Former Caruso’s Market owner John J. Capoferri pleaded guilty this week to federal felony charges of defrauding Valley Green Bank of $190,000, forfeiting his right to appeal the charges in a jury trial.

According to Michelle T. Rotella, assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, Capoferri secured a short-term loan for the market from Valley Green on May 18, 2008, by providing a forged agreement of sale for his Mermaid Lane home and claiming that he would repay the loan with money that would be released from an escrow account upon the sale of the home.

Valley Green filed civil charges against Capoferri on Sept. 22, 2008, seeking to recoup $250,668.52 that Capoferri had borrowed from the bank. Unable to get the money from Capoferri, the bank filed federal charges on June 11, 2009.

No representatives from Valley Green attended the hearing.

Capoferri, 40, had previously pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and was scheduled for a jury trial on Nov. 2. But Capoferri changed his plea to guilty, forgoing the jury trial and giving up his right to parole if sent to prison.

Rotella said that Capoferri confessed to the FBI that he had committed the crime.

U.S. District Court Judge Berle M. Schiller determined that Capoferri was competent to plead guilty and had done so of his own free will.

“It’s always been my intention” to plead guilty, Capoferri said.

A sentencing hearing has been set for Monday, Jan. 25 at 8:30 a.m. in the U.S. Eastern District Court, 601 Market St., in Philadelphia.

Along with restitution and a $1 million fine, Capoferri could face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Defense attorney David M. Koslow requested that Capoferri be allowed to spend time with his family in Palm Beach, Fla., before receiving his sentence. But Beth Leahy, a Philadelphia assistant district attorney prosecuting two criminal cases against Capoferri for the state, said Schiller wasn’t likely to grant the request.

Capoferri was expected to attend a preliminary hearing on Nov. 3 on charges of defrauding Chestnut Hill businessman Richard Maloumian of $500,000. He is currently free on bail, working as an independent contractor for a financial-services firm.