Two Brooklyn men have been sentenced to prison for scheming and robbing a 94-year-old woman of nearly $227,000.
Humberto Nunez of Clinton Hill and Mahilima Baa of Stuyvesant Heights were convicted on Tuesday of second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property. They were each sentenced to up to three years in prison.
“These defendants targeted an individual who is among the most vulnerable of our population — a 94-year-old woman — while pretending to be neighborly and helpful,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Fortunately, their scheme was unraveled, and they have now been held accountable.”
Nunez lived a few doors down from the elderly victim, Rose Kane, occasionally ran errands for her, and was allegedly given power of attorney by her in July 2019 before she became incapacitated, moved into a nursing home, and needed a court-appointed guardian.
Between July 2019 and January 2020, the two defendants stole more than $50,000 from a former business account associated with Kane’s business.
In November 2019, Nunez and Baa stole $175,000 from a reverse mortgage the victim had been using since 2009. Baa also opened two credit cards using the victim’s name and personal details, including her Social Security Number, added himself as an authorized user to her accounts, and stole an additional $20,000, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. He used the money on a rental car, furniture, office supplies, alcohol, and more.
Despite claiming the funds would be used to repair the victim’s home, Nunez used the money to make credit card payments and personal purchases. The men were arrested and arraigned in 2022.
“These men took advantage of an elderly woman, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars out from under her,” said Charge Freaney, special agent in charge with the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office. “Crimes like these that affect the most vulnerable among us are abhorrent.”
Baa was additionally convicted of two counts of first-degree identity theft.
Both defendants were sentenced to an indeterminate term of one to three years in prison. The length of their incarceration will be determined by their behavior while in custody.
