Mortgage Office Manager Charged With Identity Theft and Grand Larceny

Mortgage Office Manager Charged With Identity Theft and Grand Larceny

THOMAS J. LUECK
10/16/2007 – The first report of a stolen identity and of the opening of a bogus charge account at Home Depot in the victim’s name came from a Queens resident, according to the police. Within a week, five more people complained that they, too, had been victimized.

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Go to City Room » Investigators said they found a common link: all six had applied for loans at the same local mortgage office. Further investigation found still more victims, and fraud estimated to total more than $1 million, the police said.

Yesterday, they arrested the branch manager of the mortgage office, Jacob Milton, 41, and his sister, Nira Niru, 38, both of Port Washington in Nassau County. They were charged with identity theft, grand larceny and scheming to defraud.

The suspects had no listed telephone numbers and could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Milton is an immigrant from Bangladesh who was granted political asylum by the United States who had a cable television program in Queens for fellow immigrants from his homeland, the police said.

He worked for the Griffin Mortgage Company as manager of its branch at 72-32 Broadway, in Jackson Heights, and his sister was his secretary, the police said. The mortgage office was where the first six complainants had divulged personal financial information when they applied for loans, the police said. Many were seeking to become first-time homeowners.

But because the quoted interest rates were too high, the applicants withdrew and looked elsewhere. Some discovered their identities had been stolen when other mortgage companies ran credit checks, the police said.

Some victims also received bills from Home Depot for as much as $30,000 for merchandise they had not ordered or received, the police said.

The number of victims is likely to rise to at least 12 by the time the investigation is finished, the police said.

Mr. Milton engaged in a second type of fraud, according to the police, using other people’s identities to take out mortgage loans.

It was not clear whether he was using those loans in connection with his sideline business of buying, renovating and selling houses.

Mr. Milton was arrested when he showed up for a court appearance in another case, in which he is being sued and also faces criminal charges, the police said. Details of that case were not immediately available.

Officials searched the mortgage office and two residences that the police said Mr. Milton owned: one in Elmhurst, Queens, and one in Deer Park, in Suffolk County.

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