Brooklyn conman sentenced for $17K bilking of Monsey businessman

FROM BROOKLYN DA 

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez last week announced that a 56-year-old Brooklyn mas was sentenced to up to four years in prison for stealing over $17,000 during a three-day period from a Citibank account belonging to a businessman who resides in Rockland County.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The defendant seized on an opportunity to steal from an unsuspecting businessman again and again. We will continue to go after criminals that exploit financial vulnerabilities for nefarious purposes. The defendant has now been held accountable for the economic and emotional suffering he caused the victim.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Kevin Nelson, 56, of East New York, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dena Douglas to an indeterminate sentence of two to four years in prison. The defendant was convicted of third-degree grand larceny following a jury trial in April.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the defendant cashed a total of seven checks associated with the personal Citibank account of the 49-year-old victim, who resides in Monsey, NY, from August 26, 2016, to August 29, 2016. During that time period, the defendant stole a total of $17,010 from the victim’s account by cashing checks in amounts that varied from $2,170 to $2,700, made out to the defendant, from Citibank branch locations in Bay Ridge, Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

According to the investigation, the defendant was recorded on surveillance cameras in the bank branches and was seen approaching the cashiers, cashing the checks, and leaving the bank branches with the cash. The investigation also revealed that the defendant was in frequent contact with an unknown accomplice who, when the defendant was cashing checks, placed calls to Citibank Customer Service, falsely represented himself to be the victim, authorized transactions and made funds available.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Cassandra Pond and Senior District Attorney Sara Kurtzberg, of the District Attorney’s Green Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of David Klestzick, Bureau Chief.

  17k, brooklyn, larceny, monsey