As District Attorney, my top priority is to reduce crime and to accomplish that, I run a multi-faceted office.  Not only do we prosecute criminal offenders, but we are mindful of our obligation to serve the community whether it’s providing social services, education or rehabilitation treatment.  I take pride in Brooklyn, and I feel that another way to make it a better place is by simply cleaning up our borough.  So, when some people commit crimes and they enter our Alternative Programs where they are sentenced to community service, one of the tasks that we assign the offenders is to clean up Brooklyn.  This month, we kicked off a summer-long cleanup project in Canarsie at the Glenwood Housing Development, where participants in our Alternative Programs Unit removed graffiti. They were joined by members of Millenium Development, an organization with its own neighborhood beautification project, who provided the cleaning equipment. 

            The cleanup project allows its participants to give back to the community by improving the quality of life for residents in those neighborhoods.  Currently, eight graffiti/cleanups have been scheduled at various Brooklyn locations throughout June and July.  Additional cleanups will be scheduled for August.  Participants will be removing graffiti, removing trash from the streets and flyers from poles, and pruning trees.

            Here is a list of areas the cleanup project will be visiting this summer:

• Sunset Park – 44^th St. and 7^th Ave. -  Completed May 30
• Glenwood area – Ralph Avenue & Glenwood Road -  Completed June 10.
• Bushwick  -  29 Locust St. between Broadway & Beaver St. – Completed June 13.
• Bensonhurt  – 86^th St. from 18^th Ave. to Bay Parkway  -  Completed June 23
• Bushwick   - 422 Central Ave. & Bushwick Ave.  – June 27 at 10 AM
• Fort Greene - Washington Ave. from Eastern Parkway to Atlantic Ave. – July 8 at 10 AM
• Canarsie  -   Seaview Ave. & E. 108 St.  – July 18 at 11 AM
• Bushwick and Bed-Stuy – Time & location – TBA

REAL ESTATE FRAUD 

I have written to you before about Real Estate Fraud and our efforts to prevent it.  Real Estate Fraud is a major problem in Brooklyn and throughout NYC because there are many scammers out there who prey on innocent, unsuspecting victims.  We realized that there was a need for a new Unit in our office to focus on mortgage and real estate fraud.  Therefore, in March, Senator Charles Schumer and I announced the creation of a groundbreaking Mortgage Fraud and Real Estate Crimes Unit to address the high volume of real estate scams affecting many New Yorkers.  The new Unit, created thanks to $875K in federal funding that Senator Chuck Schumer secured, will help protect homeowners from such fraudulent practices. 

            Right away, we have noticed tremendous results as we have already indicted eight individuals for real estate fraud and opened 80 new cases.  We have swindlers forging documents, scammers pretending to own properties which are not theirs, greedy individuals preying on poor victims, stealing their homes right out from under their noses, and scam artists falsifying business reports and using whatever practices necessary to make a quick buck.

             In addition, the Real Estate Fraud Unit assisted in an outrageous case where one individual, Thomas Parkin, impersonated his deceased mother, dressing up in her clothes, to collect $520,000 in social security benefits and $65,000 in real estate subsidies from the city Human Resouce Agency, claiming his mother was his landlord and that he and his brother were unable to pay the rent because of a disability.  With the help of his business partner, Mhilton Rimolo, Parkin began filing lawsuits against the new owner of his mother’s home which he lost because he couldn’t keep up the mortgage payments.  He claimed that the deed which the new owner, Samir Chopra, bought at auction was invalid because he had forged the document in the 1990’s.  Chopra informed my office of these proceedings.  Ironically, Parkin also came to my office, accusing Chopra of real estate fraud.  Further investigation revealed the entire scope of Parkin’s scheme and he was subsequently arrested and indicted.

Among the eight new indictments was a man who posed as an attorney and pretended to have the authority to sell a property.  The victim paid him $37,500 as a security deposit to hold the property. 

Another case involved a woman who forged a deed, transferred a property to herself and filed the deed. She also forged a Power of Attorney and a signature card and used the documents to steal over $25,000.

 One scammer had multiple forged powers of attorney which gave him the authority to sell property that he owned with his siblings, however, one of those powers of attorney was executed by a sibling nearly two years after her death. 

Another individual pretended to be the President of 242 S. 2^nd Street Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) and applied for a $7 million mortgage from Metro Funding.  The defendant convinced his victim to pay over $20,000 to Metro Funding by agreeing to pay him back at twice his investment.  The victim was given a forged deed which falsely stated that HDFC and the defendant jointly owned the property.

One victim was duped into signing a deed that deeded the property to the defendant’s company after the defendant promised to work out a loan modification for him because he was facing foreclosure.

           Imagine that you have lived in your home for many years and all of a sudden, you are told that your home has been sold.  You ask yourself how did that happen?  Who had the authority to sell it?  It's that easy to lose your home due to fraud. 

            The community and local advocacy groups have been pleased with the results since we opened the new Unit.  In the past several years, local politicians, homeowner advocacy groups, attorneys, and homeowners had complained of having nowhere to turn to report mortgage and deed fraud. Officials receiving the complaints have also voiced frustration over having no office to report to that specifically investigates mortgage scams. It was a widespread problem because the pool of potential victims is huge in this borough, and the desperation of homeowners facing default and foreclosure has made them easy targets for real estate scammers. Suing the lender or mortgage broker in civil court has been the recommendation to many borrowers, but that’s often an empty option because homeowners in trouble with their loans have little money and time to file a lawsuit.  The creation of the District Attorney’s Mortgage Fraud and Real Estate Crimes Unit has resolved these issues.   

If you believe that you are a victim of a real estate scam, then you should call our new hotline at (718) 250-2311.

(Photo from left to right): New York State Banking Department Commissioner Richard H. Neiman, District Attorney Hynes, Senator Chuck Schumer

ELDER ABUSE AWARENESS 

Elder abuse is a very common, yet hidden crime.  Often, the victim in these cases will not report the abuse due to ageism, lack of awareness, shame, guilt or the fact that the abuser is a blood relative and doesn’t want to get them into trouble.  Aside from the physical abuse, there have been many cases where someone, usually a relative, takes advantage of the elderly, often by conniving their way into the elder’s bank account and stealing their money.  There are others who are guilty of neglecting an elderly person when they are supposed to be taking care of them.  June 15 was designated Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and it was a great opportunity for us to call attention to this problem and alert the community to the signs of elder abuse.  We called for the community to come together and observe and report these crimes because, in large part, elder abuse often goes unreported and often unnoticed, or worse, noticed and ignored.

After I began to see an increase in crimes against the elderly, I created an Elder Abuse Unit in 1999, to prosecute these crimes, which are almost always committed by a family member or by a person the older adult trusts.  This emotional relationship between victim and the abuser requires a highly individualized approach that holds the abuser accountable, while focusing on the older person’s safety, as well as on his or her physical, financial and emotional well-being. Many times, the family member who is abusing the victim is offered an opportunity to attend a substance abuse or mental health program in lieu of incarceration, where appropriate.  These programs help the offenders to stop engaging in their abusive behavior, which is what the victims of these crimes want.

            The Elder Abuse Unit handles all cases of spousal/intimate partner abuse and parental abuse (including parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc.).  The Unit handles cases of physical abuse which includes not only assaults, but also threats of violence, and neglect.  My office does a lot of outreach, sending prosecutors from this Unit out to the community to answer questions regarding elder abuse from the NYPD, hospitals, senior service providers/agencies, and from senior citizens throughout the county.  Since the creation of the Elder Abuse Unit, our prosecutors have developed excellent working relationships with several agencies including the NYC Department for the Aging (DFTA), the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA), and Adult Protective Services (APS) with the goal of early intervention so that senior citizens will receive the services and protection that they need.  The Elder Abuse Unit also conducts training for various senior service providers, focusing on detecting, investigating and prosecuting elder abuse.

            At the Brooklyn Family Justice Center, older victims obtain Family Court Orders of Protection without having to sit in court all day.  In some cases, victims speak to a judge by telephone from their own homes, or hospital beds. Every day, my office works with city and private agencies, and NYPD domestic violence officers, who visit older victims in their homes, to assess their safety and help them access social services

           New legislation is also being passed to help protect seniors.  It is now a felony crime in New York State if an abuser is 10 or more years younger than the senior and has injured the senior.  And on the national front, the Elder Justice Act seems to be gaining traction in Congress for the first time in 30 years. Once passed, this will unify our efforts nationwide.

            We, as a community, must become more involved by recognized the signs of abuse and reporting it.  If you or someone you know may be the victim of Elder Abuse, you can contact these numbers:

Kings County District Attorney’s Office’s Elder Abuse Unit – (718) 250-3040

Adult Protective Services, Central Registry – (212) 630-1853

NYC Department for the Aging, Elderly Crime Victims Unit – (212) 442-3103

The news articles below may be of interest to you or members of your community.

The Providence Journal

Senate Panel Considers Bill Altering Probation System

If you’re a convict free on probation and you get charged with a new crime you can be sent back to prison immediately to serve the rest of your original sentence — even if you are ultimately acquitted of the fresh charge or it is dismissed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously endorsed a bill that supporters characterized as eliminating an unjust element of the probation system and that Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch attacked as a “grave mistake.”

The bill, which now goes to the full Senate, would not forbid violation hearings before a new criminal case is disposed of. But it would require release if the inmate is exonerated in that case.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/JUDICIARY_PROBATION_06-10-09_IAELDCR_v42.3db89a6.html

The Tennessean (Nashville)

Closing Handgun Records Fails In Senate

Opponents of a measure to close access to the names of people who hold state-issued permits to carry loaded handguns say its failure Wednesday night is a victory for those who support open government.

The proposal sponsored by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris of Collierville was defeated 14-13 in the Senate when it failed to get a majority vote. Norris didn’t say whether he would try to revive the proposal, which passed the House 83-12 last month.

“This is not a gun bill, it’s an open records bill,” said Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle, D-Memphis. “This is about your open records and your open government. It has nothing to do with guns.”

Democratic Sen. Joe Haynes of Goodlettsville said “it’s unfair to the people in Tennessee to close these records. It’s the wrong thing to do.”

www.brooklynda.org

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