Southeast Queens properties returned to rightful owners after South Ozone Park man steals property: DA – QNS

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that her office prevailed in a hearing on September 10 and succeeded in returning eight deeds to five properties to their rightful owners after they were stolen by Justin Joseph of South Ozone Park in a deed fraud scheme.

The law, which her office used in the hearing before Queens Supreme Court Judge Leigh K. Cheng, allows the court to void documents that are the subject of a criminal prosecution after a guilty plea. The hearing saved the victims the time and expense of an additional civil trial.

Joseph, 45, of 132nd Street, pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced on June 24 to one to three years in prison for theft from five homes in southeast Queens. As part of his guilty plea, Joseph agreed to cooperate in the cancellation of the fraudulent deeds and signed a $335,256 guilty plea, returning the proceeds from the fraudulent sale of two of the homes. His wife, Latoya Hewitt, 49, also of 132nd Street, pleaded guilty the same day to charges related to the fraud. She was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge after agreeing to cooperate in the cancellation of one of the deeds, return the deeds and repay $48,751.48.

“This is a strong sentence,” Katz said. “The defendant, Justin Joseph, must now spend one to three years in prison, repay more than $335,000 he attempted to steal through fraudulent real estate sales, and have five properties returned to their rightful owners.”

According to the indictment and plea agreement, in March 2019, Joseph and Hewitt filed a false return with the city's tax office notarizing the transfer of a home on Pinegrove Street in Jamaica from a 78-year-old woman who was the legal owner to Hewitt. The deed contained the seal of a notary public who denied that it was his signature on the document and that the seal was authentic. Hewitt sold the home despite working with her husband after obtaining a fake death certificate to facilitate the transaction. The property was sold in November 2019 for $315,000. She received a check for the proceeds of $48,751.48 and her husband and his mother each received a check for $40,000.

In September 2019, Joseph filed a fake deed transferring the property on 181st Street in Springfield Gardens to himself after forging the signature of the rightful owner, who lived elsewhere. In November 2019, he sold the house for $355,000. Joseph received a check for $255,256.76. The house was later demolished, which the rightful owner discovered when she drove past her property and a new house had been built in its place.

In December 2019, Joseph filed a forged deed with the city to transfer the property on 155th Street in Jamaica to himself, falsely stating that he purchased the property for $50,000.

In March 2020, Joseph filed a fraudulent transfer of title with the city, forging the signature of the rightful owner of a property on 207th Street in Queens Village.

In April 2020, Joseph filed a transfer of title with the city for a property on 131st Street in South Ozone Park, near his actual home, after forging the signature of the rightful owner and creating a false identity.

The couple was arrested in April on deed fraud charges following a lengthy investigation by the District Attorney's Office's Housing and Workers' Protection Bureau and the New York City Sheriff's Office. Eight deeds were at stake, as two of the properties changed hands more than once.

“My Housing and Worker Protection Bureau filed a motion in criminal court to vacate eight fraudulent deeds in this scheme, and we won in court,” Katz said. “The scammers trying to defraud homeowners in Queens will not walk away with a windfall.”