Jorge Vasquez Jr. and Andy Singh were indicted by a Queens County, N.Y., grand jury for allegedly filing paperwork to claim ownership of an East Elmhurst, Queens home. They allegedly impersonated the deceased homeowner, as well as her son, to gain access to the payoff information of the mortgages on the property so that it could be sold and used that information to complete the sale of the property.
Vasquez Jr., 40, of Baldwin, N.Y., and Singh, 34, of Bronx, N.Y., are charged along with the corporation “23-41 100th Street” in a 10-count indictment. The defendants were arraigned on July 11, 2022, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Judge Donna-Marie Golia on charges of grand larceny in the second degree, three counts of identity theft in the first degree, two counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree, offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and conspiracy in the fourth degree. Justice Golia ordered the defendants to return to court on Aug. 10, 2022. The two men each face up to 15 years in prison, if convicted.
According to the charges, the deceased property owner passed away in 2019, leaving the victim – her only biological son. In October 2021, the victim noticed an email from his mother’s mortgage company that confirmed a change in contact information on the loan, including an email address the victim did not recognize. When the victim contacted the mortgage company to inquire about this unauthorized change in information, the mortgage holder informed the victim the mortgage had been paid off on Oct. 4, 2021. When the victim visited the residence, he saw workers doing construction on the property and removing his personal belongings from the home, including childhood photo albums, and putting them in a dumpster in front of the property. The victim then contacted the District Attorney’s Office, who began conducting the investigation.
On Nov. 8, 2021, a fraudulent deed was filed with the New York City Register, which claimed the property had been sold for $530,000.00 on Oct. 4, 2021, by Jorge Vasquez Jr. “as sole heir” of the deceased property owner, to 23-41 100th Street Corp., for which Andy Singh is the sole shareholder and chairman.
District Attorney Melinda Katz said defendant Singh allegedly made numerous phone calls to the mortgagee of the property claiming he was the son of the deceased property owner. He allegedly provided the victim’s first name, and the deceased property owner’s full name and Social Security number, and requested a payoff statement in anticipation of the sale of “his mother’s” property. Later that same month, the same defendant contacted the mortgage holder once again, this time claiming that he is the deceased homeowner, and was seeking a payoff quote. The defendant allegedly provided the homeowner’s Social Security number during this call as well.
In order to sell the home, the defendants were required to submit several documents to the title company, including a death certificate for the deceased property owner and affidavits of heirship confirming the seller as the sole heir. As alleged, the death certificate submitted to the title company was forged, as it claimed the deceased owner passed away in 2017 when she actually died in 2019. According to the charges, the affidavits of heirship claiming Jorge Vasquez Jr. was the only living heir of the deceased property owner were also fraudulent.
This all occurred without the knowledge or consent of the deceased homeowner’s son.