THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2005

D.A. BROWN: “FLIM-FLAM” MAN ALLEGEDLY POSED AS BEST BUY MANAGER AND DEFRAUDED CUSTOMERS IN PHONY ELECTRONICS SALES SCHEME
Faces Up to Seven Years in Prison

Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Manhattan man living on Central Park West has been charged with defrauding five Queens businessmen of thousands of dollars by pretending to be a Best Buy manager who could sell them electronic equipment – such as plasma televisions and laptop computers – at a deep discount. It is alleged that once the victims met with the defendant at the Best Buy outlet on Northern Boulevard in Queens and exchanged cash for the merchandise, the defendant would disappear with the money and leave the victims empty-handed.

District Attorney Brown noted that Best Buy was as much a victim in the scheme as the people who were defrauded by the defendant. The defendant was neither employed by Best Buy nor authorized to sell any Best Buy merchandise.

District Attorney Brown said, “The holiday season is an especially busy time for con artists who will exploit their victims’ goodwill, gullibility or greed to swindle them out of thousands of dollars. Shoppers should be wary of offers that sound ‘too good to be true’ or ‘too good to pass up.’

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Michael Ballister, 50 of 418 Central Park West in Manhattan. He was arraigned today in Criminal Court in Kew Gardens before Judge Stephen Knopf, who set bail at $1 million and a return date of January 10, 2006. He has been charged with one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, four counts of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, five counts of Criminal Impersonation in the Second Degree, five counts of Fraudulent Accosting and one count of Petit Larceny. If convicted he faces up to seven years in prison.

According to District Attorney Brown, it is alleged in a criminal complaint that the defendant would approach people at their places of business and after identifying himself as a manager for Best Buy offer to sell them electronic equipment at a family discount price. In five separate incidents that occurred between May 31 and December 14, 2005, the defendant allegedly took sums of money – ranging from $800 to $2,300 – from the victims in exchange for the promise of plasma televisions and, in one case, a laptop computer. In carrying out his scheme, the defendant would allegedly meet the victims at the Best Buy store at 50-01 Northern Boulevard and tell them to select the items they wished to purchase. Once they handed over the cash to the defendant, he would tell them to wait outside the store by the loading dock and the merchandise and their receipts would be brought to them. The defendant would then allegedly leave with the money and the victims would never receive their merchandise.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Daniel Lewis, of the 114th Precinct, under the supervision of Sergeant Richard Rudolph and Lieutenant Steven Borchers.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph G. D’Arrigo, of the District Attorney’s Economic and Environmental Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Gregory C. Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and Diane M. Peress, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.

It should be noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.