Man Pleads Guilty To Promising Union Memberships For Cash: Queens DA

QUEENS — A man from Brooklyn pleaded guilty to grand larceny after he promised 14 people union memberships in exchange for cash, the Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Tuesday.

Jofre Ortega, 58, was charged after he netted $18,000 from 14 people who thought they were paying for membership into the Mason Tenders Local 79 Union between Sept. 2019 and March 2021, prosecutors said.

Ortega, who was never authorized to grant union memberships, must give back the money he acquired from 14 people who were promised memberships, Katz said.

For two years, 14 people paid Ortega between $500 and $1,500 each for union memberships and met up with the 58-year-old in different locations in Queens to give him the money, the district attorney said.

Ortega is scheduled to come back to court on Feb. 21, 2023, prosecutors said.