Her Pension Checks Vanished. The Doorman Stole Them, Prosecutors Say.
A doorman at an Upper Manhattan building was charged on Wednesday after prosecutors said he embezzled $477,685 from a retired schoolteacher after she left the building for a nursing home and later died.The man, Alfredo Mateo, 38, was said to have stolen 26 checks from the woman, who at the time was under a court-ordered guardianship, often writing them to himself from her bank account with phony explanations in the memo line, according to a news release from the Manhattan district attorney.“Those who take advantage of the access entrusted in them to target older community members and steal from hardworking New Yorkers will be held accountable,” Alvin L.Bragg, the district attorney, said in the release.Mr.
Mateo’s lawyer declined to comment.His client has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of grand larceny, fraud and identity theft, among others.While the former schoolteacher was in the nursing home, her husband remained a tenant in their apartment until he died on Sept.
1, 2022, according to the release.Just a day after his death, prosecutors said, Mr.
Mateo deposited the first of 26 checks he stole from the woman.He also funneled a $3,000 check from her dead husband’s account into his personal bank account, they said, and took several of the teacher’s pension checks after her death.That wasn’t all.
According to the release, Mr.Mateo stole the teacher’s personal information from a form sent to her by the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York.
He used the forms to get money from an annuity and tried to change direct deposit information so that future payouts would go into his own bank account, prosecutors said.Mr.Mateo went as far as to call the city’s retirement system and pretend to be the 91-year-old woman, asking to change the phone number in her membership files, the release said.
He failed in his first attempt and tried impersonating her on a call a second time, altering his voice to mimic hers, it added.Mr.Mateo, from Y...