Bed-Stuy Deed Theft Scheme Nets Long Island Man Prison Time

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — An 80-year-old former school teacher had the deed to her $1 million Bed-Stuy brownstone stolen by a scammer, authorities said.

That scammer — Craig Hecht, 52, of Mount Sinai — received a 1.5- to 4.5-year prison sentence on Wednesday for the scheme, said the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

Eric Gonzalez, Brooklyn's DA, said in a statement he hoped the sentence sends a message to predators who rip off elderly homeowners.

“This defendant targeted an elderly homeowner, forging her signature and capitalizing on her absence in an underhanded effort to steal her home," he said.

The woman lived at 260 Clifton Place, a two-story brownstone near Bedford Avenue, for three decades until a 2010 fire ripped through the building, authorities said. Her family left the building but she kept ownership of it.

But like other victims of deed theft in Brooklyn, the brownstone proved enticing to unscrupulous crooks looking for a big payoff in the borough's booming real estate market.

Hecht formed a company and bank account without the woman's knowledge to sell the property, authorities said. He forged her signature on a deed and transferred ownership to a company called TDA Development, according to the DA.

Then Hecht offered the brownstone to a buyer, who shelled out $850,000 in 2015, authorities said. The money went to several accounts — including one in Athens, Greece — connected to Hecht and a co-conspirator who remains on the loose, authorities said.

The woman only learned of this after a neighbor talked to someone working on the home who claimed to be the new owner, authorities said.

Kings County District Attorney's detective handled the investigation, which ultimately led to Hecht's guilty pleas to second-degree grand larceny and second-degree money laundering, authorities said.