A man who has been arrested at least 60 times under more than a dozen names was sentenced in a deed fraud case in New York City on Thursday under the traditional legal name for the nameless, John Doe.
A judge sentenced the man, whose true identity is still unknown, to four and a half to nine years in prison for first-degree grand larceny, and as long as eight years for second-degree grand larceny. Those sentences, for stealing three homes, will run at the same time.
In August, the man pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of Carl Avinger, a Tennessee resident whose name the man had used for 22 years. For that, he was sentenced to as long as seven years behind bars.
On Thursday afternoon, in Queens Supreme Court, a mother and daughter whose family home of 83 years had been stolen and resold by the man and his accomplices sat in the courtroom gallery, watching as officers led him to the defendant’s table.
Moments later, the daughter, Maria Benedek, went before the judge. She told the court about the nightmares she has of “this nameless man who targeted my family.”
The man had stolen not only their house, she said, but all of the possessions inside: her grandmother’s dance trophies, her mother’s wedding dress and recordings of her grandfather that she had made before he died.
The new owners of the home, in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood, have also sued her and her mother, Gloria Kubick, for trying to regain it, according to court documents. Ms. Benedek told the judge that Queens prosecutors were helping them with that case.
Of the four people convicted in the real estate scheme, Ms. Benedek said, “this person seems to be the most calculating and deceitful.”
The man smirked as she spoke.
Ms. Kubick, 79, sat in a wheelchair in the gallery, weeping.
The judge, Leigh K. Cheng, turned to the man and asked him if he would like to say anything before he was sentenced.
“Yeah, I just want to get it over with,” the man said.
Judge Cheng nodded. “This certainly was something that did a lot of harm, grievous harm, to the family members,” he told the man.
“I hope you take the time and sentence to reflect on that and understand — and perhaps even learn — what that means, to hurt another human being in that way,” he added.
The man looked down, twiddling his thumbs.
About three minutes later, officers handcuffed him and led him out of the courtroom. John Doe never looked back.
Chelsia Rose Marcius is a criminal justice reporter for The Times, covering the New York Police Department.
The post Mystery Man Known as ‘John Doe’ Gets Up to 9 Years for Stealing 3 Homes appeared first on New York Times.
