Friday, August 5,2005

D.A. BROWN: FUGITIVE COUNTERFEITER WANTED IN OHIO IS SENTENCED
TO MAXIMUM PRISON TERM – 7 YEARS – FOR SIMILAR NEW YORK SCHEME

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that an Ohio con man, who fled that state after being convicted of participating in a counterfeit check cashing ring, has been sentenced in New York to a maximum term of 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison for possessing items used in the preparation of forged documents, such as false identification and counterfeit checks.

“In the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the counterfeiting of key identification documents has become a major concern for law enforcement officials nationwide,” said District Attorney Brown. “Such fraud is a serious crime with important implications for public safety and security since such forged documents are often used in connection with more serious illegal activities. Fortunately, through the coordinated efforts of various city, state and federal law enforcement authorities, the defendant in this case will be unable to participate in such illegal activities for a very long time.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Marcus A. Hayes, 41, formerly of 755 South Crescent in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following a jury trial that ended on July 21, 2005, Hayes was convicted of three counts of Criminal Possession of Forgery Devices, a class D felony punishable by up to 7 years in prison.

The District Attorney noted that, in imposing the maximum sentence allowed yesterday, Queens Supreme Court Justice James McGuire referred to Hayes as a “con man” who “lied” in the courtroom and who was trying to “con” the Court as well. At the sentencing proceeding, Justice McGuire also granted the District Attorney’s application for an Order of Protection for Desiree Mattox, who had participated in Hayes’ schemes in Ohio and New York, and who had testified against him at the trial.

District Attorney Brown said that, at the time of his arrest in New York on July 15, 2005, Hayes had been a fugitive from Ohio, where he had been convicted for his role in a counterfeit check-cashing ring. In May 2003, Hayes failed to appear for sentencing in a Cincinnati courtroom for an agreed upon sentencing of 2 to 8 years in prison.

Upon completion of his New York sentencing, Hayes is expected to be extradited to Ohio where he faces not only the charges he pleaded guilty to but additional charges for fraud lodged against him by Hamilton County Ohio prosecutors and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

According to District Attorney Brown, when members of the U.S. Secret Service and the New York Police Department searched for Hayes at the St. Albans, Queens, apartment of his girlfriend on July 14, 2005, they discovered equipment and documents that established that he was operating a factory to prepare false identifications, counterfeit checks, as well as other items to facilitate frauds that were being committed in both New York and Ohio.

The next day, said District Attorney Brown, police executed a search warrant on the apartment and recovered computers, blank check paper, blank W2 forms, lists of social security numbers, forged drivers licenses and IDs that had been used to fraudulently obtain a tax refund from a Bronx H&R Block.

Hayes was arrested in the Bronx later that day at the Kapok Street apartment of his girlfriend’s sister, where he was hiding until he could get a bus back to Ohio. At the Bronx apartment, police also recovered blank plastic cards used for making forged ID cards and a book which showed the various security features of drivers’ licenses from all of the states that could be used to assist in preparing forged documents.

The investigation in Ohio was headed by Detective David Daugherty, of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, who provided assistance on an ongoing basis to the New York authorities. In New York, the investigation was conducted by Detective Steven Pelan, of the 113th Detective Squad, NYPD; Special Agent Joseph Andrew Meeks, of the United States Secret Service; Inspector James Buthorn, of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Assistant District Attorney Robert Alexander, of the Queens County District Attorney’s Office’s Computer Crimes Unit of the Special Proceedings Bureau.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Robert D. Alexander and Stephen Dixon-Gordon, under the supervision of Anthony Communiello, Chief of the Special Proceedings Bureau, Oscar Ruiz, Deputy Chief, Executive Assistant D.A. Peter Crusco and Deputy Executive ADA, Linda Cantoni, of the Investigations Division.