Pennsylvania Convicts Found in Clearwater

A tipster trying to help authorities solve a case on "America's Most Wanted," ended up helping investigators find a pair of Pennsylvania convicts Wednesday afternoon.

Victor and Tamara Santarelli were arrested after investigators working on a tip about an "America's Most Wanted" case discovered them at the Flamingo Motel in Clearwater.

After a four-day trial, the Santarelli's were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the estate of a deceased aunt and mail and wire fraud in October 2011, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Deputies assigned to the U.S. Marshals Task Force conducted a separate and unrelated investigation that led them to the pink, ramshackle Flamingo Motel, where Victor Santarelli was staying.

Investigators made contact with Santarelli, 46, who said he had no identification and gave them different  birth dates.

In an attempt to identify Santarelli, investigators asked him for his fingerprints to run through the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office automated fingerprint identification system and to take a picture of him to match in the facial recognition system.

Santarelli agreed, according to investigators. 

No matches were found in Florida. However, deputies also contacted the FBI to review the national database. That is when they learned it was Santarelli, who is wanted in Pennsylvania.

His wife also was arrested on an outstanding Pennsylvania warrant.

The Santarelli's schemed to defraud Joanne Striminsky, Victor's aunt, by changing beneficiaries on multiple insurance contracts to themselves between May 2006 and August 2007, according to Pennsylvania officials. 

The Santarelli's gained control of Striminsky by assuming Power of Attorney and Executor status under a will that they drafted. After they assumed control, they had the 82-year-old victim, who suffered from dementia, involuntarily committed to a psychiatric unit of a hospital. After that, they used their Power of Attorney status to take her assets, including her house.

Striminsky died Jan. 4, 2007, midway through the Santarellis' scheme and they had her body buried in an unmarked grave, according to court officials.