NY man who dressed as dead mom sentenced for fraud

This May 2009 photo from video provided by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office shows, according to prosecutors, Thomas Parkin, 49, at left, on a Department of Motor Vehicles security camera, dressed up as his mother, who died in 2003, as part of a scam to collect her government benefits. At right is Mhilton Rimolo, a friend of Parkin's who authorities say acted as an accomplice in the scheme, posing as the mother's nephew when going to cash checks and do other business, prosecutors said. Parkin was convicted May 3, 2012 on charges including grand larceny and mortgage fraud. He was sentenced to 13 2/3 to 41 years, Monday May 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Brooklyn District Attorney's office)

This May 2009 photo from video provided by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office shows, according to prosecutors, Thomas Parkin, 49, at left, on a Department of Motor Vehicles security camera, dressed up as his mother, who died in 2003, as part of a scam to collect her government benefits. At right is Mhilton Rimolo, a friend of Parkin's who authorities say acted as an accomplice in the scheme, posing as the mother's nephew when going to cash checks and do other business, prosecutors said. Parkin was convicted May 3, 2012 on charges including grand larceny and mortgage fraud. He was sentenced to 13 2/3 to 41 years, Monday May 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Brooklyn District Attorney's office)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A man who dressed up as his mother in a bizarre real estate fraud that involved doctoring her death certificate and cashing her Social Security checks for six years after she died was sentenced Monday to more than 13 years behind bars.

Thomas Parkin was convicted May 3 on charges including grand larceny and mortgage fraud. He was sentenced Monday to 13 2/3 to 41 years in prison. Prosecutors said the scheme lasted six years and involved Parkin wearing a blond wig, dress and oversized sunglasses.

The 51-year-old Parkin said at sentencing that he never hurt anyone or used stolen funds for personal gain or injury.

When his mother, Irene Prusik, died in 2003 at age 73, he began impersonating her to cash her Social Security checks and keep her $2.2 million brownstone in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, prosecutors said. The house had been deeded to Thomas Parkin, but he couldn't make mortgage payments and the house was later sold at a foreclosure auction, prosecutors said.

Parkin and a co-defendant later sued the new owner under Prusik's name, claiming real estate fraud and saying the auction was invalid in part because she was still alive, prosecutors said.

To maintain the ruse, Parkin doctored his mother's death certificate and went to the Department of Motor Vehicles dressed as her in a blond wig, dress and oversized sunglasses so he could get a renewed license, prosecutors said. He also cashed Social Security checks for six years, totaling about $44,000, they said.

Jurors deliberated for less than a day before finding him guilty. At trial, they were shown security footage of Parkin in drag in public, but his defense attorney said it could've been anyone.

As the property dispute dragged out, both sides eventually contacted the district attorney to accuse each other of fraud. By the time investigators arranged a meeting with the family, they had proof Prusik was dead: a photo of her tombstone in a local cemetery.

The investigators played along as Parkin showed up for the interview "wearing a red cardigan, lipstick, manicured nails and breathing through an oxygen tank," prosecutors said.

A co-defendant, Mhilton Rimolo, 49, was sentenced in October 2010 to three years in prison after he was convicted of grand larceny.

Associated Press

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