Riverhead horse farm owner faces federal conspiracy charge, held without bail in $10M embezzlement case

One of the owners of Serendipity Farm on Mill Road in Riverhead has been jailed on a conspiracy charge, after he confessed to federal agents that he stole more than $10 million from his family’s West Babylon contracting business, according to federal prosecutors.

Joseph Simonelli, 55, who owns a home on Kerry Court in Riverhead and is a principal in the company that owns the horse farm on Mill Road, was arraigned in federal district court yesterday and ordered held without bail “as a danger to the community,” Newsday is reporting.

Simonelli is the chief financial officer of F.W. Sims Co., a West Babylon-based heating and air conditioning company that installed HVAC systems at 1 World Trade Center and Yankee Stadium.

An F.W. Sims company lawyer told the court that Simonelli had threatened his relatives, according to Newsday.

One of Simonelli’s sisters testified that he had a “history of violence when he doesn’t get what he wants,” according to the report.

Simonelli is facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. If convicted he faces 11 to 14 years in federal prison.

Simonelli purchased the 25-acre farm on the corner of Mill and Middle roads in Riverhead in 2012 from Paul Gabrielsen. He has developed the preserved farmland with a barn, indoor arena and track for thoroughbred race horses. His daughter, Dana Grimaldi, who manages Serendipity, owns and breeds thoroughbreds. A second 40-by-200-foot barn is planned for the site, according to an approved site plan on file with the Town of Riverhead.

The town issued a stop-work order for the site in April, after contractors at the Mill Road farm site cleared a wooded area of the site that was supposed to be left intact, according to the site plan approval. Officials then realized Simonelli had not been required to file a stormwater management plan, required during the construction of the track because of the area of disturbed soils.