Upstate NY Man Gets 7 1/2 To 15 Years For Forging Judge's Signature To Illegally Claim Ownership Of Brooklyn Brownstone, Then Flipping It For $250K Profit

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the Bed-Stuy Patch reports:

• An upstate resident was sentenced to seven-and-a-half to 15 years in state prison [] for claiming possession of a Bed-Stuy brownstone by forging a judge's signature, and then selling that brownstone illegally for almost $250,000, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office said.
  
  In January 2015, Joseph McCray, a 54-year-old man from Niagara Falls, New York, filed a court order with the forged signature of Brooklyn Civil Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Lewis that said he owned the brownstone, Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
  
  McCray sold the house for $500,000 and cashed nearly $250,000 on it. The rest of the money had to be used to pay for outstanding liens, the Brooklyn DA said.
  
  McCray spent over a decade trying to forge his ownership of 119 McDonough St. in Bed-Stuy, according to the Brooklyn DA. He was technically evicted from 119 McDonough St. in 2002 because he never paid rent, but he continued to live in the building for several years anyway, the Brooklyn DA said.
  
  Between 2001 and 2007, McCray presented fraudulent information at Civil Court several times, pretending he was the landlord of the building and illegally collecting tenants' rents.

For the story, see This Guy Will Spend Up to 15 Years in Jail for Faking Ownership of Bed-Stuy Brownstone (Joseph McCray, 54, forged a judge's signature on a court order saying he owned the valuable house, the Brooklyn DA says).