LI Man Stole $1M Bed-Stuy Brownstone From 80-Year-Old Woman: DA

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A Long Island man could face up to 15 years in prison for an elaborate scheme where he stole and then sold a Clifton Place brownstone worth over $1 million from its elderly homeowner, prosecutors said.

Craig Hecht, 51, was arraigned this week on multiple second-degree larceny and second-degree charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court for the deed fraud, which he pulled off in 2015 before the homeowners caught on.

Hecht and a codependent are accused of illegally transferring the deed of a two-story brownstone the homeowner had temporarily left after a fire in 2010 and then selling it for $850,000, prosecutors said.

“This defendant allegedly thought he could take advantage of an elderly homeowner’s absence to steal her house and sell it before she or anyone else noticed," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "Brooklyn’s robust real estate market continues to be an attractive target for theft and fraud."

Prosecutors said that Hecht, who is from Mount Sinai, N.Y., forged the 80-year-old homeowner's signature back in 2015 to transfer the deed to something called TDA Development, putting the bulk of the money from the sale into a bank account he controlled. Hecht had created both an LLC and bank account a few months earlier to carry out the scheme a few months earlier, prosecutors said.

After transferring the deed, Hecht offered the Clifton Place home, where the real homeowners had lived for three decades, to a new buyer. He got $850,000 for that sale, prosecutors said.

Hecht used the money from both sales to take out $120,000 in cash, wire $190,000 to Greece and transfer another $250,000 to his wife.

The homeowners finally caught on to the scheme when a neighbor called to tell her that someone was working on the house and introduced himself as the new owner.

Hecht is being held on a $150,000 bond or $75,000 cash bail and has his next court date on Aug. 14. His co-defendent is still unapprehended, prosecutors said. If Hecht is convicted he could face up to 15 years in prison.