Joseph Cipolletti, center, the former vice president of Discovery Tours, was sentenced to five years in federal prison.CLEVELAND, Ohio — The former vice president for Discovery Tours will spend five years in federal prison for stealing some $1.5 million from his family’s company, a move that caused the cancellation of school trips for 5,000 Northeast Ohio students.
“This was intentional conduct,” Barker said. “You took money that didn’t belong to you, and you did it over a number of years.” Barker allowed Cipolletti to voluntarily surrender to prison. She has not yet determined exactly how much money she’ll order Cipolletti to pay in restitution, but she signaled during the hearing she felt it should be closer to the $1.5 million that federal prosecutors argued that he stole.