NYC Man To Pay $95K Restitution For Home Sold Out From Under Elderly Stroke Victim; Agrees To Cough Up $40K By Sept. To "Buy Out" Of 3-9 Year Sentence

From the Office of the Queens County District Attorney:

• Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown [Thursday] announced that a St. Albans an has pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of a 68-year-old Jamaica, Queens, man who had been disabled as a result of a stroke and then secretly selling his house out from under him and pocketing the profits.(1)

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• The District Attorney identified the defendant as Shawn Corcas, 39, of [...] St. Albans. The defendant pleaded guilty [...] to one count of second-degree grand larceny and one-count of first-degree falsifying business records.(2) He was ordered to pay $95,000 in restitution to the victim, Keith Simmons. As a condition of the plea, the defendant agreed to pay $40,000 restitution by September 14, 2009, the date of his sentencing. If he adheres to that condition he is expected to be sentenced to five years’ probation. If the defendant fails to make that amount of restitution by that date he is expected to be sentenced to three to nine years in prison.(3)

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• District Attorney Brown said that, according to the charges, [... t]he defendants sold the home of the victim, Keith Simmons, 68, [...] in Jamaica, on March 6, 2008, without his knowledge, then deposited the proceeds of the sale – $95,801.29 – into [a] business account [...]. The victim suffered a stroke in January 2008 that left him without the ability to speak coherently. [...] An unidentified man is alleged to have posed as Keith Simmons [at the title closing] using a fraudulent driver’s license in his name as identification.

For the Queens DA press release, see ST. ALBANS MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN CONNECTION WITH FRAUDULENT SALE OF DISABLED 68-YEAR-OLD QUEENS MAN’S HOME (Faces 3 To 9 Years In Prison In Event Of Failure To Pay Part Of $95,000 Restitution To Victim By Date Of Sentence).

(1) District Attorney Brown said, “The victim was swindled out of his home by this defendant with the help of his sister. He took advantage of an elderly man suffering from disabilities to strip the equity dollars from his home without regard to the financial and emotional consequences that his actions would cause. Fortunately, the victim’s niece reported the crime. Today’s guilty plea – and the ordered restitution – provide a measure of justice for this victim.”

(2) The defendant’s sister, Patricia Corcas, 55, of Rosedale pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree falsifying business records and is expected to be sentenced on July 15, 2009 to five years’ probation.

(3) My guess is that another term of Corcas' probation might be for him to make monthly payments to the victim to be applied to the unpaid balance on the $95K restitution order over the five year probation period, with any subsequent default in the payments constituting a probation violation.