BK Man Posed As Widow's Son In Queens Home Theft: DA

BROOKLYN, NY — Officials said a Brooklyn man who claimed ownership of a widow's Queens home by saying he was her son, then sold the home for $270,000, has been sentenced to prison.

The Queens District Attorney announced Wednesday that Christopher Williams, 43, has been sentenced to between two and four years in prison, for submitting false documents representing himself as the owner of the woman's home before selling it.

Williams pleaded guilty in August to first-degree identity theft and second-degree offering a false instrument for filing, District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

Officials accused Williams of falsifying birth certificates and death certificates identifying the victim as his mother, so that he could take ownership of the vacant home on Dunlop Avenue in Jamaica.

The owner, who had inherited the home from her father and planned to renovate it, received a notification in August of 2021 that a new deed, mortgage and other documents "had been filed without her knowledge with the New York City Department of Finance," Katz's office said.

Williams received a sale proceeds check for $214,535.64, and cashed it in for about $209,665, officials said.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Leigh K. Cheng also approved a motion to apply a state statute that immediately restores the deed to its rightful owner, without her having to go through legal proceedings in civil court, the DA's office added. Katz's office was the first in New York to use the 2019 law, which is aimed at protecting victims of deed theft, earlier this year.

“We will not allow criminals to scheme and scam their way into other people’s properties and we will use every tool available to ensure that victims are made whole," Katz said. "In communities targeted by deed fraudsters, many people do not have the means to hire an attorney to file a civil suit and litigate against deep-pocketed mortgage companies, banks and title insurers. Our use of this new tactic allows us to provide victims with one-stop justice.”