attempted to not do or say anything that would make me an accomplice to the S’s intentions but, first and foremost, I made me and my children (I have an older one not by him) the priority.
A year later, or last weekend, I found out that she broke off the relationship. Turns out, her parents were concerned for her well-being. They had gotten information from her employer about her man, done an Internet search and, after playing things cool and watching them together for some time, had concluded he was a shark and forbade her to have contact with him. From the information I was given, it sounds like she was warned several months ago, had some of her own experiences, shared them with family and the threshold was reached.
I own nothing but my own decisions and actions. While I didn’t do “nothing” what I did was very little, rather safe, had no glory and took its own course and time. As a result, I live relatively conscience free and fortunately for this girl, relatively consequence free of him!
Until the next one”
duped
I had the best news yesterday. The P has finally left the country and gone to join his OW, financed I’m sure by the money they scammed from me.
Although it isn’t a victory for me – they are not in prison where they should be but it does mean that I can go anywhere now without the fear of seeing him and it will validate everything I said about the two of them.
I feel as if I’ve just had 10 tons of concrete taken off my shoulders.
Swallow
Dear Duped,
You can only do what you can do and you did what you could do. sometimes it is a lot and sometimes a little, but that is all anyone can do, is what they CAN do. I’m glad you protected your child and yourself first of all.
I am also glad that apparently your e mail eventually bore some fruit. God bless.
SWALLOW: CONTRATULATIONS AND TOWANDA!!!
I too am ruined financially…..by a P…I, after knowing he had been taking everything from me moved in with him because of the situation he put me in…no money..I had no choice. My own mother who yet I need to diagnose turned me and my 4 kids away when I went to ask for financial help..and gave me a list of homeless shelters! She lives in a beautiful home in Cape Cod and did not want us there…she treats her dogs better than her daughter and grandchildren by far! Thanks to LF…I have realized the brick walls of intimidation and fear the P puts on me that made it hard to take a chance on leaving him,taking back my life and my own finances…I am leaving him…thanks to many words oxdrover had written to me and words that come from you all and I dont give a crap if I lose everything anymore….Oh yes it hurts…oh yes I am sure I have PTSD…Oh yes..no one gets it what its like to be a fly in a spider web except if you have lived it. My dream is to see that piece of garbage in prison picking up soap bars next to big bubba…but I am deciding if I have the strength to go through more battles….I still have my business by a fine thread…but I dont know if I can recover it from all the financial damage this piece of sht has done…but I am DONE and I think I am ready to take on whatever comes my way now..I wish all of us the victims can get together and hug each other and cry together beacause I know we are all the same type of person…we all deserve so much in life but because of our kindness and caring qualities and unselfishness we got into this hellish mess…say a prayer for me and everyone in our shoes….Thank you all for sharing…I cry often when I read this site because to know you are not the only one going through this…to know someone else gets it..is a salvation…Thanks all…
My daughter who is 21 has almost been scammed by two men already financially, that she shared digs with, because she takes her committments seriously. I am trying to teach her to be much more strict about what situations she puts herself into and sometimes these are not situations that she openly agreed to, but situations where her flatmate lost his job and couldnt pay the bills. These are serious life lessons, as women we have to learn to be SELFLESS and look after our own business and protect ourselves. More about this, when I have thought it through.
Dear dear BoPeep,
I am so sorry that you have such pain, but I am so GLAD that you are finding your STRENGTH and COURAGE! Being courageous is not the absence of FEAR, it is being scared chitless and doing what is right ANYWAY!!!
We must take back our strength, our courage, and our selves. YOU CAN DO IT!!!! I know you can!!! Come here and continue to read and learn and grow stronger and be validated, because YES, we do know what is is to be caught in the web and to look the PREDATOR IN THE EYE, but we also know what it is to get FREE of that web, whatever it takes!!!
I’m sorry your egg donor is not there for you, and I definitely know how that is with my own egg donor….you would be better off in a homeless shelter than with her, anyway, at least they would welcome you and apparently care more about you than she does.
Hang on to the knot at the end of the rope and keep on!!!!!! (((hugs)))) and my prayers for you. In the end, only we can rescue ourselves!!!!
BoPeep:
I am praying for you and I reiterate what Oxy says: “YOU CAN DO IT!!!! I know you can!!!”
Keep coming back here Bo peep, I NEED YOU!
xo
I would like to thank Donna, for her support that I have had and still have,from her website and reading also her own story.
I am glad that I did not go and crawl into a corner in shame, after the sociopath/psychopath come to my home, the only reason he come to Australia was when he knew that I had come into some money having sold my large home.He had to leave Australia twelve month ago , and had to go back to the USA, as his 12 month Visa had run out and the Immigration Department refused his request of an extension.I rang the Immigration Department as soon as I knew he was on the flight back to the USA and thanked them for the refusal of extending his Visa.I decided that I owe it to the humanity to get him exposed for what he is, as he has been doing this for many years on four continents. I have discovered that there are very many women.I am very lucky that he did not get my home and assets as that was his intention, how ever he did get my small inheritance, I took him to court for here and got what was left of the money back, as he had left that in a bank account he had here in this country, as soon as he went I called my attorney and we put an injunction on that bank account.
This sociopath make his living by taking over woman’s homes and taking there money, and what he does is sit on the computer almost 24/7 finding women on single sites and also on the porn sites. He owns nothing what so ever but is involved in every con that comes his way, he even promotes coins and money on his websites as real money, knowing full well that he has been told by the US treasury in writing to cease promoting this, as it is illegal tender it violates 18 U.S.C. § 486, I and many others are amazed that he has not been put away.[He should never own a computer ever again] He made one statement to me, that I did not care if he has to go back to the USA that he will be going to prison, I sure do not care if he is caught the sooner the better, I am not giving up to expose him as I discovered that there the most victims in the USA, he seems to like Oregon for some reason and that where he is at present hanging out with another victim to be.
I also like to say that Erin Brockovich has my respect and I just think she has done so much for women internationally.
Donna,keep up the great work you are doing and hopefully if we all speak out about the likes of those male and female sociopath / psychopath, they will not be able to prosper as well as they do.
I am becoming more and more aware of how lucky I was and enjoy my freedom and peace, that I have regained.I can once again just think with a lot of fondness of my late husband that I was married to for forty three and a halve years.[This sociopath would not allow me to have any pictures of my late husband in my home or mention his name, he also started alienating me from my children and friends, with out any success ]