A former loan officer for National City Bank was charged Wednesday with misappropriating more than $150,000 from his employer and spending it on women from an escort service, clothing, an automobile and vacations. Edward Rossetti, 34, of Liberty Street, McKees Rocks, was charged by the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office with single counts of forgery, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, theft by deception and criminal conspiracy after allegedly admitting that he misused some $116,000 worth of bank funds between February 2000 and June 2001. Shabbir Syed, 49, of Moon Township, who operated the escort service, was charged with four counts of forgery, as well as single counts of theft by deception and conspiracy. Syed is accused of participating in a scheme with Rossetti to misappropriate another $34,000 by using a falsified line of credit issued to another person who never applied for the loans, the criminal complaint states. District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Rossetti, the former manager of the Lebanon Shops branch of National City Bank, used his position as a trusted supervisor to obtain official checks from tellers there and other branch offices in Mt. Lebanon. Rossetti told the workers the checks were needed to cover appraisal fees for real estate loans. Instead, Zappala said, Rossetti endorsed the checks himself and used the money. According to the complaint: Syed said Rossetti was a regular customer for five years who spent "heavy cash" on the women. Syed referred other customers to Rossetti because he could get them loans even if they had bad credit. Rossetti told Syed that he charged suits and vacations to the bank's credit card, adjusted expenses on his expense account to take women out to lunch and received money in brokers' names. Syed said he joined the phony credit scheme because he needed money. He said he received about $10,000 and Rossetti took the rest. That scheme continued even after Rossetti confessed the earlier crimes to bank investigators. Both men were arraigned before District Justice Rob Wyda of Bethel Park, who scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 2. Bond for Rossetti was set at $200,000. Bond for Syed, who told police he is an accountant who could not find legitimate work, was set at $500,000. Syed also was ordered to surrender his passport.

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