Fleeing Flatbush Deed Thief Will Spend 9 Years In Jail: DA

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN -- An East Flatbush man who stole the deed to his 84-year-old neighbor's home then ran away from his own trial will spend up nine years in prison, prosecutors announced.

Winston Gregory “Sage El” Hall, 37, will spend between three and nine years in jail for stealing the elderly woman's East 49th Street home, worth about $445,000, in 2015, the Brooklyn District Attorney said.

Hall fled his trial and was not in court when a Brooklyn jury found him guilty of grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument and offering a false instrument for filing on Oct. 23, said prosecutors.

Evidence showed that Hall forged the deed to his neighbor's three-family house at 390 E. 49th St. on April 23, 2015, and named the Winston Gregory Hall Express Trust its new owner, prosecutors said.

The deed thief then filed the forged documents at the New York City Register’s Office on May 8, prosecutors said.

Police arrested Hall when the elderly woman stated she did not know Hall and had not handed over her deed, prosecutors said.

“This defendant twice showed a disregard for the rule of law, first by stealing his neighbor’s house and then absconding during his trial," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

"He’s now been held accountable. ”