Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced her office prevailed in a hearing on Sept. 10 to restore eight deeds associated with five properties to their rightful owners after Justin Joseph of South Ozone Park had stolen them in a deed fraud scheme.
The statute used by her office in the hearing before Queens Supreme Court Justice Leigh K. Cheng allows the Court to void deeds subject to criminal prosecution upon a guilty plea. The hearing spared the victims the time and expense of additional legal proceedings in civil court.
Joseph, 45, of 132nd Street pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced on June 24 to one to three years in prison for the theft of five properties in southeast Queens. As part of his plea, Joseph agreed to cooperate in the voiding of the fraudulent deeds and signed a confession of judgment for $335,256, returning the proceeds he received from the fraudulent sale of two of the homes. His wife Latoya Hewitt, 49, also of 132nd Street, pleaded guilty the same day to charges related to the scheme. She was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge after agreeing to cooperate in the voiding of one of the deeds and make restitution of the deeds and make restitution of $48,751.48.
“This is a strong disposition,” Katz said. “Defendant Justin Joseph must now serve one to three years in prison, pay back more than $335,000 he tried to steal from fraudulent property sales and five properties will be restored to their proper owners.”
According to the charges and plea agreements, in March 2019, Joseph and Hewitt filed a false statement with the city’s Department of Finance recording a deed transfer to Hewitt of a home on Pinegrove Street in Jamaica from a 78-year-old woman who was the rightful owner. The deed included the seal of a notary public, who denied that it was his signature on the document and that the seal was authentic. Hewitt, while working in concert with her husband, proceeded to sell the home after she obtained a forged death certificate to facilitate the transaction. The property was sold in November 2019 for $315,000. She received a check for proceeds of $48,751.48, and her husband and his mother received a check for $40,000 each.
In September 2019, Joseph filed a false deed transferring property on 181st Street in Springfield Gardens to himself after forging the signature of the rightful owner, who lived elsewhere. In November 2019, he sold that home for $355,000. Joseph received a check for $255,256.76. The home was later demolished, which the rightful owner discovered when she drove past her property with a new home built in its place.
In December 2019, Joseph submitted a false deed to the city to transfer property on 155th Street in Jamaica to himself. He falsely represented that he bought the property for $50,000.
In March 2020, Joseph submitted a fraudulent deed transfer to the city and forged the signature of the rightful owner of a property on 207th Street in Queens Village.
In April 2020, Joseph submitted a deed transfer to the city for a property on 131st Street in South Ozone Park near his real home after forging the signature of the rightful owner and creating a fake identity for himself.
The couple was arrested in April following a long-term investigation into deed fraud by the DA’s Housing and Worker Protection Bureau and the New York City Sheriff’s Office. Eight deeds were involved because two of the properties changed hands more than once.
“My Housing and Worker Protection Bureau filed a motion in Criminal Court to void eight fraudulent deeds in this scheme and we were victorious in court,” Katz said. “There will be no windfall for predators who try to scam homeowners in Queens.”
