‘Ponzi scheme’ or bookkeeping error? The FBI is probing a Collegeville investment firm.

Anne Bortner had been thinking about retiring. She was going to tap into the $180,000 she had invested with an accountant in Collegeville, a pillar of the Montgomery County community who everyone seemed to know and trust.

Bortner, 65, who lives in South Jersey and works with people who’ve suffered traumatic brain injuries, had given the money to Joseph Pezzano about five years ago after her mother died. Her twin sister did the same.

“It’s a lot of money to us,” Bortner said. “That’s what our parents left us.”

Last Christmas Day, Pezzano died at the age of 73.

Nearly five months later, no one can tell Bortner where her money is. Same for her sister, Karen, who works at Rite Aid. And their brother, Leonard, a retired Peco employee who had rolled his pension into Pezzano’s investment plan.

Dozens of investors have found themselves in the same situation, seeking to recover millions of dollars that were managed by Pezzano, according to recent court filings and interviews with clients, attorneys, and law enforcement officials. Current estimates put the total amount missing from between $10 million and $30 million.

The FBI is now conducting interviews and issuing subpoenas, The Inquirer has learned.

Some investors have filed court claims in excess of $1 million each, questioning whether they had been roped into a long-running Ponzi scheme.

Others are holding out hope that Pezzano — a South Philly native whom one client described as a “truly fantastic person” — had simply failed to plan for how the money would be managed after his death. Even some police officers went to Pezzano to get their taxes prepared.

Regardless, Bortner is starting to wonder whether retirement is still an option for her.

“I don’t know what else to do,” she said. “I can’t afford a lawyer because they got my money.”

Within days of Pezzano’s death, the alarm bells starting ringing. His accounting firm, Bond, Pezzano & Etze, sent an email to clients in mid-January stating that it “has no affiliation” with Pezzano’s investment arm, JPA R/E Associates.

That further spooked investors. The financial statements they’d been receiving from JPA listed the same address and phone number as the accounting firm’s.

Two weeks later, an office manager at Bond, Pezzano & Etze sent a follow-up email, stating that the firm “could not answer any questions” about investments with Pezzano. A third email in February referred questions to a lawyer representing Pezzano’s estate.

The lawyer, Thomas Boulden, did not respond to requests for comment from The Inquirer. Nor did representatives for Bond, Pezzano & Etze, where Pezzano’s daughter is a partner.

“We’re in the dark,” said Ron Adkins, 79, a semiretired former owner of a day-care business. “No one from his office would admit to anything.”

Adkins said he and his wife have been unable to locate about $850,000 that they had invested with Pezzano. The couple were under the impression their money was going into IRAs.

“He was a very nice guy. You’d absolutely love him,” Adkins said of Pezzano. “You’d walk into his office and he’d make you feel like the most important person in the world.”

Adkins said he now has serious concerns about whether his money can be recovered.

“I’m wondering how many people don’t even know he died yet and are sitting back and thinking their money is nice and secure,” he said.

Collegeville Police Chief Barton Bucher said his department started hearing from Pezzano’s investors shortly after his death, with reports of missing funds ranging from about $50,000 to several hundred thousands dollars each.

“There could be many more that I don’t even know about,” Bucher said of the clients.

Bucher’s investigators turned the case over to the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment last week.

Several lawyers representing investors have filed claims in Montgomery County Orphan’s Court.

Adam Sager, who represents two investors, has questioned in court motions how Pezzano was able to purchase at least 10 properties in Ocean City, NJ. The attorney said it is possible that his clients might have been victims of a Ponzi scheme involving rental properties.

“The Bernie Madoff story comes to mind,” Sager said.

Cathy McKeever worked closely with Pezzano for about 25 years, retiring just weeks before he died. She and her husband, James, had about $150,000 invested with him.

“It’s hard for me to imagine the man I worked for, for such a long time, would ever have done anything like this,” McKeever said of the possibility of fraud. “It’s really unfathomable. But, the longer this has gone on, with everything being quiet, the more I’m worried.”

» READ MORE: Paula & Joe Pezzano: From half a pizza to half a century

McKeever said some Exelon employees had rolled their pensions into Pezzano’s investment business, and collected monthly disbursements. They spread the word to their spouses and other employees, who also invested.

“A lot of money was going in, in lump sums,” said McKeever, who handled customer service and marketing for Pezzano.

McKeever said Pezzano did not live extravagantly. Rarely took vacations. Worked weekends. Lived in a rancher at the end of a cul-de-sac that he and his wife, Paula, purchased in 1979 for $63,900.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said.

James McKeever said he believes there could be an innocent explanation. One as simple as Pezzano not having a “succession plan” for when he died. A colossal mistake, but not a crime.

“It’s a small town. People knew him and he knew them,” James McKeever said. “People like that don’t do that type of thing.”

But as winter turned to spring, the number of people who shared that opinion started dwindling.

“I’m not saying it’s a Ponzi scheme,” Bortner said. “But it’s a Ponzi scheme.”

Her sister, Karen Schiendelman, doesn’t know what to think. She also was hoping to use $70,000 she had invested with Pezzano for her retirement.

“There are a lot of people out a lot of money,” she said. “He died, then everyone is pulling away from the business. It’s shaky. It’s all shaky ground.”

Sager, the attorney, said he is waiting for the results of a forensic examination of one of Pezzano’s computers. He said there have been rumors of investors being told they were holding mortgages for other investors. If it was just a bookkeeping issue, he figures it would have been resolved by now.

“The question is, can they find these funds to even make any distributions to the investors?” Sager asked. “What happened to those funds?”