MANHATTAN MAN INDICTED FOR DEFRAUDING 89-YEAR-OLD MAN OUT OF HIS BRONX HOUSE

Accused of Stealing Property Rights While Victim Was in Nursing Home 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been indicted on Grand Larceny and other charges for defrauding his wife’s grandfather out of the deed to his Soundview house while the 89-year-old man was in a nursing home. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly preyed upon a vulnerable member of our community, whom he was related to by marriage, by taking control of the man’s assets and health care. When the elderly gentleman went into a nursing home, the defendant allegedly filed false documents to gain possession of his house. This selfish and cruel act will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” 

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Frank Blackshear, 45, of West 122nd Street, Manhattan, was arraigned today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Zimmerman on second-degree Grand Larceny, second-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, first-degree Falsifying Business Records, second-degree Falsifying Business Records and first-degree Offering a False Instrument for Filing. The defendant was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court on October 15, 2024. 

According to the investigation, Milton Roberts, 89 years old at the time of the alleged incident and currently 91, was the sole owner of 331 Taylor Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The house was valued at $698,000. In August 2022, Milton Roberts was checked into Kings Harbor MultiCare Facility, a nursing home, for health-related issues. 

According to the investigation, between February 14, 2023, and May 19, 2023, Blackshear, Milton Roberts's grandson-in-law, allegedly transferred Roberts' property with a deed bearing Frank Blackshear as Trustee of the Blackshear Living Trust filed with the New York City Department of Finance. The beneficiaries of this trust were Blackshear's wife, Jessica Blackshear, and their children. This action deprived Roberts of leaving his home to his biological children. 

The investigation further revealed that Blackshear allegedly created legal documents that gave him and his wife control over Roberts’ assets and health care that included a living will that specifically denied the victim life-prolonging procedures should they be necessary. Another document allegedly created was a Power of Attorney which grants Jessica Blackshear the authority to control Roberts’ assets.

District Attorney Clark thanked BXDA Senior Detective Investigator Brendan Hammond and BXDA Detective Investigator Randy Scarpinato for their work in the investigation.

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