AG James Wins Trial Against Stacie Saunders Who Helped Steal Three Homes from Vulnerable New Yorkers
New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that she won her case against former mortgage bank branch manager Stacie Saunders for her role in a Queens deed theft ring that stole homes in Jamaica and St. Albans, Queens, owned by elderly or disabled New Yorkers or their estates. Saunders was part of a deed theft ring that fraudulently sold three homes without the knowledge and permission of the rightful property owners, yielding over $1 million from the sale proceeds. After a two-week trial, a jury in Queens found Saunders guilty of all charges. Saunders is the final defendant to be convicted in the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) investigation into the Queens deed theft ring led by Marcus Wilcher. All five defendants charged by OAG have since been convicted.
“Deed theft is a heartless crime that targets the most valuable assets in vulnerable communities,” said Attorney General James. “With the conviction of Stacie Saunders, my office is proud to have secured justice for the elderly New Yorkers that Saunders and her co-conspirators targeted with their predatory scheme. We will always work to combat deed theft and keep New Yorkers in their homes.”
Saunders, who was also a licensed real estate salesperson, is the last to be convicted in a deed theft ring that stole three homes in Jamaica and St. Albans, Queens, and attempted to steal an additional home from an elderly homeowner in Jamaica in 2019. The ring included Wilcher, disbarred attorney Anyekache Hercules, Jerry Currin, and Dean Lloyd. Wilcher located homes in Jamaica and St. Albans in poor or run-down condition with absentee owners. Hercules created forged legal documents used to steal and sell the properties and Saunders then marketed the homes to investors at prices significantly below the market rate for quick sales. After an investor expressed interest in purchasing a home, Wilcher would secure personal information about the real owners, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, to create falsified driver’s licenses, social security cards, and bank cards. Wilcher then found people to impersonate the owners of the properties at contract signings and closings. Saunders arranged attorneys, collected closing documents, and scheduled the closings to fraudulently sell the homes.
After the sales were finalized, the defendants opened bank accounts in the names of the homes’ real owners and used these bank accounts and other entities and LLCs they controlled to funnel more than $1 million in proceeds to themselves.
After a two-week trial, a jury in Queens convicted Saunders of 18 total counts, including:
- Three counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony;
- Two counts of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class D felony;
- One count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony;
- Five counts of Money Laundering in the Second Degree, a class C felony;
- Two counts of Forgery in the Second Degree, a class D felony;
- Three counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony; and
- Two counts of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony.
The maximum sentence on the top count is five to 15 years in prison, with the possibility of consecutive sentences. Saunders will be sentenced on June 11, 2025 by Judge Leigh Cheng.
In December 2022, Attorney General James announced the arrests and indictments of Wilcher, Saunders, Hercules, Currin, and Lloyd. Hercules, who was previously convicted of Grand Larceny in Kings County in 2018, pleaded guilty to Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and was sentenced to one and a half to three years in prison. Wilcher pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and sentenced to three to nine years in prison for the thefts of five homes in July 2024. Jerry Currin and Dean Lloyd pleaded guilty to felony counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree.
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