Man Caught Driving Stolen Car Away From His DWI Court Appearance

NANUET, NY — A Nanuet man without a drivers license, who stole a child's ID to purchase two cars from Westchester dealers, pleaded guilty Wednesday. He was arrested in 2017 driving one of the cars away from a court appearance for one of two DWI charges.

Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. announced that Andre Mendez will be sentenced Nov.7.

According to the plea deal, Mendez is guilty of Identity Theft in the First Degree, a class D felony, and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony. On the charge of identity theft, he will receive one year in county jail and must repay $14,551.73 restitution to Honda and $16,781.18 to Toyota for the theft of vehicles. On the second count, he will serve one more year in county jail.

In addition, Mendez pleaded guilty to three vehicular charges: Aggravated Unlicensed Operation in the First Degree, a felony, and two counts of Driving While Intoxicated, misdemeanors. For these he will also be sentenced Nov. 7, to one year each in county jail to run concurrently with the other sentence. Mendez will also face fines for each count and will lose his license for a total of six months.

Mendez created a synthetic (false) identity using his actual name and date of birth along with the Social Security number of an unsuspecting 10-year-old victim.

He then opened two Bank of America bank accounts to establish credit with that identity. Investigators believe that Mendez was able to use the child’s Social Security number because banks and credit agencies had no record of that number, and therefore, were not aware the number identified a child. Once these bank accounts were established, Mendez leased or financed motor vehicles using the same synthetic identity which now could sustain a credit check.

On Feb. 1, 2017, he financed a 2017 Toyota Camry SE from Westchester Toyota in Yonkers giving the child’s Social Security number as his own. The following day, he leased a 2017 Honda Accord Sport from White Plains Honda in White Plains using the same synthetic identity. In support of both of these purchases, Mendez provided the dealerships with forged earning statements purported to be issued by a hospital for which he did not work.

Mendez made no payments toward either of these vehicles. He had been driving both cars although his license was revoked and insurance lapsed.

This investigation began in May 2017 and culminated in his arrest Sept. 8, 2017, as he left the Town of Greenburgh Court driving the Toyota.

He was in court that day on charges of Aggravated Unlicensed Operation in the First Degree, and Driving While Intoxicated. (He had been arrested March 3, 2017.) In addition, he had been charged with Driving While Intoxicated stemming from a March 26, 2017, incident on the Bronx River Parkway.

After Mendez’s arrest, District Attorney’s Office investigators recovered the stolen and fraudulently purchased Honda Accord at an auto body shop in the Bronx.

Mendez was indicted in April by a Westchester County Grand Jury.

This investigation was carried out by investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the case is being prosecuted by ADA Stefanie DeNise of the Investigations Division Identity Theft Unit, and ADA Jonathan Strongin of the Superior Court Trial Division.