BRONX WOMAN INDICTED IN FRAUD SCHEME THAT STOLE HOUSE FROM DECEASED MAN WITH SAME NAME AS HER DEAD FATHER

 

Defendant Allegedly Profited $350,000; Spent It On Audi Q8, Jewelry, Artwork

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx woman has been indicted on Grand Larceny and additional charges for selling the home of a dead man who had the same name as her deceased father. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly sold the property for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it was later discovered that she had no rights to the home. She allegedly went on a shopping spree spending the money on a luxury car, home interior design, jewelry and art.”

 District Attorney Clark said Mercedes Tiffany King, 35, was indicted on first-degree Grand Larceny, two counts of second-degree Grand Larceny, second-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, two counts of third-degree Grand Larceny, second-degree Forgery, first-degree Scheme to Defraud, first-degree Offering a False Instrument for Filing, first-degree Falsifying Business Records, second degree Falsifying Business Records, and second-degree Offering a False Instrument for Filing. She was arraigned on November 9, 2023, before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Kim Parker. Bail was set at $100,000.00 cash, $300,000 bond, and $300,000 partially secured bond at 10%. The defendant is due back in court on December 7, 2023. 

 According to the investigation, on March 17, 2020, the defendant’s father Edward King Jr. died. The defendant then filed a petition seeking to become the administrator of her father’s estate. On April 15, 2020, a man named Edward L. King died leaving behind his property at 929 East 219th Street in the Bronx, valued at $675,000. The defendant allegedly claimed to be the heir of his property and entered into a contract to sell it for $480,000, making $356,075.69 from a wire transfer which was sent from her real estate attorney. After her attorney realized she was not the heir to the home, King was asked to return the money, but she refused. The defendant allegedly spent at least $50,000 on a 2021 Audi Q8, $17,500 on interior design work, $17,000 on luxury jewelry, paid her brother $10,000 to be her personal driver, and spent $6,000 on artwork.

 District Attorney Clark thanked BXDA Detective Investigators Benjamin Ahmadi and Randy Scarpinato for their work in the investigation.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.