Lisa DiBello’s Business Dealings: “Come on Down!”

Lisa DiBello wins car, pledges to sell it and give money to charity she runs

By Will Collette

Since 2000, present Town Council member Lisa DiBello and long-time town contractor Deborah Dellolio have administered a charity called A Ray of Hope from their home at 35 Morley Street.

In its early history, the charity seemed to bank heavily on winnings by its board members on TV game shows.

Let’s watch the video of one of those attempts and see how that turned out.

Here's the YouTube link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-FEm0lBC48

So, very belated congratulations to DiBello for her 2001 win on “The Price is Right.” She won that 2001 Oldsmobile Alero with a list price of $20,790. The video also shows DiBello telling Channel 12 that she was selling the car and donating the proceeds to A Ray of Hope.

But did that actually happen?

According to Charlestown’s tax records, here’s where that Olds Alero ended up:

What happened to the car after 2003? According to the Town's tax payment database, here's where the Olds Alero went next:

If you check the Town's tax database, you'll see the Olds stayed on the books in Dellolio's name where you can find it today:

Typically, when you donate a car to a charity, you transfer the title to the charity. In this case, the tax record indicates that Lisa DiBello kept the car and then transferred title to her housemate (and fellow A Ray of Hope officer) Deborah Dellolio. Based on the Charlestown tax rolls, Dellolio owns it to this day.

Note that the YouTube video was produced and distributed by Mark Anthony DiBello. That's Lisa's brother and he has his own colorful history as a televangelist-game show contestant promoter. It appears that he is the guy who is coaching Lisa from the audience. There is a slide that appears on the video that encourages viewers to send money to A Ray of Hope:

The e-mail to be used for PayPal donations and the phone number belonged to Mark Anthony DiBello. Lisa DiBello has refused to release the public records that would show how much money was sent to her brother, how much came back to A Ray of Hope or how much Mark Anthony DiBello was paid for providing this service.

DiBello is required by law to report the exact numbers to the IRS and release those reports to the public.

Lisa DiBello's promise made on Channel 12 News may not be a legally binding contract, but there's the question of whether the video is false advertising. Mark Anthony DiBello's YouTube video solicited donations for his sister's A Ray of Hope. The video uses Lisa DiBello's story about winning a car worth $20,000 on a game show and then giving the money to her charity as the hook. If that didn't happen, both DiBellos may have some explaining to do.

You should make a point of watching the DiBello video as soon as possible - don't be surprised if it is yanked in the next couple of days.

One other mystery - in 2000, around the time DiBello was trying to get on The Price Is Right, fellow A Ray of Hope Board officer Lynn Craig told the Providence Journal that she was going to be a contestant on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

I didn’t find any YouTube video (or any other record) to confirm that Craig went on the show, or won money or donated money to a Ray of Hope.

In the next series of segments on Council member Lisa DiBello, we’ll take a close look at DiBello’s charity. We’ll look at what she said about the charity to the media and what records show. We’ll examine her compliance with state and federal law on financial accountability.