Yonkers Man Posed as Dead Brother to Collect Rigged Empire City Winnings

A Yonkers man is accused of posing as his long-dead brother during grand jury testimony last year – testimony that ultimately contributed to the decision to prosecute three Empire City employeesfor running rigged games.

Michael Mitchell, 39, was arraigned in White Plains city court Wednesday on a felony perjury charge. 

Mitchell had been posing as his brother since 2001, assuming the fake identity so he could continue to collect about $900 a month in Social Security payments, said Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.

But that's not all he collected. When authorities began looking into rigged promotional contests atEmpire City – contests which included cars and cash as giveaways – they called Mitchell's brother to testify in 2009 because he had "won" a promotional contest worth "several thousand dollars" from Empire City a year earlier.

Mitchell continued the ruse, still posing as his deceased brother as he testified under oath in a grand jury hearing over evidence against Donna Cronin, a former manager at Empire City, and two other promotions coordinators at the casino. Mitchell is Cronin's brother-in-law.

"When he was called to testify in this grand jury he had to continue the fake identity, because that's how he was known," Chalfen said.

The Yonkers man testified that he'd recruited his brother, Brian Mitchell, to the scheme, leading to his brother "winning" one of the casino's promotional give-aways.

The problem? Brian Mitchell died of cancer in 2001. When authorities realized Mitchell was posing as his brother, they brought the perjury charge. Mitchell is also facing charges in Manhattan's U.S. Southern District Court stemming from more than eight years of Social Security fraud as he collected his brother's benefits.

Mitchell's testimony was a contributing factor in the grand jury's decision to hand up a true bill – in other words, that there was sufficient evidence against the three accused Empire City employees to prosecute a case against them. 

Cronin, as well as promotions managers Alicia Murray of the Bronx and Terence Osborne of Yonkers, pleaded guilty to running the scam. Between them, they'll repay more than $156,000 they stole in the scam, which ran for the better part of two years, from 2006 until late 2008.

Chalfen said Mitchell was "one of over 40 witnesses who testified," and a potential perjury conviction against the Yonkers man would not void the guilty pleas of Cronin and her accomplices.

Mitchell faces a maximum of seven years in prison if convicted. He was sent back to Westchester County Jail on $5,000 bail.