You can’t exactly put it in your pocket and whistle your way out the door, can you?
Nonetheless, Blanche O’Neal, a NYPD officer, is facing charges of grand larceny, accused of forging a deed and illegally taking possession of a townhouse at 23A Vernon Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The townhouse’s previous owner, Lilian Hudson, died in 1993, and left the property to her nephew Colie Gallman, and other family members, who left the house vacant, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.
In 2012, O’Neal filed documents with the city claiming she’d bought the home from Gallman for $10,000, Thompson’s office alleged. Then, last year, Gallman and his family sought to sell the property, only to find it was in O’Neal’s name.
“This defendant allegedly stole a house from its rightful owner with the stroke of a pen, apparently hoping no one would notice,” Thompson said in a press statement. “But her brazen actions have unraveled and she will now be held accountable. That she is a veteran NYPD officer makes this alleged crime all the more disturbing.”
The officer, in response, claimed she herself was the victim, and Gallman and the rest were trying to steal the property from her.
O’Neal, 45, was arraigned yesterday, and faces 15 years if convicted. — Ariel Stulberg