Venetia man charged with taking $287K from widow

A Venetia man was arraigned April 20 on theft and fraud charges for allegedly befriending and conning an elderly Bethel Park woman out of about $300,000 and stealing jewelry over a two-year period.
William Joseph Kail, 45, of 549 McCombs Road, was charged by detectives with the Allegheny County district attorney’s office after the woman was alerted to the thefts by a friend, and then contacted an attorney.
According to the criminal affidavit, the woman met Kail through a neighbor and began paying him to shovel snow at her home. Later in 2015, she hired him to build a vestibule, and Kail started to bring his wife and seven children to her home. The woman, who is widowed and has no family living nearby, told investigators she started “to feel like she had a family,” and she related to them because she was one of seven children.
Kail allegedly asked to help with the woman’s finances and paperwork and she did not review or check her accounts during this time because she “trusted Kail and his family,” according to police.
He also offered to do work to her late son’s nearby home, and asked for her debit card to buy materials. He made several excuses for not returning it, the affidavit states, and the woman eventually forgot he had it.
Kail approached the woman and asked “with tears in his eyes” for a loan of about $10,000, saying he was facing foreclosure, and talked the woman out of taking money from a life insurance policy she had for her late son.
Kail also agreed to purchase her vehicle, and his wife used it for a year until it stopped running, but he never paid for it, the affidavit states. The 88-year-old widow also told investigators various pieces of jewelry were stolen. Kail told police he received six necklaces as Christmas gifts, but pawned them.
Investigators determined there were $75,000 in unauthorized debit card transactions, $67,000 in unauthorized checks and $145,000 in unauthorized withdrawals from the life insurance account.
When confronted by investigators, Kail claimed he borrowed $100,000 from the woman and did another $100,000 in work to her home and that of her late son, but could provide no documentation.
Kail faces charges of theft, theft by deception, home improvement fraud, access device fraud, receiving stolen property, deceptive or fraudulent business practices and dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity. He was released on $50,000 bond ahead of a May 5 preliminary hearing before District Judge Ronald Arnoni.