Man Pleads Guilty To Swindling Priests

A Manhattan man pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding 60 priests, scamming them of more than $200,000 in total.

Robert Riggio, 60, contacted priests from across the country, "making sympathy-inducing but bogus requests over the telephone for money purportedly to help the caller's mother address time-sensitive difficulties," according to court papers, which did not disclose the religious affiliation of the priests. The calls were made between March 2004 and September 2006.