A Queens man has been charged with allegedly stealing the deed to a Brooklyn residence from an aged lady with dementia and renting it out whereas she lived there, New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James announced Thursday.
The person, Mark Salkey, allegedly cast paperwork to switch possession of the East Flatbush residence to himself and rented it out to a number of tenants whereas forcing the girl, Althea Garrick, to reside in a small bed room whereas receiving dementia care. He allegedly stole about $148,000 from her financial savings and round $20,000 from her ex-husband’s pension utilizing cast checks.
Salkey was charged with 23 counts, together with grand larceny, forgery and possession of stolen property. He faces as much as 25 years in jail.
“Nobody deserves to have their residence stolen and their checking account drained,” AG James stated in a press release. “Deed theft is a heartless crime, and my workplace will do every thing in our energy to return this residence to its rightful proprietor and maintain Mark Salkey accountable for his despicable actions.”
Garrick bought the property at 162 East ninety fifth Road in 1976 along with her then-husband Reginald Kelly. Once they divorced in 1998, she gained full possession of the house. After Salkey was launched to Garrick in 2022, he allegedly cast paperwork between 2022 and 2024 to switch possession of the property to his firm, Salkey Salkey & Associates, Inc., and rented the million-dollar residence out to a number of tenants, together with his sister, at round $2,000 per thirty days. (Salkey’s girlfriend lived subsequent door to Garrick, her ex-husband instructed The Actual Deal.) James alleged that Salkey collected about $70,000 in rental funds and used the cash for private bills, together with bank card payments, luxurious purchases and rental automobiles.
Since getting into workplace in 2019, AG James has made many vital pushes, together with proposing in 2022 that the state add deed theft to its penal code.
After Gov. Kathy Hochul signed laws in 2023 that allowed prosecutors to intervene in circumstances of suspected deed theft, James has introduced a string of high-profile prosecutions. In August of final yr, she unveiled expenses in opposition to two New Yorkers for allegedly stealing the house of an aged lady who was in hospice care, and in June, a jury convicted an actual property salesperson behind a Queens deed theft ring on 18 felony counts.
Native politicians in close by Bedford-Stuyvesant have additionally been zeroing in on the problems, the place the crime disproportionately targets Black and brown households. The subject became central to this week’s race for Meeting District 56, the place five-year incumbent Meeting member Stefani Zinerman lost Tuesday’s main election to democratic socialist Eon Huntley. Throughout her time within the state Meeting, Zinerman put forth laws to fight deed theft, whereas Huntley known as for a moratorium from the governor on gross sales and evictions tied to deed theft.
The subject remained sizzling after New York Metropolis Council member Chi Ossé was arrested in April whereas protesting an eviction tied to an alleged deed theft in Mattress-Stuy. Two days after a video of Ossé’s arrest went viral, Mayor Zohran Mamdani established town’s first Workplace of Deed Theft Prevention, led by housing legal professional Peter White, to analyze deed thefts and educate New Yorkers on the topic.
Salkey’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Learn extra
The Daily Dirt: Deed theft takes center stage
Council member arrested while protesting alleged deed theft
Two New Yorkers indicted for swiping Queens home from dying widow
