Dot Con: Wife Refuses to Turn Over Money to Victims to Reduce Husband’s Sentence

Former Pennsylvania lawyer Ralph Mirarchi appears to have as bad marital as legal problems these days. Under a plea bargain, Marachi was supposed to have his sentence reduced once his wife sold their New Jersey home to help repay his victims. Instead, Mirachi, 69, was sentenced to up to 8 1/2 years after his wife of forty years Dorothy “Dot” Mirachi decided to keep the home and allegedly used money from another real estate sale to pay off her Lexus rather than her husband’s victims.

Mirachi owes victims $1.32 million and has already been in prison for 15 months. For Doris Mirachi, 69, out of sights appears to be out of mind — even after 40 years of marriage.

“Dot” sold another house in Pennsylvania but kept the money. Under the agreement, she would have been able to keep $600,000 from the two sales for herself, but she decided to keep it all. The Pa. house sold for $500,000 and the New Jersey house is listed at $1.9 million.

Mirachi was convicted of spending the money of his client Paul Pezzotti Sr.

Chester County Court Judge Thomas G. Gavin has indicated that he might still reduce the sentence if Dot changes her mind.

This is precisely the point of the “do you trust your wife” scene in Shawshank Redemption:

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