RANALLO

Claiming to be a former minor-league baseball player with ties to the Baltimore Orioles, a Cumberland man persuaded parents in the Northern Rhode Island area to cut him checks to start a baseball team and academy that would get their teenage sons ready for college-level play and give them exposure to major-league scouts, the police say.

But when the team couldn’t find a league to play in and the academy never materialized, one of the parents went to the state police. Now Jack A. Ranallo, 52, of 39 Peacedale Rd., is facing 13 counts of obtaining money under false pretenses and two counts of providing false documents to public officials.

State police Lt. Brian K. Casilli, of the financial crimes unit, says that Ranallo, who has no affiliation with the Orioles or their minor-league teams, has faced similar charges before.

He was arrested and charged with 12 counts of theft of more than $300 by Maryland State Police in September 1999 for posing as a former baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks, said Casilli, who said he did not know the outcome of that case.

The Rhode Island State Police began investigating Ranallo on Nov. 9, when the police received a complaint regarding two fraudulent checks he issued, according to an affidavit state police submitted in Superior Court.

Michael Bouthillette had given Ranallo a $20,000 loan to start a team for high-school-age baseball players called the Rhode Island Orioles. Bouthillette said Ranallo sent two bad checks as repayment for the loan.

Ranallo, who also goes by the names Jack A. Dorvis and Jack A. Norris, was charged in December with two counts of issuing fraudulent checks greater than $1,000. That case is pending.

Interviewing team members, the police said Ranallo claimed the team would be financed in part by the Baltimore Orioles, playing about 60 league games and several tournaments and receiving equipment and uniforms from corporate sponsors.

He received $31,500 from 11 families, promising them that $1,500 would be refunded by the Orioles at the end of the season. But he never entered the Rhode Island Orioles into a league. He issued players uniforms, but he took them back after every game.

The parents told the police Ranallo made a lot more promises he didn’t keep. He said there would be night games at Bryant University and a game at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Those games never happened, according to the affidavit.

The team ended up playing five scrimmage games before many parents pulled out their children in frustration.

Around the same time, Ranallo approached Joseph Carnevale, the father of a team member, with a plan to open a baseball academy for underprivileged youths, according to the affidavit.

Ranallo said the Field of Dreams Baseball Academy was also to be financially supported by the Baltimore Orioles. He convinced Carnevale to loan him $30,000, saying that he needed money to prove to the Orioles that the plan was legitimate.

Carnevale told the state police that Ranallo started training some teens in a warehouse in Cumberland. Ranallo said he would upgrade the facility, but there were delays, said Carnevale. Ranallo blamed contractors and the building owner in explaining why the academy was not yet complete after Carnevale loaned him the money.

During their investigation, state police found that Ranallo, who moved to Cumberland seven years ago, had deposited the players’ fees and Carnevale’s loan into a checking account he shared with his wife, Jennifer.

The police said that none of the expenses from the account ever went to things that Ranallo claimed the money was being used for, such as league registration fees, equipment or hotel reservations.

They also found that Ranallo gave the wrong birth date in the voter registration form he submitted in Cumberland Town Hall and the he had obtained a Rhode Island driver’s license using an altered Maryland license. A criminal background check turned up several charges of larceny, forgery, theft and obstruction of justice in Maryland and Florida, state police said.

Ranallo was arrested by state police on Feb. 25. He was arraigned on the charges in District Court, Providence, the next day and released on bail. He is being represented by the public defender’s office, and his next court date is April 28.

pmarcelo@projo.com