A 32-year-old woman convicted last month of acting as a straw buyer in
the theft of the Jamaica, Queens home of a mentally disabled 93-year
old man must give lectures on mortgage fraud as part of her punishment,
the office of the Queens district attorney said in a statement today. According
to prosecutors, straw buyer Rebecca Tharpe, of Brentwood, LI, partnered
with an accomplice to steal the home of Artee McKoy, a retired barber
with Alzheimer’s disease, at 146-04 116th Avenue, in the fall of 2005. McKoy died Dec. 24, 2008. To
take title of the building, McKoy’s signature was forged on a sales
contract between him and Tharpe that was used to obtain a mortgage on
the property. Later, the home was sold for $395,000, giving Tharpe a
profit of $102,000 and giving the accomplice Alexandra Gilmore, who was
sentenced to two to six years in prison for the crime, more than
$200,000, the district attorney’s office said. TRD [more]