By Nathan Duke
David Daloia, of 56-34 Remsen Place in Maspeth, and James O'Hare, 65, of 436 West 52nd St. in Manhattan, were arrested after they dressed the corpse of Virgilio Cintron, 66, and rolled him to a Pay-O-Matic store to cash his Social Security check, the DA said. O'Hare and Cintron, once known as “The Fox” in his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, had been longtime roommates, police said.A grand jury did not indict the two men Monday because the DA's office was awaiting the final report from the city's chief medical examiner on the cause of Cintron's death and the approximate time of death, a spokeswoman for Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said. She said Tuesday the investigation of the two men was ongoing.The medical examiner had said last week that Cintron had been dead for more than a day at the time of the alleged scam and that he had died of natural causes.The duo will go before the grand jury again on April 22 and could still face possible charges of forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument, petit larceny and failing to decently bury the body of a dead person, the DA spokeswoman said. If convicted, they could be sentenced up to seven years in prison, she said.But Jose Rodriguez, a friend of Cintron's, told the New York Post that he believed the dead man would have wanted his friends to cash the check.Both Daloia and O'Hare made bail following their court appearance earlier this week, the spokeswoman said.According to the criminal complaint, the defendants entered the check-cashing place around 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 and attempted to cash a $355 check that was payable to Cintron. But the men were told that Cintron would have to cash the check himself, so they propped his corpse in a desk chair and wheeled him into the store, the complaint said. But the caper caught the attention of NYPD Detective Travis Rapp, who had been eating in a nearby restaurant, police said. The detective confronted the two men, leading to their arrest, police said.The incident drew comparisons to the 1989 film “Weekend at Bernie's,” a comedy in which two men dressed up their dead boss and paraded his corpse around the Hamptons. The Post reported that the duo told police that they had never seen the movie.The Post said that both defendants were believed to be heroin abusers and that Cintron, Daloia and O'Hare all had criminal records. O'Hare had taken care of Cintron, who had Parkinson's disease, during their years as roommates, the newspaper said.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
