BK man charged with scamming Glendale senior
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
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 March 15.
After 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-year-old 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.
A second call was made —
either the first caller switching
to a disguised voice or a second
individual got on the phone —
in which the caller pretended 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
Photo via Getty Images
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
him a Pennsylvania driver’s
license with the fake name and 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.
TIMESLEDGER,QNS.COM BT FT TL MARCH 22-28, 2019 15
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