{"id":40674,"date":"2025-03-19T19:55:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T23:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/?p=40674"},"modified":"2025-03-19T19:55:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T23:55:47","slug":"flashy-nyc-real-estate-agent-3-others-faked-docs-signatures-to-take-over-houses-under-owners-noses-prosecutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/flashy-nyc-real-estate-agent-3-others-faked-docs-signatures-to-take-over-houses-under-owners-noses-prosecutors\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashy NYC real estate agent, 3 others faked docs, signatures to take over houses under owners\u2019 noses: prosecutors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Four people \u2014 including a flashy real estate agent with a penchant for leopard-print boots \u2014 allegedly stole three pricey homes in Queens through a deed fraud scheme, prosecutors said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Real estate agent Autumn Valeri, 41, of Commack, New York \u2014 known for her colorful Instagram presence \u2014 and her accomplices forged signatures and filed fake documents with the City Register\u2019s office two years ago to take over the homes worth more than $3 million, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Valeri and the others \u2014 Carl Avinger, 42, and Lawrence T. Ray, 38, of Queens; and Torey Guice of Roselle, New Jersey \u2014 turned themselves in on Tuesday after a grand jury handed up a 47-count indictment detailing the wild crimes, which included charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, conspiracy, identify theft, falsifying business records and other offenses, the DA\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a case where the defendants acted in concert to forge documents, filed false instruments and stole homes from vulnerable victims in Queens County,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Rachel Stein said in court Tuesday.<\/p>\n

They each pleaded not guilty at their arraignments in Queens County Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The conspirators also forged the signature of the woman\u2019s dead sister \u2014 who once co-owned the house \u2014 and a notary, prosecutors claimed.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, Avinger and Valeri allegedly did the same thing to a mother and daughter who owned a house on 61 Road in Kew Garden Hills \u2014 then faked more documents, including a marriage certificate and a driver\u2019s license, so they could sell it to a third party in May 2023 for $600,000.<\/p>\n

They allegedly wired about $442,000 to Ray\u2019s bank account after the sale, which has since been the subject of a civil lawsuit that\u2019s now on hold because of the investigation.<\/p>\n

On May 4, the defendants tried to snag another Jamaica Estates home \u2014 this one owned by an 82-year-old woman \u2014 through the same underhanded process, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Justice Leigh Cheng cut the defendants loose on supervised release after their hearings \u2014 but required an electronic monitor for Avinger, who has a litany of prior felony and misdemeanor convictions.<\/p>\n

he DA\u2019s office asked to hold him on $1.5 million bail, citing that history and an open Nassau County warrant, Avinger\u2019s slew of aliases and fake names and the fact that authorities had revoked his parole four times.<\/p>\n

But despite the \u201cserious charges\u201d and \u201cserious criminal history,\u201d Cheng decided to grant supervised release.<\/p>\n

An attorney for Valeri \u2014 whose Instagram profile is loaded with attention-seizing selfies and motivational mottos \u2014 said she lives with her sick mom and 6-month-old child, whom she had with Avinger.<\/p>\n

Cheng decided to limit Valeri\u2019s travel to Long Island and the five boroughs before releasing her.<\/p>\n

\u201cProperty ownership is a fundamental right and my office works to protect that right in this borough. As alleged, the defendants acted in concert to target properties for theft, forge documents, file false instruments and ultimately steal homes from the rightful owners,\u201d Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Each defendant could serve anywhere between five and 25 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n

Their next court date is April 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four people \u2014 including a flashy real estate agent with a penchant for leopard-print boots \u2014 allegedly stole three pricey homes in Queens through a deed fraud scheme, prosecutors said Tuesday. Real estate agent Autumn Valeri, 41, of Commack, New York \u2014 known for her colorful Instagram presence \u2014 and her accomplices forged signatures and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[251,572,573,89],"class_list":["post-40674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wls-news","tag-251","tag-crime","tag-fraud","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/flashy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40678,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40674\/revisions\/40678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}