Crown Heights Man Who Stole 90-Year-Old's Identity Convicted: AG

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn man who stole thousands of dollars by pretending to be a 90-year-old Staten Island resident has been convicted on grand larceny charges, according to prosecutors.

Otis Barnes, 29, was convicted this week after pleading guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny for this identity theft scheme, which was investigated by the attorney general and United States Postal Service, prosectors said.

Barnes, who is from Crown Heights, pretended to be the elderly man by using a forged driver's license and cash money orders using his name, prosecutors said.

“Fraud is never acceptable, but it is all the more heinous for an individual to steal the identity of an elderly man to line his own pocket,” Attorney General Letitia James said. “Today’s conviction should serve as a message to all that we will not allow illegal schemes like this to go unchecked, and that we will hold those accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

The Office of the Attorney General and USPS Inspection Service found that Barnes attached his own photo to a driver's license with the man's name, home address and date of birth to cash forged USPS money orders.

Before cashing the forged orders, Barnes would use a mobile depositing app to put the money into his own bank account, withdrawing the money before the bank became aware of the fraud, prosecutors said.

"Because mobile deposit enables a customer to take a picture of a check or money order while maintaining possession of the check or money order itself, Barnes was able to then alter the money orders to substitute the name on the order and cash them a second time at local post offices," prosecutors said.

The conviction comes nearly two years after Barnes was first arrested on identify theft, grand larceny and other charges for the scheme, which unfolded over five months in 2018.

His guilty plea to the fourth-degree grand larceny charge will carry a one and a half to three year jail sentence, according to prosecutors. He will be sentenced in January.