By Scott Sieber
After a two-week trial, it took a jury composed of seven women and five men two hours of deliberations to find Sisco guilty on all charges on Feb. 23.Queens Supreme Court Justice Roberta L. Dunlop presided over the case.Sisco was charged with grand larceny, criminal impersonation and petty larceny. The charges amount to a possible four-year sentence for Sisco.According to trial testimony, Sisco dressed in plain clothes and had an envelope in her possession with the name Madeline Hazek, her alias, written on it at the time of the incident. Sisco approached the two women at noon on March 1, 2003 and identified herself as a court official working in Central Booking. She informed the two women she could assist them in posting a $1,500 bail for their relative. The victims then drove Sisco to the bank where they withdrew the money and returned to the courthouse where the money was exchanged, the district attorney said. With cash in hand, Sisco asked the victims to get out of the car. Once out, she slammed the door shut and sped off, the DA said.Upon returning to the court house, the victims discovered that no bail had been posted. Flagging down a police officer, the women filed a report.”The defendant was a con artist who was apprehended as the result of excellent detective work and now faces imprisonment as punishment for her crime,” said Queens DA Richard Brown in a statement.The victims' family member, who was arraigned on a misdemeanor assault charge, was released without having to post bail shortly after the incident.An investigation into Sisco's whereabouts and past criminal activity was headed up by Detective Frank Lorelli of the 102nd Precinct Detective Squad, who discovered the defendant while browsing police files for her alias. Lorelli commented that Sisco had made a discipline of the criminal life. “She's a career criminal,” he said. “She's committed robbery; she's brought drugs to prison, robbery with a firearm, attempted robbery.”Several months after the incident outside the courthouse, Sisco was picked up for another drug charge for which she was charged separately.She was arrested on Oct. 29, 2003 and has remained incarcerated since her arraignment. She is currently being held at the women's facility at Rikers Island. Sentencing was scheduled to be held on March 14.”Our borough handles many impersonation cases,” said Assistant District Attorney Phyllis C. Weiss. “This one was particularly unique because she was impersonating a city official. These cases are always taken seriously.”The claimants could not be reached for comment and a phone call placed to Sisco's attorney was not returned.
