$1M Bed-Stuy brownstone stolen from 80-year-old woman, DA says

Two alleged fraudsters swindled an 80-year-old woman out of her Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone valued at more than $1 million in the borough’s latest case of deed fraud, according to the district attorney.

Craig Hecht, of Long Island, and another unnamed suspect set up a convoluted scheme involving dummy corporations and falsified documents in order to steal the brownstone at 260 Clifton Place. Though the victim lived in the neighborhood for more than three decades, the property has been vacant since a 2010 fire.

“This defendant allegedly thought he could take advantage of an elderly homeowner’s absence to steal her house and sell it before she or anyone else noticed,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

In April, State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and Assemblymember Helene Weinstein passed legislation that provides a means for victims of deed theft to recover their stolen homes when a defendant is found guilty, but it has not yet been delivered to the governor for his signature.

“I thank District Attorney Gonzalez for prosecuting this case. It is exactly what we need in our three-pronged approach to address deed and equity theft in our community,” said Sen. Montgomery. “We need the DA, we need the City Council and we need the State Legislature all working together to tackle this issue. The DA has been aggressive in his role and we will continue to push legislation like the Deed Theft Bill to address some of this behavior and make it easier for homeowners to seek justice.”

To read the full story, visit https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/05/22/1m-bed-stuy-brownstone-stolen-from-80-year-old-woman-da-says/