Baldwin Man Pleads Not Guilty After Police Allege $55K Identity Theft Scheme

BALDWIN, NY — A Baldwin man is facing grand larceny and identity theft charges this week after police said he made 110 unauthorized withdrawals from someone else’s bank account, totaling $55,000, police said.

26-year-old Paras Javed was arrested Thursday at 12:25 p.m. after an investigation tied him to the fraudulent withdrawals, police said. He is now being charged with one count of second-degree grand larceny, two counts of first-degree identity theft, two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, one count of first-degree scheme to defraud and two counts of third-degree unlawful possession of personal identifying information, police said.

Police said the withdrawals were made after an unknown caller contacted Chase bank’s customer service line and fraudulently identified themselves as the account holder, changed the mailing address associated with the account and then ordered a debit card to be delivered to their home. After investigation, police said they identified Javed as the caller. Police did not say whose account Paras had been withdrawing money from.

Court documents show Javed has pleaded not guilty to all eight criminal charges, and is due back in court Apr. 13.