14 MARCH 21, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Con man convicted of swindling 90-year-old
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
A Brooklyn man has been
convicted of scamming a then-
90-year-old man out of $20,000
in a fake jail bail scheme and had him
send the money to a Glendale address,
prosecutors announced on March 15.
Af ter a two-week long
trial, George Etienne, 27, was found
guilty of third-degree criminal
possession of stolen property and
second-degree criminal possession
of a forged instrument. Etienne,
who claims to be a member of the
Sovereign Nation and not subject
to the laws of New York state, is due
to return to court for sentencing
on March 28, where he faces up to
seven years in prison.
“The defendant in this case
partnered with one or more others
utilizing a phone, acting skills and
fake identification to con an elderly
man out of $20,000 cash,” said Chief
Assistant District Attorney John
M. Ryan. “A jury weighed all the
evidence – including the testimony
via video link of the victim who was
too frail to travel from California
to Queens for the trial – and found
the defendant guilty. The defendant
is going to prison now for this
loathsome con game.”
According to trial testimony, in
November 2017, the then-90-yearold
victim, who lives in California,
received a call from someone
pretending to be his grandson. The
caller told the victim that he had
struck a woman with his car and
was being held in prison.
Switching to a disguised voice
or a second individual got on the
phone with the victim pretending
to be his “grandson’s” lawyer and
told the victim to send $20,000
in cash within the pages of a
magazine and mail the money via
FedEx to a fake name and provided
an address in Glendale. The
victim was also instructed to not
require a signature for receipt of
the package.
The victim overnighted the
money to the Glendale address,
and per the caller’s instructions,
did not tell any family members
about the car incident or that his
grandson was in jail. The now
91-year-old victim, who was unable
to travel to the trial due to his poor
health and to tend to his wife who
has Alzheimer’s disease, testified
via closed circuit television that he
would have done anything to help
his grandson.
Trial testimony stated that
Etienne waited outside the Glendale
address the next day. When the
FedEx driver arrived to the address,
Etienne approached the driver and
requested the package, showing
Glendale man admits to three bank heists
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
A Glendale man could spend the
next two decades in federal
prison aft er pleading guilty
this week to robbing three banks in
Queens last summer.
Justin Gass, 39, entered guilty
pleas to three bank robbery counts
in U.S. Eastern District Court in
Brooklyn. A source for the U.S.
Attorney’s office said Gass could
be ordered at his June 18 sentencing
hearing to serve up to 20 years
behind bars.
Federal prosecutors said that
Gass admitted to swiping cash
from banks in Maspeth, Astoria
and Sunnyside between Aug. 17
and Sept. 14, 2018. In January, he
had been indicted for committing
additional heists in Jackson Heights
and Brooklyn.
In each of the capers, law
enforcement sources noted, Gass
walked into the branch and
presented a demand note. The tellers
provided him with undisclosed
sums of money.
The pattern began in Maspeth on
Aug. 17, 2018, when Gass stole money
from the Valley National Bank at 64-
Photo via Getty Images
Justin Gass, as shown in this security camera photo, admitted in federal
court to holding up three banks last summer. Photo courtesy of NYPD
01 Grand Ave. Three weeks later, on
the morning of Sept. 8, he robbed
the Alma Bank at 41-02 Broadway
in Astoria. Finally, he swiped cash
from the chase bank at 47-11 Queens
Blvd. in Sunnyside on Sept. 14.
During the Sunnyside caper,
federal prosecutors said, Gass
provided a teller with a demand note,
then motioned to his waistband to
signal that he was armed.
The New York Daily News reported
that Gass had been paroled last June
after serving 13 months of a state
prison sentence for grand larceny
and forgery.
At his March 12 court appearance,
a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney
Richard Donoghue said, Gass
admitted to having a long-term drug
issue after the judge asked if he had
been receiving medical treatment.
him a Pennsylvania driver’s license
with the fake name along with a
Pennsylvania address on it.
The FedEx driver refused to hand
it over, delivering it to the address
on the package by placing it in the
slot of the house. Etienne waited for
the driver to leave and then went
to the address and knocked on
the door. He told the person at the
home that a package for him was
delivered to the address by mistake
and the resident gave Etienne
the package.
Trial records indicate that
officers from the 104th Precinct
were in the area and observed
Etienne retrieving the package
from the Glendale home. Officers
stopped Etienne, who presented the
fake ID to them. Police recognized
the identification as fake and
took Etienne and the package
into custody.
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