You couldn't make it up no.13: I wonder if the real thing was as effective?
From the Daily Telegraph
Priest, doctor, fund-raiser . . . and conman
By Catherine Elsworth
(Filed: 25/08/2005)
Fred Brito believes that his true calling is as a Catholic priest. But he also makes quite a good psychiatrist. Most recently he has been earning £55,000 as a university fund-raiser.
The only problem is that Brito, 50, an accomplished con artist, held none of these positions legitimately, having spent nearly 30 years bluffing his way into a string of white-collar jobs.
Fred Brito conducted weddings and baptisms
Now he says he is abandoning fraud and "going straight". He hopes that speaking publicly about his catalogue of deceit will both prevent him from duping further victims and highlight the plight of ex-convicts struggling to find work.
"I'm tired of hiding. It takes a lot of energy to live all these different lies," he said.
Brito claims society slammed the door in his face after a 1977 conviction for stealing travellers cheques.
"I have had to lie or I would have ended up living on the street," he said.
Over the years, Brito - who lives with and supports his sick, elderly mother and stepfather - has lost count of the times he has embezzled, stolen and deceived.
He has been convicted of five felonies and been in and out of prisons across California for sentences totalling more than 11 years.
But after every release he has reinvented himself and landed well-paid positions, often in the non-profit sector.
His latest exploit ended when the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) realised that he was not the expertly qualified fund-raiser he appeared.
Last October, Brito, posing as Federiqkoe DiBritto III, was appointed executive director of development and patient relations of the university's Geffen School of Medicine.
A recruitment agency was paid a £5,500 fee to find him.
The university assumed that the agency had checked his glowing reference from the non-existent head of a Catholic charity and his qualifications from a non-existent university.
In April, UCLA detectives received a police tip that Brito was violating his parole after being sentenced to 16 months for embezzlement in 2002.
He was jailed for two weeks but never charged as no evidence of criminal wrongdoing was found.
Brito claims he excelled in the role, raising as much as $6 million. UCLA described the figure as an "extreme exaggeration".
One of his most stunning deceptions was as Father Federico B Gomez de Esparza, a Norbertine priest ordained in Mexico, at a number of parishes in Arizona.
He forged the necessary documents and studied liturgy, conducted weddings and baptisms and held mass up to four times a day until he was exposed.
"By pretending to be a priest, Fred Brito played with the souls of people who trusted him," said Father Thomas Zurcher, vicar for priests in the diocese of Phoenix.
"In doing so he compounded their hurt and shrivelled their spirit. He fakes being nice when in fact he is a mean-spirited person who lives without regard for others."
Brito disagreed. "I do feel bad because I was not actually a priest, but on the other hand no priest had ever connected to the Latino community there as I did. Yes, it was a mistake, but I also changed lives. I loved that work."
Priest, doctor, fund-raiser . . . and conman
By Catherine Elsworth
(Filed: 25/08/2005)
Fred Brito believes that his true calling is as a Catholic priest. But he also makes quite a good psychiatrist. Most recently he has been earning £55,000 as a university fund-raiser.
The only problem is that Brito, 50, an accomplished con artist, held none of these positions legitimately, having spent nearly 30 years bluffing his way into a string of white-collar jobs.
Fred Brito conducted weddings and baptisms
Now he says he is abandoning fraud and "going straight". He hopes that speaking publicly about his catalogue of deceit will both prevent him from duping further victims and highlight the plight of ex-convicts struggling to find work.
"I'm tired of hiding. It takes a lot of energy to live all these different lies," he said.
Brito claims society slammed the door in his face after a 1977 conviction for stealing travellers cheques.
"I have had to lie or I would have ended up living on the street," he said.
Over the years, Brito - who lives with and supports his sick, elderly mother and stepfather - has lost count of the times he has embezzled, stolen and deceived.
He has been convicted of five felonies and been in and out of prisons across California for sentences totalling more than 11 years.
But after every release he has reinvented himself and landed well-paid positions, often in the non-profit sector.
His latest exploit ended when the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) realised that he was not the expertly qualified fund-raiser he appeared.
Last October, Brito, posing as Federiqkoe DiBritto III, was appointed executive director of development and patient relations of the university's Geffen School of Medicine.
A recruitment agency was paid a £5,500 fee to find him.
The university assumed that the agency had checked his glowing reference from the non-existent head of a Catholic charity and his qualifications from a non-existent university.
In April, UCLA detectives received a police tip that Brito was violating his parole after being sentenced to 16 months for embezzlement in 2002.
He was jailed for two weeks but never charged as no evidence of criminal wrongdoing was found.
Brito claims he excelled in the role, raising as much as $6 million. UCLA described the figure as an "extreme exaggeration".
One of his most stunning deceptions was as Father Federico B Gomez de Esparza, a Norbertine priest ordained in Mexico, at a number of parishes in Arizona.
He forged the necessary documents and studied liturgy, conducted weddings and baptisms and held mass up to four times a day until he was exposed.
"By pretending to be a priest, Fred Brito played with the souls of people who trusted him," said Father Thomas Zurcher, vicar for priests in the diocese of Phoenix.
"In doing so he compounded their hurt and shrivelled their spirit. He fakes being nice when in fact he is a mean-spirited person who lives without regard for others."
Brito disagreed. "I do feel bad because I was not actually a priest, but on the other hand no priest had ever connected to the Latino community there as I did. Yes, it was a mistake, but I also changed lives. I loved that work."